Category: Literature
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Authors, Your Vegan Characters Do Not Have to Be Stereotypes
Have you read a book (or watched a movie/show) lately that featured a vegan or vegetarian side character? Did you notice how they were characterized? Were they friendly? Or did they feel like an exaggerated version? Here’s the thing: vegans have a bad reputation. It’s sad, but it’s true. We’re obnoxious, we push our beliefs…
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REVIEW: Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Title: HerlandAuthor: Charlotte Perkins GilmanPublication: 1915Rating: 2.75/5 starsCW/TW: mentions of rape/sexual assaultNotes: Vegan Book Club‘s April 2021 group read A meat-free society with no men? Huh, I can’t imagine why anyone would consider that a utopia! When Charlotte Perkins Gilman had something to say, she did not pull any punches. This is true for her…
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READ VEGAN: A Zine For and By Vegan Readers
At Vegan Book Club, our unofficial motto is “read vegan.” That’s why I created the community anyway: to provide a space where plant-based bookworms from around the world could come together and read and discuss vegan-related and animal-friendly books (or anything else, really). Being vegan (or vegetarian, for that matter) isn’t as weird as it…
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REVIEW: Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella
“I don’t want to sound overdramatic, but he’s crystal meth. In a good way.” Title: Love Your LifeAuthor: Sophie KinsellaExpected Publication: October 27, 2020Rating: 3/5 starsCW/TW: N/ANotes: I received an advanced reader copy via Netgalley For lovers of contemporary romances (especially of the rom-com variety), Sophie Kinsella is a staple. She has written plenty of…
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REVIEW: Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
“Feeling is always worth it.” Title: Take a Hint, Dani BrownAuthor: Talia HibbertPublication: June 23, 2020Rating: 4.5/5 starsCW/TW: anxiety, depression, panic attack, mention of deathNotes: I received an advanced reader copy via Netgalley Is there anything better than a good rom-com? In my eyes, Talia Hibbert is one of the queens of this kind of…
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REVIEW: Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee
“What is so special about the form of consciousness that we recognize that makes killing a bearer of it a crime while killing an animal goes unpunished?” Title: Elizabeth CostelloAuthor: J.M. CoetzeePublication: 2003Rating: 2/5 starsCW/TW: N/ANotes: Vegan Book Club‘s January 2020 group read Elizabeth Costello. Writer. Vegetarian. Mother. Grandmother. Sister. These are the titles that are arguably…
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REVIEW: The Green and the Red by Armand Chauvel
“Like any other person, Léa had her own strengths, a potential that she alone could tap into, the ability to create something unique, even if on a modest scale, and nobody on earth would detract her from this goal.” Title: The Green and the RedAuthor: Armand Chauvel; Elisabeth Lyman (translator)Publication: 2014Rating: 2.5/5 starsCW/TW: N/ANotes: Vegan…
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REVIEW: Love at First Like by Hannah Orenstein
“America is a sick place in which little girls still grow up thinking getting someone to fall in love with them is some kind of achievement.“ Title: Love at First LikeAuthor: Hannah OrensteinPublication: 2019Rating: 1.5/5 starsCW/TW: N/A You ever start reading a book and get hopeful based on one thing (in this case, the mention…
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Anne Brontë and How She Taught Me to be a Better Feminist, Vegan, and Overall Advocate
Anne Bronte taught me how to be a good person. It sounds bizarre. After all, what could a 21st-century woman learn from a 19th-century author? But it’s true. And the answer to that question? A lot. In 2015, I was in my sophomore year of college. At the time, I was taking a course all…
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REVIEW: Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
“‘Choke, Redford. Just choke.’He seemed to adore her more every second.” Title: Get a Life, Chloe BrownAuthor: Talia HibbertPublication: 2019Rating: 4.5/5 starsCW/TW: chronic illness, near-death experience What do you get when you combine a charming leading man/artist extraordinaire, a chronically ill sass-master of a heroine, nosy sisters, and a cat? Talia Hibbert’s delightful novel Get…
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REVIEW: Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian
“Hate is just fear in drag.” Title: Like a Love StoryAuthor: Abdi NazemianPublication: 2019Rating: 4/5 starsCW/TW: homophobia, racism, illness + death, fat-shaming New York City might be considered progressive due to its diverse population, but in 1989 – and probably still in 2019 – it was still a city that reeked of homophobia and racism.…
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REVIEW: Octavia E. Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy
“They own themselves. They don’t belong to you.” Title: Xenogenesis/Lilith’s BroodAuthor: Octavia E. ButlerPublication: 1987-89Rating: 3/5 stars (for the whole series)CW/TW: violence, child abuse, murder, rape Between the months of August and October, Vegan Book Club, an online community that gathers on Goodreads (and sometimes Instagram) to discuss, well, vegan books (duh), had been reading…
Tessa Altman 