March 2025, spring break and flying logs

I am toying with the idea of releasing a chapter of a fictionalized story I'm working on based on real-life events. If I do that, I'll release it as a new payment tier of this bookletter. I'd release the first chapter for free to entice y'all, but as someone broker than usual (grad school, etc), I need and want this monetary opportunity but also want to be clear about that! You'd be paying $5 a month for access to the rollout of a short story about bad boyfriends and untrustworthy coworkers of said bad boyfriends. Abortion and anger and betrayal, oh my!

Anyway, this is called "spring break and flying logs" because, until today (April 1!), I was on spring break for most of March, or I guess the latter half of March. I still don't feel like a "student," so "spring break" certainly didn't mean I went to Cabo or anything. I didn't go anywhere and still worked my retail job.

"Flying logs" is because yesterday, while driving to therapy, a piece of debris smashed my front headlight and hood, and I now have to deal with it. I do have insurance, but the deductible is expensive, and I feel like anything that happens to my car is going to cost me $5000 and a lecture from someone.

Anyway, spring has sprung, and here's what I read in March.

[Books I read]

Oreo by Fran Ross (1975) | Quick summary: A biracial Black girl searches for her white Jewish father.
Because neither of her grandparents supported her parents' relationship, Oreo doesn't know much about her father. As her maternal grandparents raise her while her mother is on tour, Oreo heads for New York to search for her dad but ends up on a whole quest to find him, as his name is common. This is such a unique narrative that challenges race, ethnicity, culture, quests, and novels! I was called Oreo growing up, so this book really is for me.
[literary fiction, satire, written by a Black American writer, medium-length read]

Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others by Laura Van Dernoot Lipsky and Connie Burk (2009) | Quick summary: A resource for caregivers to help emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and physically healthy relationships with themselves.
I read this book over many months, which is probably how a book called Trauma Stewardship should be handled. I read this digitally but purchased a copy to mark up and reference, and I'm glad I did. Though I'm still not sure where my MSW (Master of Social Work) will lead me, and it might very well be nowhere, this book provided interesting insight into how to care for yourself if you're a person who cares for others. (Which I am, very much without the MSW.)
[nonfiction, psychology, written by two directors of nonprofits, long read]

Lot by Bryan Washington (2019) | Quick summary: A coming of age stor(ies) about the son of a black mother and a Latinx father.
I say it every time I read a short story collection–it's really hit or miss. But coming to a Bryan Washington short story collection after being very sure I like and appreciate his writing was a good move. Lot doesn't hit like Memorial Drive hits, but the power of Washington's sentences and character development doesn't lack even in short stories.
[fiction, short stories, written by a queer Black american writer, medium-length read]

Sucker Punch: Essays by Scaachi Koul (2025) | Quick summary: Essays about divorce, expectation, family, assault, and radical change.
I have followed Scaachi Koul, on and off, for years and have always been fond of her writing. Koul is biting, funny, insightful, and mean, which I like and which she should be. Sucker Punch is a book of essays that are primarily about Koul's split from her husband, which means something to me, but also covers all topics including friendship, celebrity profiles, feminism, and assault. It's the only book I've read in memory that I couldn't put down. I get that she's not for everyone, but I am a Scaachi Koul Fan.
[nonfiction, essays, written by a queer indian-canadian writer, shorter read]

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (1947) and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm (1954) by Betty MacDonald | Quick summary: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is a woman who lives in an upside-down house, and then a farm, who is very good at curing children of their bad habits.
I grew up reading Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, though I don't have full memories of when, where, or why. I have a memory of my aunt, my mom's sister, reading "The Thought-You-Saiders Cure" to me at least once when I was a kid. In my head, we cracked up about the things we thought we heard that we didn't hear correctly throughout my childhood. Though my aunt, my mom's sister, is alive, we had an estrangement that affects my every single moment and person, but it hasn't affected my ability to read and enjoy Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. You can read about MacDonald, who grew up in Seattle!!, here.
[children's fiction, novel(s), written by a white american author, short(er) read(s)]

How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell (1973) | Quick summary: Billy is challenged to eat 15 worms for $50!
What a fun book. I've been reading a lot of middle-grade books because my lovely friends' kids are creeping up on older than board books and are entering story and chapter books. I know what I loved as a kid, but it's important to me to make sure the things I loved reading as a child aren't going to harm children of this day and age. Overall, with Fried Worms and Piggle-Wiggle, the worst I've come across is spanking and generally hitting kids and traditional gender roles, which isn't great! But it isn't the worst thing I can think of, so I will be recommending and passing these on.
[children's fiction, novel, written by a white american author, short read]

[Books I heard]

What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World by Prentis Hemphill (2024) | Quick summary: A groundbreaking new way to heal on a personal and a collective level.
I know Hemphill's name from being a Black person interested in social justice and healing, but I didn't get into their work until the fall quarter of my MSW (master of social work) program. I'm forever grateful for my professor who introduced me to Hemphill's work in a more intentional way than a scroll through instagram. Loved listening to this book and am eager to buy it, read it, study it, and further my education regarding somatic healing.
[nonfiction, psychology, written by a queer Black therapist, somatics teacher, facilitator, political organizer, and writer, read by the author, long listen]

Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest by Jen Doll (2014) | Quick summary: Reflections from a many-times-over wedding guest.
If you pay close attention to the shit I say in this bookletter, some of you know that I love to reach back into the depths of my TBR (to be read). What that looks like for me is logging into my King County Library System account and looking at what I threw on my "for later" shelf back in 2016. This book was one of them! I was 29 in 2016 and indeed at the height of my angst at attending so many weddings. Surprisingly, though, this held up! It helps that Doll wrote it in her late 30s, which I am now, so it doesn't feel dated or irrelevant. Weddings are a lot. I am always eager for the commentary.
[nonfiction, humor, written by a white american writer and editor, read by emily durante, long listen]

Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne, Ph.D. (2024) | Quick summary: A memoir about trying to understand one's own sociopathy.
Recommended by one of my best besties, Sociopath is exactly the kind of memoir I'm into. It's honest, juicy, educational, biting, funny, scathing, real. Gagne wrote a Modern Love essay in 2020 (that I very much remember reading because it blew up on twitter, of course) that led to this book deal, I imagine. I'm glad it did! A delight to read Gagne's take on her diagnosis, especially because so much of her memoir is focused on the personal relationship, which is what I like the most in this life.
[nonfiction, memoir, written by a white american writer, former therapist, and advocate, read by the author, long listen]

[Reading challenges]

• For Book Riot’s 2025 Read Harder Challenge:
  • Sucker Punch by Scaachi Koul: "read a 2025 release by a BIPOC author"
  • Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald: "reread a childhood favorite book"

[What I recommend]

• If you're into Black classics: Oreo
• If you're into short stories: Lot
• If you care for others in any capacity: Trauma Stewardship and What It Takes to Heal
• If you're feeling nostalgic: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm, and How to Eat Fried Worms
• If you've been divorced, had a major breakup, or like reading about divorce and major breakups: Sucker Punch

I hope April brings you showers and May brings you flowers and nothing personally tragic happens to you. I love you all.

xo