Newsletters Dev – Page 2 – getting it done!

021424-TheGildedOnes#3:TheEternalOnes-Giveaway

Post author By Vivek Patel
Post date February 14, 2024

We’re giving away three complete sets of the Gilded Ones series by Namina Forna to three lucky Riot readers!

Enter here for a chance to win, or click the image below!

The dazzling and epic finale to the groundbreaking Gilded Ones series is here!

In order to kill the gods, whose ravenous competition for power is bleeding Otera dry, Deka must uncover the source of her divinity. But with her mortal body on the verge of ruin, she is running out of time—to save herself and an empire that’s tearing itself apart at its seams.

Unusual Suspects

WATSON Drama With Morris Chestnut a Go at CBS

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date February 13, 2024

Sponsored by

Hello, mystery fans! The Marvels is now on Disney+ if you’re in need of something fun with a hilarious surprise. And streamers need to get their shit together because there really needs to be a season two of Ms. Marvel!

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

Sorry I’m late I didn’t want to stop reading tote by booksrbtrthanreality

If you’re looking for a new tote bag and don’t want to explain your late entrances, here you go. ($25)

New Releases

Cosplay Crime by Marty Chan

For fans of middle grade mysteries that focus on a theft with a fun setting and friendship!

Young teens Bree and Alix are best friends having a great time at the Anime Expo. Bree is especially excited to meet the voice actor from her favorite series—she is after all dressed as Red Squirrel! But the panel is cancelled after an expensive print is stolen, so naturally, it’s time for Bree to put on her amateur sleuth hat! Not so easy, though, at a convention where everyone is in costumes and masks…

The Spy and I by Tiana Smith

For fans of romantic thrillers—especially if you love “chick-lit,” action, and spies!

Dove Barkley has one of those cool-sounding jobs: she is paid to hack into companies’ networks to show them where their vulnerabilities are. That’s as much excitement as Dove would like in her life, so she’s not really thrilled when a man is murdered in front of her, and a CIA agent claims to be her sister’s partner—which is how Dove learns her twin is a spy! She’s roped into the mission, trying to find her sister and basically trying to stay alive. Oh, and her sister’s partner, Mendez, seems to be short-circuiting Dove’s brain, even though she’s certain this is not the time for romance and doubting everything he’s told her about himself…

Reach for this one when you need a fun action read that throws romance into the mix.

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

Here are some mystery/thrillers with lawyer leads! Both are series starters, so if you read them when they were first published and have yet to continue, take this as a reminder to pick up the next in the series.

By Way of Sorrow (Erin McCabe Mysteries #1) by Robyn Gigl

Erin McCabe has been hired to defend Sharise, who is accused of murdering a prominent New Jersey man’s son. Sharise, a Black transgender woman, is being held in a male prison and says the murder was in self-defense. McCabe knows firsthand the dangers transgender people face and also thinks there might be more to this case than has been shared with her. As McCabe manages her personal life and career, she and her ex-FBI partner realize Sharise’s life and their own lives are in danger as witnesses in their case start dropping dead.

Continue the series with Survivor’s Guilt and Remain Silent!

(TW transphobia/ misgendering/ mentions groping and sexual assault threats in prison/ child abuse scene/ murder made to look like suicide, detail/ brief mention past cancer death, not graphic)

While Justice Sleeps (Avery Keene #1) by Stacey Abrams

Avery Keene is the most shocked upon learning that Justice Howard Wynn is in a coma and he’s left her, his law clerk, power of attorney. His estranged family is also shocked and really not happy. To find out what happened to Howard, why he left her in charge, and to keep herself safe, she’ll have to dig into his cases, work, and personal life.

Pick up the sequel, Rogue Justice!

(TW attempted suicide, detail/ addiction/ briefly threatens sexual assault, doesn’t/ degenerative brain disorder/ genocide/ Islamophobia)

News and Roundups

Crime Writers of Color Podcast: Danielle Arceneaux, author of Glory Be is interviewed by Robert Justice.

Watson Drama With Morris Chestnut a Go at CBS

Iliad on the Strip: PW Talks with Don Winslow

Waunakee writer gets national attention for murder-mystery Northwoods

Watch every movie trailer that aired during Super Bowl 2024

The Final Days of Coyote vs. Acme: Offers, Rejections, and a Roadrunner Race Against Time | Exclusive

14 February 2024 Book Club Picks, From Reese’s Book Club To Sapph-Lit

Apple TV+’s 2024 lineup, including the Lady in the Lake adaptation (Laura Lippman)

LeVar Burton Responds to Book Bans with Reading Rainbow Video

Why Do We Even Read?

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. Check out this Unusual Suspects Pinterest board and get Tailored Book Recommendations!

Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Litsy — you can find me under Jamie Canavés.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own, you can sign up here.

