Dear Book Friends,
Welcome to Monday’s Book Radar. Today, we’ve got a little bit of everything. Good news, book gossip, book recommendations, memes, cat photos, and more. You know, the usual. But the usual is still exciting, right? Especially when it comes to cat pictures. So let’s get this Monday started.
đź’™ Emily
Book Deals and Reveals
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Here’s the cover reveal for Taylor Jenkins Reid’s upcoming novel Carrie Soto is Back, which will be out August 30th.
LGBTQ Reads has the exclusive cover reveal for Born Andromeda by K.M. Watts. This debut romance, featuring a cyborg princess and space pirates, is releasing from Interlude Press on November 15th.
Next February, Tor Nightfire is releasing cosmic horror novel Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder, and here is the cover reveal!
Marvel’s Disney+ series Ironheart has hired Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes as directors. Bailey will direct episodes one through three, while Barnes will helm the back half, episodes four to six.
Here are all of the book club picks for April 2022.
The winner of this year’s Story Prize is Brandon Taylor’s Filthy Animals.
A picture book about unicorns was banned in an Ohio school district.
The UnBanned Books initiative is giving anyone in the U.S. between 13-21 a free eCard that will grant them access to frequently challenged ebooks.
There may be an increase in the federal budget for libraries and a way for you to help.
Book Riot Recommends
I’m a Contributing Editor at Book Riot, I write the Today in Books newsletter, and I’m a Bibliologist for Book Riot’s Tailored Book Recommendations subscription service. I also have a PhD in English, so I’m basically a doctor of books. Books are my life, in other words, so in this section of the newsletter, let me share with you some upcoming books I’m super excited about. And I think you will be too!
Prepare Your Shelves!
This is Not the Real World by Anna Carey (Quirk Books, May 24th)
Anna Carey’s This is Not the Jess Show was one of my favorite books of 2021. It was one of those rare books where the comps were actually accurate. Is it Black Mirror meets My So-Called Life? Absolutely. And wouldn’t you know, I love those shows, and I pretty much eat up everything 90s-related (hello, see me gush about Sailor Moon below), so I was completely, 100% the target audience for this series, and I loved every minute of the first book. If you’re a nerdy, nostalgic millennial like me, you will, too.
And yes, that’s right. I said series. This is Not the Real World, as you might have guessed, is the second book in the series, and yes, it totally lives up to the first one. If you haven’t read the first book yet, I don’t want to give away too much of the synopsis of the second, because there are definitely some surprising turns, and it helps to go in knowing as little as possible. But what I can say is that our main character Jess is on a revenge mission. And to get her revenge, Jess has teamed up with a reporter who’s investigating a series of suspicious disappearances. Now she has to play along like everything’s fine in order to get to the bottom of what’s really going on in her hometown.
I know that sounds so cryptic, but I would never dream of spoiling the wild ride that is this series. These books are just so much fun. And while many books and films try to cash in on the whole nostalgia thing, these books just feel differently. Don’t believe me? Read and find out for yourselves.
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
What I’m Reading This Week
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The Fervor by Alma Katsu
Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
Monday Memes
So I missed the 97th anniversary of The Great Gatsby by about a week, but these Great Gatsby memes really sent me.
Other Things That Make Me Happy
Y’all! My husband just got me this Sailor Moon board game, and I’m so happy about it. I love Sailor Moon. Okay, I’m obsessed with Sailor Moon. And I also love board games, so this was of course a must-have for me. I’m very happy about this.
And Here’s A Cat Picture
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I’ve got another picture of Murray on a yoga mat. He’s really enjoying being my workout buddy, so who am I to deny him? Especially when he’s posing for me like this?
Anyway, hooray! We’ve made it through another Monday Book Radar. I’m proud of us. I hope you have a wonderful week, and we’ll chat same time, same place on Thursday?
đź’™ Emily