Category: In The Club

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In The Club

When in Doubt, Creep Them Out!

Hola, friends! Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read. This week I’ve managed to sneak in my future rap alias, a peek at my baby nephew, and a personal anecdote about faith in between all the book club talk! We’ve been clubbing together for awhile now and I feel like we’ve grown close, ya know? You share with me, so now I’ve shared with you.

Testing out another new format change too — let me know what you think.

To the club!

This newsletter is sponsored by ​The Bird King​ by G. Willow Wilson, available now from Grove Press.

The Bird King cover imageA fantastical journey set at the height of the Spanish Inquisition from the award-winning author of ​Alif the Unseen​ and writer of the Ms. Marvel series, G. Willow Wilson’s ​The Bird King​ is a jubilant story of love versus power, religion versus faith, and freedom versus safety. The novel follows Fatima, the only remaining Circassian concubine to the sultan, and her dearest friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker, on their quest to find the mysterious, possibly mythic island of the Bird King, whose shifting boundaries will hopefully keep them safe.

Question for the Club: Last week I asked what you all think is the ideal size for a book club and the most common answer by a landslide! was seven members. Some gave a range of 6-10 and a couple of folks suggested 5-6; either way, no super crazy outliers.

I like the thinking here: seven-ish members is enough to ensure good conversation and to get a variety of outlooks and opinions in the mix. It’s a good number for restaurant outings, manageable if potentially lively. Thank you for the feedback!

The next question is: …drumroll please…

 

Little Miss Persist-a-lot … might just be my rap name if I ever start dropping bars. More importantly: Persist is back! Book Riot’s feminist book club run entirely on Instagram returned last week (sorry, I’m a slacker and forgot to mention it). “Meetings” will come to order once a week on Instagram Live through April 8th and this quarter’s club is led by María Cristina!

All is Not Lost – If you didn’t catch last week’s episode of The Book Riot Podcast (Episode 303: Durable Dirigibles), you might have missed out on this piece of genuine feel-good news. A couple of high school boys at a Jesuit boys on the Upper East Side started a feminist book club back in 2017, naming it “HeForShe” after Emma Watson’s feminism campaign. The club meets to this day and has about a dozen regular members. There is hope, friends.

  • Book Club Bonus: Young adults reading books that foster critical thinking and examination of complicated subjects gets lots of emphatic clapping from me, especially if it forces them to think about concepts like race, privilege, consent, etc. While the hope is that young people will band together on their own like the men of HeForShe, some encouragement by adults might not be a bad idea. Volunteer to lead the charge and get some young people talking!

When in Doubt, Creep Them Out! – News flash! Not all women want to be mothers. This list of reads is for you if you fall into that camp. These all sound like titles that need to be on my TBR. For real though: I cackled when I saw the last title on this list. When in doubt, creep them out!

  • Book Club Bonus: I’ve pitched all sorts of parenting-related book club ideas but never suggested one for women who don’t want children. Considering I’m not sure whether I want any, I would love to dedicate at least one or two rounds of book club picks to the kinds of books on this list and be able to chat openly about my doubts, reasons, and feelings.
  • Related: I may not be sure about motherhood, but I am made for the tia (auntie) life. I know I’m clearly biased here, but even the back of my nephew’s head is just the best.

Church Group Feminism – In Rioter Heather’s 35 years as a Christian, she’s been a part of countless and assorted book groups. She’s also rarely read books by a women in those groups and thinks it’s time that changed, offering a list of titles to get that ball rolling.

  • Book Club Bonus: A little about me: I was raised in the Catholic faith and then grew up to be a pro-choice, anti-misogyny, LGBTQ ally and feminist. I now have an uneasy relationship with religion, in particular with how little agency women are given in most Christian faith systems (referencing Christianity here since that’s what I’m familiar with). But I feel hope when I read about women like Heather, ones that practice a progressive faith and seek to give women the voice they have long deserved. If you’re in a book group with members from your church, fight to include titles by women. Don’t stop there: include books from all kinds of diverse voices and perspectives.

Suggestion Section – I’m starting to play around with the format of this here newsletter as you may have noticed of late. In Suggestion Section, I’ll be dropping links to celeb book clubs, online book club announcements, lists for book groups, etc not otherwise talked discussed in the meat of the newsletter. You with me? Let’s give it a try.

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 Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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In The Club

In The Club – 3/13

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

Hello friends! Currently staring at the rain pouring just outside my window and wondering if this is what having seasons feel like? This San Diegan is not used to all this moisture. Super weird.

But you didn’t come here for weather; you’re here for another round-up of book club things to chat about. This week’s topics include Oprah, inclusion, book prizes, and more. Let’s get into that.

To the club!

This newsletter is sponsored by Libby, the one-tap reading app from your library and OverDrive.

an illustration of the Lorax with the text "Help the Lorax save trees. Celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday. Start reading with Libby"Meet Libby. The award-winning reading app that makes sure you always have something to read. It’s like having your entire library right in your pocket. Download the app today and get instant access to thousands of ebooks and audiobooks for free thanks to your public library and OverDrive.

