Chlorine | 
so-soThis weird book is about Ren Yu a girl who is on a swim team and obsessed with mermaids.
Trigger warnings all over the place.
pickAn incredibly unique book, brutal and funny, grotesque and unhinged, dark and strange. It's a fierce queer coming of age and coming into a body story centred around a Chinese American girl named Ren and her years of competitive swimming. Her intense, intimate friendship with Cathy, another swimmer, is the central relationship. That is, if you don't count Ren's obsession with mermaids. Song's prose is quick and smart, her ideas bold.
pickThe body horror in this book is 10/10. So many weird things happen. Great commentary on athletics and the pressure young athletes face. 🧜🏻♀️🧜🏻♀️
Happy New Year. Tagging my first read of 2024. 🧜🏻♀️ What is everyone else starting with? 🎆
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This debut novel about a competitive swimmer obsessed with mermaids reads like a fever dream or like when you‘re underwater for too long and are desperate to breathe. It‘s intense and there‘s no coming up for air.
I enjoyed it but I feel like the community on goodreads disagrees. It‘s definitely a mood.
pickThis was a meditation on girlhood and mermaid hood that will be one of the “mermaid books” going forward. Truly weird and stellar and spooky and beautiful.
pickHonestly partially unsure how I feel about this one, but there's lots to dive into (pun both accidental and intended--duality) https://youtu.be/agEw3Bp8q68
Stopped by Paper and Pencil a new local stationary shop in Chicago today for some goodies to make my reading life better & cuter—including a new reading journal that I think will be much better than the notes app for processing book thoughts offline.
pickA teen dealing with the extreme pressure of high school, swim team, and adolescence recounts her experiences leading up to her transformation into a mermaid. It's a gorgeous literary coming of age novel with a slight speculative feel even though there's no actual, confirmed fantasy to the story. Anyone who struggled with high pressure high school experiences will relate to Ren whether or not you went to her extremes.
My #weekendreads for this weekend. What are you reading?
pickWow, what a visceral coming of age story about a swimmer who wants to become a mermaid. Slow and insidious.
Amazing artwork from here: https://twitter.com/christinaillos/status/1661447237338124300
pickI‘ve been dragging my feet on writing my review on this because I‘m not really sure what happens in it. That being said, I really enjoyed this in all its weirdness and found it really engrossing. And it has the funniest tampon scene I‘ve ever read. But I‘m going to guess it won‘t be for everyone.
pickIf you loved We Ride on Sticks (weirdness of high school sports with magic??) or Our Wives Under the Sea (body transformations and relationships and queerness), or want a mermaid story that‘s not quite a mermaid story, snag this one. A high school competitive swimmer and the challenges she faces (cw homophobia, racism, body horror, sexual assault). Out March 28!
pickAn interesting on how society responds to women's bodies with a bit of magical realism. An Asian American swimmer firmly believes she is a mermaid and goes to extreme lengths to transform. Body horror mixed with a dark fairytale elements makes this a compelling feminist read.
