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The Goods 2

BOGO Tees

Two tees are better than one, and we’re here to make it all happen for you with a Black Friday BOGO. Buy one tee, get one free!

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Riot Rundown

112719-2k19MG-Riot-Rundown

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True Story

Xenophobia, JAY-Z, and the Story of a Native American Child

Hello and happy early Thanksgiving, nonfiction readers! As I am writing this newsletter, the first significant winter storm of the season is barreling down on Minnesota. Early forecasts show six inches of snow and lots of wind, which sounds just great! I’m kidding, it does not!

Given the holiday, it’s a very quiet week for new books – I’ve only got three that I want to highlight for you this week. Let’s check them out!

America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States by Erika Lee – In this book, award-winning historian Erica Lee gives a new perspective on our current immigration debates by exploring how “irrational fear, hatred, and hostility towards immigrants” has been embedded in our country since the beginning. The book explores how xenophobia works, why it continues, and why it’s a threat to our country.

 

JAY-Z: Made in America by Michael Eric Dyson – For the last decade, Michael Eric Dyson has taught JAY-Z’s lyrics as poetry, thought the rapper and artist doesn’t get the same recognition as other iconic American writers. In this book, Dyson explores the themes of JAY-Z’s career, his use of politics in his lyrics, and “his role in making this nation what it is today.”

 

 

The Girl in the Photograph: The True Story of a Native American Child, Lost and Found in America by Byron L. Dorgan – Using the story of Tamara, a five-year-old Native American girl who was abused while in foster care, this book offers a larger exploration around the “plight of children living on reservations – and offers hope for the future.” Byron Dorgan, a former U.S. Senator for North Dakota, has been an advocate in bringing the voices of Native American youth to policy discussions, and so offers much of that perspective in this book.

Have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend, my friends! You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @kimthedork and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. This week, Alice and I offered some holiday gift suggestions, including a bunch of books to read if you need something happy and uplifting this holiday season. Happy reading! – Kim

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In The Club

In the Club – 112719

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed.

It’s Thanksgiving week, clubbers! For those of you who celebrate, may your plates be full and your gatherings drama free. Since the holidays are officially upon us, I thought I’d switch things up this week and hit you with a gift guide. Read on for a collection of gifty things for your book club fam or any other reader in your life. All of these are $25 and under, so they’re budget friendly too.

To the club!!


For the well-read, dangerous creatures of book club: this vintage silver spoon bookmark. $12.00.

 

These book club girl gang enamel pins are so cute! $11.73.

 

This set of book lovers coaster set would look great at a club meeting, just saying. $20.00.

 

Give the gift of cozy with these fun bookish socks bearing what is basically the book lover’s mantra. $10.36.

 

This “between the pages of a book is a lovely place to be” print is fantastic on its own, or pair it with a cute little plant. $12.00.

 

Bring a little bling to the club with a book club charm bracelet. $18.00.

 

This “just one more chapter” keychain is a sweet little treat. $16.95.

 

Because wine is occasionally a part of wine club (insert devious smile here), these book lover wine charms are a pretty touch. $16.95.

 

This Teacup & Books print for clubbers who enjoy a cuppa. $24.50.

 

What happens at book club stays at book book club! Gift this charming mug as a reminder. $13.60.

 

Suggestion Section

All about Bookclubz, an app that seeks to make book club life a smoother one.

Good Morning America’s next book club pick is Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Virtue and Vengeance.

I’ve heard a lot of reasons/excuses for not reading the book club book, but this is a first: a Brooklyn mom was too busy sexting to read the book.


Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter, get it on the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

More Resources:
– Our Book Group In A Box guide
– List your group on the Book Group Resources page

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Unusual Suspects

Favorite 2019 Mysteries: Yours And Mine

Hi mystery fans! It is that time of year where I look back at all I read this year and tell you my personal favorite reads. And I rounded up your personal favorites too!

My Favorite 2019 Crime Reads

The Things She's Seen cover imageThe Things She’s Seen by Ambelin Kwaymullina, Ezekiel Kwaymullina: A beautiful crime novel about grief, death, family, and friendship–starring a ghost. (Review)

Heaven, My Home (Highway 59 #2) by Attica Locke: Locke is one of THE BEST crime writers. (Review)

Know My Name by Chanel Miller: One of the best memoirs, true crime books I’ve ever read. (Review)

Patron Saints Of Nothing cover imagePatron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay: Excellent mystery and coming-of-age! (Review)

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha: I’m still thinking about the characters in this novel. (Review)

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson: Not like other spy novels! (Review)

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami: Exploring the fallout of a crime–perfect for character driven and literary fans. (Review)

A Deadly Divide cover imageA Deadly Divide (Rachel Getty & Esa Khattak #5) by Ausma Zehanat Khan: My favorite entry in one of my favorite procedural series. (Review)

As Long as We Both Shall Live by JoAnn Chaney: My favorite thriller this year! (Review)

The Lost Man by Jane Harper: Makes the atmosphere a character! (Review)

Death Prefers Blondes by Caleb Roehrig: Fun, heartfelt, and full of found family! (Review)

The Stories You Tell cover imageThe Stories You Tell (Roxane Weary #3) by Kristen Lepionka: Great PI series with a character I’m always rooting for. (Review)

Code Name: Lise. The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII’s Most Highly Decorated Spy by Larry Loftis: Page-turning narrative nonfiction! (Review)

Alice’s Island by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo: So many surprising turns! (Review)

The Vanished Bride cover imageThe Vanished Bride (Brontë Sisters Mystery #1) by Bella Ellis: Fun and clever reimagining of the Brontë sisters as detectors! (Review)

And The Art of Theft (Lady Sherlock #4) by Sherry Thomas and A Dangerous Collaboration (Veronica Speedwell #4) by Deanna Raybourn are both series that any year there is a release it’s one of my favorites. (Review) and (Review)

Your Favorites! (I asked and you told me: here’s a big selection of what your fellow newsletter readers loved reading this year!)

The Lost Man by Jane Harper cover image7 votes for Jane Harper’s The Lost Man: “This book has a great mystery, great characters, and made me ugly cry.”–Aimee Dars Ellis

2 votes for The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

2 votes for Pete Fernandez conclusion Miami Midnight by Alex Segura: “A perfect encapsulation of the evolution of the character and Segura’s skills as a writer.” –Scott Cumming

2 votes for Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling’s Lethal White

Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware: “I was completely lost in the story within the first couple of pages. The suspense kept me going and I could not stop reading until I was finished.”–anonymous

The Five cover imageThe Five by Hallie Rubenhold:  “It’s a fascinating look at the lives of Victorian women and how the lives of victims of a terrible crime are often overlooked or misrepresented while the (usually male) criminal is glorified into a cult figure.”–Greg Baird

Curious Toys by Elizabeth Hand: “Incredibly well-researched and written Historical Fiction. Feels like a true crime novel with references to well known historical figures, a movie studio, and a long gone amusement park. Added bonus for it’s respectful treatment of gender identity and mental health issues. Gritty, but not gory.”–Heidi

4 votes for A Better Man by Louise Penny (and for the series): “The entire series is amazing and each book seems to get better and better. I love the characters and wish I lived in Three Pines with them.”–Anne Egbert

2 votes for The Whisper Man by Alex North: “phenomenal! Intense & creepy, awesome debut.”–Rhonda

miracle creek cover imageMiracle Creek by Angie Kim: “was a unique story told by a group of interesting characters and an exciting courtroom drama.”–anonymous

Heaven, My Home by by Attica Locke

Heart of Barkness (Chet and Bernie Mystery #9) by Spencer Quinn: “Chet the Jet is why I loved it so much.”–TVL

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips: “Interesting geographical location, good characters, unique story about how one crime impacts how other people alter their behavior or thinking.”–Rachel Gould

Knife by Joe Nesbo: “This series by a Scandinavian Author is always so complex you just can’t put it down.”–Cherre Grunert

2 votes for American Predator by Maureen Callahan: “This one was really scary, in large part because of the ruthless, random, anyone-could-be-the-next-victim nature of Israel Keyes’ crimes.”–Amy Pickett

Backlist

My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite cover image3 votes for My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite: “not like anything else I’ve read.”–Craig Pittman

The Earthquake Bird by Susanna Jones: “Tokyo is a big part of the story and a city I seldom read books with that setting. It features a very unlikeable main character but I was still rooting for her. Extremely unsettling ending.”–Carol

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

In the Woods  and The Likeness by Tana French: “When the detectives make you more anguished than the criminal.”–Daniela Lopes Araujo / “Re-read in prep for the tv show! I love this series so, so much!”–Kristen

Bearskin cover imageBearskin by James A. McLaughlin: “Wilderness and crime”–Sandy

The Secret History by Donna Tartt: “One of my top five books of all time and I reread it every year or two.”–Leona Judge

The Third Squad by V. Sanjay Kumar: “I thought the writing was strange, something about the way we sat in any particular character’s viewpoint was offkilter/unstable, which completely adds to the noir setup.”–April Lott

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

The Knowledge (Richard Jury #24) by Martha Grimes: “Grimes writes beautifully, and I love the idea of a secret bar for cabbies!”–anonymous

A Rising Man cover imageA Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem: “brilliant writing, well-drawn characters and thoughtful plot.”–Lora Martin

“I think the Stumptown series by Greg Rucka is really enjoyable. The various misadventures of a down on her luck bisexual PI picking up cases was interesting and sometimes, funny.”–Ash

“I loved Bones of the Earth by Eliot Pattison because it’s the last of a wonderful series, contains pre-Buddhist Tibetan religion and environmental protest. I also loved seeing Eliot Pattison speak about this book at the Bay Area Book Festival.”–Linda Frankel

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. Get Tailored Book Recommendations!

Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canavés.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own you can sign up here.

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Today In Books

Stacey Abrams Adapting Her Romance Book: Today In Books

Stacey Abrams Adapting Her Romance Book

Stacey Abrams is not only a politician out there fighting to make sure all voters’ votes count, but she’s also an author who will executive produce one of her romantic suspense novels into a CBS series. Never Tell, written under her pen name Selena Montgomery, is about a linguistics professor and an investigative journalist teaming up to solve a missing persons case–and probably teaming up for shexy things because romantic suspense?

Happy Birthday Indeed

Betty X. Davis was asked by staff at her senior living and memory care facility what she wanted to do for her 104th birthday and she had the loveliest answer of only wanting to do something for others. And so for her 104th birthday they’ve collected 104 books to donate to a local elementary school library. And now I want to donate my age in books every year on my birthday.

NYPL’s Best Books

From kids to adults, including so many genres, the New York Public Library has a really great list of their Best Books of 2019. They even have a category for best books for children in Spanish and there’s 10 picks for poetry lovers.

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What's Up in YA

⏰ Last Chance For These YA Ebook Deals!

Hey YA Readers!

Often ebook deals expire at the end of a month, so chances are that if you’re interested in scoring one of these reads at a steal, you’ll want to do it ASAP, as opposed to waiting. Happy Saturday-after-Thanksgiving-and-Black-Friday for US readers and Happy Saturday to everyone else!

Deals are active as of Friday, November 29, but again, know they might be gone tomorrow morning.

Heroine by Mindy McGinnis is one of my favorite reads of 2019, and it’s on sale for $2.

Danielle Paige’s Dorothy Must Die, a riff on The Wizard of Oz, is $2.

Internment by Samira Ahmed is $3 and is a must-read.

I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about Like A Love Story by Abdi Nazemian, and you can score it for $2.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is $3, so get on that if you haven’t already read it.

Want something creepy and fantastical? Rin Chupeco’s The Bone Witch is $1, while the second book in the trilogy, The Heart Forager is $2, and the final book in the series, The Shadowglass, is $3. That’s $6 for the entire (huge!) trilogy.

Want a great graphic novel for middle schoolers? Jerry Craft’s The New Kid is fantastic — it’s also vital reading for white adults working with young people of color in any capacity. $3.

Arrrrr you looking for pirates? (I laughed, ok?). Tricia Levenseller’s Daughter of the Pirate King is $2.

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma is $2.

You can score Sarah Mylnowski’s recent book I See London, I See France for $3.

Sara Farizan’s debut If You Could Be Mine, about a (literally) forbidden romance, is $2.

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson – think of it kind of like Ender’s Game with a female lead – is $2.

The Deepest Roots by Miranda Asebedo is described as “Morgan Matson meets Maggie Stiefvater,” and you can grab it for $2.

Laini Taylor’s The Daughter of Smoke and Bone is $2.

If you’re looking for romance, you’ll want to pick up Kasey West’s Fame, Fate, and The First Kiss for $2.

Although Kate Racculia’s Bellweather Rhapsody isn’t a YA book, it is an Alex Award winning book, meaning it’s an outstanding adult book for YA readers. Grab it for $3.


Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you again on Monday!

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

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The Goods

Gifts Inspired by Classic Kids’ Books

You’re never too young to love books. Treat the bookish kids (and parents) in your life to these creative gifts inspired by kid lit classics.

“All grown-ups were once children…but only few of them remember it.” Celebrate the spirit of childhood with this Little Prince mobile.

Bookish accessories are the best accessories. Start ’em young with this Very Hungry Caterpillar infant headband.

Crank up the nostalgia engines with an homage to Golden Books. This Saggy Baggy Elephant bib is too cute to pass up.

Llama Llama is always up to something! Make bedtime extra cuddly with this Llama Llama Red Pajama stuffed animal.

Tis the season for adorable jammies! Tuck your little one in with this Little Blue Truck pajama set.

Need more gift ideas inspired by classic kids’ books? Check out the original post on Book Riot.

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Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships for November 26: Wearable SFF Goodies

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, bringing you best wishes and a slightly different newsletter for this week to come. May all those in the US of A find the fortitude to survive the amount of turkey and fixins we’re about to have placed before us, and if you’re in retail I’m sending you all the good energy I can for Friday.

That’s right, it’s Thanksgiving week! And since there aren’t a whole lot of new releases for this week, I thought we’d get a jump on holiday gift giving with a look at some cool, wearable sci-fi and fantasy novel merch.

From Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler: We are a harvest of survivors. The only t-shirt badass enough to make it onto this list. $25

You can get work coveralls that let you feel like a character on The Expanse. Pretty reasonable for a ready-made cosplay item. $100

This infinity scarf inspired by Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus is just unfairly gorgeous. $48

From Gail Carriger’s Finishing School series, there’s this adorable pendant of Bumbersnoot the mechanical dog, which works for a bracelet or a necklace… or annything else you can hang a pendant off of. $37

A bracelet with one of my favorite little quotes from Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey: All knowledge is worth having. $18

Barking spiders! Here’s a pendant with perhaps the best SFF exclamation ever, from Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. $16

The the main characters from Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark, named on earrings. $10

A gorgeous charm of the Eolian Pipes from The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. (The seller has versions of this as a necklace, cufflinks, a pin, and more.) $37

These earrings were inspired by Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series, specifically the land of Confection featured in Beneath the Sugar Sky. $11

From Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: No Mourners, No Funerals enamel pin. $9

Bonus Not-Wearable-But-Still-Wantable Section!

I saw these and you must see them to because they are beautiful.

From N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy, “Alabaster Madonna.” My heart is just breaking. $8

A bright, yet ethereal watercolor red versus blue print for This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. $16

See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

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Check Your Shelf

Here Come the Best Of the Year Lists!

Welcome to Check Your Shelf! This is your guide to help librarians like you up your game when it comes to doing your job (& rocking it).

Thanksgiving’s coming, and whether you celebrate it or not, I hope you’re able to spend quality time with loved ones…and a few books! Let’s embark.


Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

New & Upcoming Titles

Best Books of 2019

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

RA/Genre Resources

On the Riot


All Things Comics

On the Riot


Audiophilia

On the Riot


Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

Adults

On the Riot


Best Books of the Decade


Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in LibraryReads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

–Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman.