Author: Vanessa Diaz

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read.

The midterms are over and though I’m still sore over Beto, I sure did raise a glass for all the amazing women and people of color elected to office. This is a club, after all. Let’s pour one out and do a little dance!

Oh and then talk about books.

Let’s commence.

This newsletter is sponsored by Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom by Ariel Burger.

The world remembers Elie Wiesel—Nobel laureate, activist, and author of more than forty books—as a great humanist. He passed away in July of 2016. Now, in Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, we see him as never before—not only as an extraordinary human being, but as a master teacher. Written by Wiesel’s devoted protégé and friend, Ariel Burger, Witness takes us inside the classroom, where listening and storytelling keep memory alive. Witness provides a front row seat to these lessons in compassion, teaching us that listening to a witness, makes us all witnesses. In this book, Wiesel’s legacy lives on.

Don’t Forget to Enter the All The Books Giveaway! We’re celebrating 200 episodes of All the Books by giving a lucky reader a $250 Barnes & Noble gift card. Enter here!

Club Style Quiz – No, this ain’t a fashion consult, although TBH that skirt with those shoes is supes last year. Let us help you find your book club style with just a few simple questions. 

Picture Perfect Reads – Stressed at work? Dating life a bust? Feeling crushed by the weight of the patriarchy and of living in a country run by a pompous pile of Cheeto dust? Then make sure to get your self-care in wherever you can, like with these spirit-lifting picture books for quick and delightful reading.

• Book Club Bonus: Set the Lit Fic and tear-jerker memoirs down for just a second and bring picture books to book club. Have every member pick one or two with a feel-good message and read them aloud at your meet-up. Pick ones with a solid storyline as opposed to just pretty colors, shapes, and rhymes. Use a sign-up sheet to avoid repeats among the group and agree to try and select books that aren’t super common (Corduroy, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, etc). In a mommy/daddy + me club? BYOB (bring your own baby) and make it a real party.

Nature-Happy Book Pairs – Nothing feeds my soul like curling up with a good book, except perhaps a little forest bathing among big beautiful trees. Treat yo self to the best of both worlds with these five books to read in some of nature’s masterpieces.

• Book Club Bonus: Pick a book on nature and take book club outside! If you don’t live near a national park or have time to get to one, fret not. That Terry Tempest Williams you’ve had your eye on pairs just as well with a nice brisk hike or walk in whatever nature spot is near you. If it’s feasible, hold book club at said nature spot – pack a picnic and some blankets and talk nature in nature.

Post-War Crime Reads – November 11th, 2018 marked the 100 year anniversary of Armistice Day, the end of World War I. LitHub recommends these nine titles from the Golden Age of mystery; set in the half decade immediately post-war, they speak to the “lingering desire to see the destructive intrusion defeated and the world made right again.”

• Book Club Bonus: I confess I’d never given much thought to how mystery fiction changed from before the war to after. Pick two mysteries for book club: one pre-war and one post. Discuss the changes in content, tone, character development, etc. as informed by their place in the war’s timeline.

5 books bearing witness to America’s carceral state – Last month the National Book Foundation launched Literature for Justice (LFJ), a three-year campaign that seeks to encourage  the reading of literature that “contextualizes and humanizes the experiences of incarcerated people.” This initiative includes the curation of a 15-book list of titles about the American prison system, five of which are highlighted by LitHub here.

• Book Club Bonus: There is so, so much to learn from reading up on the American prison system, from the school-to-prison pipeline to for-profit prisons and everything in between. Pick these important reads, then do a little good afterwards by donating your past reads to a local prison. Check with the prison to see if they accept direct donations or if it’s best to go through a charitable organization, and also check to see which types of books are accepted.

Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter for tips and latest listens and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Bonjour, book lovers! Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read. 

Happy November! By the time you read this newsletter, the midterm elections will have taken place and there will hopefully be lots to celebrate! If not, I’m letting you know now that next week’s newsletter will be brought to you by tequila. *casts spells, burns palo santo, prays frantically in Spanish* 

For now, let’s have a little bookish fun and talk Nonfiction November, lady monsters, how the US’s hands are a lot o’ bit dirty and more. 

