Okay, you’re not going to believe this, but in today’s newsletter, I am going to talk about books. Jk, jk, you know I’m interested in all the books, all the time! I hope your June is off to a good start, friends. The first Tuesday of the month certainly is — SO MANY BOOKS. At the top of my list to acquire today are And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode (because it’s the first title from Roxane Gay Books!), Open Throat by Henry Hoke, and Owlish by Dorothy Tse. You can hear about some more of the fabulous books coming out today on this week’s episode of All the Books! Danika and I talked about some of the books we’re excited about, including My Murder, The Dos and Donuts of Love, and All the Sinners Bleed.
Today I am doing a round-up of several exciting titles from the first Tuesday of June 2023. 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 asterisks *** next to the books that I have had the chance to read and loved. Not that many yet from today, for some weird reason, but I plan to correct that soon. YAY, BOOKS!
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Biography and Memoir
The Talk by Darrin Bell
Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest To Track Down The Last Remaining Lesbian Bars In America by Krista Burton
Almost Brown: A Memoir by Charlotte Gill
My Hijacking: A Personal History of Forgetting and Remembering by Martha Hodes
George: A Magpie Memoir by Frieda Hughes
Starstruck: A Memoir of Astrophysics and Finding Light in the Dark by Sarafina El-Badry Nance
Fiction
The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller ***
At the Edge of the Woods by Kathryn Bromwich
Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman
Owlish by Dorothy Tse, Natascha Bruce (translator)
The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende, Frances Riddle (translator)
A Quitter’s Paradise by Elysha Chang
Bad Kids by Zijin Chen, Michelle Deeter (Translator)
Watch Us Shine by Marisa de los Santos
Such Kindness by Andre Dubus III
The Say So by Julia Franks
Countries of Origin by Javier Fuentes
Between Two Moons by Aisha Abdel Gawad
The Dissident by Paul Goldberg
Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom
Open Throat by Henry Hoke
The House of Lincoln by Nancy Horan
And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode
People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice: Stories by Ao Omae and Emily Balistrieri
Happy Stories, Mostly by Norman Erikson Pasaribu, Tiffany Tsao (translator)
August Blue by Deborah Levy
Boys Weekend (Pantheon Graphic Library) by Mattie Lubchansky
Innards: Stories by Magogodi oaMphela Makhene
Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess
Lucky Dogs by Helen Schulman
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
The Good Ones by Polly Stewart
The Moon Represents My Heart by Pim Wangtechawat
Middle Grade
Nightmare Island by Shakirah Bourne
Camp Sylvania by Julie Murphy
The Kingdom over the Sea by Zohra Nabi
Mystery and Thriller
Girls and Their Horses by Eliza Jane Brazier
Relentless Melt by Jeremy P. Bushnell
Killingly by Katharine Beutner
My Murder by Katie Williams ***
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby ***
Nonfiction
Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks–a Cool History of a Hot Commodity by Amy Brady
And Don’t F&%k It Up: An Oral History of RuPaul’s Drag Race (The First Ten Years) by Maria Elena Fernandez
The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us About Work and Life by Sally Jenkins
The Con Queen of Hollywood: The Hunt for an Evil Genius by Scott C. Johnson
Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery by Joseph McGill Jr., Herb Frazier
Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo’s Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008 by Chris Payne
The Questions That Matter Most: Reading, Writing, and the Exercise of Freedom by Jane Smiley
All the Gold Stars: Reimagining Ambition and the Ways We Strive by Rainesford Stauffer
Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World of Fire by John Vaillant ***
Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West by Calder Walton
Gentle Writing Advice: How to Be a Writer Without Destroying Yourself by Chuck Wendig
Romance
Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall
We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian
Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Horror
Translation State by Ann Leckie
Maeve Fly by CJ Leede
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Young Adult
The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar
The Grimoire of Grave Fates created by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen
Basil and Oregano by Melissa Capriglione
Northranger by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo
When It All Syncs Up by Maya Ameyaw
Secret of the Moon Conch by David Bowles and Guadalupe García McCall
Good as Gold by Candace Buford
Pedro & Daniel by Federico Erebia, Julie Kwon
Gay Club! by Simon James Green
The Library of Broken Worlds by Alaya Dawn Johnson
Ride or Die by Gail-Agnes Musikavanhu
This week: I’m currently reading Forgiving Imelda Marcos by Nathan Go, The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo, and AHH! That’s What I Call Horror: An Anthology of ’90s Horror edited by Chelsea Pumpkins. Outside of books, I started watching Three Pines, which is based on the Chief Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny. I was sad to learn that it will only be these eight episodes, since it was canceled after the first season. Not that I think it is particularly wonderful, but I do love Alfred Molina so much. The song stuck in my head right now is “Painted Yellow Lines” by Dispatch. And here’s a cat photo: Do you think Millay is looking for attention, stretched out on my desk like this? She is just showing off her wide variety of toe beans.
That’s it for me today, friends. I am sending you love and good wishes for whatever is happening in your life right now. Thank you, as always, for joining me each week as I rave about books! See you next week. – XO, Liberty