Category: Insiders

Happy August, Insiders! [Insert incredulous “how is it already August?!” exclaimations here.] Jenn is on vacation this week, so forgive me if I’m out of practice with what I’m supposed to share here in the intro part of this newsletter, but I’m been sharing this with anyone any everyone in my life, so please enjoy this horror/masterpiece of a mascot for the Halifax Oyster Festival.

Alright, no announcements so let’s get on with the actual bookish stuff!

-Caitlin

What Are You Reading?

Happy August, Insiders! It’s Amanda, coming in hot (literally) with the first installment of this month’s What I’m Reading. 

The summer heat has arrived with a vengeance here in Portland and I pretty much only want to starfish on a cooling mat. Luckily, that’s an excellent position for reading. 

I’ve definitely been in the mood for some fast-paced summery thrills, so I picked up I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick. I’ll be honest, I gravitated toward it because the cover has a character in a pool and I would very much like to only exist in bodies water for the next week until this heat wave passes.

The novel is about a recent high school grad and party girl, Anna, who takes a summer job nannying for a wealthy family in the Hamptons. The locals all remark that she bears a shocking resemblance to a girl named, you guessed it, Zoe Spanos who disappeared without a trace several months before. The book opens with Anna confessing to having accidentally killed Zoe and then jumps back a few months to the events that lead to the confession. 

I’m only a few chapters in but I already am sucked into the mystery and enjoying how unreliable of a narrator Anna is shaping up to be. Did she have something to do with Zoe’s disappearance? And if not, why is the world would she tell the police she did? 

Anyway, I’m off to park myself in front of a fan and probably read the rest of this book in one sitting cause I need to know what happens next! 

What are you all reading this week? Click through to add your reading list to the comments! 

-Amanda

Good morning and good Monday, Insiders! I hope your week is off to a good start — and it help it along, I thought I’d share this amazing conversation between Ed Yong and Alice Wong about perspective, nature, and science. A friend texted it to me this morning, and it was the best way to kick my day off.

No announcements, on to the good stuff!

-Jenn

What Are You Reading?

Hey Insiders!

Can I tell you something? I’m still reading the same lone book from last week. I am really enjoying True Biz by Sara Nović, and I’ve been chipping away at it slowly not because it’s not great but because my time to just read is….well, it’s there but my motivation and energy are not. I’ve done a lot of solo parenting this week, as my (wonderful) nanny takes a much-needed vacation and my partner has been working 12+ hour days.

Hello Epic folks, and happy Monday! Here’s your reminder that you can still vote on the Book Riot Podcast’s next theme for their Bonus episode of Q3, until Sunday 7/24. And now, let’s talk about books!

What Are You Reading?

Hey Insiders!

I did finish up two books when I got home, though. I blew through the rest of Jumper by Melanie Crowder, which I was super into until one Big Moment which felt…disappointing/frustrating. I also finished listening to Written in Bone by Sue Black, which was fascinating. I also picked up a number of books from the library for the coming weeks, including Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda.

What are you reading right now? Chime in in the comments!

– Kelly

Hello and happy Monday, Epic folx! I alternated gardening, reading, chores, and crafting this weekend, and I am learning to hand-quilt and am Pretty Excited About It. (It’s coping mechanisms all the way down, y’all.)

-Jenn

Announcements

Time to vote for the Book Riot Podcast’s next Bonus Episode! Make your feelings known.

What Are You Reading?

Howdy, Insiders!

I spent my long weekend indoors reading, so I was able to get through a number of books recently. I blew through Alice Wong’s incredible forthcoming memoir, Year of the Tiger. It’s about her life as an Asian American disability activist and the format for this one is so great: it’s a scrapbook! You’ll see interviews, essays, art, and more, and it’s so great at capturing Alice’s voice and her powerful work.

I also blew through Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado. I wanted to like it more than I did, but I see why others have fallen for this Sapphic horror/thriller novel about the Bronx and a creepypasta-type legend.

Currently, I’m reading Jumper by Melanie Crowder, a queer wildnerness adventure YA novel about smokejumpers. As I write this quick update, it’s prior to a long weekend up north (is that a thing anyone but those of us in the Midwest say?) and I plan on bringing a romance with me to read. By the time you read this update, I’ll already be back and preparing to tell you which one ended up making the trip with me.

Tell me what you’ve got on your stack right now!

— Kelly

Hello Epic Insiders, and happy July! While patriotism is a complicated thing for a lot of us right now, as a gardener I did enjoy learning that many of the different kinds of fireworks are named for flowers.

No announcements today, just book chat!

-Jenn

What Are You Reading?

Welcome to the mid-point of 2022! I hope even if this year hasn’t or isn’t going as you hoped–it sure isn’t for me–that at least you’re doing some good reading.

I am gearing up to begin my fifth class in my second master’s program this month, and so I’ll also be reading a lot about ethics in mental health counseling. In between that and the above, I’m also reading piles of board books with my kiddo. Among her favorites right now are Katrine Crow’s “Who’s Is It?” series featuring animal feet, scales, noses, and more, as well as Curious Critters: Illinois.

What’re you reading? It was a long weekend here in the US, so I used the extra day off to read. Click through to add your reading list to the comments!

— Kelly Jensen

Hello, Epic folks! It’s been a rough few days in the world — sending everyone all the good vibes for balance in rest, restoration, and action.

Announcements

Just one reminder to fill out our survey about (if and) how you use the New Release Index if you haven’t already! There’s a giveaway involved if you need more of a reason than telling us your opinions 😉 .

What Are You Reading?

Hellloooooooo everyone. I am having the weirdest time again trying to finish things. I honestly don’t know what’s up — probably related to :waves hands at everything in the world:? So we’re going to talk about the one book I’ve read, that I actually finished, that wasn’t required reading for a podcast, and then some … wait for it … TV.

And then there’s my TV diet, which is what’s getting me through right now. My beloved So You Think You Can Dance is back and I am high-key obsessed with this number featuring Alexis and Keaton (I watched it four times in a row and then several more times since). Also I am predicting right now that either Alexis or Essence wins, you heard it here first! (I’m never right about these things.) American Ninja Warrior is also back and I could not be more excited to see Najee Richardson repping for Philly. And then my partner and I have fallen into the weird world of We Are The Champions on Netflix. Competitive cheese-rolling, hair-styling, and yo-yo-ing? Put it in my eyeballs.

What are you reading (or watching)? Click through to comment!

-Jenn

Hello, Epic Insiders! One of my favorite reality shows, So You Think You Can Dance, is back and I’m trying to move into the week with this Big Luther Brown-choreo Energy. If I can channel even a teaspoon of it, it will be an upgrade.

Announcements

Two quick reminders — we’ve got some super cute printable bookmarks up on Etsy if puns and plants are a thing you need in your life, and we’d love to hear your thoughts about the New Release Index.

And now, onto my musings on everyone’s favorite topic:

What Are You Reading?

I’m recently returned from a week of vacation, which sometimes means I’ve read a ton and sometimes means I’ve read almost nothing at all.

This is one of the latter times — I finished two books while we were camping. One of them was for Read Harder, so you’ll hear about that on a future episode (teasers!). The other was singularly appropriate for a camping read, which is why I brought it with me! Earlier this year, Megan Mayhew Bergman put together a list of 14 women nature writers, and it inspired me to put Woodswoman by Anne Labastille into my next used-book-ordering cart. I am here to tell you that while it’s far from a perfect read, it was very soothing.

Labastille is clearly in love with the Adirondacks, and is frank and pretty funny when talking about both the challenges and the rewards of living in a cabin in the woods without electricity, roads, or many basic resources most of us take for granted. I personally have zero desire to replicate that lifestyle, but I love reading about it, especially from the perspective of a woman who was figuring out her own life and relationships in the context of this lifestyle.

My biggest problem with the book is that, like so many writers both in her own time and now, she completely erases Native Americans from the narrative, and even goes so far as to use the word “native” to describe white settlers who had been there for their own personal lifetimes. I both cringed and yelled at the book a few times on that score (c’mon, Anne!); something to keep in mind if you pick it up! Thankfully we have writers like Robin Wall Kimmerer and David Treuer out here educating us.

What are you reading these days? Click through to add your reading list to the comments!

-Jenn

Happy Monday, er, Tuesday Epic Insiders! What a “week” Monday has been. It’s me, Charity, filling in for Jenn (who continues to share, below, her reading picks this week). I don’t know about you, but I am crossing fingers for some moments of sunshine today — much needed from the dreary, wet June we’ve been experiencing so far here in the PNW… I love the rain and also, I am ready for ya summer.

Announcements

We’re hiring! Check out our newly opened Digital Marketing Manager position at Book Riot, and please share the opportunity with folks in your network who may be interested.

What Are You Reading?

I’m happy to report that I have had better luck with reading this past week, and managed to finish two whole books from start to finish! Well, mostly.

I’m still chipping away at Stolen Focus by Johann Hari; I’ve gotten to the chapters where he’s presenting a lot of controversial research around ADHD, child development, and the impact of environmental chemicals on our brains, and it’s pretty intense stuff. I’m doing a lot of pausing and mulling while I process that part of the book. Pray for me that I manage to finish it before my library hold is up, it’s going to be close!

The first book I finished this week was Storm Echo by Nalini Singh, which is coming out July 26 and is the latest in her long-running Psy-Changeling series, which is also my all-time favorite paranormal romance series. As usual, I love how she manages to blend sci-fi, thriller, and romance and give me so many characters to cheer for (and also, a hefty dose of drama and trauma-recovery!). I’m always telling folks that you don’t have to start from the beginning (we’re on book eleventy-jillion at this point) but you can start with the first book in the Psy-Changeling Trinity series, Silver Silence. It’s got a were-bear hero, I’m just saying!

And then I (mostly) read Alaya Dawn Johnson’s incredible story collection, Reconstruction: Stories. It goes to some extremely dark places, and the reason I’m caveat-ing it with “mostly” is because there was a story with a tad too much body horror for my squeamish brain, but it was 100% worth it. You can hear me talk in-depth about it on this week’s coming SFF Yeah! podcast if you’re interested in finding out more!

So that’s me. What are you reading? Click through to add your reading list to the comments!

Well, that’s this week’s short & sweet update. Take care, Epic Insiders, and see ya next time!

Cheers,
Charity

Happy Monday! No announcements this week, so we’ll get straight to our weekly question.

What Are You Reading?

Hellooooo, Epic friends! Tis I, Jenn, and I’m excited to be in conversation with y’all about your reads! Especially because I am, tbqh, sort of a reading disaster at the moment.

I knew that Get Booked going dark for the moment would change how I approached my reading list, but I didn’t realize the extent to which that would be true. I’m still reading for other podcasts — I’m going to be joining the Read Harder team, so I will be in your earholes soon for that, and of course there’s SFF Yeah! — but Get Booked reading was always so highly specific. I thought for sure that having a break from that would mean I would be able to dive into the backlog of things that are just not useful for podcasts, but instead I find myself unable to pick and unable to stick with books when I do.

All of which is to say, brains are weird!? The only thing I’m actually managing to stick with right now is, perhaps appropriately, Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention – and How to Think Deeply Again. Rebecca read it and recommended it to Staff a while back and my library hold came in recently, so this is now my bedtime book. And it’s so compelling, and also kind of terrifying; telling me all about how multi-tasking is ruining my brain when I spend 90% of my work time multi-tasking is deeply HOW DARE. And then last night I got to the chapter on sleep, and how your brain LITRULLY washes itself (!!!!) during a certain sleep phase, and if it doesn’t get to do that wash then there’s all kinds of crud built up in there. What! Are! Bodies!

So yeah, it’s deeply horrifying but also feels very helpful in giving me some priorities about how I set myself up during my workdays, and considering what I can mute/set aside/turn off in order to give myself more focus periods and also better sleep. (No one wants brain-crud, am I right?) I’m sure I’ll have horrifying new factoids to share with you next week as well, so you have that to look forward to, sorry in advance.

Enough about me and my brain — what are y’all reading? Click through to add your reading list to the comments!

-Jenn

Hello, Epic Insiders, and thank you for being a friend! (Brought to you by Jenn’s rewatch of Golden Girls.) Let’s get right into our main agenda.

What Are You Reading?

Happy Monday, reading friends!

I’m surprised to say that I haven’t finished Book Lovers yet, even though I’ve been liking it so far. I got caught up reading other things, and watching TV, if I’m being honest. One of the other books I had picked up to read was The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, which is about a coven of Five octogenarian witches, a magical heist, and a new danger that hangs overhead. It’s been getting “Golden Girls, but witches” comparisons, which is extremely up my alley, but I’ve been told it’s not quite that. Still fun, though! A few of us at Book Riot had a book club discussion around it, and I… hadn’t finished reading it *hangs head in shame.* But I still went and it was a fun discussion.

I’ve also started Far From the Light of Heaven for an SFF Yeah podcast episode I’m recording later this week. In it, the colony ship Ragtime docks in the Lagos system after having traveled light years to bring 1,000 sleeping people to a new home. When Michelle Campion, a first mate, wakes up to find that some people on board have been murdered, she calls Rasheed Fin to find out how it happened. It’s basically a closed-room mystery set in space, so I’m here for it.

Finally, I read the latest chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen on the Shounen Jump app and it was pretty brutal. I’m still not sure how I feel about reading manga or comics one chapter at a time versus by volume. The cliffhangers have me pressed!

What have you been reading? Click through to add your list to the comments!

-Erica