To the books!

This newsletter is sponsored by The Man She Married by Cathy Lamb.

A woman whose memory is shattered must piece together her husband’s secrets and reevaluate her life, love, and relationships, in this gripping and thought-provoking novel.

Have you entered our All The Books Giveaway? Enter here to win a $250 Barnes & Noble gift card as the podcast closes in on its 200th episode. That’s a lot of books!

November Rain – It’s raining themes, dates and causes, yo! We’ve got National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), midterm elections, Thanksgiving, Movember… all the things! It’s also Nonfiction November and Bustle has a list of twelve rad reads that fit the bill. One of them is by a little someone named Michelle Obama… no big deal.

• Book Club Bonus: In a book club with your besties? Girl Talk: What Science Can Tell Us About Female Friendship by Jacqueline Mroz seems like a pretty perfect pick for BFF Book Club. You love your friends, now get into the science of why. Some wine might be nice too, ya know? Do it for science.
• Related: This list of nine nonfiction titles about ghosts, vampires, monsters and such because don’t you just love it when truth really is stranger than fiction?

Monstress, Inc – Oh look! A giant pile o’ Vanessa Catnip: “From Circe to Carrie: 9 Literary Female Monsters You Don’t Want to Mess With.” Go on, get it on this. Catnip courtesy of Off the Shelf.    

• Book Club Bonus: I’ve already told you all how much I love it when a female villain is given nuance and depth, and suggested a book club discussion of how a fleshed-out backstory might change our previous perceptions of her. This week, I challenge you all to analyze what it is about lady monsters that make them such a terrifying force. Are they truly monsters? Are we just afraid of women’s anger? Of our power? Of our anger’s power?

Trauma, A Memoir – Recovery from trauma is an intensely personal process and no two people’s experiences are the same. Take these nine memoirs about trauma: each moving and heart wrenching in distinct ways.

• Book Club Bonus: These are all undoubtedly very difficult reads. For those comfortable taking them on, memoirs like these would make for some seriously inspirational reading. More importantly, I think they’ll provide some invaluable perspective on these difficult subjects for folks who’ve never been through them or don’t know anyone who has.

We’re Not Not to Blame – All this fear-mongering talk of caravans reminds me that a lot of people either aren’t aware of, don’t understand, or flat out don’t care about the extent of the United States’ role in destabilizing the countries these migrants come from. It feels like the right time to read this list of books on this very subject from Rioter Romeo Rosales.

• Book Club Bonus: Even the most progressive among us could probably still use a crash course in our government’s problematic involvement in Central and South America. Consider reading one of these titles for book club, especially if one or more of your members have a blindspot when it comes to our treatment of immigrants. A little bit of education and a meaningful conversation among friends could go a long way.

Thanks for hanging with me today! You can find me on both the Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com if you want to say hola or if you have any book club questions, and sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter to get more bookish content by yours truly.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends!
Vanessa

Greetings, gals and ghouls! Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read.

It’s Halloween at last and my favorite month is drawing to a close! I’ve so enjoyed spending the whole month watching Hocus Pocus on repeat, devouring witchy reads, and busting out my “Brujeria Supplies” tote to freak out passersby. Now if only the orange monster in on oval lair in the house of white stone on Pennsylvania Avenue would leave us alone… that’d be swell.

Also, now all I can think about it this guy from Looney Tunes.

Enough of that mess. Let’s talk audiobooks, America’s favorite read, crime awards and more.

Onward!

This newsletter is sponsored by Mariner Books.

“The edge of the stories in Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s debut collection Friday Black is razor sharp, ready to cut deep. This book is dark and captivating and essential. This book is a call to arms and it is a condemnation. Adjei-Brenyah offers powerful prose as parable. The writing in this outstanding collection will make you hurt and demand your hope. Read this book. Marvel at the intelligence of each of these stories and what they reveal about racism, capitalism, complacency and their insidious reach.”—Roxane Gay

Audiophile Favorites – I know I’m generally the one with the recommendations here but PLOOOOT TWIIIIIST! We recently asked you to tell us about great audiobooks for book club.

That’s right folks: I managed to sneak in a Golden Girls reference yet again. Also, here are some of your fantastic suggestions. 

Volume Up in this Club! – Speaking of audiobooks: if you’ve been clubbing with me for a bit now, you know I heart the idea of integrating audiobooks in book group. Need help getting started? Check out this piece on six ways to host an audiobook club.

• Book Club Bonus: While there are thousands of new/new-to-you titles to listen to out there, give some thought to listening to a book you’ve read in print previously. Hearing it narrated – especially if it’s by the author – can add a whole new layer of meaning, nuance, and oftentimes hilarity. I have done this with Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime and David Sedaris’ Calypso. Holy crap, yo. Hearing their stories in their voices hit me smack in the feels and almost made me wet myself at least 5 times, even though I’d already read them once before.

To Read a Mockingbird – The people have spoken! The voting results for The Great American Read are in and Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird took the top spot.

• Book Club Bonus: We all know America’s favorite read is pretty much a staple in high school classrooms – but should it be? Give it a read in book club and see if you feel any differently about it now than you did when you first tackled it, or share your impressions as a first time reader. I for one think it might be high time to move on from the white savior thing, ya know? Discuss some more contemporary reads that you might suggest in its stead. There. Are. Lots.
• Related: The top 50 and top 10 finalists for The Great American Read were woefully lacking in diversity, a non-surprising but still disappointing side affect of the whiteness of the Western canon. Another book club tip: research overlooked reads and come up with suggestions for new entries into the canon. Go.

Book Clubs All the Way Down – Looking for a book club? Already in one but need a replacement because Karen didn’t read the damn book and watched the movie instead AGAIN? Consider joining Life’s Library, a new book club by John Green and his longtime friend Rosianna Halse Rojas.

• Book Club Bonus: My indie recently read Claire Fuller’s Swimming Lessons for book club and promoted it on social media. Fuller then reached out to thanks us for picking her book and offered to provide and/or answer any questions for our book group. Before you select your next read, try contacting the author and see if they’d be willing to participate similarly. I’ve been so pleasantly surprised at how receptive many authors are to communicating with their readers. Show them some love and maybe get them chatting about the books they’ve written.  

Bringing Books to a Knife Fight – Sort of. Except the knives are daggers and the fight is an award ceremony. Two lessons here: 1) My bookish metaphors don’t always work out. 2) The Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards have been announced.

• Book Club Bonus: As a lover of mystery books, I love me the Dagger Awards but lawd! #daggerssowhite. I’m thrilled to see Attica Locke take the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger but the nominees overall were not at all diverse. Read Attica Locke and give her her flowers, but also look for other persons of color writing mystery. Need some suggestions? Walter Mosley, Kellye Garrett, Alexia Gordon, Vaseem Khan, Maria Angelica Bosco, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sujata Massey… I could go on. 

Trans People Won’t Be Erased – We love and support our trans brothers and sisters. Full stop. Here is a piece from Rioter Christina on 15 trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming writers to get to know right now.

• Book Club Bonus: Please, please support the work of trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming writers and then consider writing them a letter from your book group. Thank them for their books and remind them that they are seen and valued, in spite of so many efforts from nefarious parties to make them feel otherwise. Then call every damn elected official you need to to voice your opposition for the attempted erasure of the trans community. And of course VOTE. 

Thanks for hanging with me today! You can find me on both the Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com if you want to say hola or if you have any book club questions, and sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter to get more bookish content by yours truly.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

More Resources: 
– Our Book Group In A Box guide
– List your group on the Book Group Resources page

Greetings, Book Folk! Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read. 

Today I’m giving you a dose of YA-related snark, some Obama reads, hexes, costume ideas, and more! And if that don’t sound like a poppin’ kind of club you, I really don’t know how to help you.

Here we go.

This newsletter is sponsored by HMHTeen.

Dexter meets This Savage Song in this dark fantasy about a girl who sells magical body parts on the black market — and seeks revenge when she is betrayed.

Everest or GTFO – Another day, another terrible take on YA, and another hilarious takedown. Read Annika’s brilliant rebuttal to the latest bad opinion piece that we read so you wouldn’t have to. A snippet of the brilliance: “Collect anything? God help you if it is four-inch Star Wars figures, you absolute infant. You should be collecting frown lines, real estate, and income tax returns like an adult.” DEAD. 

• Book Club Bonus: I (clap) CAN (clap) NOT (clap) with all of these stuffy I’m-too-good-for-YA types. Go sit down somewhere and congratulate yourself for reading Crime & Punishment in its original Russian, bruh, but keep your snobbery to your damn self. For the rest of us who know better, we really need to make a bigger push for including YA titles in book club. I’d love to read Children of Blood and Bone and then break down how the story is a commentary on racism, classism, colorism… but sure, tell me again how YA is just fluff?!

Read Like Obama – I would personally love to see an “Oh HELL no. MICHELLE! Hold my beer!” Twitter rant from my boy Barry going aaaaall the way off on the GOP, or even a Facebook or Instagram Live dragging 45 to absolute Cheeto dust filth. Sigh. Barack is of course classier than that and prefers to serve his shade – and calls to action – in the form of a well-curated reading list. I’m here for that too.

• Book Club Bonus: What I love about the idea of Obama Book Club is that it offers some variety in reading experience; you could read the books he suggests in traditional book club format, or could also read and discuss the articles he links to in this post. If you find yourself strapped for time but want to engage in civic discourse with a book-club feel, this is a great way to do so.

Paris Review, Je T’Aime – Last week in Critical Linking, Kelly linked to an installment of Feminize Your Canon, a new column in The Paris Review dedicated to lesser-known female writers.

• • Book Club Bonus: I mean… this is like book-club-in-a-box, n’est-ce pas? Reading inspiration is served up on a fine and prestigious platter with a side of feminism and a history lesson too. Get to know female writers that you might not otherwise have ever discovered like Olivia Manning, who as Kelly points out is someone I think I’d like to have spent time with. 
  • Related: If your book group likes to open or close the discussion with a quote for inspiration, here’s a great round up of empowering feminist quotes that you might find handy. 

Hex in the City – The good people at Catland Books in Brooklyn hosted an event to hex Brett Kavanagh and “all rapists and the patriarchy which emboldens, rewards and protects them.” Some people were real in their feelings about this. Oh, you have a problem with hexing rapists but not with… actual rapists? Let’s have a moment of silence for all of the f*cks we don’t give…

If you missed the event, fear not, witches! There is indeed a Hex Part II on the books for November 3. If you can attend the event or just want to support the cause, click here to buy tickets or make a donation. Fifty percent of the event proceeds will be donated to charity: 25% to the Southern Poverty Law Center and 25% to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project. Hex yeah! (I’m sorry I just HAD TO.)

• Book Club Bonus: Whether or not your club is learned in the art of brujeria, I love the idea of dedicating space & time to rid ourselves of bad energy. Pick a deliciously indulgent read, then pick some kind of ritual to either kick off or wrap up your meeting. Light candles. Burn some palo santo. Break out the crystals. Write down the things that ail you on a small piece of paper and then burn that thing in a blaze of symbolic glory. Find empowerment in small acts of resistance.

Gonna Dress You Up in My Club – With Halloween just around the corner, it feels like a good time to revive this piece from last year on 31 awesome literary costumes. Aaaaah that teeny tiny Dobby costume kills me!

• Book Club Bonus: Dress up for book club (duh) BUT don’t tell anyone what you’re coming as. Choose a literary character and then take turns guessing what each other’s costumes are, and try to make it challenging! I’ve thought about dressing up as a calendar with the word “death” written on a random Tuesday. You know, like an Appointment with Death?

Thanks for hanging with me today! You can find me on both the Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com if you want to say hola or if you have any book club questions!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Hey there, word nerds! Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read.

Today on the agenda for book club talk, I’ll start us off with some creepy + cozy reads. I’ve also got some thoughts on Narco Lit, a lot of love for National Coming Out Day, then some fangirling & feminism to bring it on home. I may have even thought up the scariest Halloween costume to rule them all… 

Onward!

This newsletter is sponsored by Epic Reads.

The sequel to Sword and Verse follows Soraya as she attempts to rebuild a nation after the slave rebellion destroyed the capital city. On the new ruling council, she finally holds the political power she always wanted—but over a nation in ruins. When a slave ship arrives in the city, full of Arnathim captured before Qilara fell, the civil unrest that has been bubbling since the rebellion erupts. With the threat of attacks high, Gelti, a former guard captain, trains Soraya in self-defense. As the two grow close, tension within the city ramps up, with danger, betrayal, and deception meeting Soraya everywhere she turns.

I’ll Have the Creepy Read, Hold the Horror – I am such a weenie when it comes to straight-up cue-the-Pyscho-soundtrack horror. If you too are in that weenie tribe, fear not (ha). Tirzah Price had our kind in mind when she put together this sweet list of Atmospheric Non-Horror Novels to read in October.

• Book Club Bonus + Shameless-but-Related Plug: I filled in for Amanda on last week’s episode of Get Booked where I recommended a non-horror novel that still packs a creepy, unsettling punch. Explore this idea: what is it about quieter, less violent stories that often make them terrifying? Is it the dark side of human nature that’s creepy AF? Do they just feel more real? 
• Related Weenie Anecdote: The last scary movie I saw was The Ring. I was so #%@& freaked that I screamed when I saw my reflection in the mirror as I toweled off my hair after a shower. That’s right: I thought I was seeing Somara. Nope. nuh-uh. No quiero.

Murder + Machismo – On the last episode of Read or Dead, Katie and Rincey highlighted some Latinx authors writing crime/mystery/thrillers.  

• Book Club Bonus: One of the books Rincey picked is a piece of Narco Lit, i.e. books whose plots are centered around the drug/cartel culture in Latin America. She discussed how difficult it was to ignore the gross misogyny in the physical descriptions of women. *sighs in Spanish* Let’s talk about whether we have the stomach and/or head space for this kind of talk, even if it “make sense” for the genre.  

Out, Proud, and Well Read – October 11th was National Coming Out Day and we celebrated by featuring all content by LGBTQIA+ Rioters and guests. Here are just a few of those pieces:

• Happy National Coming Out Day! by Alyssa Eleanor Ross 
• Still in Search of Queer Women in Mixed Gender Romance by Jessica Pryde 
• I Was a 90s Teenage Lesbian: Lesbian Book Recommendations by Rachel Rosenberg
• Existing in the Sunlight: A Story of Coming Out, a guest post by Mark Oshiro   
• Book Club Bonus: You know how passionate we are about thoughtfully selecting the work we consume in order to support marginalized voices. I keep on saying but but je suis not sorry: read books by LGBTQIA+ authors and that feature queer characters. We have ALL of the content to help.

Interview with V.E. Schwab –  “Women are not allowed to be ambitious for the sake of ambition. They’re not allowed to want in that way for themselves.” Read Rioter Emily Wenstrom’s interview with V.E. Schwab as she talks female anger, ambition, and lessons from her early career. I am a very jealous heart-eyed emoji.

• Book Club Bonus: Read both Vicious and Vengeful for book club. Examine the progression in Schwab’s writing of her male and female characters. Discuss women’s anger and ambition. Talk about the villains you couldn’t help but kinda root for. There is SO much to unpack here.

Worse Than What’s Happening in the Handmaid’s Tale and Other Words to Keep You Up At Night– That terrifying line is from this New York Times piece about feminist dystopian fiction channeling women’s anger and anxiety. It gave me many feelings, like anger and anxiety. The buzzkill here: there’s not enough diversity in these books and most of them lean towards the super gender normative. Let’s do better here, people. It’s 2018.

• Book Club Bonus: I cannot wait to get my hands on The Water Cure. I mean seriously: literal toxic masculinity?! Brilliant! I’m kinda scared! Put this on your lists for it’s January U.S. release and read another of the titles mentioned in this piece in the meantime if you haven’t already. Then compare, contrast, and come with wine; you’re gonna need that shit when you talk about the ways in which this stuff feels a little too real.
• Related: I am most surely not the first person to come up with this, but someone puh-lease dress up as toxic masculinity for Halloween. I’m envisioning a can or box with a biohazard logo and the word “masculinity” in giant writing. BOOM. Instant horror.

Thanks for hanging with me today! If you want to be friendly on the innanets, you can find me on both el Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com if you have any feedback or just to say hola.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

More Resources: 
– Our Book Group In A Box guide
– List your group on the Book Group Resources page

Bienvenidos, bibliophiles! Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read.

Can we talk? Last week was hard. So is this week. If you’re tired, it’s ok. You’re not alone. To women, to survivors, to rioters everywhere:  I believe you, I see you, and hope that today we might share in a little bit of well-deserved joy.

So let’s get to it.

This newsletter is sponsored by Epic Reads.

Bestselling authors Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera combine their talents in this heartfelt collaboration about two boys who can’t decide if the universe is pushing them together—or pulling them apart. ARTHUR is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a show-stopping romance when you least expect it. BEN thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If it had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things. But when they meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them . . . ?

It’s giveaway time! Enter here to win this gorgeous custom bookplate stamp and make your library just a little bit fancier.

Also, file this away under Nice Things Vanessa Can’t Have because I’m seemingly one of seven Latinos without a middle name. That’s right, folks. My initials are V.D. Ay ay ay.

Sea Witch & Chill? – Madeline Miller’s Circe has been optioned for TV!!!! Somebody please tell me what network or streaming service I should throw my hard-earned money at because my body and Visa are ready.

• Book Club Bonus: I’m a little bit obsessed with books that tell a traditionally villainized woman’s story from her perspective and fully flesh it out with lots of juicy nuance. Pick a retelling that does this sort of thing, then unpack how the retelling changes (or doesn’t change!) your interpretation of the main character. Need some recs? Try Circe, Wicked, or Language of Thorns.

30+ (and 40, and 50, and 60…) and Thriving – “Youth is often celebrated, especially in publishing; there is a pervasive idea that one must debut by Age X (often 30) or one has Failed Utterly.” Wise words from the Riot’s Annika Klein in this piece on women authors who debuted at 35+. Don’t mind me, I’ll just be over here slow-clapping as I mutter, “I haven’t missed the ship. I haven’t missed the ship.”

• Book Club Bonus: Celebrate these women! Dedicate a season (or an entire book club, yeeee!) to reading work by women who were published after 35. Discuss how these women’s perspectives and life experience have informed their work.
• Related: Want to further support the authors? Check out this list of easy (many of which are $Free.99!) ways to do so.

Bookish Brujas – Here a witch, there a witch, everywhere a lit witch! The question is: which literary witch are you? Take this awesome quiz to find out.

• Book Club Bonus: I said this newsletter was all about joy and I freakin’ mean it. Have your whole book club take the quiz, then take turns sharing which witch they got and how they do or don’t identify with that pick. Ooooh you should totally meet on Halloween and then dress up as each of those witches. Book Club Coven, yo.
• Related: I got Elphaba and I AM HERE FOR IT. “Powerful, intelligent, and maybe not the biggest fan of precocious children.” #awkward #iwasthatprecociouschild

If You Don’t Give A Damn, We Don’t Give A… – Yep… that is indeed a classy rap throwback from my 20s. Sing that chorus in the dark three times and the ghost of Lil’ John will appear yelling, “YEAH!” More importantly, it’s also the sentiment behind Unlikeable Female Characters, a brand new podcast by three feminist crime writers that’s all about female characters who DGAF if you like them. Say it with me now: “YEAH!”

• Book Club Bonus: You know you have to listen to this pod as a group, right? While you’re waiting for the first episode to drop in a few weeks, check out the work of hosts Kristen Lepionka, Layne Fargo, and Wendy Heard.
• Related: This piece by Rioter Olivia Páez on liking “unlikeable” women in fiction.

That One Time at Book Club – Book club ain’t always easy: there’s no time, but you make time and then Susan shows up and she hasn’t read the book and she didn’t bring a dish for the potluck and now you’re throwing wine in her face so WHY GAWD WHY did you ever sign up for this??! One Rioter shares why you should throw a one-time book club and this might just be the answer to your readerly prayers. Brunch, bonding, and minimal commitment: f*ck yeah.

