Sarah Fuentes

In fiction, I’m always looking for a distinct narrative voice and fresh prose. I’m particularly drawn to stories that explore the complicated inner-workings of relationships and bring readers deep in the messy minds of its characters. The more fraught or unlikeable a narrator, the better. I’m also a sucker for dark, speculative elements, a twist of humor, or just-slightly-off versions of reality.

In nonfiction, I’m seeking deeply reported narratives that help explain how we see and construct the world around us, or that brings some hidden architecture to light. I’m interested in science, technology, and nature (and how they intersect with culture), as well as social justice, politics, history, and economic issues. I love books that blend the reported with the personal, or where the author enters the narrative as a guide through a certain world, as well as voice-driven literary memoirs (like Rachel Cusk, Deborah Levy, or Heidi Julavits). I’m also always keen to read work that explores pop culture in a critical way.

Some of my favorites:

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield, Big Swiss by Jen Beagin, Temporary by Hilary Leichter, Assembly by Natasha Brown, Luster by Raven Leilani, Want by Lynn Steger Strong, Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder, Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, The Life of the Mind by Christine Smallwood, Mobility by Lydia Kiesling

Lost & Found by Kathryn Schulz, The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen, Doppelganger by Naomi Klein, Dead Weight by Emmeline Clein, Strangers to Ourselves by Rachel Aviv, The Fact of A Body by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, Our Moon by Rebecca Boyle, How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler