We’re giving away five Anna K book bundles to five lucky Riot readers!
Enter here for a chance, or click the cover image below!
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Here’s what it’s all about:
Set over the course of one unforgettable summer, Anna K and her friends are back! Jenny Lee’s Anna K Away is full of the risk, joy, heartbreak, and adventure that mark the three months between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next. Haters are always gonna hate…but everyone loves a good comeback tour.
Sponsored by Emporia State University’s School of Library & Information Management
The Masters of Library Science program at Emporia State University is an ALA accredited program that offers you the flexibility of online classes while also giving you a community of peers to build your professional network. Through a combination of instruction, students are able to form deep connections to the course work, professors, other students, and practicing professionals in libraries. ESU offers a quick and affordable way to earn your MLS, with most students completing their degree in two years – even while working a full-time job! To learn more, visit our website at www.emporia.edu/slim
Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. I’m composing the bulk of this newsletter a little bit ahead of when I usually would because I’m taking some time off. I’ll be squeezing in some last snuggles with my niece and nephew and shoving in a few more tacos. Hope you’re all finding things to smile about this week, too.
To the club!!
I love cantaloupe. Like a lot. It’s a fruit that I feel gets a bad rap as either being boring (it’s not!) or tasting too similar to papaya (these are fighting words, because I loathe papaya). I crave big bowls of fresh, juicy cantaloupe when it’s warm outside, or the cantaloupe sorbet and paletas I are up eating from this tiny, cash-only Mexican ice cream shop in South San Diego. Know what I’ve never had, though? A cantaloupe cocktail. That changes now. Salud!
I was looking for topics to suggest for this week’s newsletter and came across this post on 40 book club questions for all book clubs that Book Riot put out last year. I decided to sort of work backwards and suggest books to read based on those questions. Here are three of my faves and books I think would pair well with them. Happy reading!
Otto and Xavier Shin have been gifted a trip on a very special train as a not-honeymoon honeymoon present from their aunt. They appear to be alone on this former tea-smuggling train and soon realize that it’s not your average locomotive; it seems to be customized to their particular tastes in ways that don’t exactly make sense, and they don’t know the train’s destination. Totally normal! Fun! While boarding the train, Otto spots a woman who be believes to be the mysterious owner, a woman who resides on The Lucky Day. She was holding up a sign—but did it say “hello,” or “help?” As the pair tries to get to the bottom of that little mystery, the trip upends everything they think they know about each other and their pasts. Oh and there’s a pet mongoose. Can’t forget the mongoose.
When I think of authors who continually blow me away with their impossibly beautiful sentences and truly weird books, I immediately think of Helen Oyeyemi. The things she does with words! The book asks us to consider what it means to be understood (or not) by the person you most want to perceive you, and I promise, you will find yourself highlighting all kinds of passages.
This question speaks to my soul! I am such a playlist person and music person in general. I’m constantly thinking of book soundtracks in my head when I’m reading and I think a lot of you probs do the same.
Because my job is pretty cool, I got to dream up a playlist for two SFF titles while filling in for Jenn on SFF Yeah earlier this month. It was SO much fun! Do this with book club and see what your playlist looks like. My picks for the super fun space romp with psychic space cats that is Chilling Effect? 1977 by Anna Tijoux / La Torre by Gabriel Rios /Quimbara by Celia Cruz / Ring the Alarm by Beyonce / Bitch Better Have My Money by Rihanna (I could have gone on for days!)
Mike Hayes’s childhood was brutal, dark, and lonely, but that was all before he met the love of his life, Verity Metcalf. With V by his side, Mike has learned how to love, how to care for himself, how to thrive in his career, and turn his life around. Together they will build something beautiful and be happy for the rest of their lives. Never mind that she’s not returning his calls, or that she’s technically engaged to someone else. It’ll all just a part of a secret game they play. Right?
I absolutely picked this one because the ending is super polarizing, and because I would read the crap out of a version of the book told from V’s perspective (assuming the ending is what I interpret it to be). Wish I could say more, you’ll have to read to figure it out for yourself!
This is pretty cool: Reese’s Book Club Launches Writers’ Fellowship LitUp for Underrepresented Women
The Hudson Valley and Long Island chapters of the Alzheimer’s Association have launched a virtual book club for caregivers
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 and catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast.
Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa
Sponsored by Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal, published by Quirk Books
Teen Wolf meets Emergency Contact in this hilarious and heartwarming debut YA novel about friendship and living with chronic illness. Priya worked hard to pursue her premed dreams, until a diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease sends her back home. Thankfully she has her online BFF, Brigid, and “oof ouch my bones,” a virtual chronic illness support group. But when Brigid disappears, Priya drives to check on her and finds a horrifying creature shut in the basement. Confronted with the unexplainable, Priya comes to the impossible truth: the creature is a werewolf—and that werewolf is Brigid.
Hey there, YA readers!
Have you marathoned all of Netflix’s Shadow and Bone yet? I watched it all in a day and can I just take this moment to declare my heartfelt love for Kaz and Inej and Jesper and Sankt Milo and the wonder that is the chemistry between Nina and Matthias? If there isn’t a second season, I will be furious.
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For those of you not in the Shadow and Bone bubble, that’s okay! I have some exciting news for this week, plus your weekly dose of new books! Let’s go!
The YA murder mystery anthology of my dreams has been announced, and look at that line up!
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The same person who brought us To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before on Netflix is now adapting Sarah Dessen’s Along for the Ride! And it’s already been cast and everything!
Speaking of casting, Alice Oseman revealed the casting for the leads in the adaptation of the Heartstoppers series!
Aimée Carter’s new YA series is pitched as Princess Diaries but with a murder mystery twist, and I am so here for it.
Check out the cover reveal for Lilliam Rivera’s new YA novel! We Light Up the Sky will be out in October.
This is YA adjacent, but Amazon’s adaptation of the comic series Paper Girls has been cast!
Anna K Away by Jenny Lee
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Between Perfect and Real by Ray Stoeve
Chaos on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
Fade Into the Bright by Jessica Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz
Gilded Serpent by Danielle L. Jensen
Slingshot by Mercedes Helnwein
Violet and Daisy: The Story of Vaudeville’s Famous Conjoined Twins by Sarah Miller
A Breath Too Late by Rocky Callen
Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
Crying Laughing by Lance Rubin
Dark Skies by Danielle L. Jensen
Heart of Flames by Nicki Pau Preto
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Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (reissue)
Strange Exit by Parker Peeveyhouse
Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
When the Stars Lead to You by Ronni Davis
Some upcoming LGBTQ+ romances you should pick up!
The most talked about books on our Hey YA podcast!
Are book covers really that inclusive? Kelly weighs in.
Earth Day might be over, but these books still matter!
Thanks for hanging out this week! I’ll be back this weekend with book deals!
Tirzah
Thanks to Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal, published by Quirk Books, for making today’s newsletter possible!
Sponsored by The Loft’s Wordplay, May 2-8, 2021
The Loft’s Wordplay, presented by St. Catherine University and Star Tribune, is a week-long, free, and virtual celebration of the year in books (May 2-8). Each day will host a morning session for youth, including visits from Chelsea Clinton, Marjorie Liu, and Jon Klassen. Then, an afternoon session with international authors including Helen Oyeyemi, Sofia Segovia, and Rivers Solomon. Finally, evening conversations between authors including Alison Bechdel, Cheryl Strayed, Hanif Abdurraqib, Kazim Ali, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Dean Koontz, and Donika Kelly on themes of climate change, Black ambition, Native voices, the patriarchy, and more.
Happy almost end of April! I hope all of the April showers are bringing you flowers this time of year and that you’re enjoying sunnier days. I have a nice round up of children’s books (lots of picture books this week) that are on sale for a short time, so make sure to grab what catches your eye, because these deals won’t last long!
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For a sweet tale about a young boy who wishes he were as brave as his father, pick up Brave Like That by Lindsey Stoddard for $2.
Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester and Karen Barbour is a great springboard into talking about the subject with your young ones, and it’s also $2.
Looking for a book for the baseball obsessed kid? Golden Arm by Carl Deuker is $3.
Don’t miss Where Are You From? by Yamile Saied Mendez and Jaime Kim for $2.
No Ordinary Thing by G.Z. Schmidt is a great middle grade time travel caper for $2!
I’ve Loved You Since Forever by Hoda Kotb and Susie Mason is a sweet story of a parent’s love for $2.
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Green Is a Chile Pepper by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and John Parra is an award-winning colors book for $5!
Want to introduce kids to the concept of protest and civil rights? Sometimes People March by Tessa Allen is $2!
Happy reading!
Tirzah
Sponsored by Flatiron Books, publisher of Anna K Away by Jenny Lee
Set over the course of one unforgettable summer, Anna K and her friends are back! Jenny Lee’s Anna K Away is full of the risk, joy, heartbreak, and adventure that mark the three months between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next. Haters are always gonna hate…but everyone loves a good comeback tour.
Sponsored by Amazon Publishing.
Secrets always come home. Years ago, Lieutenant Abby Mullen survived the infamous Wilcox cult. Now working as a hostage negotiator for the NYPD, nothing phases her anymore… at least she thought. When fellow survivor Eden Fletcher comes to Abby for help finding her kidnapped son, Abby can’t help but wonder why a kidnapper would target Eden. But Eden refuses to talk. She’s silent about the relics of their shared past hanging on her walls. About the kidnapper’s possible motives. About what’s happened in the years since she and Abby parted ways.
Hello mystery fans! I’ve got your hot new April releases to check out. As always I aimed to hit a wide range of crime reading tastes so surely (don’t call me Shirley) there’s something to look forward to reading on this list.
A murder-mystery, starring a detective, with shape-shifting witches, and written by an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation–top of my want list! Oh and along with the who murdered the security guard at the children’s museum there’s also the whole who stole ancient human remains from the museum?!
It’s finally here! This is the smashing of a rom-com and a crime novel together for a super entertaining, funny, warm, and fun book. Would your family help you dispose of a body after accidentally killing someone in self-defense? Meddy Chan’s would! All while planning an elaborate wedding their business is working on. And while maybe falling in love with a past love. (Review) (TW attempted assault scene)
This true crime is for readers of stories about cults and anyone looking for a deep dive into the recent news stories regarding NXIVM–which got even more press for the involvement of Seagram heir Clare Bronfman, Smallville actor Allison Mack, and Battlestar Galactica actor Nicki Clyne.
If you’ve been following along my shouting of mystery books I love, you’ll realize that this being written by a fellow Rioter is not why I love it but, rather, I am a big fan of historical mysteries and this one hit so many spots for me–which I say as someone who is not particularly a fan of P&P. If you need a delightful historical mystery, want to watch Lizzie Bennet as an amateur sleuth, and want to watch her bicker with Darcy (delicious bickering!) while trying to free an innocent man, run to this one. I did the audiobook and highly recommend that format. (TW alludes to past employer assaulting housemaids)
Here’s a historical mystery that is darker and brings to light history many probably know very little about. Set in 1426, Joseon (Korea) Min Hwani disguises herself as a boy and sets out to find her missing father. He’s a detective who disappeared a year earlier while investigating missing girls from a forest. While trying to find out what happened to her father Min also finds herself rebuilding her relationship with her sister, learning about her family and its secrets, and needing to know why girls keep disappearing… This is a suspenseful mystery that takes a hard look at the treatment of girls and women in little known history. I went with the audiobook for this and really enjoyed it. And if you never read Hur’s previous historical mystery, The Silence Of Bones, get that one too. (TW past child abuse, recounted/ mentions of suicide/ human trafficking)
More historical fiction! This is a great series, set in the early 1900s NY, which follows Jane Prescott, a ladies’ maid as our amateur sleuth. This time we go behind the curtain of Broadway and among all that drama there’s a murder! If you’re looking to start at the beginning pick up A Death of No Importance (Review).
And here’s a way more recent history setting that follows a lawyer, Henry Rios, in 1986 L.A. On the November ballot is a terrifying measure that would place people with HIV into quarantine camps, so Rios accepts to counsel the activist group Queers United to End Erasure and Repression. But soon he’s instead representing a client facing the death penalty after a bombing.
For fans of true crime podcasts in their mystery books: Elle Castillo hosts a popular true crime podcast focusing on cold cases of missing children in her hometown of the Twin Cities. Now she’s decided she’ll tackle the biggest unsolved case from 20 years ago…
Here’s a little known–outside of the Asian community–case that has finally started to get some attention. This true crime book takes a look at the murder of Vincent Chin, the trial, protests, and verdicts.
For fans of short stories, here’s an anthology that can either give you a lot of your favorite authors writings in one shot or introduce you to great new authors.
Looking for a dark, sardonic thriller? Set in Tel-Aviv, women who once joined a group who swore to have a childfree lifestyle are turning up dead. Sheila’s once close friend Dina Kaminer, one of Israel’s preeminent feminist scholars, was murdered. But who would murder her and label her a mother by gluing a baby doll to her hand?
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2021 releases. Check out this Unusual Suspects Pinterest board and get Tailored Book Recommendations!
Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, 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.
Sponsored by Spark by Claudia Kalb/National Geographic.
SPARK. In this series of linked biographies, best-selling author and acclaimed journalist Claudia Kalb follows the journeys of thirteen remarkable individuals–from Shirley Temple to Alexander Fleming to Eleanor Roosevelt to Bill Gates–to discover the secrets behind their talents. Each possessed a unique arc of inspiration. Each–through science, art, music, theater, and politics–reached extraordinary success at different stages of life. And each offers us a chance to explore the genesis–and experience–of genius. SPARK is available April 27, 2021 wherever books are sold.
I continue — continue! To shirk reading like the chores of yore and instead do things like watching sitcoms from the early 2000s on Hulu instead. Also my wife got me a Nintendo Switch for my birthday and it is all I am now interested in. WELL. I amend that statement. I still love compiling lists of books. And looking at book stacks. Mm. Book stacks.
So in that grand tradition, here’s your new release highlights for this week:
Ok first of all, I love this cover. Now, what’s it about? Wong’s memoir is about “a childhood amid revolutionary times, where boyish adventures and school days mixed with dire poverty and political persecution.” His father, a “patriotic Chinese official” was caught by Mao’s Hundred Flowers Campaign, which was a time when people were encouraged to express their true feelings about the government, and then later hundreds of thousands were sent to prison camps for “re-education.” Wong was one of half a million Freedom Swimmers who swam to Hong Kong to escape.
A Hungarian ghost hunter! A suburban housewife! A possible poltergeist! This story takes place in 1930s London when Alma Fielding started experiencing things flying off the shelves, tortoises appearing in her car, etc. Y’know. Ghost stuff. This is the story of her, ghost hunter Nandor Fodor (fun name), and an imminent war.
Is it possible to talk about Freedom Riders without getting emotional? Freedom Riders were incredibly brave men and women who rode interstate buses into segregated states to “challenge the non-enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions that ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional.” Charles Person was the youngest of the original Freedom Riders, being 18 when they started. The bus he rode was attacked by a mob, with several Riders severely beaten. This is his story.
Like I’m not highlighting this book. In the 1880s, James Vick spent $100,000 a year on advertising, publishing full-color floral guides multiple times a year, and getting rave reviews for his magazine. He employed 150 people and received 3000 letters a day. If you were into flowers and lived in the mid-to-late 19th century, you knew about Vick’s Illustrated Floral Guide.
For more nonfiction new releases, check out the For Real podcast which I co-host with the excellent Kim here at Book Riot. If you have any questions/comments/book suggestions, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.
Sponsored by Red Press.
This is a story about what we stand for, and how that makes us who we are. It’s a coming-of-age tale about a girl, a boy, a dog, a dam, a travel ban, an orange toddler, a political movement and the hip-hop guide to life. It’s a novel that confronts questions of privilege, identity, voice and influence in a post-truth world. But most of all, it’s about the power of the stories we tell ourselves.
Welcome to Read This Book, the newsletter where I recommend one book for your TBR that I think you’re going to love! Genre fiction is my wheelhouse, and about 90% of my personal TBR, so if if you’re looking for recommendations in horror, fantasy, or romance, I’ve got you covered!
This week I humbly confess that I did not have time to finish my current read which I meant to share with you today – it was one of those reading weeks you know? So while I am very excited to get to write about that book next week, this week I want to share with you a recent release from earlier this year that I was absolutely loved
So during lockdown I played a lot of Dragon Age: Inquisition. I mean a LOT. And if you’ve ever marathoned any kind of media, a book series, a show, a movie series, a video game – and I know most of you probably have – you know you get into a kind of headspace where all you crave is more of the same kind of content.
Then along came Hall of Smoke, which was everything I could possibly have asked for in a fantasy book at that exact moment. It hit me right in the DA:I sweet spot with it’s massive, mythic feel, it’s vivid landscapes, and it’s warrior heroine stuck right in the middle of a divine war. But what is divinity, really? Who gets to be considered divine? Are divine entities simply brought into being, as they might have us believe, and always divine – or are divine beings made? Do they rise to divinity? And is divinity bestowed upon them? Or is it a prize for a victor to seize?
These are the questions at the heart of Hall of Smoke as Hessa, an Eangi – a battle priestess of the Goddess of War – whose whole town and temple are slaughtered and whose Goddess has forsaken her, struggles to find justice for her people and redemption for herself in a world torn apart by war and fear. When the gods fight amongst themselves, mortals are inevitably trampled underfoot – and something far older, and long asleep, threatens to wake and throw all that Hessa thinks she knows about the gods, the nature of divinity, and herself, into chaos.
There is so much to love about this book, and since we still have something like 9 months until the sequel comes out next January I highly encourage you all to read Hall of Smoke and come join me in the book version of hiatus hell!
Happy Reading!
Jessica
An anthology of American singer-songwriter and poet Jim Morrison’s written works is set to release on June 8th of this year. The 600-page book, entitled The Collected Works of Jim Morrison: Poetry, Journals, Transcripts, and Lyrics, was created in collaboration with Morrison’s estate and was inspired by the discovery of a plan for a book written by the late Doors singer. The book will include poetry, lyrics, and audio transcripts of Morrison reading his work, and will be accompanied by 160 visual components. Novelist Tom Robbins has written a forward for the anthology, editor Frank Lisciandro has provided an introduction, and there will also be a prologue written by the musician’s sister Anne Morrison Chewning. The Collected Works of Jim Morrison is available for preorder now.
Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, has won the 2021 Joyce Carol Oates Prize. The New Literary Project awards the $50,000 prize annually, seeking to honor “a mid-career author of fiction who has earned a distinguished reputation and the widespread approbation and gratitude of readers.” Evans said in a statement, “I am thrilled and honored to receive this year’s prize, and to find myself in the wonderful company of this year’s finalists and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize’s previous winners.” The Joyce Carol Oates Prize has been awarded since 2017, with previous award winners including T. Geronimo Johnson (Welcome to Braggsville) and Laila Lalami (The Other Americans).
Dissident artist Ai Weiwei has written a memoir with a cover designed by the artist himself. In Weiwei’s memoir 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows, which will be translated into 13 languages, the author explores his experiences being detained in China for 81 days in 2011. He also looks at his father’s exile from China. Wei said in a statement, “During those long weeks [of detention], I thought often of my father, a poet who had been exiled during Mao Zedong’s Anti-Rightist Campaign… I realized how incomplete my understanding of him was and how much I regretted the unbridgeable gap between us.” 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows is due out November 2nd.
The next time you find yourself ill for an extended period and looking for an audiobook to bring you comfort and entertainment, try these five titles that are sure to capture your attention.
Sponsored by The Loft’s Wordplay, May 2-8, 2021
The Loft’s Wordplay, presented by St. Catherine University and Star Tribune, is a week-long, free, and virtual celebration of the year in books (May 2-8). Each day will host a morning session for youth, including visits from Chelsea Clinton, Marjorie Liu, and Jon Klassen. Then an afternoon session with international authors including Helen Oyeyemi, Sofia Segovia, and Rivers Solomon. Finally, evening conversations between authors including Alison Bechdel, Cheryl Strayed, Hanif Abdurraqib, Kazim Ali, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Dean Koontz, and Donika Kelly on themes of climate change, black ambition, native voices, the patriarchy, and more
