Author: Liberty Hardy

It’s the first Tuesday of the month, so you know what that means: IT’S A SPECTACULARLY GOOD NEW RELEASE DAY. There is something here for everyone! So many great books, including the sequel to Sleeping Giants and new books from Valeria Luiselli, Mary Gaitskill, and Colum McCann! *Muppet arms* And you can hear about several of these books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, such as American War, What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky, and Marlena.

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama.

For five days, the parents of a seven-year-old Japanese schoolgirl sat and listened to the demands of their daughter’s kidnapper. They would never learn his identity. And they would never see their daughter alive again.

Fourteen years later, the mystery remains unsolved and the stigma of the case known as “Six Four” has never faded.

Yoshinobu Mikami, a former detective who was involved in the original case and who is now himself the father of a missing daughter—is forced to revisit the botched investigation. Mikami is hoping to help finally put the notorious case to rest. But what he uncovers are secrets that he never could have imagined.

The Long Dry by Cynan Jones

The Destruction of Hillary Clinton by Susan Bordo

Killings by Calvin Trillin

Pretty Fierce by Kieran Scott

The Card Catalog: Books, Cards, and Literary Treasures by Library of Congress

The Lost Order by Steve Berry

A Little Book on Form: An Exploration into the Formal Imagination of Poetry by Robert Hass

Falstaff: Give Me Life (Shakespeare’s Personalities) by Harold Bloom

Earthly Remains: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon

History of a Disappearance: The Story of a Forgotten Polish Town by Filip Springer (Author), Sean Bye (Translator)

A Fever of the Blood by Oscar de Muriel

Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, and Wastes Billions by Richard Harris

A Horse Named Steve by Kelly Collier

Dance Is for Everyone by Andrea Zuill

The End of Our Story by Meg Haston

Blood Enemies by Susan R Matthews

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel

Sympathy by Olivia Sudjic

Living in the Weather of the World: Stories by Richard Bausch

What To Do About The Solomons by Bethany Ball

The Last Chance Olive Ranch (China Bayles Mystery) by Susan Wittig Albert

All By Myself, Alone by Mary Higgins Clark

Journey Across the Hidden Islands by Sarah Beth Durst

Kinship of Clover by Ellen Meeropol

Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life by Sally Bedell Smith

Every Body Yoga: Let Go of Fear, Get On the Mat, Love Your Body by Jessamyn Stanley

What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky: Stories by Lesley Nneka Arimah

The Second Girl by David Swinson

Matilda Empress by Lise Arin

A Fine Mess: A Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer, and More Efficient Tax System by T. R. Reid

The Way Home in the Night by Akiko Miyakoshi

Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren

The Foundling: The True Story of a Kidnapping, a Family Secret, and My Search for the Real Me by Paul Joseph Fronczak and Alex Tresniowski

My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith

Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions by Valeria Luiselli

Your Brain Is a Time Machine: The Neuroscience and Physics of Time by Dean Buonomano

Afterland: Poems by Mai Der Vang

Prussian Blue by Philip Kerr

The End of the Day by Claire North

The Ideas Industry: How Pessimists, Partisans, and Plutocrats are Transforming the Marketplace of Ideas by Daniel Drezner

Nevertheless: A Memoir by Alec Baldwin

A Twist in Time by Julie McElwain

H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil by Adam Selzer

Somebody with a Little Hammer: Essays by Mary Gaitskill

The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince by Mayte Garcia

Pink Mist by Owen Sheers

Over the Hills and Far Away: The Life of Beatrix Potter by Matthew Dennison

Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy by Anne Lamott

Marlena by Julie Buntin

The Chosen: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward

The Drowning King by Emily Holleman

Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys

Gem & Dixie by Sara Zarr

Letters to a Young Writer: Some Practical and Philosophical Advice by Colum McCann

Resurrecting the Shark: A Scientific Obsession and the Mavericks Who Solved the Mystery of a 270-Million-Year-Old Fossil by Susan Ewing

