Category: In The Club

In the Club 01/08/2020

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date January 7, 2020

Sponsored by A Long Time Comin’ by Robin W. Pearson

To hear Beatrice Agnew tell it, she entered the world with her mouth tightly shut. Just because she finds out she’s dying doesn’t mean she can’t keep it that way. If any of her children have questions about their daddy and the choices she made after he abandoned them, they’d best take it up with Jesus. There’s no room in Granny B’s house for regrets or hand-holding. Or so she thinks. Read this Southern family drama about long-hidden secrets and the hope of forgiveness.

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

Feliz Año Nuevo, friends! It’s so great to be back. I hope you all had some time to reset and refresh since we last spoke and are ready to get back to books! Let’s jump right in.

To the club!!

When 2020 Tells 2019 to Hold Its Beer

If you’re anything like me, you watched the clock strike 12:00am on January 1st with a loud exhale, welcoming 2020 with open arms and a basket of mini muffins. But just as we were all, “Goodbye, 2019! So glad THAT’S over!” 2020 was like, “Is that a challenge?!” The romance world is reeling, WWIII might be a thing, Australia is being ravaged by bushfires… whew. It hasn’t even been 10 days!

Know what all this calls for? Some happy. Let’s find some happy.

Nibbles and Sips

We’re indulging here, folks. Don’t talk to me about calories and nutrition at book club because I don’t need that sort of negativity in my life. Have that third ~~bottle~~ glass of wine, that extra large cup of hot cocoa; treat yourself to those french fries, and get that pizza with extra cheese. Ask all club members to bring one or two of their comfort foods, and maybe also a bottle of Tums.

Come Sail Away With…

You may be the kind of person for whom “serious” literary fiction and/or heavy/issue books are escapist. If so, do you! These are just some of the types of books I turn to when I need a bandaid for my soul.

… a Cozy Mystery: I love a good cozy in general. Who doesn’t want to be cozy?! One of my faves in recent years has been Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions. Auntie Poldi is like a Polish Sophia Petrillo, but more drunk and who also solves crimes. Enjoy the whodunnit and also discuss what including a woman of her age as the protagonist does for the story. It’s a vantage point we don’t see as often as we should!

… a Twisty, Turny Thriller: In The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, a psychotherapist becomes obsessed with the case of a woman who has gone silent after killing her husband. There were enough delightful little red herrings here to throw me off the scent in a psychological thriller that felt like an homage to old school mystery. I don’t want to give it all away, but I think you’ll find yourself discussing a lot about mental illness and the stereotype of the hysterical woman.

… am Ouch-My-Ribs-Hurts Book of Humor: In spite of the very unsubtle book cover, I managed not to know that Kevin Wilson’s Nothing to See Here is about some spontaneously combusting ten-year-old twins. I laughed SO hard at this one on audio. It’s hilarious, but also has a lot to say about class and privilege and the ways in which we “other” people we either don’t understand or that don’t fit into our stupid human plans. Talk about what the children’s condition represents metaphorically and about false victimhood.

… a Juicy Romance: Nothing says, “Calgon, take me away!” like a happily ever after. I asked one of our romance experts Jess Pryde, writer of the Kissing Books newsletter, for a rec and she told me about Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon. “It’s got some grief but it’s pretty low angst and LOL funny,” says Jess. I was going to write by own summary but this one from the publisher is just too good: “It features a woman sick to death of her family’s sh*t and a plus-size Scotsman who just wants to make sweet, sweet music. And love.” Bring on the bagpipes and body positivity! Note: This one isn’t our until March, sorry! But hey- you’ll still need joy a few months from now.

Suggestion Section

Being a huge hip hop fan like I am can be a tough hang when you’re a feminist: to call a lot of my favorite songs problematic is the most generous. While there’s a lot that one could say about artists like the late Nipsey Hussle, he spent the latter part of his life doing important work to uplift his community. I was so moved to read about the book club for black men that his legacy inspired and invite you to read up on The Marathon Book Club.

E! rounded up lots o’ celebrity book club picks for January: see what Reese, Oprah, SJP, and others are reading. Side note: Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid is so. dang. good. Such a striking examination of race, class, and privilege, told by a fresh and very funny voice.

More book club picks from Good Morning America, PBS, BuzzFeed, and Marie Claire.

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, get it on the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Tuesday and Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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

In The Club

In the Club – 12/18

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date December 17, 2019

Sponsored by our Kindle Paperwhite Giveaway! Enter here.

We’re giving away a Kindle Paperwhite to one Riot Reader! To enter, click here and sign up for Daily Deals, our newsletter that rounds-up the best books that have gone on sale every day.

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

People of the club: it’s the last In the Club newsletter of the year! I’m playing that Adele song from the Skyfall soundtrack (This is the end… hold your breath and coooount… to ten…) as I put this together, taking dramatic pauses in which I gaze outside a window for no other reason than because I am extra as a person. Rest assured, it’s not really the end for us: me and all of my Spanglish ridiculousness will be right back in your inbox on January 8th! Until then, enjoy this list of some of my favorite book club themes with book suggestions for each.

Have a fantastic holiday season, end of year, and end of decade, friends. I wish you all the love, laughter, and lots of libros.

To the club!!

Rich People Problems Book Club – Indulge in a read where people with monies and privilege make poor decisions and lament the “tragic” hand they’ve been dealt. Serve yourself a healthy portion of this delicious schadenfreude with a cold glass of sparkling wine, or better yet: a steaming cup of tea.

Suggestions: The Nest by Cynthia d’Aprix Sweeney, Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam, Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan, Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

Get Your Sh*t Together Book Club – We all have an area in our lives where we need to do better. Pick a thing: health, finances, professional development, conversations about race, communication in relationships, etc. Find a relevant read to ~~read you to filth~~ help you make meaningful change. Si se puede!

Suggestions: So You Want to Talk About Race Ijeoma Oluo, Radical Candor by Kim Scott, Live Richer Challenge by Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche, Drop the Ball by Tiffany Dufu

Black Girl* Magic Book Club – Ok, I have Feelings about pageantry. I am also positively living for the #blackgirlmagic that is sweeping all the titles this year! Inspired by this majesty of melanin, let’s have a Black Girl Magic edition of book club.

Suggestions: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (and/or its sequel: Children of Virtue and Vengeance), Tiny Pretty Things by Dhonielle Clayton & Sona Charaipotra, The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden, Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

*I use “girls” here in reference to the Black Girl Magic movement, but I am here for all the beautiful black magic along the entire gender spectrum

Case of the Did-Ya-Knows Club – Pick a book that will have you out here acting like Hermione Granger with your know-it-all self. Take this opportunity to learn more about a thing that interests you, or maybe find a new thing to obsess over.

Suggestions: How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr, Stiff by Mary Roach, These Truths by Jill Lepore, Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen

Steamy McSexy Times Book Club – Read romance, yo. Period. Historical, contemporary, paranormal, sports, fantasy, gothic, time-travel: so many options! For the purposes of Steamy McSexyTimes Club, try a work of erotic romance. Discuss what the sexy times look like in terms of heat level, but also how the book handles consent in light of the times in which we be livin’. Careless Whisper playing in the background is suggested but not required.

Suggestions: Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai, For Real by Alexis Hall, Taking the Lead by Cecilia Tan, Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

Latinx Love in this Club – Read books by writers of color, queer authors, disabled authors- all of the authors not traditionally given the space they deserve! Here I’m suggesting Latinx reads because I’m just so damn proud of my people and want to champion their work.

Suggestions: In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera, Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, The Book of Lost Saints by Daniel Jose Older

Foodie Friends Book Club – You know I had to sneak this in! I love me a cooking book club. Instead of a piece of fiction or a straight up cookbook, pick a food memoir or work of food writing and whip up a menu inspired by your reading.

Suggestions: Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee, Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton, Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl, Where I Come From: Life Lessons from a Latino Chef by Aaron Sanchez

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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

In The Club

In the Club – 12/11

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date December 11, 2019

Sponsored by Read Harder Journal, a reading log brought to you by Book Riot

Created by Book Riot, this smartly designed reading log consists of entry pages to record stats, impressions, and reviews of each book you read, and is a GREAT GIFT for readers this holiday season. Evenly interspersed among these entry pages are 12 challenges inspired by Book Riot’s annual Read Harder initiative, which began in 2015 to encourage readers to pick up passed-over books, try out new genres, and choose titles from a wider range of voices and perspectives. Indulge your inner book nerd and read a book about books, get a new perspective on current events by reading a book written by an immigrant, find a hidden gem by reading a book published by an independent press, and so much more. Each challenge includes an inspiring quotation, an explanation of why the challenge will prove to be rewarding, and five book recommendations that fulfill the challenge. Get one for yourself or for the readers in your life at bookriot.com/readharderjournal

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. We’ve only got two more newsletters together in 2019 and that is just bonkers, isn’t it? I want to chat with you about a book club challenge this week, and also share this meme with you because I am shamelessly obsessed with a tiny green creature from a show I’ve never seen.

Now that I’ve recovered from my laughing fit, to the club!!

Persist!

Today is the first “meeting” of our latest installment of Persist, our feminist book club run entirely on Instagram! If you don’t get to join today, stop by next week. Here’s a lil’ reminder of the schedule, and remember: ya girl is hosting.

Reading Harder

We recently announced the list of tasks for the 2020 Read Harder Challenge! I shared some reflections from the 2019 challenge as well as advice for approaching the 2020 challenge here, looking like a budget Masterpiece Theater host in my giant fuzzy robe and my velvet wingback chair.

I thought I’d use one of the last In the Club newsletters of 2019 to officially invite you to the challenge! Though you certainly don’t have to dedicate 100% of your book club reading to accomplishing the challenge (I mean… props to you if you do), consider using a few of the individual tasks when selecting your club picks. Here are a few quick recs!

Task #2: Read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, or myth by an author of color

You’ve heard me rave about Helen Oyeyemi’s Gingerbread, a book that’s way harder to describe that it should be and that plays on the stories of gingerbread we know from classic tales. This is a thing Oyeyemi is so great at: taking a story you know, melting it down, and molding it into a new, mind-bendy piece of art. That’s precisely what she does in Boy, Snow, Bird, a reimagining of what you know as Snow White. Get ready to talk race, vanity, and family secrets.

Task #16: Read a doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman

If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s possible to recommend books you despise, it is. And now let me tell you why you should read Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch. It’s about a young New Yorker who loses his mother in a tragic accident that he miraculously survives. He’s grieving when he’s taken in by the super wealthy family of a friend, and thus gets pulled into an underworld of art and money. This brick comes in at 700+ pages and is one of those reads that people seem to either love or hate, the perfect type of read for meaty, juicy book club talk. I wanted to throw it at a wall when I was done, but I also see why a lot of people like it. Go! Read! Discuss!

Task #17: Read a sci-fi/fantasy novella (under 120 pages)

I’m cheating here, don’t at me: my suggestion here is over 120 pages (176) but I can’t not recommend it! Please, please read The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes, a novella inspired by a song from rap group clipping. (whose members are the latter three of that author list). It’s about a water-dwelling people descended from pregnant African women who were thrown overboard from slave ships. They’ve survived thus far by forgetting their traumatic memories, memories that are held by their historian, Yetu, at great personal cost. The writing, the whole concept, the audiobook narration by Daveed Diggs: it’s all good.

Suggestion Section

The Nashville Scene’s book club recs come from some of their local musicians.

Calling all book lovers, beer drinkers, and rebels: the Pages to Pints book club in Bemidji, MN invites you to talk about your favorite books over a cold one.

A librarian starts a kid lit-focused book club for seniors to help them connect with their grandkids and other young readers. I love this!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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

In The Club

In the Club – 12/04

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date December 4, 2019

Sponsored by our giveaway of a Kindle Paperwhite

To enter, just click here and sign up for our Daily Deals newsletter and get notified about the best book sales, every day.

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. It’s December, clubbers! We’re wrapping up the year and the decade. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a reset! I’m really looking forward to a year in which I don’t get swine flu.

But first, let’s talk about a book club idea involving 2019’s top titles.

To the club!!

Nibble and Sips

Today’s club theme is basically, “I’ve been meaning to get to that,” and we’re taking that into our snacks as well. Take this opportunity to indulge and give into a craving, or maybe whip up a dish (or dishes) that you’ve been wanting to try for some time and just haven’t for one reason or another. For me, that would probs entail a really decadent rose-flavored cake recipe that both thrills and intimidates me.

Tell me what you come up with!

I’ve Been Meaning to Get to That

I recently shared that I don’t base my reading on literary awards; I don’t go out of my way to read award winners if I’m not already interested in the book(s).

With that being said, I would be interested in starting off 2020 (or wrapping up 2019 if I somehow find the time) by reading an award-winning title that’s been sitting on my TBR. Do this with book club, sort of like how folks go back and watch Oscar Award nominees/winners. Here are some suggestions.

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi – 2019 National Book Award for Fiction

Everyone I know who has read this has either emphatically expressed how much they loved it or gone a little blank in the face and gone, “Huh.” Set in the early 1980s at a competitive performing arts high school, it’s apparently so full of twists and shocking turns that you can’t really talk about it without spoiling it. It explores that blurry area between adolescence and adulthood, the obsessiveness of first love, and gets into some #MeToo territory.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones – 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction

I’ve talked about this amazing book a few times now and want to say yet again what an amazing book club selection it would make. A young black newlywed couple’s lives are rocked when the husband is wrongly convicted and imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit.

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo – 2019 Booker Prize

This one I know I need to get to because you know I love all things London AND it’s written by a woman of color. It’s “a love song to modern Britain, to black womanhood, to the ever-changing heart of London” as told through the everyday lives, loves, and struggles of twelve different characters.

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood – also the 2019 Booker Prize LOL

I don’t really have to tell you about this one, right? Decide for yourself whether this sequel to The Handmaids Tale is worth the hype, specifically hype of a literary award variety.

The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom – 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction

For some nonfiction, try this NBA winner. I started this awhile ago and then got swine flu and abandoned all reading, but the more I read about it, the more I think I need to pick it back up. It’s a haunting memoir that takes place inside a New Orleans shotgun house, chronicling a century’s worth of family history.

Suggestion Section

Circe is PBS’ December book club pick.

E! rounded up a gaggle of celebrity book club picks for December: Reese, Oprah, Emma, and more.

Join me for Persist!! The countdown is on for our winter installment of our feminist book club. Get the book and meet me on the gram starting December 11!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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

In The Club

In the Club – 112719

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date November 26, 2019

Sponsored by Read Harder Journal, a reading log for tracking your books and reading outside your comfort zone!

This smartly designed reading log consists of entry pages to record stats, impressions, and reviews of each book you read. Evenly interspersed among these entry pages are 12 challenges inspired by our annual Read Harder initiative, which began in 2015 to encourage readers to pick up passed-over books, try out new genres, and choose titles from a wider range of voices and perspectives. Each challenge includes an inspiring quotation, an explanation of why the challenge will prove to be rewarding, and five book recommendations that fulfill the challenge. Get your copy (or one for the reader in your life for the holidays) here!

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

It’s Thanksgiving week, clubbers! For those of you who celebrate, may your plates be full and your gatherings drama free. Since the holidays are officially upon us, I thought I’d switch things up this week and hit you with a gift guide. Read on for a collection of gifty things for your book club fam or any other reader in your life. All of these are $25 and under, so they’re budget friendly too.

To the club!!

For the well-read, dangerous creatures of book club: this vintage silver spoon bookmark. $12.00.

These book club girl gang enamel pins are so cute! $11.73.

This set of book lovers coaster set would look great at a club meeting, just saying. $20.00.

Give the gift of cozy with these fun bookish socks bearing what is basically the book lover’s mantra. $10.36.

This “between the pages of a book is a lovely place to be” print is fantastic on its own, or pair it with a cute little plant. $12.00.

Bring a little bling to the club with a book club charm bracelet. $18.00.

This “just one more chapter” keychain is a sweet little treat. $16.95.

Because wine is occasionally a part of wine club (insert devious smile here), these book lover wine charms are a pretty touch. $16.95.

This Teacup & Books print for clubbers who enjoy a cuppa. $24.50.

What happens at book club stays at book book club! Gift this charming mug as a reminder. $13.60.

Suggestion Section

All about Bookclubz, an app that seeks to make book club life a smoother one.

Good Morning America’s next book club pick is Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Virtue and Vengeance.

I’ve heard a lot of reasons/excuses for not reading the book club book, but this is a first: a Brooklyn mom was too busy sexting to read the book.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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

In The Club

In the Club – 112019

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date November 19, 2019

Sponsored by Read Harder Journal, a reading log for tracking your books and reading outside your comfort zone!

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. This week I’m battling a dumb head cold again because apparently I get one every time I fly back into Portland?! It’s all good though, because I’m hosting a Friendsgiving gathering next week and am having way too much fun Pinteresting foodstuffs and decor and catching up on some reading.

To the club!!

Nibbles and Sips – Leftover Do-overs

For most of my adult life, I’ve had to work the day after Thanksgiving. Sure, it was kind of a drag, but I actually sort of loved this tradition among coworkers of exchanging leftover food. Today’s club menu is all about twists on holiday leftovers.

Make a batch of these cranberry-apple hand pies with leftover cranberry sauce and pie dough. Throw all the savory stuff together with a little—or lot—of cheese to make an easy leftover skillet, or maybe stuff them in a crescent roll to make this ring of deliciousness. If you have leftover mash, make these fried potato balls. Oh, and about that cranberry sauce? Use some to whip up a batch of these cranberry bourbon cocktails.

Happy Bibliolodays!

Thanksgiving is around the corner and you know what that means: it’s just about socially acceptable for me to play the Chipmunk Christmas song on repeat! Todays book club picks aren’t all about the holidays directly, but are books I think are great for holiday reading.

Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz – The holidays are a wonderful time for a little romance! While I haven’t read this selection yet, I love the premise: it’s a gender-flipped retelling of the Austen classic set in contemporary America. When a snooty Miss Darcy is forced to go home to Pemberley, Ohio for the holidays, one too many egg nogs is all it takes to bring her together with hometown slacker Luke Bennett. Holiday shenanigans ensue!

Book Club Bonus: I love a good gender flip twist on a classic don’t you? Talk about what that change does for the story: how it adds depth to the classic tale or sheds new light on it entirely, if it makes you feel differently about the characters you’ve known and loved (or not!) all this time.

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi – This book opens with a lovely story about family tradition involving a warm and spicy holiday carb. It takes a turn from there! When British schoolgirl Perdita appears to attempt suicide via ingestion of poisoned gingerbread, her mother Harriet finds a note that more or less reads, “Hey mum, BRB! Not really deadsies, just popped out to find that long-lost friend you often talk about!” That friend’s name is Gretel and the mythical place Perdita has gone off in search of is Druhástrana, the faraway land where Harriet spent her youth that most people don’t believe exists. The story Perdita has to tell when she wakes up is… a trip.

Book Club Bonus: Helen Oyeyemi doesn’t just retell old stories; she burns their clothes, dyes their hair, and gives them fake passports. Once you unpack all of that word witchery, discuss the unique mother-daughter relationship, the echoes of the Hansel and Gretel story, and the book’s departure from the classic fairy tale.

City of Thieves by David Benioff – An uninspired thirty-something writer interviews his Russian grandfather about his experience in Nazi-occupied Leningrad. In his story, two young men meet when they’re captured, facing certain death when they’re suddenly released from prison. The catch? Their lives will be spared if and only if they can procure a dozen eggs for a colonel’s daughter’s wedding cake. Something about the descriptions of the cold feels apropos for the time of year, and the coming-of-age story about (very) difficult choices made in a fight for survival makes for good club chatter.

Book Club Bonus: Discuss the intersection of patriotism and grief, how war distorts our sense of normalcy, the ways in which propaganda works the same way today as it always has in the past.

