Hotness isn't the utopia we were promised
A January reading roundup
I’ve been reading a lot this month. It’s cold and gloomy in Virginia, and I’ve found myself under a pelt,1 consuming books and chocolate with abandon. In addition to reading for pleasure, I’m treating reading as part of my writing practice, which has its upsides and its downsides. Upside: see how the pros do it. Downside: reading is…not writing. But it’s all upside for you, my friends, because I have 3 new Night-Hag-approved books to recommend! A little bit gothic, a little bit weird, a little bit…romance? Enjoy.
The Centre (2023) by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
Remember the language lab in college? Mine was full of little cubicles with giant headphones and computers at every station. I guess you went there and…listened to someone talk about their breakfast in French? (As you can tell, I did not make much use of this resource.) Imagine that language lab, but like, sinister. An evil language lab? A language center, but spelled with an “RE” (noooooooo not an “RE”! 😱).
Anisa is a 30-something translator living in London, slogging through her job writing English subtitles for Bollywood films. Her new boyfriend, Adam, is a talented linguist, but when he shows up on their flight to Karachi suddenly speaking perfect Urdu — “like the kind of Urdu my grandmother speaks” — Anisa becomes suspicious. Is Adam a lying psychopath who has secretly known Urdu since birth, or is something else going on here?
Entre the Centre: a super-elite language school in the English countryside with a 10-day fluency guarantee. Anisa breaks up with Adam, heads to the Centre, and experiences the mysterious process for herself. What is happening here? How does it work? Is it bad? Oh no!
I’ve seen The Centre described as “gothic horror” and “dark academia,” but neither label is quite right imo. There are gothic elements (see above), but I think The Centre is most memorable for how it steps outside the gothic. Instead of a more claustrophobic haunted house vibe, the story moves between London, Karachi, Delhi, and the Centre itself. Instead of being dominated by a tyrannical patriarch (tho, don’t worry, he exists!), the book focuses on relationships between women, especially Anisa’s loving interdependence with her best friend, Naima, and her growing infatuation with the sexy director of the Centre, Shiba.
A friend recommended The Centre in the early days of Night Hag, and I’m so glad I finally got to it! Side note: the audiobook is great.
Milk Fed (2021) by Melissa Broder
Milk Fed is everything I want in a novel — satirical, outrageous, and surreal. If you read My Year of Rest and Relaxation and thought “wow this is weird and gross and I’m obsessed with it,” then step right up my friend: you’re going to love Milk Fed.*
Rachel is a 20-something living in Los Angeles. She works for a management company with famous clients, but her life revolves entirely around her rigorous, calorie-restricted diet. With an empty apartment, no friends, and her only family back on the East Coast, the most exciting part of her day is “an 8-ounce container of 0% fat Greek yogurt with two packets of Splenda mixed in, as well as a diet chocolate muffin top that could only be purchased at Gelson’s supermarket.”
Until, however, she meets Miriam, an Orthodox Jewish woman working at Rachel’s favorite fro-yo shop. The book begins by exploring how dieting leaves you hollow — not just your collarbone, but your soul — and then evolves into a fantasy of indulgence. What would it look like to be free from the tyranny of restriction? To give into your desires (of all kinds)?
If you’re sensitive to things being gross, this probably isn’t the book for you. At heart, Milk Fed is a book about being attracted to what repulses you and repulsed by what attracts you — disgust is a big part of the narrative.
And if you’re sensitive to dieting content and/or eating disorders, you might want to take a look at this excerpt first (for what it’s worth, this is probably the most triggering part of the book — the dieting stuff gets a little better after the beginning).
But if you’re up for, and perhaps even intrigued by, a book that gets weird, I cannot recommend Milk Fed enough. Please message me after you read it.
*A word on My Year of Rest and Relaxation: Ottessa Moshfegh created (?) a genre of satire I call “Hot Girls are secretly neurotic and gross and over it,” or maybe “shocking news: (conventional) hotness isn’t the utopia we were promised,” and I would put Milk Fed in this category too. Despite my high praise, I know My Year of Rest and Relaxation is not for everyone. One of the best scenes in the book is a satire of the New York art world that prominently features human feces (please don’t unsubscribe, Mom!). You’ve been warned.
The Dos and Donuts of Love (2023) by Adiba Jaigirdar
Listen, I don’t read a lot of romance, so it’s not clear that you should trust my recommendation. Is this book good? I donut know (sorry!). But I got it on Libby and read it in an afternoon and I really liked it! Did I predict the ending? Yes. Did I care? Nope.
The book is about Shireen, a 17-year-old Irish girl whose parents own a donut shop called You Drive Me Glazy. Shireen is an excellent baker herself, and she has just been accepted to the Junior Irish Baking Show. The only problem? Her ex-girlfriend, Chris, has been accepted too. Making things even worse: Chris’s parents own a RIVAL donut shop across the street from You Drive Me Glazy. Who will win JIBS?? (yes, that’s what they call it) Whose donut shop will survive?? What color lipstick will Prue wear?? (wait…no…that’s not right)
As an avid watcher of the Great British Bake Off, I loved that all this teenage drama plays out against the backdrop of a baking competition. I don’t particularly care if Chris and Shireen end up together, but WHO WILL WIN CAKE WEEK?
That’s all the reading recs I have for you today! But in case one gothic novel was not enough to satisfy your need to bleed, I leave you with some alternative gothic content: HIGH GOTH FASHION from Maison Margiela. It’s giving…vampire street urchin. Until soon!
Described by Matthew as “the best gift he ever received.” Thank you, Anne Helen Petersen for the excellent rec!