General Fiction/Literature - The Irresponsible Reader

by Felicia Day, illustrated by Rowan MacColl

DETAILS:
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: March 17, 2026
Format: Hardcover
Length: 193 pg.
Read Date: March 21, 2026

The Origin of the Book

Day explains this better in the book, but I bring this up because it’s kind of a key to thinking about this book. Day came across a reference to a curse that was imposed on Helen of Troy and her sisters—which led to her rethinking Helen. As she looks into that some more, she reads about Helen’s sister Philonoe being made immortal by Artemis. And that’s it. No details provided.

Which gets her imagination percolating and us getting this graphic novel.

What’s The Lost Daughter of Sparta About?

Whereas big sister Helen was a legendary beauty (literally), Philonoe was born with a birthmark denoting her as ugly—think Gorbachev’s scalp birthmark but covering about half her face. She’s sent to live with goatherds for most of her life, but is brought back by her parents following the Trojan War to get married.

Her future husband is a prince of Gla. If he has a redeeming quality to him, Day didn’t do a great job of making sure we saw it. Her mother reveals to her the nature of the curse that Aphrodite had put upon her and her sisters.

Philonoe goes to Aphrodite’s to ask for help with this curse and is sent on a quest to retrieve three items. Due to a previous sacrifice to Artemis, that goddess is paying attention to her, too. Artemis plays Ghosts of Sister Present with her, letting her see how things are going for them in a way to help her learn about the world.

What did I think about the art?

I’m of two minds when it comes to the art. It’s not the cleanest, most attractive, or most consistent art you’ve come across. But there’s a charm to it—the more I read, the more I enjoyed it.

I know MacColl is capable of cleaner work—I’ve checked out their website and have seen it. So what I’m trying to talk about has to be intentional. There’s part of me that sees some similarities between the art and figures on Grecian Urns I’ve seen in books.

So, what did I think about The Lost Daughter of Sparta?

There’s just nothing subtle about the storytelling, or the dispensing of the moral(s) of the story. It might have been a bit more effective if it were.

Still, it’s hard to fault the moral(s) she’s dispensing—particularly if her daughter is the primary target audience.

This isn’t a feminist re-imagining of a classic character, like so many we’ve seen. Philonoe is a blank slate as far as history and literature are concerned, so Day has the freedom to draw whatever she wants on it—and she’s taken advantage of it. There’ve been so many interpretations of Aphrodite and Artemis over the centuries that one more isn’t notable (and Day likely echoes as many as she diverges from)—the two of them are rather amusing together.

It’s a classic hero’s journey that is full of commentary on Greek heroes and how they are used by the Olympians. I’d have liked to see a bit more of that, really. But what Day gave us was pretty effective.

It’s a fast read with some fun turns—it’s not perfect, but what is? Is Day capable of better? Yes. Can you feel her investment in the project on every page? Yeah, pretty much.

I’m glad that I read The Lost Daughter of Sparta, and I assume anyone the premise appeals to will be, too. I’d suggest checking it out.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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Head Fake (Audiobook) by Scott Gordon, read by Nick Mondelli: Hoop Dreams and Sometimes Crushing Reality

By HCNewton

On March 24, 2026

In Audiobook, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

Head Fake

by Scott Gordon, read by Nick Mondelli

DETAILS:
Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc.
Publication Date: April 29, 2025
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 9 hrs., 43 min.
Read Date: February 27-March 2, 2026

What’s Head Fake About?

Mikey has been unhoused a lot recently, but is currently staying with his father to recover from a sickness. If he can keep a job for a while, he can stay with him. His dad has a connection that can get Mikey a job at a school for high-risk offenders with mental illnesses as a bus driver.

It’s not much, but it’s something.

Then, due to a fun set of circumstances, he’s put in the job of coaching the team’s small basketball team.

Oh, I should probably mention that Mikey’s dad is a couple of months away from becoming the winningest High School basketball coach in the U.S., and despite the tortured relationship between the two, Mikey learned a lot from him.

Mikey needs to get the trust of his team (and the school’s administration), fight through his own mental illness struggles, and keep his father from tossing him out. That should be no problem at all, right?

What did I think about the Narration?

I have no notes. Mondelli got everything from Mikey’s attitude, the students, his father, and everyone else just right.

Why did I pick this up? Why did I keep reading?

I honestly don’t remember how I came across this book. But I put it on a list at some point, and eventually got around to picking it up.

I stuck with it because I liked Mikey—his voice and him as a person. He got his hooks in me right away and wouldn’t let go. I really just had to find out what happened to him—the more I got to know the students, the more I got invested. (just the way a reader is supposed to)

What does this book tell us about humanity?

This is a book about broken people helping other broken people (and, in some cases, hurting broken people). While there are some similarities in the problems each character has faced and is facing, it’s not the commonalities that connect them—it’s that they’ve faced a problem and are still trying, however weakly.

