Anna Hundert

EROS THE BITTERSWEET by Anne Carson (@princetonupress 1986) . This book diary entry requires a bit of a story! So I read this book for the first time in 2022, when I was recovering from a Very Bad Time. I don’t remember why I decided that was the right moment to pick it up. Maybe something in my subconscious knew that I needed it. It’s a challenging book, sometimes quite academically dense, but also full of nuggets of wisdom that transcend the academic scope, and there’s a profound beauty too, in both its form and content. And this beauty accompanied me on my journey out of the underworld. It reminded me of why I loved to read, and why I had chosen to study literature/Classics. It specifically reminded me a lot of the ideas I was exposed to in an undergraduate Classics course called “The Idea of Self” in 2015 (talk about ancient history!) which was also the first time that I ever seriously studied the work of Sappho (this was before I had even accepted that I was one of her namesake sapphics!) . — anyway, so back to 2022, I’m reading Eros the Bittersweet and somehow feeling called back to myself, back to reality, and realizing that even if I never complete an advanced degree, I can still engage with these ideas as a reader/writer/thinker/lover/human. And when I finished it, I remember thinking to myself, wouldn’t it be cool to explore some of these ideas through the medium of fiction? And that was the beginning of my novel-in-progress about Sappho, which I think I properly started drafting in early 2023. . Fast-forward, three years later, I have been feeling stuck in the “muddy middle” of the drafting process, and decided it was time to reread Eros the Bittersweet and reconnect with that initial inspiration. And I’m so glad I did!! So I am diving back into the dual challenge of drafting and researching for this project. Thank you Anne Carson!! . #annecarson #erosthebittersweet

Hear me out! Hear me out!! Like many readers, I was first introduced to this fandom through the hit TV show adaptation by Jacob Tierney. As you may know, the majority of Season One focuses on the Shane and Ilya plot from the book “Heated Rivalry,” but episode 3 (out of 6) goes on a sidetrack to show us the Scott and Kip story, which is the focus of the book Game Changer. The internet told me to read Game Changer first, so that’s what I did. It definitely gave me a greater perspective about Scott and Kip’s journey, and I really enjoyed the read (though I must warn you, in the audiobook, the “Brooklyn accent” that the performer does for Kip is very distractingly bad). Shane and Ilya are my favorites, my boys, my loves, so diving into the book Heated Rivalry (also on audiobook) was a real pleasure. I would be walking down the sidewalk listening to it and just stupidly grinning from ear to ear. These characters and their journeys just bring me so much joy, and it’s not only about the smutty parts, (though I certainly appreciate a good sex scene as much as the next girl!) it’s about the narrative of people falling in love and trying to love each other well, and isn’t that what it’s all about?? I don’t have much experience with genre romance, so it’s hard for me to evaluate Rachel Reid’s writing against her peers, but it was really high quality and readable and I am planning to read the rest of the series before Season Two comes out! 😌 special s/o to @gracelynnmo for the rec 🥰 . . . #heatedrivalry #romance #amreading

“Goddess spirituality activates modes of creativity that draw strength from the profound relatedness of all life […] The grand adventure that is the unfolding of the person is then recognized as a process of the unfolding story of the Earth community and the cosmos.” — Charlene Spretnak, from the Preface to the 1992 edition, LOST GODDESSES OF EARLY GREECE: A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths (Beacon Press 1978) . . . I love this book! In fact, I have so much to say about it that it won’t fit in an instagram caption, so I have just posted a Substack essay sharing some of my reflections. Link in bio! And please follow/subscribe to “Sapphic Tendencies” (it’s free!!) — I’m hoping to use the space to share more about my novel research journey. Looking forward to sharing a lot more Sappho-adjacent explorations in the future. I promise I won’t spam your inbox too much — I think I’m aiming for two or three pieces per month. Instagram is mostly about reels these days, and that’s not really my strength, so I’m pivoting more of my social media energy toward Substack, and we’ll see how it goes. . . . Also s/o to our local Boston institution @beaconpress keeping it real since 1854!! . . . #greekmythology #lostgoddessesofearlygreece #charlenespretnak #nonfiction

A passage from EXQUISITE CORPUS: “Frenzied, tongue-tied, dithering, this mouth-distorted sequel / prefers exquisite dissociation. Pivoting, E calls— / wants to mother. Bottomless the exploits / that created woman of man- / y possibilities. // When dysphoria becomes faint memory / we will not disappear. Then we’ll seesaw / from being a murmur to supernova. / Well, are you sure it’s impossible / formally to think in goddess prose? / E’s sublingual undertaking isn’t obscene; / rewriting unburdens beauty.” — Noa Micaela Fields, E (@nightboat_books 2026) . . . I adore this poetry collection by the great Noa Fields (@doyounoapoet - give her a follow!). “E” is partly a homophonic translation, a “mishearing” of Louis Zukofsky’s “A” (which I admittedly have not read) — It’s gloriously queer and experimental and filled with so much beauty. Bursting with beauty. It was a pleasure to read even when some of it might have been going over my head. But that’s poetry! I’m having trouble describing it so I am going to quote what Julian Talamantez Brolaski says in one of the back-blurbs: “Noa Micaela Fields’s poems in E feel into sound-stuff almost protactilely, from the distortion of sounds as filtered through the poet’s hearing aids, to the visual miss-apprehension of language at the interstices of perception. E revives the Renaissance idea of the poem as error and the poet as error-maker, and it’s a delight to wander between shifting meanings, with poems that make you feel as if you could dance between raindrops, both ‘sapphic’ and ‘faggy,’ beholding metapoetic rainbows.” I love that!! And I think Sappho would be so into this book! I will leave you with another E quote which I very much appreciate, as an artist and as a teacher and language person: “Troublemakers, can we agree mistakes are sacred wings?” <3 . . . #poetry #lgbtqpoetry #experimentalpoetry #sapphic

“Some lifetimes are smooth and steady, but some are craggy and turbulent and parched. Some, like this one, are mutinous with want. Every so often, once in a great while, I bring a message all my own, one that no one has asked me to send. Never mind the consequences. Sometimes, I stay to see what happens. Sometimes, I am looking endlessly for a yes. Or at the very least, a hello. But what you are looking for isn’t always what you think you are looking for.” — Temim Fruchter, CITY OF LAUGHTER (@groveatlantic 2024) . . . I am very behind on the book diary oops! This novel was such a pleasure to read! It’s delightfully, unapologetically queer and Jewish, in a story where identity is something that is constantly being invented and reinvented. Shiva is such a compelling character—going through grief and heartache and desire and joy—as well as the other generations of Jewish women in her family who are featured in different ways throughout the book. It’s mostly written in a realistic style but also with a dash of formal experimentation, elements of the supernatural, and eastern European Jewish folklore. I really liked the mysterious messenger-figure (who features in the passage quoted above) and I also appreciate the roles of humor, stage drama, and femme fashion throughout the novel. There is something kind of theatrical about the whole novel, like I could see it being a stage musical someday. Temim Fruchter is such a talented writer, and I was so lucky to get to participate in a workshop with her at the McCormack Writing Center earlier this month! This book is definitely now a part of my personal queer canon :) . @both_and_yes 🩷 #amreading #creativewriting #fiction #lgtbqwriters also s/o @mccormack_writing_center 🩷🥰

“They think her a miracle worker. They think she speaks with God. But really, everyone does. It’s just so hard to hear.” — Janet Rich Edwards, CANTICLE (@spiegelandgrau 2025) . . . I loved this book!! The prose is gorgeous and there are so many deep currents of spirituality and Love that the author is exploring, and then at the same time, it’s compulsively readable and packed with intense scenes, difficult choices, complex characters — it has everything! The story of Aleys, a young woman from 13th century Flanders, draws inspiration from female mystics across history, including some of my personal favorites (St. Theresa of Avila, Marguerite Porete, St. Claire). But you don’t need to have a background in theology/mysticism to appreciate the depth of what Edwards is working with. She brings the 13th century to life while also drawing on perennial themes and questions: how do we relate to the divine? How can we know if something is coming from God? For me, as a writer and also as a Christian (and as a recovering Latin nerd!) it was such a special read. Also, I have always been interested in the beguines (religious communities of women who did not answer to the Church) and they play a big role in the story, as well as illegal translations of scripture (I don’t want to give away too much!). I’m so glad I crossed paths with this incredible “gem of historical fiction”! /& It was lovely to have the chance to see Janet Rich Edwards read and converse at the Brookline Booksmith on Tuesday. (Being in the presence of a great writer of historical fiction gives me the inspiration to keep plugging away at my Sappho book!) . . . #canticle #janetrichedwards @jredwardsauthor #historicalfiction #fiction #creativewriting

“My love isn’t PG / My love is a slit in the hush of night / A scream, / a gush of lifewater, an unbirth / and unmaking”— the titular poem from I THINK WE SHOULD BE LOUDER AT DYKE MARCH by Sophia Carroll, @bottlecappress 2025 . . . this chapbook gave me all the feels. each poem contains its own little world. steeped in the culture and yet also entirely the poet’s own voice, entirely unique. Soph is a good friend but I would love this collection even if a random person had written it. it’s witchy, it’s polyamorous, it’s constantly going against the expected and against the grain. there’s Jane Eyre, there’s Latin class, there’s wolves, there’s “Venus on Ozempic.” it has everything!! I also loved the tarot-inspired illustrations by Amita S (@volapardus ) ! . . . overall the best $10 you’ll ever spend! Soph does not have a personal IG account but you can check out their weird and wonderful lit mag @menace.lit which is currently open for submissions!! . . . P.S. I am attempting to spend less time on instagram and focus my energy toward my novel, so the book diary project has taken a back seat, but I just had to share this one!!! <3 . . . #amreading #poetry #chapbook #queerlit #ithinkweshouldbelouderatdykemarch #sophiacarroll

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin (1953) — I loved this book. It’s so full of the spirit while also resisting that spirit at the same time. It’s hard to describe and I don’t want to give away too much. Baldwin was raised Pentecostal and in this book (which is based on his real life) he explores that particular strand of spirituality within the larger Christian tradition, and the different characters’ relationships with both God and the church, as well as the struggle of being a queer person in a spiritual community that condemns queerness. (For what it’s worth, no church is perfect, but I was so lucky to grow up in a Christian community that is welcoming to queer and trans identities <3) Anyway I definitely recommend this book to any readers interested in the role of spirituality in storytelling. If you’ve never read Baldwin before, this could be a good place to start. At least in my community/ies, it feels like a lot more people have read Giovanni’s Room, which is very different (in one word I’d just say that it’s much gayer!) — and I do love Giovanni’s Room!! But Baldwin wrote Go Tell It on the Mountain first, so maybe it would be interesting to read them in order, though I feel like I would need to reread Giovanni’s Room in order to properly explain why?? I also think that Jeanette Winterson’s Orange is Not the Only Fruit is an interesting comparison piece to Go Tell It on the Mountain; if I were making a “queer Christian narrative” syllabus, those two books would be right at the top. . . I haven’t been keeping up with this book diary lately, partly because I’m trying to focus on my novel and partly because it feels like Instagram is only for reels now, rip (should I join Bluesky??) —that being said, here are some other recent books I’ve read that I haven’t made posts for: Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon; Adam: God’s Beloved by Henri Nouwen; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis; Conflict is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair by Sarah Schulman; Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (LOVED)

A story from the queen of fiction herself, @annahundert — read “Queen of Calvary” at menace-mag.com/issue-one . . . . . . . . . #litmag #literary #magazine #litjournal #submissionsopen #poetry #fiction #speculative #speculativeliterature #horror #horrorlit #gothic #gothicliterature #menace #menacemag #art #digitalart #originalart

