Why am I passionate about this?

When I was researching my novel, I learned why so many psychics are women: Spiritualism, founded in the 19th century, had both an intense following (more than 8 million followers in the late 1800s) and gave women equal importance to men, one of the few religions at the time (or since) to do so. Even today, women’s pain is dismissed by doctors disproportionately to that of men; women’s testimony is scrutinized more closely than that of men. I love books that invest women with abilities that seem super-human, perhaps as compensation for unequal access to resources. These books keep one foot in the real, one in the fantastic.


I wrote

The Invisible World

By Nora Fussner,

Book cover of The Invisible World

What is my book about?

Eve is a frustrated artist and the owner of what she believes is a haunted house. Sandra is an overworked…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Heavens

Nora Fussner Why did I love this book?

The first thing I do in the morning is check my phone. And I’m sure I’m not alone in waking to a world I don’t fully recognize. My reassurance is that my friends and family find it equally strange. But what if I was the only one who woke up each day to a world I found baffling?

Kate lives an ordinary life in Manhattan by day, but at night she travels back to Elizabethan England, where she lives a richly detailed dream life. Except Kate doesn’t believe it’s a dream—she believes she’s living two lives, and as the book goes on, details from her present-day reality support her. I love this book because it would be easy to dismiss Kate as mentally ill, but the novel remains ambiguous.

By Sandra Newman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Heavens as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New York, late summer, 2000. A party in a spacious Manhattan apartment, hosted by a wealthy young activist. Dozens of idealistic twenty-somethings have impassioned conversations over takeout dumplings and champagne. The evening shines with the heady optimism of a progressive new millennium. A young man, Ben, meets a young woman, Kate―and they begin to fall in love.

Kate lives with her head in the clouds, so at first Ben isn’t that concerned when she tells him about the recurring dream she’s had since childhood. In the dream, she’s transported to the past, where she lives a second life as Emilia,…


Book cover of Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

Nora Fussner Why did I love this book?

I’ve been to Salem, Massachusetts; I’ve read Stacy Schiff’s book about the witch trials. We sometimes forget in the USA that there were witch trials in Europe, as well, such as the real one Galchen’s novel is based on.

In 17th century Germany, the mother of Johannes Kepler, one of the fathers of modern astronomy, is accused of by a neighbor of witchcraft, sending the entire town into disarray. Although Galchen draws on historical documents, the narration feels contemporary, as neighbors use accusations of witchcraft as revenge for petty grievances.

I recommend this novel for anyone who checks Nextdoor for the tea.

By Rivka Galchen,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The startling, witty, highly anticipated second novel from the critically acclaimed author of Atmospheric Disturbances.

The story begins in 1618, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years' War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In the small town of Leonberg, Katharina Kepler is accused of being a witch.

Katharina is an illiterate widow, known by her neighbors for her herbal remedies and the success of her children, including her eldest, Johannes, who is the Imperial Mathematician and renowned author of the laws of planetary motion. It's…


Book cover of Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen

Nora Fussner Why did I love this book?

Another book based on true events, Palmer’s Mary Toft is about an 18th century woman who gave birth to a dead rabbit—and then quite a few more. Is it a hoax? Or some kind of strange miracle?

Doctors are confounded, and a sort of cult forms around Toft, as onlookers stand outside her window awaiting her next delivery. I love this book in part for its glimpse into 18th century “science”—the belief that dreaming about a rabbit would cause a woman to give birth to one, for instance.

I read Mary Toft in the spring of 2020, when the world was in lockdown, and it was a perfect historical escape and a reminder of how much we still don’t know.

By Dexter Palmer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Palmer spins a cracking tale that, despite its disconcerting subject, is piquantly cheerful and compassionate . . . With empathy and imagination, Palmer explores the master/apprentice relationship, first love and first rivalry, spite and kindness: conjuring a world to raise a wry smile' New York Times

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A stunning, powerfully evocative new novel based on a true story - in 1726 in the small town of Godalming, England, a young woman confounds the medical community by giving birth to dead rabbits.

Surgeon John Howard is a rational man. His apprentice Zachary knows John is reluctant to believe anything that purports…


Book cover of Matrix

Nora Fussner Why did I love this book?

I never imagined I would be so invested in the lives of 12th-century nuns, but here we are.

