Books for Murder Bimbos
Rebecca Novack's reading list. Bonus: All of them fit in tiny bags.
Catherine Lacey calls Rebecca Novack’s scintillating debut “Gone Girl for the Luigi Mangione era.” Need we say more?
The novel follows a sex worker tapped by government operatives to assassinate a politician. There’s just one problem: After she does the deed, she realizes they picked her because she’s disposable—and she’s the only one who can save her life.
Yes, Murder Bimbo is plot-driven. Yes, that still means it’s good. Novack wrote a refreshingly honest Substack post, “It was embarrassing to write a plot-driven novel,” something we grapple with a lot as writers interested in not just writing books but selling them.
“I reread books where big things happen to remind myself that the prose disappears or shines as prose but very rarely makes me go ‘wow this writer is a loser,’” she writes.
We’re here to confirm Novack is not a loser; that her book just has both a plot and literary merit. What a concept! Below, she recommends five books that also fit in your tiniest bag. (But if you need something small enough to fit in a Luar, you can find Language Arts’ recs here.)
A few other things we’re reading into this week…
Dirt Books was announced today, “a publishing imprint for the 22nd century,” helmed by the cool culture publication Dirt. This is exciting news for people who like good books, and already judging by their first two acquisitions, Dirt Books is set to become an indie publishing powerhouse. Lauren Napier’s Tattooed, Pierced & Fucked-Up: A Scene Memoir 2004–2008 will be Dirt’s first nonfiction title, and Geoffrey Mak’s debut novel Total Depravity will be their first fiction release. Mak is the co-editor of Writing on Raving, which is also one of our reading series. We will certainly be pre-ordering.
In other publishing news, Tyrant Books is returning, five years after the death of its founder Giancarlo DiTrapano, who is directly or indirectly responsible for nurturing the careers of maybe half the writers we’ve covered. This time it’s being helmed by Luke Goebel whose very good novel Kill Dick is out in April. (Sophia wrote about it for Playboy.)
It’s tiresome that readers can’t leave biography out of fiction, especially when it comes to young women.
Wuthering Heights was mid but you all have opinions on which cologne Heathcliff would wear while tormenting every living soul on the moors…
SAVE the dates: Mark your cals for April 9 and June 2. We’re working on a couple sexy events in NYC.
And now, Rebecca Novack’s Reading List: