We’ve gleaned a lot about our readers from examining this year’s most purchased books on the site. It turns out you guys embrace a diverse range of genres and topics, whether it’s a cleverly self-aware murder mystery or a biting collection of feminist poems. Themes emerged, too: many of these titles share an appreciation of dark humor, a love of magical realism, an affinity for feminist and intersectional concerns, or an aspiration to make visible what is normally hidden. We’re especially proud to see so many small-press books here, given the comparably less space that is afforded to them in traditional media.
Nearly every type of reader will find a book that resonates with them, considering the talented and eclectic slate of writers. Jami Attenberg offers invaluable productivity tips for writers; Donika Kelly depicts mythological beasts with a razor-sharp poetic eye; Andrea Carlisle refuses to go gently into old age. These fifteen books represent just some of the exciting literary voices that we are honored to support.
Here are the most purchased books on Electric Literature this year, starting from the most popular:
How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
Frances Adams has spent sixty years trying to prevent her own murder (as foretold by a fortune-teller), gathering intel on everyone she meets in her small town. But her efforts are in vain, and when she’s found dead, her great-niece Annie has to pick up where she left off solving the crime. This enthralling premise will hook you into the story, and Kristen Perrin’s careful plotting and witty dialogue will keep you rapt. As Perrin demonstrates, just because a book is about murder doesn’t mean it can’t be funny. How to Solve Your Own Murder promises a cozy evening of binge-reading before the highly anticipated sequel comes out in April!
The Rock Eaters: Stories by Brenda Peynado
Brenda Peynado’s glittering short stories wear the garb of fantasy but pack the punch of a political call-to-action. Her fabulistic stories, many of which center around young women coming of age, offer lenses into imaginative or troubling new worlds. “Thoughts and Prayers,” set in the aftermath of a school shooting, conjures a particularly lasting image, with adult characters who are paralyzed to do anything but pray to the hulking angels on their roofs. Throughout the collection, Peynado’s characters resist easy categorization into good and bad, right and wrong. Instead, she interrogates existing structures of power and imagines how they could be uprooted by magic.
The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs by George Singleton
George Singleton returns with another top-notch collection of short fiction centered around the landscape of the Carolinas and the eccentric, quick-witted men who live there. He savors the Southern terroir of his settings without relying on stereotypes or snap judgments, instead crafting characters who push against convention. They run into problems that are frequently absurd or outlandish, and each narrative twist leans headfirst into that stereotype. The seventeen stories that make up this collection are full of Singleton’s singular, gritty voice.
There Was an Old Woman: Reflections on These Strange, Surprising, Shining Years by Andrea Carlisle
Our society is all too eager to let its older members fade into the background, but Andrea Carlisle refuses to be the silent old woman in the corner. Instead, in There Was an Old Woman, Carlisle dissects the ways ageism and misogyny meld to birth phenomena like the anti-aging industry. She considers historical portrayals of older women in literature and art and traces a line to the present-day media landscape. Her essays are also packed with tender personal anecdotes and observations of her beautiful natural surroundings. Andrea Carlisle is the ultimate literary companion for women entering their golden years.
Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado
Carmen Maria Machado’s debut collection of short fiction has achieved cult classic status by now, and for good reason. Machado’s work is particularly notable for the immediate, evocative way she writes about the female body: as queer, as erotic, as disfigured, as surviving patriarchal violence. From the biting feminist critique of “The Husband Stitch” to the otherworldly, transcendent mode of “Especially Heinous,” each of these stories captures a haunted, fantastical world in amber. Throughout, Carmen Maria Machado shows off her claustrophobic, vivid, and entirely unique fictional voice.
Bestiary: Poems by Donika Kelly
Donika Kelly’s debut book of poetry is populated by beasts of all manners, from mythological monsters like the minotaur to quotidian ones like the speaker’s father. She writes with a clear-eyed ferocity about nature, love, family secrets, and occupying her body as a Black woman in America.
Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games edited by J. Robert Lennon and Carmen Maria Machado
Video games represent a form of storytelling that has become increasingly integral to culture and society. This anthology of essays proposes a collaborative spirit toward new media, and it was collaboratively edited over the pandemic by J. Robert Lennon and Carmen Maria Machado. These myriad authors detail their personal experiences with gaming and consider how the technology offers new possibilities and complications. It’s hard to go wrong with a book that includes new work by Hanif Abdurraqib, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Tony Tulathimutte, Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, and more.
The Book of Disbelieving by David Lawrence Morse
The Book of Disbelieving contains not just short stories but whole worlds painstakingly captured in David Lawrence Morse’s clear-eyed prose. He releases the reader gradually into each story, richly painting the fantastical realms and hinting at the secrets that lie within. In the especially surprising “Spring Leapers,” a parable-telling reverend observes his new village partaking in a bizarre annual tradition that soon turns deadly. Morse invokes curiosity with each of these tales, prompting the reader to reflect on mortality, memory, and human nature.
The Goodbye Process: Stories by Mary Jones
Mary Jones takes a scalpel to grief in this exquisitely crafted collection of short stories centered around life’s myriad goodbyes. She moves deftly between narrative moods as she showcases different aspects of love, loss, and letting go. These deeply felt, original stories have a way of sneaking into your heart and staying there.
1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round by Jami Attenberg
The 1000 Words movement began at Jami Attenberg’s writing desk as she faced a looming deadline; she challenged herself to write one thousand words every day for two weeks, without second-guessing what she was putting down on the page. One viral hashtag later, and Attenberg is embracing this judgment-free perspective in a craft guide full of motivation and productivity tips. More than fifty other literary luminaries—including Camille Dungy, Lauren Groff, and Alexander Chee—contribute writing advice, making this one of the most inspiring craft books on the market.
The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India by Urvashi Butalia
The partition of India and Pakistan into two separate countries in 1947 caused the displacement and death of ordinary people on a massive scale. Yet decades later, the full scale of this event is still not well-understood. Urvashi Butalia addresses this gap with a careful documentarian’s approach, using oral interviews, diaries, and letters to understand the human impact of partition. Butalia pays particular attention to people on the margins—women, children, lower castes—resulting in a touching and personal account of history.
Thunder Song: Essays by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe
In LaPointe’s Coast Salish community, there is a belief in the power of music to heal. These virtuosic personal essays underscore that power and continue a documentary thread from LaPointe’s great-grandmother. The essays in Thunder Song showcase LaPointe’s fresh perspective and captivating intellect as they move through her family archives and the indigenous communities of the Pacific Northwest.
The Kudzu Queen by Mimi Herman
As a lifelong New Englander, I had never heard of the invasive species kudzu or its history in the American South, which Mimi Herman reimagines in this enchanting work of historical fiction. Fifteen-year-old narrator Mattie captured my heart immediately with her earnest enthusiasm and huge imagination. The Kudzu Queen is at once a tenderly wrought coming-of-age narrative and an irresistible historical drama.
I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both by Mariah Stovall
Main character Khaki is desperate to disappear, whether into the thrum of the punk-rock music scene or into her codependent, questionably platonic relationship with childhood friend Fiona. As she considers whether to rekindle the friendship, Khaki ruminates on concerns about mental health, attachment, codependence, identity, and the racial dynamics of their relationship. The resulting debut novel sparkles with intellect, pathos, and a pounding bassline.
You’d Look Better as a Ghost by Joanna Wallace
Claire is an introvert, an aspiring artist, a caustic wit grieving the recent death of her father—oh, and a part-time serial killer. When she suspects someone from her bereavement support group has witnessed her latest murder, Claire must scramble to prevent her macabre side-hustle from being exposed. This darkly comic thriller is packed with eccentric characters and deadly antics.
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