“I’m worried I’ll be mad forever.” “Then be mad forever,” Bertie said. He sounded unsure. “But I have so much anger.” “Because so much has been done upon you,” Sofie said. “The Nazis have made us scared of anger, made us believe that anger is bad. Anger is not bad. Anger is how we tell ourselves that we’ve been wronged, that we’ve been mistreated, and that it’s not okay. Anger is a beautiful emotion. We just need to express it properly.” She pressed her finger down on a random key. “In music, we call it passion.” — Milo Todd, THE LILAC PEOPLE (@counterpointpress 2025) . . . I’m obsessed with this book!! Thank you Milo Todd for bringing it into the world!! I had high expectations after attending the best book launch ever, and then it was even better than I’d hoped!! It’s so beautiful and so sad but also full of so much hope and light. Do you know anything about the history of trans people during World War II? Probably not much, because the history has been systematically erased!! I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but I can tell you that this book shows trans characters with so much depth and complexity, exploring themes like masculinity and strength, community-building, and grief. Bertie and his community have touched my heart and will stay with me for a long time after reading. The story is also so timely; it’s spooky how many aspects of Nazi-era German fascism are echoing in today’s current events (yikes) and really demonstrates how we need to show up for each other when the most vulnerable people in our communities are under attack. This book is written with such tenderness as well as a clear expertise in the source material (and I really appreciate the end notes of “Corrections” and “Facts”!) If you’re looking to support trans stories this pride month, and/or if you just want to read a solid great novel, buy this book right now! Buy it for your mom, but it for your friend, buy it for your cousin, order it from your library, etc. . . . #thelilacpeople #historicalfiction #lgtbqwriters

“The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.” — Susanna Clarke, PIRANESI (@bloomsburypublishing 2020) — this book had been recommended to me multiple times, and when @porter_square_books announced that their book club would be reading it, I took that as a sign that it was time!! This is my first Susanna Clarke book and I really enjoyed it. I don’t want to give too much away. I love the mysteries of the House/labyrinth. It’s giving Borges meets The Secret History meets C.S. Lewis? (One of the epigraphs is from Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew which I happened to be rereading at the same time as this, which was an entirely unplanned fortuitous convergence!) . . . One of the themes in Piranesi is the purported “disenchantment” of the world and finding where the “enchantment” went, and there’s this great search for a special secret knowledge. It has some deep stuff going on but at the same time isn’t too dense (I’m not sure I want to call it an “easy read” because I have mixed feelings about that phrase, idk)— definitely recommend it to any who dabble in the sci-fi/fantasy genre! Also, I very much enjoyed discussing this one at the Porter Square Books book club in their lovely new space!! :) . . #piranesi #susannaclarke #fiction #fantasy #womenwriters

Hi all, this is just a quick book diary catchup post!! I have been reading a lot and trying to spend less time on my phone (not always successfully) and working on my novel (semi-successfully) and plotting to start a Substack (stay tuned!) — here are some great books I have read recently, in no particular order: . 300,000 KISSES: TALES OF QUEER LOVE FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD by Seán Hewitt & Luke Edward Hall (2023) . STRENGTH TO LOVE by Martin Luther King Jr. (1963) . SMALL RAIN by Garth Greenwell (2024) . THE MEMBRANES: A NOVEL by Chi Ta-Wei (1996 / translation by Ari Larissa Heinrich 2021) — a gift from dear friends @ibis.tagram and @yuanchosaan !! this was such a great read and I’d never heard of it before!! . THE FLOWERING WAND: REWILDING THE SACRED MASCULINE by Sophie Strand (2022) . MY LESBIAN NOVEL by Renee Gladman (2024) . GLORIOUS EXPLOITS by Ferdia Lennon (2024) . last but not least, yet another Sappho translation for my collection: THE COMPLETE POEMS OF SAPPHO translated by Willis Barnstone (2006) . #amreading #bookdiary #creativewriting