Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed.
Well, I went to see the sports in Philly this past week and it was… cool. I wasn’t super impressed, but it definitely wasn’t terrible, either. I might have enjoyed it more if the sun/shade situation was better. Depending on how the sun hit, or didn’t hit, the arena, I would either be cold and shivering or cooking under the sun. And parking was a mess! I will say, though, that it was nice to see whenever the athletes were particularly proud of themselves, and how the crowd would cheer on people who were struggling a bit.
The best part of my Philly trip, though, was when I got to kiki with Jenn from Book Riot (who used to write this newsletter) and her partner! She made these delicious, bougie margaritas from scratch, which we drank in her back yard as we talked mess and reminisced about cats. So, obviously I’m gonna need to pull up to Philly a few more times…
The past few days have been cute, but then Tuesday had to come around and slap me with the threat to overturn Roe v. Wade, which I had no idea was this close to happening. I hate it here sometimes. Please take a look at this article from Anti-Racism Daily for more info and how you can help. And here’s a list of books on the topic for more reading.
With that said, let’s raise our spirits back up a bit and head to the club!
Nibbles and Sips
I went to brunch with a friend while I was in Philly and had vegan chicken and waffles + tropical mimosas, both of which were pretty good. It got me thinking about how I would like to experiment more with vegan chicken recipes, so here’s one if you’d also like a go at it. Here’s a meat option for those who prefer chicken.
Now for some books!
Books on Books on Books
I feel like I’ve been noticing more books being published lately that are book related— meaning they’re about writers, the publishing industry, or take place in a library. It’s always fun seeing bookishness in novels, and these were recently released.
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
Nell Young’s father, Dr. Young, ain’t ish. While he’s a legend in the field of cartography, he coldly fired his daughter Nell after a disagreement over what seemed at the time to be a basic gas station map. Since destroying his daughter’s reputation, Dr. Young has turned up dead in his New York Public Library Office with the very same map hidden in his desk. Naturally, Nell is curious and starts to investigate. Turns out, the map wasn’t so basic after all, and is in fact quite rare. What’s more, the map is connected to some secrets in her family and she learns of a group called the Cartographers who are willing to kill to get the map. There are some great twists, turns, and a little magic as Nell unravels the secret.
Book Club Bonus: What did you think of the reveal? Do you feel like it was plausible? Also, how did you feel about the addition of maps throughout the book?
By the Book by Jasmine Guillory
This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and the second in a new series being published by Disney’s first adult publishing project. The first, a Cinderella retelling, was If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy. Here, Isabelle has succumbed to the quarter-life crisis I’ve noticed a lot of millennials going through. Although, I think she’s technically Gen Z, so it’s their turn, I guess.
In either case, she’s simply not where she thought she’d be at the age of twenty-five. She’s back at home with her parents and working a suffocating publishing job that doesn’t pay her enough. It also seems to be stifling her ability to become a writer, and she constantly feels doubt about whether she should speak up or silence herself as the only Black person at her publishing house. Then, she sees an opportunity to stand out at work. If she can wrangle troublesome celebrity writer Beau Towers and convince him to finish his book, maybe she can make her job less depressing. Once she finds out where he’s been hiding, she convinces him to let her stay with him to encourage him to finish writing. She realizes that Beau is actually dealing with some issues, and it turns out they have things in common. Romance readers will appreciate the sunshine/grumpy and forced proximity tropes.
Side note: I don’t know about you, but I totally did not see Disney publishing a contemporary, adult fairy tale retelling, but I’m not mad in the least.
Book Club Bonus: Beauty and the Beast has been called out by some for being problematic for encouraging women to accept and try to change toxic behavior in relationships. Discuss aspects of the story you liked and didn’t like and how this book improved or could be improved. How does it stand up to critics of the original fairy tale?
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Nora is a great lover of books and a cutthroat literary agent who prides herself on getting great deals for her clients. When her sister Libby wants to take a trip to a small town as a little getaway, Nora goes, but comes across Charlie, an editor who seems to keep brooding in her general direction. He also has the nerve to be cute and funny. Pah! Charlie and Nora are two big city-loving people stuck in a small town for the time being, and have all this great, witty banter between them. As something starts to develop between them, Nora starts to give more much needed attention to the relationship with her sister.
Book Club Bonus: I liked how Nora isn’t a “typical” romance heroine, with her expensive shoes and assertive personality. Discuss what you think of how, many times, romance heroines have a “softer” personality than Nora’s.
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
Suggestion Section
You may know about cyberpunk, but what about post cyberpunk?
Cute, queer YA books like Heartstopper
Quiz: which American Girl Doll are you?
Oprah stands by her decision to keep American Dirt in her book club after the book was criticized for being too trauma focused, and about a Latine family but written by a white woman
I hope this newsletter found you well, and as always, thanks for hanging out! If you have any comments or just want to connect, send an email to erica@riotnewmedia.com or holla at me on Twitter @erica_eze_. You can also catch me talking more mess in the new In Reading Color newsletter as well as chattin’ with my new cohost Tirzah Price on the Hey YA podcast.
Until next week,
-E