Ragdoll by Daniel Cole

Arnie: The Life of Arnold Palmer by Tom Callahan

Definitions of Indefinable Things by Whitney Taylor

To The Stars Through Difficulties by Romalyn Tilghman

Geekerella: A Fangirl Fairy Tale by Ashley Poston

Silver and Salt by Elanor Dymott

A Little More Human by Fiona Maazel

On Reading, Writing and Living with Books edited by Pushkin Press

Poisoned: How a Crime-Busting Prosecutor Turned His Medical Mystery into a Crusade for Environmental Victims by Alan Bell

Get It Together, Delilah! by Erin Gough

The Moon and the Other by John Kessel

It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going! by Chelsea Clinton

American War by Omar El Akkad

No One Is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts

Miss You by Kate Eberlen

Blood Plagues and Endless Raids: A Hundred Million Lives in the World of Warcraft by Anthony R. Palumbi

The Breaking Light (Split City Book 1) by Heather Hansen

Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas by Laura Sook Duncombe

The Trials of Walter Ogrod: The Shocking Murder, So-Called Confessions, and Notorious Snitch That Sent a Man to Death Row by Thomas Lowenstein

The Meating Room: A DCI Gilchrist Investigation by T. Frank Muir

99 Poems: New & Selected by Dana Gioia (paperback)

The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney (paperback)

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (paperback)

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler (paperback)

The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp (paperback)

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith (paperback)

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg (paperback)

Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown (paperback)

Shrill by Lindy West (paperback)

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

It’s Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday! Can you believe March is practically over? I hope you’ve found a ton of great stuff to read. THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD BOOKS. Speaking of which, I have a few great books to tell you about today, and you can hear about more wonderful books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few awesome books we loved, including The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley and Beyond Infinity, and we also answered a few questions to celebrate our 100th episode!

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Just Fly Away by Andrew McCarthy.

A debut novel about family secrets, first love, forgiveness, and finding one’s way in the world from award-winning writer, actor, and director Andrew McCarthy. When fifteen-year-old Lucy Willows discovers that her father has a child from a brief affair, she begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her life. Worse, Lucy’s father’s secret is now her own, one that isolates her from her friends, family—even her boyfriend, Simon. When Lucy runs away to Maine to visit her mysteriously estranged grandfather, she finally begins to get to the bottom of her family’s secrets and lies.

The Night Mark by Tiffany Reisz

If you’ve never read Reisz, you are in for a treat. I think she is one of the most talented writers working today. This new novel is her first real foray into the fantastical, about a woman carried away by the tides in 1925 who wakes 1921 to find the husband she has been mourning for four years is still alive. It’s a romantic time travel mystery that will keep you flipping the pages. Reisz makes writing a book seem effortless, which you know means she works damn hard to make them good.

Backlist bump: If you would like to read more romantic time travel, read Time and Again by Jack Finney. If you’d like something saucy, read The Original Sinner series by Reisz, starting with The Siren.

How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life by Lilly Singh

I will 100% admit that I had not heard of Singh before this book, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to learn how to be a bawse! Singh is a comedian, actress, and YouTube star, and this book contains her lessons for getting what you want, conquering life, and coming out on top. She’s funny and fresh and dishes great tips on reaching your goals, including surrounding yourself with people smarter than you, the importance of kindness, and getting over FOMO.

Backlist bump: I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual by Luvvie Ajayi

Dear Sweet Filthy World by Caitlín R. Kiernan

Subterranean Press specializes in limited edition works by some of the best authors in the business, and they’ve certainly hit the jackpot with this collection (Kiernan’s fourteenth!!!) of previously uncollected, hard-to-find stories. Kiernan is wildly talented and her stories are full of fantasy and destruction, dreams and desperation. There’s a drowned vampire, a dragon’s lover, the Black Dahlia, and even a magic wardrobe. In all, twenty-eight stories to delight and destroy you. Perfect for fans of Cherie Priest, Elizabeth Hand, and Michael McDowell.

Backlist bump: The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan

YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! As always, it has been a delight to share recommendations with you. And if you want to hear more about books, old and new, you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Be excellent to each other.

