Book Club Schedule (November 2024 & January 2025)
[ID: a soft peach graphic with an illustration of a wreath of orange, brown, and red autumn leaves encircling black text reading, “# Chronically Iconic Book Club 2024 - 2025 Schedule”. An illustration of an open book with a spoon hovering above it sits to the left of the text.]
Hi, bookish friends! October marks the THIRD anniversary of the #ChronicallyIconicBookClub and I’m here to share our next reads!
Due to the never-ending complications of my chronic illness and work/life balance, we’ve decided to try meeting every other month instead of monthly.
We will be discussing each of these books via Instagram group chat. Everyone is welcome so please DM me on Instagram or comment below if you’d like to join us!
We also have a general group chat for random book chats and updates that you’re welcome to join as well.
[ID: a soft peach graphic with a background of brown illustrated autumn leaves. In the center of the graphic, there is a pink book cover with an illustration of a horizontal human figure partially dissected like an anatomy illustration. Disembodied hands poke, prod, and dissect the figure. Text on the graphic reads: November’s read, How to Tell When We Will Die by Johanna Hedva. Nonfiction about chronic illness (# own voices). Discussion date: end of November.]
November’s Read:
[ID: A light pink book cover with an illustration of a a horizontal human figure partially dissected like an anatomy illustration. Disembodied hands poke, prod, and dissect the figure. Dark gray text reads "How to Tell When We Will Die: On Pain, Disability, and Doom Johanna Hedva". Red starbursts are scattered across the text and the whole cover.]
How to Tell When We Will Die by Johanna Hedva
Representation: nonfiction essay collection about disability justice and chronic illness by a chronically ill writer
Discussion: End of November on Instagram
Summary:
In the wake of the 2014 Ferguson riots, and sick with a chronic condition that rendered them housebound, Johanna Hedva turned to the page to How do you throw a brick through the window of a bank if you can’t get out of bed? It was not long before this essay, “Sick Woman Theory”, became a seminal work on disability, because in reframing illness as not just a biological experience but a social one, Hedva argues that under capitalism—a system that limits our worth to the productivity of our bodies—we must reach for the revolutionary act of caring for ourselves and others.
How to Tell When We Will Die expands upon Hedva’s paradigm-shifting perspective in a series of slyly subversive and razor-sharp essays that range from the theoretical to the personal—from Deborah Levy and Susan Sontag to wrestling, kink, mysticism, death, and the color yellow. Drawing from their experiences with America’s byzantine healthcare system, and considering archetypes they call The Psychotic Woman, The Freak, and The Hag in Charge, Hedva offers a bracing indictment of the politics that exploit sickness—relying on and fueling ableism—to the detriment of us all.
With the insight of Anne Boyer’s The Undying and Leslie Jamison’s The Empathy Exams, and the wit of Samantha Irby, Hedva’s debut collection upends our collective understanding of disability. In their radical reimagining of a world where care and pain are symbiotic, and our bodies are allowed to live free and well, Hedva implores us to remember that illness is neither an inconvenience or inevitability, but an enlivening and elemental part of being alive.
Content/trigger warnings: miscarriage, death of a parent, ableism, medical content, medical trauma, child abuse, suicide, drug abuse
[ID: a soft peach graphic with a background of brown illustrated autumn leaves. In the center of the graphic, there is a book cover with a bright orange spiral encircling the title text (Turtles All the Way Down) and the author name (John Green) in bold black text. Text on the graphic reads: January’s read: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green, YA Contemporary with # own voices OCD rep. Discussion date: end of January?]
January’s Read (and Watch):
[ID: an off white book cover with black text that looks like it was written with a paintbrush saying "Turtles All the Way Down John Green" encircled by a descending bright orange swirl. Small beige text in cursive to the left says “#1 bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars”.
How to Tell When We Will Die by Johanna Hedva
Representation: YA contemporary novel with OCD representation based on the author’s personal experience
Discussion: End of January on Instagram
Summary:
Aza Holmes never intended to pursue the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Pickett’s son Davis.
Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.
Content/trigger warnings: panic attacks, self harm, death of parent, car accident, grief, suicidal thoughts
In January 2025, we’re going to do something a little different and also discuss the movie adaption of TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN which came out in 2024 on HBO Max.
Watch the trailer below!
[ID: A movie poster with an image of two teen girls leaning their heads together on a bright orange background. One teen has straight brown hair and brown eyes while the other has pink hair and brown eyes.]
Turtles All the Way Down (2024)
Synopsis: It's not easy being Aza, but she's trying... trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, and a good student, all while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts that she cannot control. When she reconnects with Davis, her childhood crush, Aza is confronted with fundamental questions about her potential for love, happiness, friendship, and hope in the face of her mental illness.
Trigger/content warnings: car accident, panic attacks, self harm
I haven’t read either of these books (or the movie) yet but I’m excited to read them with you all and hear your thoughts!
If you have any suggestions for books, themes, or events you’d like to see in the future, please comment below or contact me on Instagram!