Sponsored by TorDotComPublishing (@TorDotComPub).
Andrea Hairston’s award-winning alternate history adventure transports readers to turn-of-the-20th-century America, where diverse audiences hunker together in dark theatres to marvel at flickering images. Redwood, an African American woman, and Aidan, a Seminole Irish man, journey from haunted Georgia swampland to a “city-of-the-future” Chicago. They’re gifted performers and hoodoo conjurors, struggling to call up the wondrous world they imagine, on stage and screen, and in wounded hearts. The power of hoodoo is the power of the community that believes in its capacities to heal. Their search for a place to be who they want is an exhilarating, painful, magical adventure.
Happy Tuesday, friends! I am writing this to you from my secret lair in Maine, where we got a foot and a half of snow this weekend. It’s wild, and we didn’t even get as much as most places! This is to say that I am wicked tired of shoveling snow, and I am glad it’s behind us for now. Because Mother Nature is cutting in on my reading time!
Now, for today: I have a first Tuesday megalist for you. I do these because the first Tuesday of each month has so many new releases, it’s fun to round some of them up. Below, you’ll find titles (loosely) broken up into several categories, to make it easier for your browsing convenience. I hope you have fun with it! And as with each first Tuesday newsletter, I am putting a ❤️ next to the books that I have had the chance to read and loved.
And speaking of today’s great books, for this week’s episode of All the Books! Danika and I discussed some of the wonderful books that we’ve read, such as The Violin Conspiracy, Crema, The Employees, and more.
Make sure to get your own Read Harder Book Journal from Book Riot to track your reading for the year!
And now, it’s time for everyone’s favorite gameshow: AHHHHHH MY TBR! Here are today’s contestants:
Biography and Memoir
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Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm by Dan Charnas
The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story by Andrew Neiderman ❤️
In the Shadow of the Mountain: A Memoir of Courage by Silvia Vasquez-Lavado
Fiction
Don’t Cry for Me by Daniel Black
Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor ❤️
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The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang ❤️
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu ❤️
Free Love by Tessa Hadley
Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh
The Pages by Hugo Hamilton
Getting Clean With Stevie Green by Swan Huntley
Thank You, Mr. Nixon: Stories by Gish Jen
Vladimir by Julia May Jonas
Anonymous Sex by Hillary Jordan and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
Stories of a Life by Nataliya Meshchaninova, Fiona Bell (translator)
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The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk, Jennifer Croft (translator)
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson ❤️
Middle Grade
Just Harriet by Elana K. Arnold
The Counterclockwise Heart by Brian Farrey
Wishing Upon the Same Stars by Jacquetta Nammar Feldman
When the World Turned Upside Down by K. Ibura
Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan ❤️
Omar Rising by Aisha Saeed
Mystery and Thriller
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Catch Her When She Falls by Allison Buccola
Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano
Base Notes by Lara Elena Donnelly
Other People’s Clothes by Calla Henkel
The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb ❤️
Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose by T.A. Willberg ❤️
Nonfiction
Impact: How Rocks from Space Led to Life, Culture, and Donkey Kong by Greg Brennecka
When a Killer Calls: A Haunting Story of Murder, Criminal Profiling, and Justice in a Small Town by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker
Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth’s Extinct Worlds by Thomas Halliday
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The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward by Daniel H. Pink
Catch the Sparrow: A Search for a Sister and the Truth of her Murder by Rachel Rear ❤️
Treasured: How Tutankhamun Shaped a Century by Christina Riggs ❤️
Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey by Florence Williams ❤️
Poetry
Respect the Mic: Celebrating 20 Years of Poetry from a Chicagoland High School by Peter Kahn, Hanif Abdurraqib , et al.
Then the War: and Selected Poems, 2007-2020 by Carl Phillips
Romance
Ramón and Julieta (Love & Tacos) by Alana Quintana Albertson
Lease on Love by Falon Ballard
Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
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Crema by Johnnie Christmas and Dante Luiz
Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters by Jessica P. Pryde ❤️
Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Horror
The Violence by Delilah S. Dawson
A Lullaby for Witches by Hester Fox
Hunt the Stars (Starlight’s Shadow ) by Jessie Mihalik
The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century by Olga Ravn, Martin Aitken (translator) ❤️
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Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris by Anne Rice and Christopher Rice
Young Adult
In the Serpent’s Wake by Rachel Hartman
Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman by Kristen R. Lee
This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi
And We Rise by Erica Martin
Once More with Chutzpah by Haley Neil
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I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
The New Girl by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor
These Deadly Games by Diana Urban
Kemosha of the Caribbean by Alex Wheatle
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
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This week: I’m currently reading A Tiny Upward Shove by Melissa Chadburn and More Than You’ll Ever Know by Katie Gutierrez. Outside of books, I’ve started watching Search Party. (I’m a big fan of waiting until a season or even a whole series is finished before I watch it.) And the song stuck in my head is El Musgo by Gabriel Bruce. And here’s Farrokh, trying to blend in with the busyness of my office.
Thank you, as always, for joining me each week as I rave about books! I am wishing the best for all of you in whatever situation you find yourself in now. And yay, books! – XO, Liberty ❤️