Vegan Book Recommendations
What I Read in June
Believe it or not, there are months when I don’t read all that much. June wasn’t one of those months. I was really in the mood to dig into my special vegan TBR (which includes basically any book that has anything even remotely to do with animals), so there’s a lot to discuss here. Instead of ordering them in terms of favoritism, I’ll just breeze through them in chronological order (audiobooks denoted with an *). Without delving into plot spoilers, I’ll do my best to share why people who care about animals might be interested in them.
Note: I recommend readers check out any book I share because all books have value, and different books appeal to different readers. Some of the books I’ll be discussing below didn’t work for me, but they might be perfect for you. And I know there are books I adore that others hate. Stories are subjective—that’s what makes them awesome!
Dreambirds: The Strange History of the Ostrich in Fashion, Food, and Fortune by Rob Nixon
Reading this book was a rollercoaster, but not the fun kind with loops and spins where it feels like you’re flying. It was like Kingda Ka (RIP): straight up and then straight down.
A couple years back, I read Joshua Katcher’s excellent book Fashion Animals about the use of animals in fashion through history, and in it he cited Dreambirds. A book entirely about the history of the ostrich seemed so strangely niche that I was immediately interested.
The cover and title may lead you to believe it’s a rather dull, historical book, but it’s neither. Nixon’s masterful prose transports us back in time to his South African childhood, weaving together memories of his family and interactions with ostriches to set the stage for a deeper dive into the country’s rich history of ostrich exploitation. Then it all came crashing down. After the first third of the book, Nixon had mostly wrapped up the historical section of the story and shifted focus to modern attempts to revive the ostrich feather, skin, and meat trade from the grave. He offers no sympathy or compassion to the birds and practically heralds the farmers as heroes going down with the ship of a dying cause.
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez *
A literary fiction novel about a woman who’s lost a dear friend and then becomes guardian to his dog, I was hooked from the very start. Nunez sprinkles in thought-provoking prose about the more-than-human world, all without treating the dog as a metaphor for the protagonist’s grief. The dog is very much his own character. I love discovering authors who are fascinated by animals, so I will be checking out more of her backlist soon. (Next up: The Vulnerables.)
I’m also hoping to watch the 2024 film adaptation of The Friend sometime this year. Much of the story occurs in the main character’s head as she reflects on the past, so I’m curious to see how that translates on the screen.
The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner
I stumbled across this book on Bookshop.org, and now it’s in the running to be my favorite of the year. An upper middle grade novel in verse, it had me on the verge of tears not once but twice. The story follows a young teen raging at the world after his father’s unexpected death. To make up for vandalizing the headstone of a local trailblazer, her daughter tasks him with hiking every peak in the Adirondacks. Oh, and he’s got to bring her dog along, too.
It was a beautiful thing to see the heart of this desperately sad boy open up as he got to know the dog and his (human) hiking partners better. More than anything, this story shows that even in the modern age when we always have the entire world at our fingertips, simply stepping outdoors often remains the best remedy for heartache.
On a lighter note, there were cookie recipes sprinkled throughout the book, and I felt a very strong urge to veganize them all. I really need a cookbook with veganized versions of literary dishes. Can someone with some culinary prowess get on that, please?
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
I’ve been looking forward to reading this book since last year, and I was finally in the mood to read it…and it flopped. Hard. It’s a middle grade fantasy with magical creatures—what could go wrong? A lot, unfortunately.
What didn’t work for me:
The first chapter jumped immediately into the action. While I like a fast-paced book, I prefer a little breathing room to get to know the characters before being thrust into the plot. And if I can’t connect to the characters first, then I don’t really care what happens to them.
Too much action. The story felt too much in the vein of the classic Greek hero’s journey (similar to Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series). Every chapter had the group whizzing off to new locations and meeting new creatures, when I generally prefer getting cozy in a single location.
This fantasy world is one where magical creatures are respected (or feared), yet the characters also eat animals (mostly fishes—they’re constantly hunting fish). So readers are left to interpret that only animals with magical powers are worthy of respect while all others deserve death.