• Book Club Bonus: Errrr… hold a one-time book club. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Thanks for hanging with me today. But wait! There’s more! You can catch me this Thursday on Get Booked where I sub in for Amanda and try not to make a giant fool of myself.

As always, you can find me on both el Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com if you have any feedback or just to say hola.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

More Resources: 
– Our Book Group In A Box guide
– List your group on the Book Group Resources page

Happy Booktober, Rioters! Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read. Let’s gather our pumpkin-flavored everything and talk creepy books, first-gen stories, bookshelf shame, and more.

Read on, my pretties!

This newsletter is sponsored by Amy B. Scher, author of This Is How I Save My Life (Simon & Schuster).

Sometimes, you only find everything when you are willing to try anything … The true story of a fiery young woman’s heartwarming and hilarious journey that takes her from near-death in California to a trip around the world in search of a cure for late-stage Lyme disease. Along the way, she discovers a world of cultural mayhem, radical medical treatment, an unexpected romance, and, most importantly, a piece of her life she never even knew she was missing. Praised by Vikas Swarup, New York Times bestselling author of Slumdog Millionaire as “an inspiring story that will change the way you look at life.”

Get Your Creep On – Halloween doth approacheth! There’s no time like the present to dive into this list of the best horror books from 2018. 

• Book Club Bonus: Get your creepy-crawly swerve on with a horror-themed book club! You could stick to the usual read-then-meet format, or maybe pick a collection of short stories to read aloud at book club. Create a whole vibe here: throw on a creepy soundtrack, read by candlelight, read at a cemetery… I mean I would sooner kick you than risk running into la llorona at a graveyard, but I know some of you are into it. 

Latinx in Space! – Ok, so not just in space, though that would be awesome too. I’m talking all manner of speculative fiction by Latinx writers, i.e. those on this collaborative list/spreadsheet situation by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

• Book Club Bonus: Do a reading checkup with your book group. I’ve done this myself and was surprised to find that though my book club read diversely on the whole, we weren’t reading as many works by authors of colors in specific genres (like SFF, for example). If you find similar gaps, address them! Need some suggestions? See aforementioned list.
• Related: You read about Moreno-Garcia’s list in last week’s Book Riot’s Swords & Spaceships newsletter yes? If you didn’t, you know what to do (psssst: click that link). 

Shared Shelf Shame – I’ve got them, you’ve got them: books on our shelves that we’re supposed to have read but somehow… just… haven’t. Popular reads, classic reads, of-the-moment reads… so many reads! One brave Rioter shared the most embarrassing unread books on her shelf. See? You’re not alone. 

• Book Club Bonus: While I’ve totally given up on the idea of ever conquering my TBR (amirite?), there are certain books that I do insist on making time for at some point. Book club is a great space for getting that done! Select a title that no one has read but that everyone’s been meaning to. Then break it down: did it live up to the hype? Was it as important as you expected?

American Like America – If you haven’t already picked up American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures, get on that right now. Then check out this interview with America Ferrera, who edited and contributed to this collection of stories from first generation Americans. The list of contributors is like woah: Issa Rae, Uzo Aduba, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Diane Guerrero, Padma Lakshmi and so, so many others but word count is a thing so I’ll stop.

• Book Club Bonus: Any collection this diverse is bound to make book club discussion juicy and interesting. How are their narratives different? How are they the same? Do you code switch? Why or why not? Soooo much good stuff.

Witches be Shrillin’ – While I’m all about that bruja life, this bit isn’t actually technically about witches. It’s about Lindy West’s new book news! The brave, bad-ass, best-selling author of Shrill will release her second book in 2019. The title? The Witches Are Coming. SOLD. 

• Book Club Bonus: I’m usually a part of ladies-only book clubs. I need that safe space and you probs don’t need me to tell you why. But this last week (@%$#!) got me thinking long and hard about toxic masculinity. I wonder what a feminist book club of women and woke dudes would look like. I’ve found that even my most progressive ally friends have blind spots when it comes to feminism; I’d be interested – and yeah, a little bit terrified – to start an open, honest, and careful discussion around books on the subject.

Thanks for hanging with me today! If you want to be friendly on the innanets, you can find me on both el Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com if you have any feedback or just to say hola!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa