Tessa Portuese

Some really good perspective-shifting stuff about primatology and human anatomy that makes you question the status quo is followed by a bizarrely disappointing conclusion. So much of the book is about questioning what we assume is natural about human sexuality due to cultural bias, but the end seems to take male infidelity of the modern day at face value without examining alternate causes (e.g. how societal male socialization limits men from forming platonic emotional bonds) and leaves prior discussion of natural female promiscuity out of a modern lens entirely. Flop ending to an otherwise very interesting read!

Beautifully written short fiction stories that read as folklore. Full of appreciation for nature and how human nature interacts with it, uses it, and finds meaning in it. One of them in particular has stuck with me for the month since I finished it, which is always a good sign! Weirdly too many stories with big relationship age gaps, though.