I want to approach my last issue delicately. The galivanting group is joined by an anthropomorphic, English-speaking creature called a ratatoska. Much like Dobby, Winky, and the other house-elves from Harry Potter, proper grammar eludes the squirrel-like creature. Here’s a line of her dialogue: “‘If he welcomes you, I welcomes you,’ she said. She spoke very high and fast. ‘If not, I bites you.’” This sort of language reminds me of how Black people used to be represented in literature and film. Like Mammy or Sambo characters, they were turned into caricatures to signal their lower moral status (that is, their animal, or less-than-human, status). Let me be clear: I don’t think Rundell was intentionally drawing this parallel. But it was obviously a choice to make these anthropomorphic creatures speak in that way, even though they live/work with humans every day and otherwise have an intelligence and consciousness equal to that of the human characters.
In Rundell’s defense, I should also mention that there are other magical creatures who speak perfect English.
I do still plan to try some of her other books to see if I like them more.
The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig *
I’ll be discussing Matt Haig more when I do my end-of-the-year wrap-up, and, while this is not a book about animals in any way, he manages to sprinkle in a few lines here and there that indicate (to me at least) that he’s always been thinking more deeply about animals than most other people.
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry *
Emily Henry is one of the biggest names in one of the biggest genres: romance. So when her characters are eating vegan hot dogs and veggie burgers like it’s totally normal, my ears perk up. Unfortunately, the romance is more like a subplot in this romance novel, but later I read The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann, an asexual romcom, which I’ll discuss below.
Killer by Peter Tonkin
In May, I finally read Grady Hendrix’s delightful book Paperbacks From Hell: The Twisted History of ‘70s and ‘80s Horror Fiction. Hendrix revived those old pulp paperbacks from the grave, even getting a bunch of them republished so modern readers could enjoy their lunacy. (He opens Paperbacks by discussing The Little People by John Christopher, a story about…Nazi elves. What was in the water back then??) Of course, the chapter I was most interested in was about killer animals.
Peter Tonkin’s novel about a murderous orca followed in the footsteps of Jaws, though without the interesting character dynamics of either Peter Benchley’s book or the 1975 film. (And some of Tonkin’s character descriptions chafe against modern sensibilities. As is typical of the era, women and people of color fall prey to stereotypes.) It’s a simple read with lots of animal action but not much to say otherwise, i.e., no strong pro- or anti-animal rights message. There is, however, a vicious battle between a pod of killer whales and a herd of walruses, which isn’t something I ever thought I’d read.
In July, I’ll be reading another paperback from hell: Hell Hound by Ken Greenhall.
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. LeGuin
In high school, I exclusively read YA fantasy. In college, I barely read at all, so I’m making up for lost time by returning to some of the classics. LeGuin initially describes the city of Omelas as one of profuse joy, but I have a feeling that if we looked at it from the horses’ perspective, the jig would’ve been up far sooner.
Garlic & the Vampire and Garlic & the Witch by Bree Paulsen
Normal people probably aren’t thinking about Halloween yet, but I sure am. These are just about the cutest little graphic novels around and have that cozy autumnal feel perfect for when the leaves change color (or when it’s 90 degrees with 90% humidity—I’m not picky). Of particular interest to me is that the farm where Garlic (a bulb of garlic brought to life, Pinocchio-style, by a witch) lives is dedicated solely to farming plants. No animals harmed there! Readers who decide to check this one out may find another unexpected vegan twist hidden in the final chapters.
Plus, if you’re looking for kid-friendly graphic novels with queer representation, Paulsen’s got you covered! Some other queer young/new adult graphic novels I read this month:
Mooncakes by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker — this one’s got gay grannies, a nonbinary werewolf, and lots of black cats and magical creatures!
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks — unfortuantely, the pumpkin patch in which the story takes place also has a petting zoo (boo!), but the setting reminded me so much of visiting the pumpkin patch as a kid that I couldn’t help but love it despite the non-vegan parts!