Also, a love for basketball.

So, what did I think about Head Fake?

While set in a high school, this is not a YA book. But it is YA-friendly.

This book is really a mash-up of two sure-fire feel-good stories. First, you’ve got an underdog sports team battling just to be taken seriously—and it ends up winning a lot. Gordon nails this part. Granted, it’s hard to mess that kind of story up—but there’s something so satisfying when it’s done right.

The other part of the mash-up is the outsider connecting with students in an inspirational way. Think Lean on Me or Sister Act 2 (more of the latter than the former). Granted, a bus driver isn’t much of an authority figure—but that’s where the coach part comes in.

You combine the two with some strong character growth from one of the underest underdog characters I can think of, some dumb humor, and a metric ton of earnest goodwill, and you’ve got yourself a wholly pleasant book that I can’t imagine a reader/listener wouldn’t be charmed by.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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The Land of Sweet Forever by Harper Lee: Short Works by an American Master

By HCNewton

On March 19, 2026

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Non-Fiction

The Land of Sweet Forever: Stories and Essays

by Harper Lee

DETAILS:
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: October 21, 2025
Format: Hardcover
Length: 224 pg.
Read Date: January 28-30, 2026

What’s The Land of Sweet Forever?

The short version is that this is a collection of eight short stories and eight short non-fiction pieces by Harper Lee.

That seems a bit lacking, so here’s what the Publisher says:

Harper Lee remains a landmark figure in the American canon – thanks to Scout, Jem, Atticus, and the other indelible characters in her Pulitzer-winning debut, To Kill a Mockingbird; as well as for the darker, late-’50s version of small-town Alabama that emerged in Go Set a Watchman, her only other novel, published in 2015 after its rediscovery. Less remembered, until now, however, is Harper Lee the dogged young writer, who crafted stories in hopes of magazine publication; Lee the lively New Yorker, Alabamian, and friend to Truman Capote; and the Lee who peppered the pages of McCall’s and Vogue with thoughtful essays in the latter part of the twentieth century.

The Land of Sweet Forever combines Lee’s early short fiction and later nonfiction in a volume offering an unprecedented look at the development of her inimitable voice. Covering territory from the Alabama schoolyards of Lee’s youth to the luncheonettes and movie houses of midcentury Manhattan, The Land of Sweet Forever invites still-vital conversations about politics, equality, travel, love, fiction, art, the American South, and what it means to lead an engaged and creative life.

There are three pieces that I want to focus on: two short stories and one essay.

“The Cat’s Meow”

This story takes place in Maycomb—our favorite fictional community. Our narrator (a thinly disguised Harper Lee) returns home for a visit from New York City, and stays with her sister (a thinly disguised version of her sister, Alice). In this story, Alice has a “Yankee Negro” gardener with a criminal past. His actions, life, and interactions with people in the community are the focus of the story.

The narrator is clearly not comfortable with the way that the gardener is treated—but lacks the courage to follow through beyond a comment or two lest she do something to cause an irreparable rift.

It’s easy to judge the narrator (as the editor seems to in her introduction), but it’s also really easy to empathize and root for her quiet push-back and hope for something bigger around the corner. Anyone who’s been in a dicey conversation in the last few years with a relative on the other side of a political/social divide will be able to relate to this.

The characters are fully human and flawed. Everything is incredibly relatable, and you can’t help but feel for the gardener (even when he makes some huge errors in judgement)

“The Land of Sweet Forever”

This story right here is worth the purchase price of the book. It showed up in Go Set a Watchman, but don’t hold that against it.

There’s something about the characters and conversations in this story that just worked for me—the storyline itself is almost non-existent, but the scenes that make it up are so good that it doesn’t matter.

I can’t put my finger on what about this that clicked with me, and I really don’t know how to discuss it. It’s a simple little story that made my heart swell.

“Love—in Other Words”

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the non-fiction portion of the book, but when I finished it, I put in my notes, “If this is what these essays are going to be like, I’m very happy.” Sadly, this was the best of the batch—by a lot.

It’s really a basic essay about love—Lee invokes historical figures, general sentiment, literature, and the Bible, and comes up with something that just strikes you as true. Practically timeless. Yeah, it’s basic, but it doesn’t need to be more.

So, what did I think about The Land of Sweet Forever?

A lot of the stories/pieces were just fine or underwhelming—the collection as a whole isn’t that great. The high points were high (and I didn’t discuss them all), and the low points were forgettable.

But this is definitely a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. We get to see a lot of different aspects of Lee here—ways she developed as a writer. The way she can lift bits of her older writing and incorporate them into her novels. Her personality. This is a great way to understand her.