Liberty

Welcome back, book fans! It’s Tuesday, so you know what that means – NEW BOOKS. To start, there’s an amazing collection of Mary McCarthy out today from the Library of America. (I always want these collections, even if I’ve never read the author, because they look so smart and fancy on my shelves. BOOK LIFE.) I also have a few great books to tell you about today, and you can hear about more wonderful books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few awesome books we loved, including The Collapsing Empire, Our Short History, and Midnight in America. 

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Lola by Melissa Scrivner Love.

An astonishing debut crime thriller about an unforgettable woman who combines the genius and ferocity of Lisbeth Salander with the ruthless ambition of Walter White. The Crenshaw Six are a small but up-and-coming gang in South Central LA who have recently been drawn into an escalating war between rival drug cartels. To outsiders, the Crenshaw Six appear to be led by a man named Garcia, but the gang’s real leader (and secret weapon) is Garcia’s girlfriend, a brilliant young woman named Lola.

“Lola is a gritty, fast-paced thriller rife with gangland intrigue layered over a moving story of absolution.” –Booklist

Girl in Disguise by Greer Macallister

The author of The Magician’s Lie is back with a fictionalized account of the adventures of Kate Warne, the Pinkerton Detective Agency’s first female agent. Warne went undercover in dozens of operations and provided invaluable assistance in helping to solve crimes, thwart plots, and occasionally protect people. (*cough* Abraham Lincoln *cough*) There are hardly any remaining accounts of Warne or photos to show what she looked like. Macallister does a great job with what little there is to learn about Warne and weaves a believable tale of one of America’s little-known historical figures.

Backlist bump: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott

Wait Till You See Me Dance: Stories by Deb Olin Unferth

Fans of Lorrie Moore and George Saunders will love Unferth’s first collection of stories, culled from more than a decade of work. These 39 tales are profound, acerbic, and surprising, and most are nothing short of amazing. If you enjoy droll, smart fiction, run to get this book! Hopefully having so many examples of her terrific short fiction in one place will help bring Unferth the new readers she deserves.

Backlist bump: The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel by Amy Hempel

Follow Me Down by Sherri Smith

If you like your mysteries a little more on the vicious side, pull up a chair: Follow Me Down is a deliciously nasty little punch in the mouth. Mia, a pill-addicted pharmacist, returns to her hometown in North Dakota after receiving a call informing her that her twin brother is not only wanted for the murder of a high school student, but that he’s missing. There she tries desperately to locate Lucas to clear his name of a crime she can’t imagine he committed, while the rest of the town seeks to find him so they can enact revenge. During her search, old wounds are reopened, new enemies are made, and long-hidden secrets are spilled. It’s a seriously bumpy ride.

Backlist bump: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! As always, it has been a delight to share recommendations with you. And if you want to hear more about books, old and new, you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Be excellent to each other.

Liberty

March is continuing to make its case for Best New Release Month Ever by giving us a ton of great books again today! I have read a few of them, but there were so many more I didn’t have a chance to read yet, so I wanted to make sure you knew about them. SO MANY GOOD BOOKS. And you can hear about several of these books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, such as White Tears, The Wanderers, and Himself.

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar.

Raised in the Czech countryside, Jakub Procházka [Jacob Pro-chah-z-ka] has gone from small-time scientist to premier national astronaut. When a dangerous solo mission to Venus offers him a chance at heroism, he takes it, leaving behind his devoted wife Lenka, whose love, Jakub realizes too late, he has sacrificed.

Alone in space, Jakub finds a companion in a possibly imaginary alien spider. Over a series of philosophical conversations, the pair form an intense emotional bond. But will it be enough to see Jakub through a clash with secret Russian rivals and return him safely to Earth for a second chance with Lenka?

 

How We Speak to One Another edited by Ander Monson and Craig Reinbold

Rebel Threads: Vintage Streetwear by Roger Burton

One of the Boys by Daniel Magariel

Open Midnight: Where Ancestors and Wilderness Meet by Brooke Williams

Swimmer Among the Stars: Stories by Kanishk Tharoor

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

Bleaker House: Chasing My Novel to the End of the World by Nell Stevens

Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero by Michael DeForge

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

The Middlepause: On Life After Youth by Marina Benjamin

My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew by Abigail Pogrebin

The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories by Jared Shurin (Editor), Mahvesh Murad (Editor)

White Tears by Hari Kunzru

Matilda Empress by Lise Arin

Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens

The New York Times Book of Crime: More Than 166 Years of Covering the Beat by Kevin Flynn

The Family Gene: A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance into a Hopeful Future by Joselin Linder

Follow Me into the Dark by Felicia C. Sullivan

The Fall of Lisa Bellow by Susan Perabo

Sorry to Disrupt the Peace by Patty Yumi Cottrell

The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone by Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach

The Road to Ithaca by Ben Pastor

Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper

Getting Off On Frank Sinatra: A Copper Black Mystery by Megan Edwards

The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit

The Forgotten Girls by Owen Laukkanen

The Devil’s Triangle (A Brit in the FBI) by Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison

The Vine That Ate the South by J.D. Wilkes

The Doorposts of Your House and on Your Gates by Jacob Bacharach

The Astonishing Mistakes of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone

The Rules Do Not Apply: A Memoir by Ariel Levy

Printer’s Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History by Rebecca Romney and J. P. Romney

A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers) by Becky Chambers

Nabokov’s Favorite Word Is Mauve: What the Numbers Reveal About the Classics, Bestsellers, and Our Own Writing by Ben Blatt

More Alive and Less Lonely: On Books and Writers by Jonathan Lethem

Temporary People by Deepak Unnikrishnan

The Wanderers by Meg Howrey

Eggshells by Caitriona Lally

The Loving Husband by Christobel Kent

The Principles Behind Flotation by Alexandra Teague

Double Dutch by Laura Trunkey

Himself by Jess Kidd

Mikhail and Margarita by Julie Lekstrom Himes

Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Blume (paperback)

The Penny Poet of Portsmouth: A Memoir of Place, Solitude, and Friendship by Katherine Towler (paperback)

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

BEST BOOK DAY EVER: Today’s line up of new releases is an embarrassment of riches! In the last several months, I have read over thirty of the titles that are coming out today, and I loved almost all of them. IT’S AN INSANELY GOOD RELEASE DAY. There is something here for everyone! And you can hear about several of these books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, such as Exit West, All Grown Up, and The Hearts of Men.

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Unbound Worlds.

Cage Match is back! Unbound Worlds is pitting science fiction characters against fantasy characters in a battle-to-the-death tournament, and you can win a collection of all 32 books featured in the competition. Enter now for your chance to win this library of sci-fi and fantasy titles!

Edgar and Lucy by Victor Lodato

Camanchaca by Diego Zúñiga (Author), Megan McDowell (Translator)

Witchy Eye by D.J. Butler

The Confessions of Young Nero by Margaret George

The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh

Hekla’s Children by James Brogden

Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Lost Daughter Collective by Lindsey Drager

The Lucky Ones by Julianne Pachico

Ties by Domenico Starnone (Author), Jhumpa Lahiri (Translator)

The Whole Art of Detection: Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes by Lyndsay Faye

Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar

Alone by Scott Sigler

Down City: A Daughter’s Story of Love, Memory, and Murder by Leah Carroll

The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui

Havana: A Subtropical Delirium by Mark Kurlansky

How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett

The Erstwhile: The Vorrh by B. Catling

Lotus Blue by Cat Sparks

Eveningland: Stories by Michael Knight

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

Next Year, for Sure by Zoey Leigh Peterson

Taduno’s Song by Odafe Atogun

Mister Memory by Marcus Sedgwick

The Violated by Bill Pronzini

Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter

Big Mushy Happy Lump: A Sarah’s Scribbles Collection by Sarah Andersen

Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner

The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea by Bandi

The Devil’s Bible by Dana Chamblee Carpenter

The Barrowfields by Phillip Lewis

The Impossible Fairy Tale by Han Yujoo

Turkish Delight by Jan Wolkers (Author), Sam Garrett (Translator)