Bunny by Mona Awad *
I’ve been a lax horror girly for letting this linger on my TBR for so long, but it certainly lived up to its reputation. People have described this novel in different ways, but I’d say it’s Heathers meets Cronenberg in an MFA program. Can’t say it was exactly right for me, but it certainly gives new meaning to fleshing out a character. And if you’re looking for actual bunnies, you won’t be disappointed…until they start dying.
The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter by Aaron Reynolds
You write a middle grade book with animals AND a macabre twist? Yeah, I’m going to read it. When animals start mysteriously dying at the local zoo, their ghosts badger the titular tween to figure out who killed them. This book is wildly funny in some ways, but the humor also masks some serious speciesism beneath the surface. Here’s a snippet of dialogue between Rex and his parents after they buy him a chicken:
“A chicken isn’t a pet, Dad. A chicken is a Happy Meal.”
“It’s a practice pet.”
He names the chicken Drumstick. Ha.
Rex wonders at one point if dead animals turned into meat will start haunting him in the school cafeteria, so he thinks, “I’m on a strict diet of items that were not formerly alive. Mostly Doritos and Mountain Dew.” (Rex fails to wonder if the dairy cows killed for his Doritos would haunt him.)
There’s also an animal rights group in the story—”’This type of thing is to be expected when you cage animals,’ said Talon Smithfield, president of a local organization called PUPAE, or People United to Protect Animals Everywhere. ‘The answer isn’t better cages. The answer is that these rare and majestic beasts should be returned to the wild where they belong’”—but Rex and his friends aren’t too interested in all that.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon *
Much like The Maid by Nita Prose—another murder mystery starring a main character with autism—the mystery part gets wrapped up earlier than is typical of the genre, and the majority of the story concerns the protagonist’s close personal relationships. Still a good read, but I was disappointed that the dog’s murder is brushed aside by nearly every character, as if someone pitchforking a poodle isn’t a big deal. I did, however, find this quote intriguing:
“And people who believe in God think God has put human beings on the earth because they think human beings are the best animal, but human beings are just an animal. And they’ll evolve into another animal, and that animal will be cleverer and it will put human beings into a zoo like we put chimpanzees and gorillas into a zoo.”
Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
I wasn’t sure whether or not to include this one because I’m trying to get in touch with Van Booy’s agent to request an interview (no luck so far), and I typically don’t review books whose authors I’m interviewing. (I’d rather the authors talk about their work than me.) However, I loved this book so darn much that I decided to go ahead and include it and keep my fingers crossed for an interview.
I don’t want to say too much about the plot other than it’s about a woman who befriends a mouse. However, there’s one quote I need to share:
The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann
An ace woman goes on a weekend getaway with her (also ace) best friend she’s in love with, his (allo) partner, and her (also allo) friend. Love blossoms. During their trip, the four friends visit Fable’s Barnyard Animal Sanctuary, but it’s not a sanctuary at all. They offer horseback riding and have a petting zoo, which has blue ribbons “proudly pinned” outside the animals’ pens, as if they’re competing in county fairs before heading off to slaughter. This is certainly a fable because the only “sanctuaries” that do this in real life are zoos or farms. Incredibly disappointing that Kann doesn’t know what a real farm sanctuary looks like and didn’t bother to do proper research to learn.
The Running Man by Stephen King *
Not strictly vegan-related, but in this version of a dystopian 2025 America, the all-powerful “Network” hosts the titular Running Man competition on “Free-Vee.” Is it simply a coincidence that Amazon’s free streaming service is also called Freevee? I’d say that King was prophetic, but he also said a “convicted felon can’t aspire to high public office” in The Dead Zone, and it’s too sad to think that we no longer live in a world where that is true.
The Veganic Grower’s Handbook by Jimmy Videle
Gardening seems like it should be eco-friendly work, but it’s often anything but. In my neck of the woods, lawns are manicured and fastidiously maintained in the fashion of the aristocracy, with huge expanses of empty lawns and carefully placed shrubs, palms, and flowers. To create my own garden, I knew I had to find alternatives that benefited the local ecosystem more than my neighbors’ eyes. (We shall see how my new neighbors feel about this.)