Question for the Club: Last week I asked you all to share some of your favorite book club memories. So many good ones! Here are a few of my faves:

  • “One is when we read ‘Let’s Pretend This Never Happened‘ because we got to to talk a lot about mental health and the struggles that we all faced in that capacity.  I think that meeting went on for like four plus hours and it was a really good discussion.”  Love this, so much.
  • “When we read ‘Fangirl’ and met up at a local eatery.  One of our members was going off on a bit of a rant (as she does) and using adult language.  At one point one of the other members was like ‘Language; there’s a child’ pointing to a little girl at a nearby table and the other girl was like ‘She has headphones’ to which the other one responded ‘BECAUSE OF YOU!!!'” It be like that sometimes!
  • “My favourite night of the year is in June when we pick our selections for the following Sept-May, and it’s not my favourite night of the book club nights, it’s my favourite night of the 365 nights of the year.  Anyways, since everyone brings 2 or 3 suggestions, we usually have 20-30 suggestions total and have to bring that number down to ten… My favourite is always the disappointment when the books come off the list and we have to remind ourselves that we are still allowed to read them!” UMMM YOU MEAN YOU HOLD A BOOK CLUB DRAFT?? Hell yes!

And now for our next query:

Give Them All the Prizes – I fangirled pretty hard in my intro last week about the Women’s Prize longlist, which is just… I… but…

  • Book Club Bonus: If you already read women, need to read more women, are a woman, know a woman… basically if you’ve ever breathed air: read these books! If your book club is big enough to do so, maybe split off into groups and assign a different nominee to each group. Then come together to discuss and declare your own winner! 

The Book Club That Cares – “One of our members is a romance lover and she gamely reads everything the rest of us suggest without complaint, yet we have never tackled her favorite kind of book. I’d like to propose a romance as our next selection.”  I’m so here for this question from this week’s Get Booked (Episode 171: Making Reader Face).

  • Book Club Bonus: I love that this book club was open to switching things up to include the romance reader’s preferences. MORE OF THIS PLEASE! Do a quick check-in with your people to see how they’re feeling about your selections and be willing to try something new to promote inclusion.
  • Related: Need help finding a book in this new genre? You only have to ask. You can write in to Get Booked, of course, or try a librarian or bookseller (be warned: I *will* make you a spreadsheet). One thing I know for sure: book people love to talk books.

Get That Book Club Money, Honey – Tayari Jones wrote a piece for The Cut’s Get That Money segment and I can’t say enough good things about it. She talks about the success of An American Marriage, getting the call from Oprah, and what she did with those sweet, sweet royalties after Oprah’s Book Club. Or as she put it on Twitter:

  • Book Club Bonus: An American Marriage really is a phenomenal book club pick. The commentary on race, marriage, empathy, the justice system.. I could go on.

Perfect Pairings – I somehow missed this piece from Parade last month on ideal snack spread pairings for the perfect book club. You all know it’d be like a day without orange juice if I didn’t throw some foodstuffs in the mix so… voila.

  • Book Club Bonus: I won’t lie to you: whenever I think of pairings for book club, I’m usually thinking booze. I love the thought that went into these snack suggestions – please share if you’ve come up with creative ones of your own!

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 Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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In The Club

In The Club – 3/6

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

It’s Sunday, March 3rd as I put this thing together and I am beside myself with joy. Have you all seen this year’s Women’s Prize nominees?! Gah! It’s one of those lists that made my oohs, aahs, and ay-Dios-mios escalate in volume and excitement the further down I got!

But before you all rush to bookstores, libraries, and internet sources to read these crazy talented nominees, let’s talk books. I’ll touch more on some of the nominees next week when I’ve gathered my thoughts and am not a fangirl mess.

To the club!

Question for the Club – Last week I asked: what’s a book club pick you were really not looking forward to reading but ended up loving? I’m always so interested to understand what makes folks hesitant to read certain books and what about them changed their minds.  Here are a few of the titles you shared!

    • The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – I got several emails about this one! One reader wasn’t exactly sure why she was hesitant to read it, but was glad she did and learned more about issues facing black Americans. Most of the other readers resisted because they knew it would be an emotional read; all seemed thankful for the discussion it fostered and for the insight.
    • Fortune is a Woman by Elizabeth Adler – The reader was expecting a trashy 1980’s TV drama (which… could be awful or pretty entertaining, ya know?) but enjoyed it a lot.
    • The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood – This was a different scenario where our reader picked this read and no one else read it! She ended up reading it anyway and it became her favorite read of the year.
    • Krampus: The Yule Lord by Gerald Brom – One reader’s book club chose this in December as a hybrid Halloween/holiday read; the synopsis didn’t hook her (umm it’s kind of bananas!!), but after a slow start she really got into the weird.
    • Beartown by Fredrik Backman – While the reader didn’t mention exactly why, I think I get it: does anyone else sometimes hold out on books that are super crazy popular?! I know I do even if I’m not sure why! This reader wasn’t looking forward to Beartown but every single person in book club loved it – that is quite the feat!

It seems like the common threads in reluctance to read certain titles are distrust of hype, fear of emotionally challenging content, or plain ol’ disinterest in the plot’s description! While you all know I encourage DNFing if a book just isn’t speaking to you, I also challenge everyone to push themselves in book club like these readers have. You’ll find you learn a lot that way and maybe even find a favorite read.

And now for next week’s QFTC:

Famous People Book Club Updates – Where once there were few, now there are many: check out the most recent picks in the world of celebrity book clubs.

  • Book Club Bonus: As the piece above points out, so far celebrity book clubs are supes white. Sans color! I hope this changes in the very near future; in the meantime, perhaps focus your book club’s attention on the bookish persons of color who share their reads on social media. These include the Obamas and Shonda Rimes, so you’re in good hands.

A Very Becoming Brunch – My forever first lady Michelle Obama is making some bonus appearances during her Becoming book tour and this one made me seven kinds of jelly: she joined the ladies of a Houston-based book club for brunch!

  • Book Club Bonus: So listen: most of you probably aren’t going to get Michelle Lavaughn Robinson Obama to attend your book club meetups. I know, friend: the truth, it burns. But I do love the idea of including outside book people! Invite your local librarian, a bookseller, or even a local author to your meeting. Pick their brains for recs, get them to weigh in on your reads, and just have a generally pleasant chat with people that deal in books.

Adios, Friend Zone! – I really enjoy the friends-to-lovers trope and I am not sorry! If the cold temperatures have you craving the heat of a romance and you too enjoy seeing folks hop up out the friend zone, check out this list of books about friends falling in love.

  • Book Club Bonus: I love the idea of structuring a romance book club all around tropes. Pick a different one every month or quarter and explore all the romance therein. Steam levels up to you, of course. 
  • Related: I recently caught up on lots of podcasts and loved the online book club chat in the February 11th episode (Easing People In) of When in Romance! Trisha and Jess addressed a question I think a lot of us have or had at one point: what exactly does an online book club do?! Give it a listen.

Fantastic Voyage – Every single time I talk fantasy in my writing, I have to remind myself that I have used the lyrics to the Mariah Carey classic in this newsletter on more than one occasion. It’s not my fault that the song still slaps years and year later! Anyway, here’s are some sweet, sweet fantasy books for adults that you won’t want to miss.

  • Book Club Bonus: I recently spoke to someone at the bookstore about reading fantasy in book club and he brought up a good point: fantasy novels are so often part of a duology or series these days. Sometimes you just want a standalone! The list above features just that, so go on ahead and find your fantasy in the club.
  • Related: Your quarterly reminder that I am the little girl from Rush Hour every time I hear that song.

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 Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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In The Club

In the Club – 2/27

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

Well wow, friends! I got so many awesome responses to our inaugural Question for the Club segment! So we’re going to (hopefully) keep that same energy going with a different question every week and see how this thing goes.

Keep on reading for this week’s query, results from last week’s question, and some other book club business: fake book clubs, comics that cook, a little bit o’ sex ed and more.

To the club!

This newsletter is sponsored by Flatiron Books, publishers of Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao, now in paperback.

An electrifying debut novel about the extraordinary bond between two girls driven apart by circumstance but relentless in their search for one another. Shobha Rao’s Girls Burn Brighter introduces two heroines who never lose the hope that burns within.

Question for the Club – You all have some seriously creative club names and some pretty cool stories to go along with them. It was so hard to choose, but here are ten (okay ten-ish) of my faves below.

  • The MACs (Middle Age Chicks) – They’ve been meeting for 15 years!
  • War and Peas – A literary supper club where everyone brings a dish inspired by the book. YUM!
  • The Insane Circle of Glittering Biblio Babes – These ladies have been meeting for 21 years!
  • Novel Women – It gets right to the point and I love it.
  • Book Bosomed Babes – yaaasss.
  • Ten Shades of Grey (made up of ten retired gentlemen) and Filling in the Blancs (readers who drink wine) – These and several other names were shared by a reader who manages the Riverina Regional Library Book Club program which has over 80 registered clubs in Australia!
  • The Critical Chicks – These ladies range in age from 40-66 and have been meeting for 18 years!
  • Ruffians Bearing Cakes– When one group member had a knee replacement, she left her front door open to let the rest of the group into her home. They came with cake and she remarked, “When you leave the door open you never know who will wander in — perhaps even ruffians bearing cakes!” For the record, I left my door open all day and have yet to encounter a single cake-bearing ruffian. Rude!
  • Book, Book, Goose! – It’s held at a bar called The Dutch Goose which is already perfect, but this reader also has a forthcoming zine club in the works called Store Subject. Brilliant!
  • Fake Book Club – yes that’s the name and oh my gatos, I love the concept. In fact, I’m going to elaborate more below.

Thank you to all who shared! Here is this week’s question (oh and please send responses to vanessa@riotnewmedia.com !)

We’re So Fake – Reader Andy shared this awesome book club idea that I had to pass on to you fine book club people: fake book club! “It’s all about overdosing on THRILLERS only. It fits into everyone’s schedule because there are NO MEETINGS. Our group loves Thrillers and can share the stories, or a scary part, etc. –  in the short amount of time it takes to ride the elevator, walk the flight of stairs, or a quick gab at a break or lunch. This makes the books exciting, even when everyone is reading their own thing!” You know, this is sort of genius.

    • Book Club Bonus: For those who just don’t have the time – and some of us really, really don’t – for a formal club gathering, this is a fast and loose but still ultimately bookish way to talk books with friends. If you’ve found that committing to a meeting isn’t working, maybe give it a try!
  • Related: Don’t forget the value of online book clubs too. My friends and I all live scattered across the country and had a book club going for about a year where a lot of what we discussed was done through emails. It worked!

Will Cook for Comics – I need to read more comics and enticing me with food is an easy way to me there. Are you nodding and thinking, “Same”? Check out this list of mouth-watering comics with recipes.

  • Book Club Bonus: Can you tell I like book clubs where someone cooks (and also when there’s wine)? You probably already know then that I’m going to suggest reading comics like these and whipping up the recipes for your meetups. If the comic is short enough, read it at your meetup. Have every person read a few pages aloud and then pass it on to the next club attendee.
  • Related: Since this basically sounds like story time plus snacks, it might be a great idea for a kids book club. 

Pop the Pill, Ignore the Pope – A recent NHS study out in the UK now advises that women take the pill continually all month long. That week of placebo pills? Unnecessary. In fact, that practice’s sole purpose was to appease the pope back then into “accepting” some form of contraception. Go ahead: scream. When you’re done, check out this list of books on sex ed, contraception, and reproductive justice and learn some more stuff you may not -but need to- know.

  • Book Club Bonus: I started to say that I thought women and feminism-focused book clubs should read these kinds of books but scratch the hell out of that idea: we ALL need to read these kinds of books. So many of the most frustrating parts of the discourse over reproductive rights seem to be rooted in an extreme lack of knowledge or misinformation on women’s bodies, women’s health, contraception, policy… you name it. So, all my book club people: consider dedicating one month (or better yet a quarter) of book club to learning a little more about these very important subjects.
  • Related: Anyone else think the Vatican owes us all checks for the money we’ve spent on tampons??

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 Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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In The Club

In the Club – 2/20

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

Hey! So! Winter found it’s way to San Diego. We’re getting more rain than we have in years and the temperatures have dropped into the 40s and 50s! But don’t worry, friends. We will rebuild.

Back to club business! Here’s what I’ve got for you today: some book group ideas, a representation challenge, historical fiction fun and book club for breakups. I’m also trying out a new section to see how it goes – tell me what you think!

Let’s begin.

This newsletter is sponsored by An American Marriage by Tayari Jones—now in paperback—from Algonquin Books.

Tayari Jones on her New York Times bestseller, An American Marriage: This is the story of Roy and Celestial, newlyweds living the American Dream. They’re not a perfect couple—who is? They’re still coming to terms with the true meaning of “I do” when Roy is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit and given a lengthy prison sentence. This is a story about the power of love, and its limits. It’s an old-fashioned love triangle, but it’s also an account of a tragic miscarriage of justice. At the edges are people seeking to move into the future by mending the hurts of the past. This is an American story that speaks to us all.

Question for the Club: Baddest Weirdest Bestest Club Names – I really enjoyed all of your feedback regarding library book club programs and thought I’d experiment with a new section for our newsletter! I’m dubbing it “Question for the Club” and I’ll be using it to ask for feedback and input, or just to ask fun & silly thangs because levity is much welcomed these days.

First question! You all know that I love me a good book club moniker, so I wanna know: what fun, sassy, quirky, nerdy, and generally awesome names have you given your bunch of book lovers? I’ll share some of my faves next week. I’m a little too excited to see what you’re all going to have for me!

I’d Show Up for That – I love this list of book group ideas, and not just because a lot of them tie in with suggestions I’ve made in the past. The ideas are unique, purpose-driven, and/or just plain fun! Draw from here if you need to shake sh*t up.

Breakup Book Club – Ever played Beyonce’s Sorry 27 times in a row? Yeah me neither. Whether you’re the breaker upper or the broken up with, the period after parting ways with your significant autre can be a rough one. Find some comfort in these titles to help with the many post-breakup stages.