Groff’s writing has such energy, I was completely consumed by the story of Marie, who, guided by visions, transforms an English convent into a utopia for the nuns within, protected from the world without. I was blown away by the sheer amount of knowledge that adds texture to the book: knowledge of plants, animals, medicinal herbs, clothing.

It feels deeply researched but not tedious. Everything about this novel feels propulsive.

By Lauren Groff,

Why should I read it?

10 authors picked Matrix as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS
AN OBAMA'S BOOK OF THE YEAR

'Gorgeous, sensual, addictive' SARA COLLINS
'Brightly lit' NAOMI ALDERMAN

Born from a long line of female warriors and crusaders, yet too coarse for courtly life, Marie de France is cast from the royal court and sent to Angleterre to take up her new duty as the prioress of an impoverished abbey.

Lauren Groff's modern masterpiece is about the establishment of a female utopia.

'A propulsive, captivating read' BRIT BENNETT
'Fascinating, beguiling, vivid' MARIAN KEYES
'A dazzlingly clever tale' THE TIMES
'A thrillingly vivid,…


Book cover of The Vegetarian

Nora Fussner Why did I love this book?

I became a vegetarian at age 13, and although my parents grumbled about having to prepare different foods, they certainly did not react as strongly as Yeong-hye’s family, who treats her decision as a kind of mental illness.

The book starts off like a dark fable, as Yeong-hye pares down her diet and believes she is turning into a tree. As the book progresses, though, it becomes a feminist allegory that asks questions that have only become more urgent since its publication: Who has the right to say what a woman does with her body?

By Han Kang, Deborah Smith (translator),

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked The Vegetarian as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people. He is an office worker with moderate ambitions and mild manners; she is an uninspired but dutiful wife. The acceptable flatline of their marriage is interrupted when Yeong-hye, seeking a more 'plant-like' existence, decides to become a vegetarian, prompted by grotesque recurring nightmares. In South Korea, where vegetarianism is almost unheard-of and societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye's decision is a shocking act of subversion. Her passive rebellion manifests in ever more bizarre and frightening forms, leading her bland husband to self-justified acts of sexual sadism. His cruelties drive her towards attempted suicide…


Explore my book 😀

The Invisible World

By Nora Fussner,

Book cover of The Invisible World

What is my book about?

Eve is a frustrated artist and the owner of what she believes is a haunted house. Sandra is an overworked producer at a paranormal investigations show perpetually on the brink of cancelation.

When the show descends upon Eve's home, they’re intent on creating just another staged spectacle. But, unexpectedly, the crew encounters very real activity—shelves collapse, electronics go haywire, a cameraman disappears in the dead of night. Meanwhile, teenage ghost hunter Caitlin is caught up in the unexplained events, desperate to make contact with the “other side”—even if it means putting the investigation, and herself, in jeopardy. As the terror mounts, it's up to the show’s harried, skeptical producer, Sandra, to create order from the madness—or will the madness take her, too?

Book cover of The Heavens
Book cover of Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch
Book cover of Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen

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Ambidextrous: The Secret Lives of Children

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Book cover of Ambidextrous: The Secret Lives of Children

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Felice Picano Author Of Six Strange Stories and an Essay on H.P. Lovecraft

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Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Felice's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Bold, funny, and shockingly honest, Ambidextrous is like no other memoir of 1950s urban childhood.

Picano appears to his parents and siblings to be a happy, cheerful eleven-year-old possessed of the remarkable talent of being able to draw beautifully and write fluently with either hand. But then he runs into the mindless bigotry of a middle school teacher who insists that left-handedness is "wrong," and his idyllic world falls apart.

He uncovers the insatiable appetites of a trio of neighboring sisters, falls for another boy with a glue-sniffing habit, and discovers the hidden world of adult desire and hypocrisy. Picano…

Ambidextrous: The Secret Lives of Children

By Felice Picano,

What is this book about?

Bold, funny, and shockingly honest, Ambidextrous is like no other memoir of 1950s urban childhood. Picano appears to his parents and siblings to be a happy, cheerful eleven-year-old, possessed of the remarkable talent of being able to draw beautifully and write fluently with either hand. But then he runs into the mindless bigotry of a middle school teacher who insists that left-handedness is "wrong," and his idyllic world falls apart. He uncovers the insatiable appetites of a trio of neighboring sisters, falls for another boy with a glue-sniffing habit, and discovers the hidden world of adult desire and hypocrisy. Picano…


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