Related: Yes, it’s by that David Benioff, the one of Game of Thrones fame.

Suggestion Section

The celebs Jameela Jamil would pick for a celebrity book club.

Jami Attenberg’s All This Could Be Yours is BuzzFeed’s December book club pick.

Remember Noname, the Chicago rapper who started a book club focused on LGBTQ authors and writers of color? Noname’s Book Club picks can now be reserved at the Chicago Public Library.

Hurry! If you haven’t entered our Feminist Book Club Box giveaway yet, you have until tomorrow, November 21, 2019 at 11:45 PM EST.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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

In The Club

In the Club – 11/13

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date November 13, 2019

Sponsored by The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali, a heart-rending story of family, love, and fate, available from Gallery Books.

The Stationary Shop, Marjan Kamali’s luminous, tender, and unforgettable novel, is as powerful as Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and packs the emotional impact of Nicholas Sparks’s The Notebook. Roya and Bahman are young lovers in 1953 Iran, battling family disapproval and political upheaval to stay together. When violent chaos consumes Tehran, the couple is torn apart, and Roya believes her fiancé is lost forever. But decades later and thousands of miles away, a twist of fate may provide answers to the questions she has carried in her heart for years.

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. I’m back in Portland and have covered myself in the many fleece things I purchased to prepare for the cold. I know temps in the 50s are cake for many, but for a San Diegan? Might as well be in Siberia.

Truth? I love it though, it’s perfect reading weather. And on that note: to the club!

This week the internet is one big Best Of list: best books of the year, best books of the decade. With this in mind, I thought I would go back into time and resurrect some older popular book club books and challenge you all to a re-read. Let’s take it back!

Nibbles and Sips: Meat and Cheese

Pair classic reads with a classic book club staple: a simple cheese and charcuterie set up. My “simple,” I admit, is another person’s “elaborate and overstuffed.” Here’s how I build a bomb.com meat and cheese plate.

Meats and cheeses: I always serve three meats and at least three cheeses. Suggestions: hard salami or chorizo, regular sliced salami, prosciutto, jamon serrano, and sharp cheddar, manchego, triple-cream brie, goat cheese, smoked gouda. Cheese is life.
Carbs: I use good crackers, but also toast some crostini. A tip I got from a friend: rub the baguette slices with garlic first and sprinkle them with that umami seasoning blend from Trader Joe’s.
Add-ins: This is where the plate goes from just good to 100% that b*tch. Add honey, grain mustard, fig jam, roasted garlic, dark chocolate, pickled veggies, apple slices, grapes or other fruit, and olives. My latest fave: the Sweet & Spicy Jalapeños and Chili Crunch from Trader Joe’s. No, this is not sponsored by Trader Joe’s.

Build your platter! Place the ramekins on a large wooden cutting board or other platter, then fill them with olives or spreads, honey, etc. Arrange the cheeses, meats, and other tasty things around them, adding some sprigs of rosemary or basil for some color. Here’s a photo for inspiration!

Book Club Throwbacks: The end of the decade has inspired me to do a re-read of a book I read several years ago; I’d like to see how I feel about it with the passage of time and in today’s social climate. Do this with book club and see how your interpretations have changed.

A note about this endeavor: I am not telling you to un-like your favorite books. I do think it’s important to think about them critically as each of us grows in our social awareness. I have loved some pretty problematic books in the past (looking at you, Junot Diaz); I won’t ever try to lessen what those books did for me at that time, but am able to unpack today what they got wrong back then. That’s progress.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett – The Help is still a beloved read for a lot of people, but even Viola Davis has come forward to say she has misgivings about her role in the book’s film adaptation. I’ve never read the book, but from the film can deduce that 2019 me is more woke and more wise than I was in 2010; I might take issue with the white savior complex and sanitization of the black experience depicted in this book.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn – I was all about this book and all of its WTFery when it took the world by storm, and don’t feel guilty for doing so. When I think back on it though, I wonder if I’d read its portrayal of a women as less feminist and more misogynist, playing into the stereotype of a “crazy” and hysterical woman out to trap a man. Discuss.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes – I am one of those people who read, sobbed over, and really loved this book when I read it several years ago, and recommended both it and its sequels to other people for a long time. Looking at it with fresh eyes, I’m pretty sure I’d feel differently about its portrayal of disability. I think I’d still enjoy the story, but a discussion of what it gets wrong is certainly in order.

