Happy Tuesday, friends! I hope you have been having a good November. I just had my last author event of 2023 yesterday. I got to talk to Travis Baldree, who wrote Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust, both of which are delightful, cozy fantasies if you’re looking for something charming to snuggle up with this winter. And down below, I have some more snuggly reads for you today, two of which are returns to favorite series. Yay, books!
As far as other new releases, at the top of my list of today’s books that I want to buy are The New Naturals by Gabriel Bump, Eyeliner: A Cultural History by Zahra Hankir, and So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men by Claire Keegan. You can hear about more of the fabulous books coming out today on this week’s episode of All the Books! Jenn and I talked about great books out today and that we loved from 2023, including A New Race of Men from Heaven, Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World, and My Murder.
And now it’s time for everyone’s favorite game, “Ahhhhhhh, My TBR!” Here are today’s contestants!
Before We Say Goodbye (Before the Coffee Gets Cold Series) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot (translator)
In this bestselling series, patrons of Café Funiculi Funicula are treated to more than just coffee and baked goods. They have the ability to travel back in time—but only for a few minutes. In each book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, we meet a new set of visitors and learn where they want to travel and why. Which means you can read them in order or pick any one of them up first. In this fourth book, there are things left unsaid that need to be answered: a woman missing her dog (sob!) and familial strife that needs to be rectified. They’re charming and heart-squeezing books, and I don’t see why this series won’t go on for a long, long time.
Backlist bump: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot (translator)
Punycorn by Andi Watson
And this is one of my favorite middle grade graphic novels of the end of the year. Punycorn is the teeniest unicorn in the land of Carbuncle. Much smaller than any of the other unicorns, so he is not taken very seriously. When the other unicorns go off on an adventure, he is left behind at the castle. And that’s when the dastardly Sir Ogre decides to try and take over Carbuncle! Ready to fight to save their home, Punycorn and his friends, a dragon who can’t breathe fire and a very industrious dung beetle, are going to show everyone that you can’t judge a book by its cover. And they just might save the day in the process. It’s adorbs to the nth degree.
Backlist bump: Batcat: The Ghostly Guest by Meggie Ramm
System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries Book 7) by Martha Wells
Yes, I know you have heard me mention this series roughly a million times. But there is always someone out there who is reading about it for the first time! And since it’s the greatest sci-fi series of the last decade, it’s worth repeating. This is the seventh book in the Murderbot Diaries and the second full-length novel. Murderbot is a security droid that accidentally gained sentience (and chose its own name.) It says it doesn’t like humans, and it wants to be left alone to stream television shows all day. But under the curmudgeonly demeanor is a droid with a metal heart of gold. Murderbot frequently fights for the tiny, fleshy humans and begrudgingly makes friends along the way. In this novel, Murderbot is not operating like it should and will need help figuring out what is wrong so it can help its team on a rescue mission. You don’t have to read these in order, but I strongly suggest it. There are little details and comments that make more sense if you do. Plus, you get to read this award-winning series, and that is an amazing treat!
Backlist bump: All Systems Red by Martha Wells
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This week, I am reading Dixon, Descending by Karen Outen, “What Do You Mean, Murder?” Clue and the Making of a Cult Classic by John Hatch, and The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim. In non-book things, it’s NBA season, so I am watching a lot of games, along with our nightly intake of quiz shows. (Switch is really fun, y’all.) Thanks to a commercial, the song stuck in my head this week is “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone. And here is your weekly cat picture: Zevon has the “it’s dark at 4:30” blues. (Related: That blanket he is on is called a Coma Inducer, and it’s the most comfortable blanket I’ve ever owned!)
Thank you, as always, for joining me each Tuesday as I rave about books! I am wishing you all a wonderful rest of your week, whatever situation you find yourself in now. And yay, books! See you next week. – XO, Liberty