Camille DeAngelis is the author of the recently released Bones & All, Petty Magic: Being the Memoirs and Confessions of Miss Evelyn Harbinger, Temptress and Troublemaker, and Mary Modern, as well as a first-edition guidebook, Moon Ireland. She is a graduate of New York University (B.A. in Fine Arts, minor in Irish Studies, 2002) and the National University of Ireland, Galway (M.A. in Writing, 2005).Recently I asked DeAngelis about what she was reading. Her reply:
Right now my public transit reading is When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone, a feminist classic I found at the biannual Harvard Books warehouse sale (which is every bit as exciting as it sounds!) Though some Goodreads reviewers have argued that Stone's thesis supportsVisit Camille DeAngelis's website.a matriarchy that never actually existed, the book pretty much proved its continued relevance for me when a first-grade girl I tutor read the book cover and replied scornfully, “God was never a woman!”
Two epic novels I've read and loved recently are Queen of Kings by Maria Dahvana Headley (Cleopatra as a vampire! Impeccably researched with a delicious overlay of fantasy—in this universe all the old magic of gods and oracles and the underworld is for real) and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (a beautifully written and characterized novel that makes the story of the Iliad feel way more accessible). I also went over the moon for Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, about a close friendship between two girls, a pilot and a spy,during World War II. If you enjoy novels that repeatedly break your heart, both Code Name Verity and The Song of Achilles are must reads.
Also on my nightstand is Victoria Moran's The Good Karma Diet, which is about compassionate eating to feel happier and more peaceful and connected to the world around you—it's not a diet plan, it's a philosophy. I'm very proud to say I have a sidebar essay in the book, and I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of it!
--Marshal Zeringue
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