I’ve heard and read the story so many times about her friends giving her a place to live for a year so she can focus on To Kill a Mockingbird. We all know how close she was to Capote, or how much she admired Gregory Peck. Reading those things in her own words just makes those things we all know resonate so much more clearly.

I don’t know how often I’ll read this entire collection again (certainly before I re-read Go Set a Watchman), but I can dip back into it here and there. But I’m so glad we have it. I think if you have more than a passing interest in Lee, you will, too.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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PUB DAY REPOST: Black Bag by Luke Kennard: Funny and Surreal

By HCNewton

On March 17, 2026

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

I tried to come up with a punny post title about the novel carrying a lot, like a bag. Just didn’t work.

Black Bag

by Luke Kennard

DETAILS: 
Publisher: Zando
Publication Date: March 17, 2026
Format: eARC
Length: 352 pg.
Read Date: March 7-11, 2026

What’s Black Bag About?

A struggling character actor (who seems to primarily pay the bills with dinner theater gigs) receives an unusual offer—a local university professor wants to hire him as part of an experiment. He is to attend three class sessions a week wearing a large black satchel—only his lower legs and feet are to be visible. He is to not interact with anyone—no speaking, no gesturing, no reacting to anything while on campus.

In exchange, Black Bag gets a roll of cash each week.

Easy enough, right? But it’s harder to not interact with other people than our actor realizes. And while this inspires him to look for other atypical roles, they’re not that easy to get (and he’s not that sure he wants them). His childhood friend—a game streamer—starts to see ways to monetize Black Bag (I’m not saying his friend’s hallucinogen use inspires these ideas, but I’m not saying they don’t). Also, another professor starts to take an interest in Black Bag for their own purposes.

So, what did I think about Black Bag?

Let me start by saying that the opening paragraphs to this are among my favorite in the last year or so—the rest of the book is worth the time, too.

Beyond that…I’m finding it difficult to really talk about what the novel seems to want to talk about without talking about events and things said in the last 10-20% of the book. I’m not sure how important it is to avoid plot points when discussing this particular novel, because the plot seems tertiary (at best) for Black Bag, but I have an aversion to doing that.

I’m not entirely convinced that Kennard has an agenda that he’s trying to push—and if he does, he’s certainly not leading anyone by horns to it—but he wants the reader to think about certain ideas/themes. Some prominent ones (I won’t try to be exhaustive here, I’d fail) are: the place of art in society and how it should try to shape discourse; the intensity of online communities—and how fragile they are; sex without emotional attachment; monetization of personal details online; post-humanism; academic politics; contemporary expressions of masculinity—and the various movements cropping up to address the “crisis” of it; the need for attachment to others.

If the plot is tertiary, the themes and issues in focus are definitely primary. I think the characters are, too. At times—and even now—I’m tempted to see the characters as flat, merely placeholders for Kennard to attach arguments/points of view on. Arguably, this is a valid reading. But each of the characters is more than that—they’re all fairly well-drawn, and the depth of each one is seen in the way they react to and interact with Black Bag. Just as Dr. Blend intended.

Do they project their desire for a get-rich-quick scheme onto it? Or perhaps they see it as a tool for sexual pleasure. One student sees the bag as a solid point to discuss the class with (at?) in place of the erratic professor. And then there’s the narrator himself, at times in danger of becoming more than Black Bag—detached from humanity, his career, his reality—losing himself to fantasy during the lectures, observing those around him, doing little more than noting their reactions to him. The more we consider how the characters respond to Black Bag, the more we see about them. And, breaking the fourth wall (the narrator does this himself, inviting the reader to do the same), the way the reader reacts to Black Bag at various points of the novel reveals something about ourselves, too.

The narration itself is deceptively breezy and light. It is possible to lose yourself in the pacing and ease of the narrator’s conversational address to the reader and gloss over details—inherently, this is a strength. It would be very easy for this book to fall over under the weight of its own pretensions, but Kennard protects it from that. It keeps the reader engaged and entertained—Black Bag is frequently funny, both in how he bumbles through life and how he describes that to the reader.

I also find myself asking at this point, how would I react to the novel on a re-read? Knowing where all of this is happening, what meaning that Black Bag finds (for example) in the experiment, how would I react to him at the beginning, and in his early sessions. As a thought experiment, I’m getting nowhere—but I can’t stop wondering.

Surreal and absurd in the best way, full of challenging ideas, and brought to life through a very oddball collection of characters, Black Bag is a novel you won’t soon forget (nor will you want to).

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Zando Projects via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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Black Bag by Luke Kennard: Funny and Surreal

By HCNewton

On March 13, 2026

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

I tried to come up with a punny post title about the novel carrying a lot, like a bag. Just didn’t work.

Black Bag

by Luke Kennard

DETAILS: 
Publisher: Zando
Publication Date: March 17, 2026
Format: eARC
Length: 352 pg.
Read Date: March 7-11, 2026