Book cover of Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir

Book description

A striking literary memoir of genderfluidity, class, masculinity, and the American Southwest that captures the author’s experience coming of age in a Tucson, Arizona, trailer park.

Newly arrived in the Sonoran Desert, eleven-year-old Zoë’s world is one of giant beetles, thundering javelinas, and gnarled paloverde trees. With the family’s…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Cactus Country as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The world Zoë Bossiere builds in CACTUS COUNTY is utterly unique, with characters at once compelling, nuanced, and heartbreaking. Zoë's writing brings every moment of this story alive: we are dusty, crispy, seared, elated, rage-filled, and--by the end--so very desperate for them to get out. Deft in its portrayals of class issues and what it's like to be genderqueer, CACTUS COUNTRY is also just a top tier memoir, telling a story we haven't heard in gorgeous language I couldn't put down.

If you love Cactus Country...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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