The Night Ocean by Paul La Farge

South and West: From a Notebook by Joan Didion

Cut to the Bone by Alex Maan

Lenin’s Roller Coaster (A Jack McColl Novel) by David Downing

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

The Girl from Rawblood by Catriona Ward

The Third Squad by V. Sanjay Kumar

Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett

The Painted Gun by Bradley Spinelli

Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito

Wild Nights: How Taming Sleep Created Our Restless World by Benjamin Reiss

Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of History’s Greatest Buildings by James Crawford

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan

The Underworld by Kevin Canty

WHEREAS: Poems by Layli Long Soldier

The One-Eyed Man by Ron Currie

Shoot Like a Girl: One Woman’s Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and on the Home Front by Mary Jennings Hegar

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler

You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner

Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells

The Widow’s House by Carol Goodman

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

WE: A Manifesto for Women Everywhere by Gillian Anderson and Jennifer Nadel

Ill Will by Dan Chaon

The Hearts of Men by Nickolas Butler

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel

Celine by Peter Heller

You Are Here: An Owner’s Manual for Dangerous Minds by Jenny Lawson

The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon

What Is Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi (paperback)

The Weight of This World by David Joy (paperback)

Earth (Object Lessons) by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen and Linda T. Elkins-Tanton

Tree (Object Lessons) by Matthew Battles

Egg (Object Lessons) by Nicole Walker

Traffic (Object Lessons) by Paul Josephson

Book of Mutter (Semiotext(e) / Native Agents) by Kate Zambreno

 

SO MANY GOOD BOOKS. I can hear your TBR screaming from here. 🙂

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

February may be the shortest month, but it was jam-packed with amazing new books! I have a few great books to tell you about today, and you can hear about more wonderful books out today on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few awesome books we loved, including The Hate U Give, Everything Belongs to Us, and The Beast is an Animal. 

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Deception Island by Brynn Kelly.

Rafe Angelito thought he was done with the demons from his past—until his son is kidnapped. Blackmailed into abducting an American heiress, he soon finds himself trapped in paradise with a woman who’s nothing he expects…and everything he desires.

Playing body double for a spoiled socialite was supposed to be Holly Ryan’s ticket to freedom. Yet as scorching days melt into sultry nights, Holly is drawn to the mysterious capitaine, with his unexpected sense of honor and his searing touch. When they’re double-crossed, they’ll have to risk trusting each other in ways they never imagined.

Illusion of Justice: Inside Making a Murderer and America’s Broken System by Jerome F. Buting

If there was only one thing that people could agree on after watching Making a Murderer, it was that Steven Avery had a decent, kind defense team, comprised of two lawyers who really seemed to care. Now one of those lawyers has written a fascinating account of the case and his feelings on how the evidence was presented and how the state of Wisconsin failed to offer his client a fair trial. If you were transfixed by the show, you’re going to want to read this book!

Backlist bump: Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make it Right by Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld, and Jim Dwyer

Harmless Like You by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

A young Japanese woman struggling to be an artist in NYC must make tough decisions about her future. Yuki Oyama thinks she’s on the way to living her dreams in the Big Apple, but a destructive relationship forces her to choose between her son and her career. Told between Yuki’s past and her son’s present, Harmless Like You is a powerful debut novel.

Backlist bump: Shelter by Jung Yun

Animals Strike Curious Poses by Elena Passarello

I will admit I immediately wanted to read this because of the Prince lyric title. (And I am also a fan of her last book of essays.) This is a collection of sixteen essays, each pertaining to a famous member of the animal kingdom, and examined with Passarello’s brilliant and fun insight. As a writer, she is an unusual treasure, and this book is a lot of fun.

Backlist bump: Let Me Clear My Throat: Essays by Elena Passarello

YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! I have been on a horror kick the last week – totally here for your recommendations. You can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Be excellent to each other.