    • Book Club Bonus: Are you and some of your pals newly single? Read some books together! Read some nonfic on relationships if you’re feeling introspective; read some romance if you’re about ready for some steam; read some humor if you need laughs in a major way. Whatever you want, whatever you need: read that. Start that Lonely Hearts/Bad Bitches/I Ain’t Sorry book club and find some happy in the pages.
  • Related: This list of book recs based on your relationship status. I’m a little hurt that there’s isn’t a Extra Super Duper Single category buuuut everything’s not about me. <walks away singing, “middle. fingers. up. put them. hands high. wave it. in his. face. tell him, boy, bye…”>

A Taste of 2019’s Bisexual YA Reads – Go on, add these forthcoming bisexual YA releases to your TBR. You know you want to!  I brought home more than a few of these from Winter Institute last month and don’t even know where to start first. Representation matters, and it also just really, really rocks.

  • Book Club Bonus: Someone on my Twitter feed reminded me this weekend of the importance of requesting books with queer representation from libraries. Doing so not only makes the books available to kids who may not be able to afford to purchase them but also helps put them in the hands of kids who don’t feel safe requesting these titles themselves. This is such an easy thing to do in book club! Pick a title with LGBTQIA+ rep and then have all your clubbers request it from their local libraries. For these purposes, pick a title that specifically isn’t already available; the goal is to add to the selection!

Historical Fiction For Errbody – In case you missed it, Book Riot ran all kinds of awesome content last week to celebrate Historical Fiction Day! Here’s a sampling of the posts:

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 Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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In The Club

In the Club – 2/13

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read. I’m just so happy, club goers! I’m officially on Week Two of my flu-free life and living life like it’s golden (if, of course, “golden” means you have some lingering post-nasal drip and are sniffing nose spray to get by).

In more exciting news, I got so much awesome feedback in response to last week’s newsletter! It turns out a lot of amazing libraries are offering a “book club in a bag” type of service and that just makes me feel better about the world. I thought I would share some of them with you all, in case any library users in these areas don’t already know about this resource. Links to all programs provided for your convenience!

Book Group in A Bag sample from the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library

Grand Rapids Public Library (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
Kent District Library (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
Sno-Isle Libraries (numerous locations in Snohomish and Island counties, Washington)
Hennepin County Library (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Rochester Public Library (Rochester, Minnesota)
Central Rappahannock Regional Library (Fredericksburg, Virginia, but kits can be picked up at any branch in the region)
Estes Valley Library (Estes Park, Colorado
Topeka & Shawnee Public Library (Topeka, Kansas)
Escondido Public Library (Escondido, California) – this one is in San Diego county but it’s 50 minutes away from me so I didn’t know. Try not to judge.

Yay libraries and yay book clubs! Now onto other book club business.

This newsletter is sponsored by The Lost Man by Jane Harper.

Two brothers meet for the first time in months in the Australian outback; their third brother lies dead at their feet in this stunning new standalone novel from Jane Harper, the New York Times bestselling author of The Dry.

A Safe and Sapphic Space – OK yes, this post about 40+ sapphic reads coming out in 2019 is great and amazing and wonderful. But also, the writer of the post has a book blog named The Lesbrary and how much do you want to be Danika’s friend right now?!

  • Book Club Bonus: I’ll admit I did a Google for “lesbian book blogs” in search of other brilliantly-named sites (Danika wins) and accidentally typed in “lesbian book clubs” instead. I found the top hit under the auto-complete list was “lesbian book clubs near me” and hope that anyone searching has found one to call home! This may seem like an obvious suggestion then, but join or create a queer book club. When you do, consider making it available, if you’re comfortable, to other members of the community by posting about it (community bulletin boards, coffee shops, libraries, apps like Meetup or Nextdoor etc). You may just reach someone looking for a safe bookish space of their own.

Decolonize Your Book Club – “It follows demands from students at universities including Cambridge for courses to be ‘decolonised’, and more black and ethnic writers to be included in the canon instead of more white, male authors.” F*ck yeah. Swansea University is offering a “decolonized” English lit course and I am here. for. it.

  • Book Club Bonus: If an entire university can do this with a college course, you can do this with your book club. You can make this concept the central theme of the club or just adopt the principle into your established reading habits (especially if you’re reading your way through any kind of Western canon, good grief). Either way, make it happen. Track your reading, Be intentional with your reading. Do more with your reading.

Bringing Book Club to Young Black Men – An organization by the name of Black Boys Read NOLA aims to inspire young, black men to read diverse books, and in doing so instill pride and amplify dignity in their boys. They are ostensibly a book club but aim to do and be so much more as they work to attain non-profit status: a place of community outreach, a history club, a networking source, etc. The book club is specifically for ages 3-9 and is led by the founders’ oldest son and his high school classmates which makes me love this even more. Their next meeting is on February 16th at 3PM CST at the Algiers Regional Library in New Orleans; if you’re interested in making a donation, you may do so through their Eventbrite event page here!

Side note: The cover photo on their Facebook page has me looking like la llorona over here; adorable children all holding books always messes up my mascara! Also, founder Therese Colin was kind enough to share her mission and story with me and I’m thinking this deserves a whole post on the site soon. Stay tuned!