Videle’s book focuses predominantly on growing vegetables, fruits, and herbs, which I plan to get to someday, but I’ll be starting my gardening journey with native flowers. Florida is a pretty hostile environment for human habitation—it feels like the outside world is constantly battling to get inside. So by planting hardy natives, I’m hoping to attract animals that will cut back on the flourishing mosquito population so I can spend time outside without spraying pesticides, as well as attract animals that eat cockroaches so fewer get into the house. (Unfortunately, living with cockroaches isn’t entirely avoidable. I try not to think about that.)
I am also very lucky to have access to a plethora of local resources. By reading my local newspaper, I discovered columns written by one of the scientists at the University of Florida’s Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program. In addition to the information on their website, I was able to register for free monthly Zoom webinars on various gardening topics. They also have an app, so I can search for Florida-friendly plants on the go.
Hopefully you also have programs like this in your area or a strong gardening community that values the environment for more than just its looks.
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
There’s no such thing as a horror novel. True terror cannot be sustained for long. As such, horror authors must evoke other emotions to keep readers engaged in the characters’ journey before ratcheting up the scares in key moments in the plot. Like Stephen King does in Carrie or Christine, Michael Crichton expertly builds dread throughout Jurassic Park. That must be pretty rare because, in all the horror I’ve read, these books stand out as masterpieces. Of course, Jurassic Park also features animals, so I have some thoughts about that, too:
The characters regularly refer to some of the dinosaurs as stupid, unintelligent, and dull, juxtaposed with the velociraptors’ wicked smarts. I didn’t tally up every instance of this, but in most, it seems unnecessarily cruel. In others, however, referring to the dinos as stupid is meant to show the hubris of man, thinking that we have any true control over the natural world. After all, even with billions of dollars and the most advanced technology in the world, everything in the park fails spectacularly, letting those “stupid” animals reproduce and escape their enclosures. Dr. Ian Malcom sums it up perfectly:
“You create new life-forms, about which you know nothing at all… You create many of them in a very short time, you never learn anything about them, yet you expect them to do your bidding, because you made them and you therefore think you own them; you forget that they are alive, they have an intelligence of their own, and they may not do your bidding, and you forget how little you know about them, how incompetent you are to do the things that you so frivolously call simple.”
Malcolm has a ton of great monologues, and I wish I could include them all, but here’s one more. This one resonated with me, especially in the context of animal experimentation:
“I’ll tell you the problem with engineers and scientists. Scientists have an elaborate line of bullshit about how they are seeking to know the truth about nature. Which is true, but that’s not what drives them. Nobody is driven by abstractions like ‘seeking truth.’
“Scientists are actually preoccupied with accomplishment. So they are focused on whether they can do something. They never stop to ask if they should do something. They conveniently define such considerations as pointless. If they don’t do it, someone else will. Discovery, they believe, is inevitable. So they just try to do it first. That’s the game in science. Even pure scientific discovery is an aggressive, penetrative act.”
While there are obvious benefits to scientific advancements, our society has certainly come to revere science as a near-holy entity above such banal things as immorality or corruption.1 Science funded by private corporations or billionaires, such as Jurassic Park, should be heavily scrutinized, especially regarding their treatment of animals. After all, the park’s founder repeatedly states that “we can never forget the ultimate object of the project in Costa Rica—to make money.” Ethical considerations are thrown out the window once money comes into play.
Dust & Grim by Chuck Wendig *
Why do I even bother getting excited about vegetarian characters anymore? Not only does Wendig fall face-first into the corrupted vegetarian trope, but he also gives us a supernatural “vegetarian” as well. (You can read more about them here.) A cute book otherwise.
In the Company of Witches by Auralee Wallace
And now for the last book I finished in June (told you it was a busy month!). This is another book perfect for autumn. A cozy mystery with just a splash of magic, it was the perfect read as I geared up for spooky season. It turns out not even witches can escape the clutches of industrial animal agriculture (they eat lots of animals), but they do also have some delightful nonhuman friends. I say all this to say that there’s a cat on the cover, so I was in from the jump.
