Aardvark Book Club is a monthly book subscription box (in both the U.S. & Canada) in which members choose up to 3 hardcover books. In addition to past months’ selections, Aardvark provides 4-5 newly published books to choose from each month. You can also discuss the books with other members in the Aardvark app.
As the end of the month approaches, Aardvark Book Club starts posting hints for their upcoming month’s selection. While the type of hints changes from month-to-month, they remain fun to follow along with. I typically make guesses as to what books they will be in my Instagram stories, but I thought I would also share them here.
I wrote this post with hints #1 and #2 available. I add the additional hints as they became available.
Book # 1
Hint 1.1 is The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali (1931) and reads “grapples with time and decay, see: limp watches and ants”. The arrow points to the approximation of Dali’s face (self-portrait).
Possibilities based upon this hint: The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez, Again and Again by Jonathan Evison, & The Good Part by Sophie Cousens
Hint 2.5 Playlist: “Figured Out” by Ashe; “20 Something” by SZA; “You’ve Got Your Whole Life Ahead” by IDER; “23” by Renee Rapp; “Young Blood” by Noah Kahan; “Haven’t Met You Yet” by Michael Buble; “Have It All” by Jason Mraz; “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash
Hint 4.4: Clapperboard/Slate Board
The Good Part
Sophie Cousens
Lucy Young is twenty-six and tired. Tired of fetching coffees for senior TV producers, sick of going on disastrous dates, and done with living in a damp flat with roommates who never buy toilet paper. After another disappointing date, Lucy stumbles upon a wishing machine. Pushing a coin into the slot, Lucy closes her eyes and wishes with all her might: Please, let me skip to the good part of my life. When she wakes the next morning to a handsome man, a ring on her finger, a high-powered job, and two storybook-perfect children, Lucy can’t believe this is real. Has she really skipped ahead like she’s always wanted, or has she simply forgotten a huge chunk of her life?
Publication Date: November 7
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Book # 2
Hint 1.2 includes In the North the Negro had better educational facilities from the Migration series by Jacob Lawrence (1940-41). The painting is part of a series that is intended to be exhibited altogether but rarely is. Jacob Lawrence is one of the most renowned artists of mid-20th-center Modernism.
Hint 2.2 Playlist: “This Is America” by Childish Gambino; “Orange Colored Sky” by Nat “King” Cole; “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar; “Misery Chain” by Chris Cornell featuring Joy Williams from the 12 Years a Slave Soundtrack; “Mississippi Goddam” by Nina Simone; “Roll Jordan Roll” by Topsy Chapman featuring Chiwetel Ejiofor & Cast from the 12 Years a Slave Soundtrack; “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga (Main Title)” by Michael Abels from the Get Out Soundtrack; “I Almost Lost My Mind” by Ivory Joe Hunter
Hint 4.3: Ghost
The Reformatory
Tananarive Due
A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead. The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.
Publication Date: October 31
Publisher: Gallery / Saga Press
Book # 3
Hint 1.3 shows Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentieschi (1612-13). This painting is a form of visual revenge and related to the ‘Power of Woman’ theme. It is painted using the chiaroscuro technique, a technique employed to represent light and shadow as they define three-dimensional objects.
Hint 2.4 Playlist: “Vigilante Shit” by Taylor Swift; “Uh-Oh” by Cyn from the Promising Young Woman Soundtrack; “Give You Hell” by The All-American Rejects; “Don’t Stand So Close to Me (Remix)” by The Police; “Cell Block Tango” by Catherine Zeta-Jones, Susan Misner, Deidre Goodwin, Denise Faye, Ekaterina Chtchelkanova, Mya Harrison, & Taye Diggs from the Chicago Soundtrack; “Million Dollar Man” by Lana Del Rey; “mad woman” by Taylor Swift; “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” by Taylor Swift
Hint 4.2: Scales of justice
The Favorites
Rosemary Hennigan
A graduate student competes her way into a selective Law and Literature cohort and plots a takedown of its popular professor in this provocative campus novel about privilege, power, and obsession.