Suggestion Section

It’s almost time! Yours truly is hosting the next installment of Persist, our feminist book club run entirely on Instagram.

Oprah’s latest book club selection is Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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

In The Club

In the Club – 11/6

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date November 5, 2019

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Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. This week is all kinds of hectic because my cousin/BFF is getting married! I’ve got dress fittings, speech writing, and errands to run in addition to work and, I dunno, sleep? It’s going to be one for the books!

With all of that in mind, this week we’re talking marriage. To the club!!

Nibbles & Sips: For Better, For Worse, In Good Times and in Bad

I went back and forth with myself as to what libations and foodstuffs might pair well with this week’s book recs. I decided to go with a sweet and sour menu as a parallel to the ups and downs—the sweet and the sour, one might say—of the relationships explored.

Try these Japanese-style sweet and sour meatballs: sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce, and mirin combine to make a perfect, punchy bite. Pair with a simple rice dish- some fluffy jasmine rice would be lovely here.

For drinks, DIY some sweet and sour mix to make any number of delicious cocktails, like this apricot sour. For a non-alcoholic option, I love a flavored lemonade. Try this ginger version that’s both sweet and delightfully tart.

Marriage: It’s Complicated

These titles explore the darker, more complicated parts of marriage, questioning the limits of loyalty when people are thrown into extraordinary circumstances. Discuss the whole idea of till-death-do-us-part and what you’re supposed to do when your world is rocked in ways you never saw coming. Also, talk about the idea of the “perfect” couple. Is there such a thing? Talk about secrets in a marriage: is total honesty the key to a happy marriage, or is some level of secrecy not only good but essential for that union?

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones – Celestial and Roy are newlyweds in the American South whose lives are torn apart when Roy is convicted and imprisoned for a rape he didn’t commit. This gut-wrenching exploration of love, loyalty, race, and Black masculinity does that thing that I love and kind of hate: one minute you’re completely in one character’s corner, then POW! You get another perspective and everything you think you know and feel is flipped on its head. I know this phrase is thrown around a lot, but this gave me all the feels: your heart can’t help but break as you watch the slow demise of a love that was once so promising.

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff – The first half of the book focuses primarily on Lotto, half of the glamorous “it” couple that is Lotto and Mathilde. You think you know exactly what everything is and how their relationship works, then the second half of the book yanks the wool off your eyes and yells, “SYKE!” You may read that description and assume that the reveals of the perspective switch will be obvious, but they’re not. Lauren Groff goes to some deep, dark, and surprising places, asking readers to examine the motivations behind the secrets we keep. I honestly didn’t love the book until I got to that flip, then finally understood its brilliance and why the book made such a splash. Lauren Groff’s beautiful way with words doesn’t hurt either.

Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller – Gil Coleman is jarred when thinks he sees his wife Ingrid from a bookshop window; she disappeared decades prior and is believed by most to have drowned. Gil’s daughter Flora has always believed that Ingrid is still alive, so she comes home to care for her father and hopefully prove she’s right. The story is told both in present day and in flashbacks to the early days of Ingrid and Gil’s relationship, the flashbacks coming in the form of letters Ingrid wrote to Gil that reveal the truth about their marriage. She never gave the letters to her husband though; she hid each of them in the pages of his many books. Were they happy? Why did she leave? Was she killed? Has she been alive all this time?

Suggestion Section

Epic Reads suggests this batch of YA book club books and it’s a great list! I cosign almost every one of these books (I haven’t read the others yet) from authors like Angie Thomas, Samira Ahmed, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Natasha Diaz.

Austin-based subscription kids’ book club Literati has secured $12 (deep breath) million dollars in funding. TWELVE. MILL-EE-ON. Whew!