Liberty

Hello again, all you delightful book dragons! It’s another Tuesday, so you know what that means – NEW BOOKS. I have a few great books to tell you about today, and you can hear about more wonderful books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few awesome books we loved, such as I See You, Traveling with Ghosts, and Dead Letters. Also, here’s some exciting news: A Conjuring of Light, the final book in V.E. Schwab’s Shade of Magic trilogy is out today! *MUPPET ARMS*

Enter to win a pair of Apple AirPods. Take your audiobook game to the Next Level.

Setting Free the Kites by Alex George

A boy’s life changes when he makes a new friend the first day of eighth grade in 1976 in this charming, heart-squeezing novel. Robert Carter’s life in Maine has always been boringly predictable, but when he meets the fearless Nathan Tilly, they become fast friends, and as they spend time flying kites, they learn that life can still be beautiful and overwhelming in the face of tragedy. A lovely meditation on young friendship and the harsh realities of growing up.

Backlist bump: The Good American by Alex George

The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera

Margot Sanchez is in big trouble. She used her father’s credit card to update her wardrobe and now she’s stuck behind the deli counter of the family grocery store, working off the charges as punishment. But Margot isn’t going to let anyone – or anything – stand in the way of her dreams and schemes. When she learns of an exclusive beach party, she’s set on attending, even if it means getting in more trouble. A charming coming-of-age novel about how when you’re a teen it can seem like your parents are trying to ruin your life, and the choices that feel like the biggest things that will ever happen to you.

Backlist bump: Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas) by Zoraida Cordova (Teen angst AND magic!)

Things We Lost in the Fire: Stories by Mariana Enríquez

Fans of Shirley Jackson and Kelly Link are sure to enjoy these fantastic stories about the everyday terrors that people can encounter in a normal-seeming day. Gloriously weird and slightly disturbing, Enríquez’s collection brings a bit of the unusual and surreal to the monotony of life. Wildly fun and intense!

Backlist bump: Young Woman in a Garden: Stories by Delia Sherman

YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! I have been on a horror kick the last week – totally here for your recommendations. You can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Be excellent to each other.

Liberty

It is winter here in Maine, winter with a capital “OMG THERE’S SO MUCH SNOW!” Luckily, I have a house full of books to keep me busy. (Not that I really leave the house when I’m not snowed in, LOL.) I have a few great books to tell you about today, and you can hear about more wonderful books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few awesome books we loved, such as Lincoln in the Bardo, Girls on Fire, and American Street. Also, I’m delighted the new Lissa Evans novel, Their Finest, is finally available in the US today. She’s so wonderful! (Did you read Crooked Heart? It’s AMAZING.)

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Age of Order by Julian North.

In a world where all people are not created equal, Daniela Machado is offered the rarest commodity: hope. For a girl from Bronx City, the opportunity to attend school in Manhattan is too tempting to turn down. There, among the highborn, Daniela discovers a world of unimaginable splendor. But her opportunity turns into peril as Daniela discovers that those at society’s apex will stop at nothing to keep power for themselves. She may have a chance to change the world, if it doesn’t change her first.

“Both YA and adult readers will be transfixed by this novel” — Kirkus (Starred Review)

SPECIAL $.99 NEW RELEASE OFFER.

Shadowbahn by Steve Erickson

I am not even going to pretend the premise isn’t crazy. Twenty years after they fell, the Twin Towers reappear in South Dakota. They are as they were before 9/11…except they seem to be singing and they are also completely devoid of people, save one: Jesse Garon Presley, the twin brother of Elvis (who, in our reality, died at birth). I KNOW, RIGHT?! It’s bonkers. But more than just a bananapants premise, it’s a gorgeous novel of loss and alternate history deeply tied into American culture. I was transfixed.

Backlist bump: Zeroville by Steve Erickson (This has my favorite ending of any novel, ever.)

Notes to Boys: And Other Things I Shouldn’t Share in Public by Pamela Ribon

If you need cheering up or just need a reminder why you wouldn’t want to live your teenage years over, this book is for you! Ribon kept all the letters she wrote – and mostly delivered – to boys when she was young, and they are just as awkward and painful as you can imagine. But paired with her hilarious commentary, they make for a charming, thoughtful read. So cringe and laugh your way through her teen melodrama (while secretly being relieved that no one is publishing your teenage diary).

Backlist bump: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson

All Back Full by Robert Lopez

Out from the fabulous indie Dzanc Books, this is an examination of a marriage over the course of a day, told in three acts. Lopez catches the details of unspoken words between sentences and the ways in which we hurt and help the ones we love, and how we sometimes sit by as our lives collapse.

Backlist bump: Good People by Robert Lopez.

Gilded Cage by Vic James

If you’re looking for a fun new dystopian series, this should do the trick! In an alternate modern England, people with magic powers are called Equals, and the rest of the country’s citizens must each spend a decade of their lives in their service. Teenage Abi is sent to the home of a family of infamous Equals, but her brother, Luke, must work in a brutal slave camp. Both will scheme to secure their freedom and keep their lives, and dark secrets and hidden powers will decide the fates of everyone involved. It’s great fun!

Backlist bump: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

All That’s Left to Tell by Daniel Lowe

Marc Laurent is a hostage in Afghanistan. Every night, he is blindfolded and tied up and then visited by Josephine, who asks him questions. At first their conversations are of a hostile nature, but soon Josephine and Marc are discussing more personal matters, such as his daughter back home, and their nightly ritual becomes something of a comfort for them both. All That’s Left to Tell is a powerfully unsettling, gripping novel.

Backlist bump: Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman

YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! (I know, like I do anything else, right?) You can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Be excellent to each other.

Liberty

Okay, I think today might be the BEST new release day ever! *wriggle* There are sooooooo many incredible books out today, your brain – and your bank account – might melt from all the excitement. Thankfully, today is a megalist day, so you can check out a whole bunch of them down below. And you can hear about several of these books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, such as Pachinko, A Separation, and What You Don’t Know.

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom.

For Mel Hannigan, bipolar disorder makes life unpredictable. Her latest struggle is balancing her growing feelings in a new relationship with her instinct to conceal her diagnosis by keeping everyone at arm’s length. But when a former friend confronts Mel with the truth about the way their relationship ended, deeply buried secrets threaten to upend her shaky equilibrium.

As the walls of Mel’s compartmentalized world crumble, she fears that no one will accept her if they discover what she’s been hiding. But would her friends really abandon her if they learned the truth? More importantly, can Mel risk everything to find out?

Universal Harvester by John Darnielle

The Evening Road by Laird Hunt

What You Don’t Know by JoAnn Cheney

The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

I’ll Be Damned: How My Young and Restless Life Led Me to America’s #1 Daytime Drama by Eric Braeden

Know This: Today’s Most Interesting and Important Scientific Ideas, Discoveries, and Developments by John Brockman

Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly

Pretending is Lying by Dominique Goblet (Author), Sophie Yanow (Translator)

The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn

Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer Wright

Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller

Autumn by Ali Smith

Amiable with Big Teeth by Claude McKay

The Stolen Child by Lisa Carey

300 Arguments: Essays by Sarah Manguso

The Twenty Days of Turin by Giorgio De Maria (Author), Ramon Glazov (Translator)

Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith

Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama (Author), Jonathan Lloyd-Davies (Translator)

The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams

The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola

Schadenfreude, A Love Story: Me, the Germans, and 20 Years of Attempted Transformations, Unfortunate Miscommunications, and Humiliating Situations That Only They Have Words For by Rebecca Schuman

Can’t Just Stop: An Investigation of Compulsions by Sharon Begley

Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson

All the Lives I Want: Essays About My Best Friends Who Happen to Be Famous Strangers by Alana Massey

The Coming by David Osborne

The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy

The Nightwalker by by Sebastian Fitzek (Author), Jaime Lee Searle (Translator)

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza

Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, Russia, 1917 – A World on the Edge by Helen Rappaport