Most students would kill to be accepted into the prestigious Law and Literature cohort at Franklin University. But for Jessie Mooney, enrollment in the course is about more than campus status, rigorous thought, and professional connections. It’s her chance to get close to charismatic professor Jay Crane so she can expose who he really is.
From the moment she discovered their secret relationship, Jessie’s been convinced Crane is to blame for the events leading to her sister’s death. Still haunted by their last email exchange—You know what you did—she’ll cross any line to hold him accountable. But when Jessie finally earns Crane’s trust and the coveted position as one of his “favorites,” attracting the other students’ envy and suspicion, the truth becomes darkly twisted. Is it justice Jessie craves, or revenge? And what does she stand to lose if she gets her way?
Shimmering with tension, The Favorites explores the ways that love, desire, and anger reveal the best, and worst, of us.
Publication Date: November 7
Publisher: Graydon House
Book # 4
These hints could have also referred to The Favorites by Rosemary Hennigan initially. However, Hint #3 confirmed that Midnight is the Darkest Hour best fits the hints.
Hint 1.4 shows The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych by Hieronymus Bosch (1503-15). The piece was meant to be a cautionary tale but also entertaining, essentially it it was designed to start a conversation. It contains themes of sin, punishment, and Hell.
Hint 2.1 Playlist: “All-American Bitch” by Olivia Rodrigo; “A House in Nebraska” by Ethel Cain; “Wear Me Out” by Skylar Grey; “This Town” by Kacey Musgraves; “Faith & Family Blood” by The Newton Brothers from the Midnight Mass Soundtrack; “Florida Kilos” by Lana Del Rey; “labour” by Paris Paloma; “Ptolemaea” by Ethel Cain
Hint 4.1: Alligator/crocodile
Midnight is the Darkest Hour
Ashley Winstead
From the critically acclaimed author of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife and The Last Housewife comes Midnight is the Darkest Hour, a gothic Southern thriller about a killer haunting a small Louisiana town, where two outcasts―the preacher’s daughter and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks―hold the key to uncovering the truth.
Publication Date: October 3
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Book # 5
I have seen some others guess that these hint would also fit The Rom Con by Devon Daniels. While I think Hint 1.5’s mention of mass media could allude to the protagonist’s job in The Rom Con, I am still not convinced. I think the colors in Hint 3 are a bit off for The Rom Con. I wish I knew more of the playlist!
Hint 1.5 displays Brooklyn Bridge 290 by Andy Warhol (1983). The painting was commissioned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge. The Pop Art movement used imagery from mass media, think: comic books, celebrity culture, advertising, etc.
Hint 2.3 Playlist: “Got Me Started” by Troye Sivan; “7 Things” by Miley Cyrus; “bad idea right?” by Olivia Rodrigo; “Good in Bed” by Dua Lipa; “i hate u, i love u” by gnash featuring Olivia O’Brien; “Nonsense” by Sabrina Carpenter; “Slut! (Taylor’s Version)” by Taylor Swift; “Plot Twist” by Marc E. Bassy featuring Kyle
Hint 4.5: Statue of Liberty
Love Interest
Clare Gilmore
Love Interest is Clare Gilmore’s sparkling debut, a co-worker enemies-to-lovers rom-com that proves falling in love is the risk and the reward.
Casey Maitland has always preferred the reliability of numbers. Now a twenty-four-year-old finance expert working in Manhattan, she wonders if the open project manager position at her company―magazine powerhouse LC Publications―is a sign from the universe to pursue a career with a little more sparkle. That is, until she’s passed over for the job in favor of the board chairman’s son.
Alex Harrison is handsome, Harvard-educated, and enigmatic. Everybody loves him―except for Casey. But when the two are thrown on the same project, what they discover about their company might change everything―including the dreams each of them is chasing and their mutual love interest.
Publication date: October 10
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Read Between the Spines 
One response to “November 2023 Aardvark Book Club Hint & Selections”
I definitely think Air is going to be a pick. I thought so for the art history class hints. I mean there must be a reason why they chose THAT AW painting, right?
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