The last month of the year is generally thin on the ground for new books, but here are two December U.S. releases I reviewed early for Shelf Awareness. One is a fun and timely novel about race relations and the other an autobiographical poetry collection about asexuality and chronic illness. Below are excerpts with a link to the full text for one. Both: 
Rebecca, Not Becky by Christine Platt and Catherine Wigginton Greene
Two women navigate the nuances of racism in their affluent Northern Virginia community. Rebecca Myland shed the nickname “Becky” when it became cultural shorthand for clueless white ladies. She desperately wants to do the right thing, including making the perfect home for her husband and daughters and being a model white ally, leading the school’s diversity committee and antiracist book club.
De’Andrea Whitman reluctantly gave up her law career and Atlanta support system to move to Rolling Hills. It’s the best place for the family, given her husband Malik’s new job and the proximity to his mother’s top-notch dementia care facility. However, she is painfully aware that their daughter, Nina, may be the only Black student at the private school. De’Andrea’s therapist, Dr. Jones, challenges her to try to make one white friend.
The two protagonists have more in common than they realize. When the diversity committee’s controversial pet project of getting a statue of a Confederate general removed from the local park makes national news, the resulting ruckus threatens their fragile friendship. It’s a hugely enjoyable novel reminiscent of Terry McMillan and Curtis Sittenfeld that nonetheless takes a hard look at prejudice and performative allyship.
(And I love the title because my mother and one aunt always tried to call me Becky, but I hate that nickname!)
You Bury the Birds in My Pelvis by Kelly Weber
The poet feels marked by “failure to want” and by recurring medical complaints—severe Crohn’s disease and menorrhagia, initially dismissed by a doctor as menstrual cramps. In “Blood Firsts,” she compares her first period with the later coming-of-age moment of realizing she was asexual. She describes herself as a teenage wallflower, aware of a same-sex pull but unsure what, if anything, to do about it. The series of lyrical attempted definitions in “Queerplatonic” show her in love with a female friend. Anatomy and nature supply the book’s interlocking metaphors. Animals appear frequently, but often as roadkill or taxidermied trophies. The structure varies, with prose paragraphs, columns, and text moving up the page. The rich stylistic palette (rhetorical questions, footnotes, second person, a call-and-response format) and sonic arsenal (alliteration, wordplay, anaphora) make for a courageous, unforgettable collection. (Forthcoming)
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
Is You Bury the Birds in My Pelvis the oddest book title of the year? I’m not sure how appealing I find it, but I’ll give it a go if it comes my way. And I had no idea that Becky is shorthand in the States for clueless white women. I know a few people called Becky, and they’re all intelligent, articulate and personable so I don’t think that shorthand would work here!
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It’s a peculiar title for sure! This is a small U.S. indie publisher, so the book is unlikely to make it across the Pond. I read it electronically, as I do most review copies.
I’m not sure if “a Becky” is the U.S. version of “a Karen,” or if they have both here. I think a Becky might be a younger Karen.
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Now you’ve really lost me! What’s wrong with poor old Karen?
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A Karen is a slang term for a white lady who is entitled, selfish, and sometimes (even if unintentionally) racist. I do feel bad for women with that name!
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That’s awful! All the Karens I know are fine upstanding members of society!
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Rebecca, Not Becky sounds good! Most of my Rebecca friends have always been nicknamed Becky but I have to agree with you – I prefer Rebecca 🙂
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It was a fun and quick read but also stands up ideologically, I think. To my family I’m generally “Beck” and there are a couple of friends who call me “Becks” or “Becca.” But “Becky” has always rubbed me the wrong way! I guess I’m lucky to have a name with so many built-in nicknames. Do you have any?
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No, I’ve always resisted it – my name is so short already! You can’t do much with Laura except Loz or Laurbs, which I hate…
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Those are awful! The only potential one I thought of was Lore.
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Rebecca Not Becky looks like just my sort of book so will add it to my astoundingly large wishlist! I am Liz not Elizabeth: Elizabeth is the name I’m called when I’m naughty, but I cannot bear to be called Lizzie.
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Ha ha! We have a neighbour we know as Liz and it was so disorienting when her Christmas card read “Lizzie.”
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December books have it hard in one sense but maybe it ends up working for them in some ways too!
There’s a family member we call Becky and she doesn’t mind that but has insisted that nobody ever, under any circumstances, calls her Beckers. #understandable
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Precisely one person has ever called me Beckers: my middle school social studies teacher!
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HAH, who knew!
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[…] an evocative title – reminiscent of last year’s You Bury the Birds in My Pelvis by Kelly Weber – and powerful image of how nature has bolstered the author through chronic […]
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