Kimberly King Parsons’s Recommended Reading List
Kimberly King Parsons, the author of the national-bestselling novel We Were the Universe, number two on TIME Magazine’s Best Books of 2024 and a Dakota Johnson Book Club pick the New York Times calls “a profound, gutsy tale of grief’s dismantling power,” shares her recommended reading list.
To learn more about Kimberly and her inspiring career, visit here.
“A gloriously filthy look at digital dating hell, where characters bounce between each other's DMs and beds with absolutely chaotic energy. Tulathimutte offers a mordantly funny dissection of modern romance: everyone's desperately swiping right while their souls slowly wither. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion, except the train is filled with horniness and existential dread—and somehow, you can't stop laughing.”
“In an unnamed city during the Troubles, a young woman commits the cardinal sin of reading while walking and suddenly finds herself stalked by a paramilitary known as "the milkman." With devastating style, Burns serves up a deliciously twisted cocktail where paranoia meets absurdity, and keeping your head down might be just as dangerous as sticking it out.”
“These stylish, bleak stories are like being invited to the world's most entertaining funeral. Williams is an absolute master—she drops her characters into emotional wastelands and watches them flounder with such precise, knife-sharp prose you'll feel weirdly honored to witness their unraveling.”
“A delightfully off-kilter collection where queerness meets weirdness in settings from steamy Southern backwaters to chilly Amsterdam canals. Hudson's characters are magnificent messes—these stories deliver displacement and longing with such dark whimsy you'll recognize your own ridiculous heart on every page.”
“Vara's characters fumble through connection with tragicomic grace: a young girl recites encyclopedias to her dementia-addled neighbor, two teenage girls take jobs at a phone sex hotline, and a man builds an ark because, well, why not? With bone-dry humor and gorgeous prose, Vara asks: in a world where we're all fundamentally alone, isn't it absurdly funny how hard we keep trying to find each other?”
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