Why I created a space to indulge my book-related musings
I’ve tried Goodreads. I’ve tried (and love!) book club. Reddit threads have yielded great book recs. Chatting with strangers at the library, or striking up a conversation while holding a physical book at a bar… I’ve done those too, and they temporarily scratch the urge for deeper connection over titles I’ve read and loved (or hated and want to talk more about it).
If you loved literature classes and miss that kind of space for discussion, this publication is for you.
If you hated reading when you were in school but now wish you had that kind of space to actually talk about a book you read, this is a place for you.
If you ever finish a book and are desperate to spend more time in that world, or talking with others who really connected with it….read on, my friend.
I created this newsletter after I showed up to book club with three pages of notes and questions about a popular novel we read. I love this group, but detailed queries and discussions really aren't how we approach storytelling and literature. They humored my diatribe about Project Hail Mary (coming soon - it’s a fun book, but misses out on some basic storytelling essentials), but it was clearly just another rants without an audience.
Hence - this newsletter, which also doesn’t have an audience (yet), but I hear if you build it, they will come. So below, I’ve outlined what I tend to read, what I don’t read, and what you can expect if you follow along with Plot Twist.
What I read:
“Classics” aka the trademark Great Works of Literature of the last three hundred or so years (mostly English, occasionally a translation)
Mysteries of all stripes. Cozy murders are a perennial favorite.
Literary fiction (Colson Whitehead, Ann Patchett, I love reading finalist lists of things like the Booker Prize)
Popular fiction
Fantasty
Science Fiction
Memoirs (anything from Britney Spears’ iconic The Woman in Me to the more reverent Promised Land)
Historical fiction
Short stories
“Weird girl lit” - an emerging category! Subversive, strange, and unusual characters in sometimes realistic, sometimes invented scenarios. Ottessa Moshfegh is one of the common authors here.
I typically don’t read…
Graphic novels
BookTok Romantasy (caveat, I read the biggies and the baddies of the genre and have enjoyed Fourth Wing and some Sarah J. Maas - but I don’t usually for the “Magical Dragon of the Week” type of viral push.)
Religious/spiritual novels: I did read a bunch of Amish….women’s lit? Romance? No idea what to call these books, but last year there was a Google Books giveaway and I was too intrigued to say no.
Self-help
Self-improvement: the more professional ones sometimes make it into my rotation, but I’m not really a Brene Brown/Let Them/The Secret type of audience.
Poetry (sorry! I wish I did but I just usually can’t get into more than 1 or 2 poems at a time)
I always want suggestions, and these are the 5 books I always recommend!