Darling, I’m Going to Charlie: A Memoir by Maryse Wolinski

Hungry Ghosts by Stephen Blackmoore

Age of Anger: A History of the Present by Pankaj Mishra

The Freedom Broker by K.J. Howe

Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler’s Defeat by Giles Milton

Forever is the Worst Long Time by Camille Pagán

Zodiac by Sam Wilson

This Close to Happy: A Reckoning with Depression by Daphne Merkin

Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street by Sheelah Kolhatkar

A Book of American Martyrs by Joyce Carol Oates

Dance of the Jakaranda by Peter Kimani

The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill

Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales: An Anthology by Ellen Datlow

King’s Cage (Red Queen) by Victoria Aveyard

A Perfect Machine by Brett Savory

Nowhere Near You by Leah Thomas

The Clairvoyants by Karen Brown

A Separation by Katie Kitamura

The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Meets World by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale

The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak

The Burning World: A Warm Bodies Novel (The Warm Bodies Series) by Isaac Marion

Into Oblivion: An Icelandic Thriller (An Inspector Erlendur Series) by Arnaldur Indridason (paperback)

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing (paperback)

Sudden Death by Álvaro Enrigue (Author), Natasha Wimmer (Translator) (paperback)

The Bed Moved: Stories (Vintage Contemporaries) by Rebecca Schiff (paperback)

High Dive by Jonathan Lee (paperback)

See?!? I told you. SO MANY GOOD BOOKS.

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

Holy cats, the month went by SO FAST. I hope you were able to read something fabulous. (And have you seen the Series of Unfortunate Events show yet? J’adore!) I have a few great books to tell you about today, and you can hear about more wonderful books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few awesome books we loved, such as The Animators, Unspeakable Things, and The Brand New Catastrophe.

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by The Girl in the Garden by Melanie Wallace.

When June arrives on the coast of New England, baby in arms, an untrustworthy man by her side, Mabel—who rents them a cabin—senses trouble. A few days later, the girl and her child are abandoned.

June is soon placed with Mabel’s friend, Iris, in town, and her life becomes entwined with a number of locals who have known one another for decades: a wealthy recluse with a tragic past; a forsaken daughter returning for the first time in years; a lawyer, whose longings he can never reveal; and a kindly World War II veteran who serves as the town’s sage. Surrounded by the personal histories and secrets of others, June finds the way forward for herself and her son amid revelations of the others’ pasts, including loves—and crimes—from years ago.
In vivid, nuanced prose, Melanie Wallace explores the time-tested bonds of a small community, the healing power of friendship and love, and whether the wrongs of the past can ever be made right.

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The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles

After losing her father and the mysterious disappearance of her neighbors, seventeen-year-old Zoe thinks the year can’t get any worse – then she and her brother are attacked. But they are rescued by the mysterious X, a bounty hunter from the Lowlands (aka Hell), who has been sent to claim the soul of their attacker. As X and Zoe become close, they learn that being together means fighting to change the rules of the world, which could lead to their destruction. This is a fun start to a new series!

Backlist bump: Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Breathless by Beverly Jenkins

A hot romance in the Wild West! Portia Carmichael is the manager at one of Arizona’s nicest hotels and a fiercely independent woman who refuses to settle for just any suitor – and then a handsome stranger rides into town. (There’s always a handsome stranger, right?) And he’s determined to win Portia’s heart. CUE THE KISSING PARTS. Jenkins is one of the best contemporary romance novelists working today. Her books are so smart and sexy! Two words: HUBBA HUBBA.

Backlist bump: Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins

4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster

When I found out about this book, I squealed so much. Not only were we getting a new Auster novel, but it’s 880 pages of a new Auster novel! It’s a ambitious, sweeping story of love, family and fate, about four diverging paths for four versions of Archibald Isaac Ferguson. The stories of his lives are each wonderfully plotted. What are your other selves doing? This book is a tremendous achievement! (However, if you’ve never read Auster, I don’t suggest starting here. Try the backlist bump first.)

Backlist bump: In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster

YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! (I know, like I do anything else, right?) You can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Be excellent to each other.

Liberty