Up next: When the Crow’s Away
DNF — H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald *
I picked a lot of good books this month, so this is the only one I wasn’t able to finish. I like to know as little as possible about books before starting them, so it’s probably my own fault that I thought this would be a different kind of memoir than it actually is. See, I thought this was about a woman who rescues a hawk, not about a woman who bought one from a breeder to practice falconry as a way of connecting with her late father. Perhaps Macdonald’s opinions on breeding and falconry changed after I stopped listening (around 20% through), but I wasn’t interested enough to continue.
Other Things of Interest
Wicked
I watched the film adaptation of Wicked earlier this year, and it was good but fell a little flat, so I decided to watch a recording of the live show to see what I was missing. And, wow, now I understand why people were so excited for the movie! The show is so good and funny, and every time I hear “Defying Gravity” I get goosebumps. Now knowing how the story ends, I can’t help but admire Elphaba, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” for staying true to her convictions as an Animal rights activist even when all of Oz stands against her.
If you’re curious, I DNFed the Wicked novel earlier this year. I may pick it up again someday, now that I know the ending, but I wasn’t a huge fan of Gregory Maguire’s writing style.
The Twilight Zone: “To Serve Man”
In classic Twilight Zone fashion, an alien species arrives on Earth and promises world peace but dishes out something far less palatable.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
I won’t claim to understand exactly what’s going on in this film, but damn is it beautiful. The first hour is dry as dust, though I found it particularly interesting that the “dawn of man” began when pre-human apes used tools to kill and eat other animals, and then used those tools to inflict violence upon members of their own species. To my mind, Kubrick is clearly suggesting a connection between violence against animals and violence against humans.
In a complete coincidence, I watched Barbie (2023) two days after this, which began with a parody of the iconic 2001 opening. Additionally, as Ken grapples with his masculinity and the patriarchy later in the film, he says he thought that “horses are just men extenders.” Another example of the relationship between the oppression of women and animals.
Mickey 17 (2025)
Bong Joon Ho again returns to the world of animal rights with Mickey 17, with slightly less zany characters than Okja, and for once I’m loving it. Since the titular character is used in scientific experiments and “reprinted” every time he dies, the connection between him and animals used in labs is clear. Additionally, there are some extraterrestrial animals at play here. There are several quotes I could include here about them, but I’ll leave you with this one: “Grotesque or not, they are the native inhabitants of this planet.” (For the record, I don’t think they’re grotesque at all.)
Babygirl (2024)
Not sure if the sex scenes were supposed to be cringey or I’m just asexual. (Probably a little of both.) The kink that the two main characters (a younger man with an older woman) explore is to treat the woman like a dog. Not as bad as I thought it’d be, but the whole relationship seemed abusive. Any positive message about animal cruelty is evaded.
Cocaine Bear: The True Story (2023)
Remember when Cocaine Bear was all the rage two summers ago? Well, here’s a short little documentary about what really happened. Of course, there’s little sympathy extended to the bear (or the cows—watch and see).
Handling the Undead (2024)
If you ever scroll through the Substack app, you may have seen my note about this movie. I just got so angry that I had to post about it. (Not usually a smart move.) Anyhow, the plot crawls along for about 75 or 80 minutes before the utterly lifeless zombies become violent. And who dies first? A little bunny. Not what I signed up for!
I don’t mean to impune the entire scientific establishment. Science has been under attack for years now, and I vehemently disagree with anyone who rejects the entire sector, full stop. What I want to see is not an end to science, but rather smarter science that funnels funds to a wide variety of issues. I want to see a substantial investment in non-animal methods of experimentation. I want to see more money going to the impoverished, to provide them with decent healthcare systems. I want to see more studies of the other-than-human world, ones that treat them as sentient individuals worthy of protection and care rather than bodies to cut open. I believe science can, and should, be used benevolently. We just haven’t quite gotten there yet.
Be sure to add "Little Red Barns: From Farm to Fable" by Will Potter to your reading list.
Bunny, Sipsworth and the Friend were all great.
Added The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig to my reading list; thanks.
Have you read The Life Impossible by Matt Haig? Based on your comments about the author perhaps being more mindful of animals than most people, The Life Impossible confirmed it for me.