You Want a Dissident Novel Set in Russia

Love Scrabble or have ever thought about selling plasma

Hi friends,

Happy (belated) Juneteenth! I hope you had a great weekend.

A quick clarification before this week’s recs: In my Q&A with Sunyi Dean and Scott Drakeford of Publishing Rodeo last week, I confused the terms “front list” and “lead title.” A front list book is a new book, and a lead title is a book the publisher gives a lot of attention. I’ve updated the post and regret the mistake.

And, now, what to read if…

You Want a Dissident Novel Set in Russia

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Elizabeth Gilbert, of Eat, Pray, Love fame, earned headlines last week when she announced plans to delay the publication of her upcoming book, The Snow Forest, after receiving criticism for setting it in Russia. Without having read the book, detractors argued the book’s setting glorified Russia while continues its war in Ukraine. I haven’t read The Snow Forest yet either, but I find the claim that a book set in Russia must be in support of the country completely backwards. Some of history’s greatest dissident literature — from Dr. Zhivago to One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich — has come out of Russia.

Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita is a part of this tradition. The plot is admittedly weird, and I’m struggling to summarize it. It follows two threads — one in 1930s Moscow and one in ancient Jerusalem. In the former, Satan and his henchmen target the Soviet literary elite. In the latter, a writer named “the Master” narrates a novel he’s been writing about the relationship between Jesus Christ and Pontius Pilate. As Viv Groskop wrote for Lit Hub when describing The Master and Margarita, “The story of the relationship between Christ and Pilate …. returns at intervals throughout the novel and, eventually, both stories tie in together. (Stick with me here. Honestly, it’s big fun.)”

How much do I love this novel? I had a puzzle of its special 50^th-anniversary cover custom-made (and framed when I finished it). Bulgakov uses the two plot lines to condemn the Soviet state’s repressive censorship — and the artists who complied by following the party line

My puzzle

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Bingo boxes this book checks: Book set in multiple time periods, book published before 2020, book set in another country (if you don’t live in Russia)

Bonus recommendation: Friend of the newsletter Leigh Stein wrote a great op-ed on the problems with the precedent Gilbert set with this decision.

You Know How Many Points a “Z” is Worth in Scrabble

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf

Sometimes you read a book that feels like it’s designed especially for you. Queen of the Tiles — a YA mystery set at a Scrabble tournament — felt that way for me. It combines my love of a teen detective and my obsession with the game of Scrabble.

A year before the plot kicks off, Najwa Bakri watched her best friend and self-proclaimed “Queen of the Tiles,” Trina Low, suddenly die at a Scrabble competition. After a break from the word game, Najwa reenters the circuit by attending the same tournament where Trina died. Already overwhelmed with grief and anxiety, her panic spikes when posts start appearing on her deceased friend’s Instagram account that suggest the Queen of the Tiles was murdered. In between games, Najwa attempts to uncover the identity of the mystery poster — and find out who killed her best friend.

Things I loved about Queen of the Tiles:

• Najwa and the competitors delight in playing obscure Scrabble words, so I think it helped to up my game. (Watch out, Mom!)

• The mystery text messages combined with its honest exploration of complex relationships between teenage girls reminded me of “Pretty Little Liars,” a show that I was embarrassingly obsessed with.

• It’s one of the best depictions of the ways grief can manifest itself I’ve read in ages.

Reminder recommendation: Stefan Fatsis’s Word Freak is a delightful nonfiction read on the world of competitive Scrabble.

Bingo boxes this book checks: Book published before 2020, book set in another country (if you don’t live in Malaysia)

You Want to Learn More About an Underground Industry

Blood Money by Kathleen McLaughlin

I am super squeamish about blood – I pass out whenever I need to have it drawn — but I still found Kathleen McLaughlin’s Blood Money, an investigation into the blood plasma industry, fascinating. It’s a gripping look at health care, yes, but also foreign policy, the intersections between business and government and what it takes to survive.

While working as a reporter in China roughly 20 years ago, McLaughlin smuggled in the medication made of human plasma she relied on to treat an autoimmune disorder. She feared using plasma from China, where poor practices led to AIDS spreading rampantly among donors. When McLaughlin returned to the United States, she continued to be curious about blood and plasma donation, especially after a visiting Chinese researcher noted parallels between the American plasma supply chain and the scandal-ridden one in China.

McLaughlin discovers an underground economy with 20 million Americans selling plasma annually. While blood companies claim their donors are driven by altruism, she determines most rely on the money from plasma sales to meet their basic needs. She visits economically depressed cities where pharmaceutical companies establish plasma donation centers, knowing their residents need the money, and documents the lack of research on long-term health effects of plasma donation.

All the while, McLaughlin wonders about her own complicity in a system that keeps her alive. Her personal connection and empathy add a layer of nuance to an already complex story.

Bingo boxes this book checks: Debut

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That’s it for me today! Thanks for reading! You can catch up on last week’s recs here and my Q&A with Sunyi Dean and Scott Drakeford here.

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