Recommended Reading for Fans of Barbie & Oppenheimer

plus recommended books by Chris L. Terry & James Spooner and Hilary Leichter, recommended music by the Clientele, and a 43-song playlist of new music

With the release two of the year’s biggest movies last weekend, Barbie and Oppenheimer, my mind kept turning to two novels I cannot forget (and have since been recommending to friends).

For fans of the Barbie movie:

Nancy Stohlman’s propulsive After the Rapture is a bedazzling novel told through flash fiction chapters. The protagonist loses her arm in the beginning of the book, and when a pink plastic replacement is attached, her transformation into Barbie (and her life into Barbie’s) begins. Like Barbie, feminist themes are explored deeply, but with more dystopia.

For fans of Oppenheimer:

Like Oppenheimer, TaraShea Nesbit’s novel The Wives of Los Alamos shares the history of the Manhattam Project, but does so in the plural voices of the scientists’ spouses.

If you are a paid subscriber of the newsletter, I hope you enjoy this week’s playlist of new music. If not, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to support the work that goes into both the newsletter and Largehearted Boy.

This week’s playlist of new music:

This week’s subscriber playlist includes 43 tracks and 2 hours and 57 minutes of new music from Mitski, Worriers, the Antlers, Soccer Mommy, Animal Collective, Vagabon, the Kills, and much more.