  • Book Club Bonus: I have been meaning to look further into book clubs for kids and was reminded of the importance of representation by Black Boys Read NOLA; it’s not enough to find (and start) book groups for kids, but to make sure all children feel represented when doing so. If your local library, bookstore, or community’s kids club isn’t diverse and inclusive, start one of your own. A huge part of getting kids excited to read is making sure they see themselves in the books we’re putting in their hands.

Book Clubs in Plain Sight – Why yes I DID just watch that crazy Netflix documentary and sort of steal its title (also: soooooo many questions!!). Back to the program though: sometimes you need a little help finding a book club. I’ve thrown out a few suggestions today, but this post puts me to shame. It offers local and online options, more sites to check out, and just more thorough suggestions in general. Happy hunting!

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 Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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In The Club

In the Club – 2/6

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

I made it THROUUUUGH THE WILDERNEEEEEESS!! Somehow I MAAADE it THROUUUGH! I won’t lie to you: I still felt like I was knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door last week when putting together this newsletter. I was typing while shivering with a giant blanket wrapped around my body, teetering on the brink of drafting my final will and testament (you know, to make sure my books find a good home).

But at long last, after nine weeks of congestion, fever, body aches, and spastic coughs, I feel like a healthy human again. Thank you all for bearing with me and for all the happy thoughts & good vibes. Let’s get back to club business and aim for a healthy rest of 2019!

This newsletter is sponsored by Flatiron Books.

At the Wolf’s Table is the internationally bestselling novel based on the untold true story of the women conscripted to be Hitler’s food tasters, from Rosella Postorino. Germany, 1943: Twenty-six-year-old Rosa’s parents are gone, and her husband’s fighting in WWII. Impoverished and alone, she decides to leave war-torn Berlin for the countryside. But one morning, the SS come and say she’s been conscripted to be one of Hitler’s tasters: each day, she and nine other women go to his headquarters to eat his meals before he does. And as secrets and resentments grow, this unlikely sisterhood reaches a dramatic climax.

Everything’s Pigs – Ya know, it really feels like the universe is trolling me with Chinese New Year. Seriously? Year of the Pig? And I *just* got over swine flu? How rude! All jokes aside, Lunar New Year is a beautiful tradition. It’s also a great time to get acquainted with these upcoming book releases by Asian authors.

  • Book Club Bonus: Perhaps a little too predictably, we’re starting to see folks from hater nation suggest that the success of diverse books and films is rooted in their diversity and not in the quality of the works themselves. A) Eff those guys, they will NOT steal our joy! and B) It’s time to get even more loud and proud in our love of diverse and inclusive works of art. In book club this year, commit to supporting work by POC not just with your readership, but by reviewing their work too. You don’t have to be a book blogger or influencer to get this part done: leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads or just pump up their work on the sosh meeds.

Throw It In the Bag – I recently learned that the City of Santa Maria’s library system offers an awesome program called Book Club in a Bag; any member with a library card in good standing is eligible to request a kit, which includes 10 copies of a given title and book club discussion questions to go along with them. What a fantastic idea! More libraries should offer this kind of service and I’m super interested to know which ones are already doing so.

  • Book Club Bonus: If your club members generally purchase all of your club titles, consider donating your books when you’re done. Reach out to your local library to see if there’s already a book club program in place or maybe suggest that they start one if there isn’t; with your donations, you may just be able to put great reads in the hands of other book clubbers. Maybe even offer to come up with the discussion questions!

I’m a Bustler Baby, I Just Want You To Know – Did you know that Bustle has a monthly book club? What I love about their selection process is that they reach out to the authors for reading recommendations. In January, Jenny Han of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before fame recommended Rebecca Serle’s The Dinner List. Serle was tapped in turn to give her recs for great book club picks. So much author & book club love!

  • Book Club Bonus: I’ve encouraged readers in the past to reach out to authors for club discussion questions, but don’t be afraid to pick their brains for reading recs too! If you love what an author has written, what better way to pick your next read than to see what those very authors are reading and loving too? Engage on social media, send an email – lots of ways to get in touch and find your next club selection.

#BlackHistoryMonth –  February is Black History Month and an excellent opportunity for Black joy. Rioter Patricia Elzie-Tuttle has compiled a collection of Black bookish hashtags to celebrate all month long.

  • Book Club Bonus: My favorite part of the piece is the section that speaks to being a bookish ally. Take the tips in this piece to heart, especially if you aren’t Black yourself: use the examples given for supporting black cosplayers and apply them to supporting Black writers (and creatives in general), too.

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 Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

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In The Club

In the Club – 1/30

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

Well the good news is I’m back from Winter Institute and it was phenomenal! I vastly underestimated how energizing it would feel to be around so many like-minded people all gathered for the love of bookselling. The discussion groups were in-depth and purposeful, the authors and speakers were gracious, and yoooo I’m still not over Margaret Atwood telling us we were only excited to hear her speak because we’re all afraid she’s gonna die soon. That Margaret, I tell ya!

A big, beautiful group of diverse booksellers (self-identified). That brightly-lit, frizzy-haired thing = me.

The bad news is that the weird series of contagions that I’ve been muddling through for 8 weeks now seems to have been aggravated by Albuquerque’s super dry weather, or my run-down immune system gave in to travel germs. Either way, ya girl now has a flu of an… errr… porcine variety. The worst! Again, take your vitamins and wash your hands, friends! Fevers and chills aren’t where it’s at.

This newsletter is sponsored by The Floating World by C. Morgan Babst, new in paperback from Algonquin Books.

In her dazzling debut about family, home, and grief, C. Morgan Babst takes readers into the heart of Hurricane Katrina and the life of a great city. The Floating World tells the story of the Boisdorés, a Creole family whose roots stretch back nearly to the founding of New Orleans. When Katrina strikes, they must attempt to reassemble both their lives and their family in the wake of the devastation. “This wrenching and hypnotic book will give you chills,” Bustle wrote, and you and your book club will be swept up in the storm’s emotional impact on those who lived through it.

Reads in a Pod – We all know finding books is never the problem; it’s deciding which ones to read. Rioter Michelle put together this list of bookish podcasts to help you pick your next read. A little site named Book Riot even made the cut!

black leopard red wolfJames. Marlon James. I have had the galley of what James himself has called an African Game of Thrones since it was sent to me months and months ago, but wooooow did this New Yorker piece make me want to ditch all of my work-related reading to dive into it right this second. Read the piece and then get ready for Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

  • Book Club Bonus: A discussion I always find interesting is whether it’s appropriate to describe works by marginalized voices as the <insert diverse angle> + <super popular book>, i.e. “the African Game of Thrones” (obviously it’s fine in this case since it’s Marlon himself who dubbed it that way). I have seen the reverse, i.e. Nnedi Okorafor insisting, and with good reason, that labelling The Akata Witch “the Nigerian Harry Potter” is in fact reductive. What do you think? Is it a helpful device? Is it limiting? A little of both? Take this chat to book group.

No Borders, More Books – One of my favorite panels at Winter Institute was on a program called Bookselling Without Borders, a partnership of presses that awards fellowships to American booksellers to attend international book fairs and overseas bookstore residencies. In the last couple of years, they’ve sent folks to book fairs in Turin, Frankfurt, and Guadalajara (yes to aaall of those), adding India and Bologna to the list of destinations this year. *goes starry-eyed in Spanish*. Tell all of your bookseller friends to apply here!

  • Book Club Bonus: A topic discussed at length during the panel was the importance of reading work in translation as part of our commitment to reading diversely. I know this is something I’m aiming to do a lot more of in 2019. Use this list of recently translated works to get your book club in on that very goal.

ALA All Day – If you weren’t live streaming the awards yesterday (or following along via my buddy Tirzah Price’s Twitter from bed like I was), you may not be privy to the uh-mazing list of winners of the American Library Association Youth Media Awards. Winners include Book Riot faves The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro, Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love and so many more.

  • Book Club Bonus: Reading through this list of winners plus just having recorded a Read Harder episode about diversity award-winning middle grade titles have me in the mood to explore kid and teen book clubs. Have your book club explore options with local school or libraries and see if there are programs in place that you might get involved with, or start some clubs of your own in your community. The themes being addressed in so many of these profound works of children’s literature have invaluable lessons to teach our youth and I’d love to see our kids start having those conversations now.

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 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

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In The Club

In the Club – 1/23

Hey hey, people of the club! Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read.

As you read this little rundown of book club business, I will be out in Albuquerque attending Winter Institute for the first time! Wish me luck getting to know lots of other booksellers and nabbing as many galleys as my weak little “%$*# this flu and how long it’s been since I did Pilates” arms can carry. Gonna try supes hard not to fangirl too hard over Sujata Massey or to dramatically clap & cry during the Erin Morgenstern/Margaret Atwood keynote. Gaaaaaaaah!

Let’s club it out.

This newsletter is sponsored by Libby, the one-tap reading app from your library and OverDrive.

Meet Libby. The award-winning reading app that makes sure you always have something to read. It’s like having your entire library right in your pocket. Download the app today and get instant access to thousands of ebooks and audiobooks for free thanks to your public library and OverDrive.

Romance Harder– On last week’s When in Romance episode, Trisha and Jess spent some time talking bookish resolutions and re-committing to Read Harder! I loved what Trisha said about the challenge pushing you to read more widely while also giving you the flexibility to choose plenty of titles in genres that you love.

  • Book Club Bonus: If your book club is reading harder with us this year and needs recommendations to fulfill each task, we’ve got ya covered! Check the site out regularly and look for posts dedicated to the Read Harder challenge (or type “read harder” or “read harder 2019” into the search box to see all the posts in one place). So far we’ve covered books by authors of color set in or about space, books by a journalist or about journalism, humor books and more.  
  • Related: What’s that? You heard there’s also a Read Harder podcast for Book Riot Insiders? Why yes there is and I do believe I am one of the hosts! This is just your weekly reminder to join Insiders and check out Tirzah Price and I on our biweekly pod. Second episode coming at you this week!

One Wild and Precious Life – Book Riot favorite Mary Oliver died last week and left a Mary-shaped hole in many of our hearts with her passing. While I don’t read anywhere near as much poetry as I should, there’s something about the simplicity of Oliver’s work that has often spoken to me and brought me peace.

  • Book Club Bonus: It’s been awhile since I talked about bringing poetry to book club but it’s an idea I’d like to renew for 2019. Sneak in a poetry night into your meeting rotation. Read work from a specific poet as a group, or do the thing BYOP style (bring your own poetry) and each come with a piece by your fave.

Small but Mighty – Big, flashy titles from big publishers are cool, but small presses are pretty freaking fantastic too. Make like Rioter Rebecca and commit to reading more work from small presses this year.

  • Book Club Bonus: Hey! So! Read books from small presses in book club. Need ideas? Check out this list of woke small presses from 2017 to get you started.

Club Cosmo – I’ll admit that I did a judgey thing and assumed this list was going to mostly titles in the Confessions of a Shopaholic vein (not that there would be anything wrong with that!).  While there is indeed a title by Sophie Kinsella on this list, Cosmopolitan’s suggestions for book clubs in 2019 are actually pretty diverse. The list was published back in November but the titles are just now starting to come available, like the latest from Helen Hoang and Angie Thomas. I see you, Cosmo!

  • Book Club Bonus: I’m so excited to see Anissa Gray’s debut, The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls, on this list. I’ve seen it described as The Mothers meets An American Marriage; that is a pretty surefire way to get me to pay attention and is potentially made for book club discussion. It sounds like it’s going to be one of those reads with a lot of food for thought on mother/daughter relationships, forgiveness, and identity. Pre-order this forthcoming title for book club now (it releases on 2/19).

Oprah Approved – “I’d dropped out of three book clubs before this. There was the one where I hated all the books, the one where I loved the books but hated that nobody actually talked about them, the one where I showed up late to my first meeting and received passive-aggressive emails from its president forever after. And then I found the Loose Women.” I came across this piece on six uniquely rad book clubs at oprahmag.com and am absolutely loving each of these concepts. Loose Women… genius!

  • Book Club Bonus: This piece is a great reminder that book club doesn’t have to follow any particular format – it should be flexible and suit your needs & interests. Don’t be afraid to ditch the clubs that aren’t working until you find some loose women of your very own.

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 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

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In The Club

In the Club – 1/16

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

People of the Club! I believe I might finally be on the mend. With the help of an inhaler, Mucinex, and a whole lot of rest, I think I’ve finally turned the corner on kicking this stupid infection. Not super jazzed about the fact that the sinusitis I now have might last 4 to six *#^@$! weeks, but what can ya do?

In the meantime, let’s talk persistence, climate, black girl magic and erotica, shall we?

This newsletter is sponsored by The Milk Lady of Bangalore by Shoba Narayan, new in paperback from Algonquin Books.

The Milk Lady of Bangalore is the surprisingly heartwarming story of two women and the animals they love. Shoba Narayan has just returned to India after years in the United States when she encounters a cow in the elevator of her modern apartment building. With the cow is Sarala, who sells fresh milk across the street. It is the beginning of an unexpected friendship and a quest to buy a new heifer. “A journey through cultural mores and female friendship, as well as a look at the spiritual and historical part that cows play in India; an easy read that you can’t help but love,” says Refinery29.

Erotica for Feminists – Y’all… have I ranted and raved at you about New Erotica for Feminists yet? This absolutely hilarious satirical collection of musings on what the modern woman finds erotic began as a viral McSweeney’s post and is one of the funniest and wittiest things I’ve read in some time. It includes gems like this:

 SOLD.

 

Still Persisting – Thank you to all of you who joined in our fourth installment of Persist, our feminist book club! I hopped in and out of the Instagram Live sessions in between coughs and sneezes to support my girl Jenn and the convo looked like a good one!  

Change Starts Here – Those of us with sense know that climate change is a real and pressing phenomenon. That’s a start. We may not all be as well versed in its complexity and range though; enter these books.

  • I think many folks accept that climate change is a thing but also don’t know enough about it to understand the importance of policy and individual action. Read a book about climate change in book club to get in the know and commit to some kind of change together. Write a letter to an elected official, donate to an environmental org, swap glass for plastic food containers… lots of options.

well-read black girlWell-Read Black Girls – PBS’s Jeffrey Brown recently sat down with Glory Edim to talk about Well-Read Black Girl, the online community and book club she founded to give a voice to black women. I’ve been following WRBG online for a couple of years and have a deep appreciation for the work they’re doing to uplift black women writers.

  • Book Club Bonus: Learn more about Well-Read Black Girl! Get to know Glory and her vision, get into the WRBG reading list, and sign up to hear about their events. Don’t forget to also check out Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, a collection of essays by Black women writers curated by Glory Edim herself.

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 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