This roundup of November celeb book club picks includes Reese because duh, but also Andrew Luck, Kirsten Dunst, Jenn Bush Hager, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

I love this new endeavor from Riverhead Books; Sip & Stitch is “a new spin on the classic ‘book club’” that pairs active discussion with active hands.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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

In The Club

In the Club – 10/30

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date October 30, 2019

In the Club – 10/23

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date October 22, 2019

Sponsored by Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller, Now in Paperback

From the attic of Lyntons, a dilapidated English country mansion, Frances Jellico sees them―Cara first: dark and beautiful, then Peter: striking and serious. The couple is spending the summer of 1969 in the rooms below hers while Frances is researching the architecture in the surrounding gardens. But she’s distracted. Beneath a floorboard in her bathroom, she finds a peephole that gives her access to her neighbors’ private lives.

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

Thank you for all of the kind messages regarding my grandfather’s passing, It was a tough week but every day it gets a teeny bit easier. This week I finally got my vampire theme together, so let’s get straight to the blood suckers, shall we?

To the club!!

Nibbles and Sips – A Bloody Good Time

Why yes, I am suggesting a blood-themed menu. I add extra berries to this Blackberry Sage Margarita to make it extra thick and blood-like. Leave out the booze if you prefer, of course.

This Witches Blood cocktail is a mix of vodka and whiskey with cherry soda and schnapps for sweetness, and to give it that lovely plasma hue. I like tart cherry juice in place of soda in this as well.

For some snackage, these Blood Spatter Cookies are delightful. I love the delicate almond flavor, but leave out the extract if it’s not your bag.

Another idea is go full garlicpalooza because duh! we want to ward off the vampires and also I just reeeeally love garlic. There are so many recipes you could go with but you must try mozzarella garlic bread from Nigella Lawson’s At My Table. Use good chewy bread and fresh mozzarella. The crushed red peppers mixed in with the gooey cheesiness are so good!

Books That Suck (hehe)

Yeah sure. monsters who suck blood are, like scary. Know what’s scarier? The dark and twisted sh*t that regular ol’ humans are capable of; it’s terrifying! For each of these books, dig into the whole idea of what makes a monster, and how so much of our fear is rooted in the pondering of the dark sides of humanity, or simply in our “othering” of people or concepts we don’t understand.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova – I knew the legend of Dracula was based on a real person, but I didn’t realize just how gross and barbaric ol’ Vlad the Impaler really was until this book sent me down that internet rabbit hole. It’s a super fun blend of history and folklore about a young girl who finds a cache of letters that sends her on a wild ride through her family’s dark past. Also, Vlad is involved and he might… still…kinda… be alive? This kept me up reading late into the night, and gave me major wanderlust for Hungary, Romania, and Turkey.

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Vampires in Mexico? Take all of my money! Domingo is a garbage-collecting street kid and Atl a descendent of Aztec vampires, one with a penchant for blood herself who happens to be on the run. The two probs shouldn’t be friends because things don’t usually end well when hen one friend wants to suck the blood from the other, ya know? Of course, they grow attached and soon find it’s them against the world—a world of cops, vamps, and rivaling narco-vampire gangs—in the dark streets of Mexico City.

Fledgling by Octavia Butler – Confession: I’ve never read Octavia Butler! Shame! Shame! In this last of her novels, recommended to me many times over, a young, amnesiac girl discovers she’s a modified 53-year-old vampire. I hate when that happens! She sets out to learn more about the life that was stolen from her and realizes someone wants her and everyone she loves to perish.

Suggestion Section

November book club picks from BuzzFeed and L.A. Times
Stillwater prison in Minnesota held it’s inaugural book club. In a world where prisons are increasingly censoring what books get into inmates hands, if allowing them books at all, this story gives me hope.
A list of all of Jenna Bush Hager’s book club picks since launching her Today Show book club
Jess and Trisha discuss the pros and cons of book clubs on the latest episode of When in Romance
The ONYX Book Club in Covington, GA is going 25 years strong! The club meets every other month at the home of a member where discussion of the book is followed by dinner. So rad!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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