Giveaways

021324-FebEACPushes-2024-Giveaway

Post author By Vivek Patel
Post date February 13, 2024

We’re teaming up with HTP Books to give away a year subscription to Book of the Month!

Enter here for a chance to win, or click the image below!

Here’s a bit more from our sponsor: HTP Books newsletter celebrates books and popular culture, connecting readers, booksellers, librarians, and book clubs with relevant content and resources.

True Story

Two Must-Read Books By Black Feminists

Post author By Kendra Winchester
Post date February 13, 2024

Sponsored by

It’s been pouring rain here in South Carolina, which has definitely made me want to stay inside and curl up with a good book. There’s just something about that wet, winter gloom, you know? But thankfully, there was no shortage of books for me to read, so I picked up the feminist classic, Ain’t I A Woman by beloved Kentucky author, bell hooks. Before I jump into discussing my feminist favs, it’s time for bookish goods!

Bookish Goods

bell hooks, Wall Art Print by Pan-African Gifts

In honor of today’s bell hooks feature, I saw this portrait of bell hooks on Etsy. Just stunning. $36

New Releases

Private Equity: A Memoir by Carrie Sun

Carrie Sun seems to have it all. She graduated early from MIT, is doing incredibly well at her job, and has a great catch for a fiance. But Carrie isn’t happy. So, to find a better life for herself, she leaves her job, drops out of her MBA program, and goes to work for one of the most prestigious hedge funds in the world.

A Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of Tinseltown’s Most Shocking Crime by Casey Sherman

Here’s one for the true crime lovers! It’s Hollywood in the 1950s, and Lana Turner is one of Tinseltown’s brightest stars. But when the police are called to Lana’s home, they find her ex-boyfriend dead on the floor, with Lana’s daughter Cheryl claiming to have stabbed him in order to protect her mother. A Murder in Hollywood follows the ensuing trial, which made headlines for months.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Ain’t I A Woman by bell hooks

Now that bell hooks’ backlist has been turned into audiobooks, I’m finally getting the chance to read them for the first time. My latest pick is Ain’t I A Woman, which pulls together a lot of hooks’ early writing about how white feminists and the Black men of the Civil Rights Movement ignore the intersectional experience of Black women. bell hooks reiterates over and over that as people who live with both sexism and racism, Black women’s experiences are unique. As hooks describes at the end of her book, a truly inclusive feminist movement is an intersectional one.

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

Mikki Kendall discusses how modern-day feminist movements have huge gaps in their organizing efforts. Kendall argues that feminism, particularly white feminism, fails to address issues like food insecurity, safe housing, disability, access to education, and the ability to earn a living wage. Each essay discusses a different area that modern feminism could improve upon, providing an intersectional approach to her writing. Kendall makes so many incredible points as she calls out feminism’s weaknesses and the areas where it could improve. If feminism is to continue to improve the lives of women, it must evolve.

That’s it for this week! You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.

Happy Reading, Friends!

~ Kendra

Past Tense

Historical Romance for Valentine’s Day

Post author By Rachel Brittain
Post date February 13, 2024

Sponsored by

Hi, historical fiction fans, and Happy Valentine’s Day!

I got to spend the week with friends at AWP, which I’ll admit involved more good food and hanging out than conferencing. I did pick up some literary magazines from the book fair, and I am particularly excited to read F(r)iction Arcana and the Rainbow Issue of Fairy Tale Review. Good reading and good times.

Bookish Goods

Valentine’s Book Hearts Sweatshirt from Studio Esme Rose

Okay, this sweatshirt may sell itself as Valentine’s specific, but let’s be real—it would be perfect for any time of the year. $47

New Releases

Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver (February 13, 2024)

In this posthumous short story collection, Diane Oliver brings stories of the Jim Crow era to life in 1950s and ’60s America. From haunting portraits of integration and interracial relationships to parents willing to do the unthinkable to protect their children, these stories are a rediscovered gem of American literature.

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo (February 13, 2024)

A fox woman seeking revenge against the man who murdered her daughter and a detective hunting down clues about a series of dead women trek across Manchuria and Japan in search of the answers they’re looking for. As their stories intersect, the complicated relationship between humans and fox spirits—and between justice and revenge—slowly comes to light.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Happy Valentine’s Day, historical fiction fans! Here are two historical romance novels to celebrate.

To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins

The feelings in a fake marriage become all too real for a grifter tasked with spying on a former Confederate official who may have stolen the Declaration of Independence. Raven and Braxton each have their reasons for taking on this job, but what they’ll get out of it is more than they ever could’ve imagined.

Aphrodite and the Duke by J.J. McAvoy

Aphrodite Du Bell may live up to the goddess of beauty she was named after, but that didn’t stop the man she loved from marrying another woman. The Duke of Everly has his own complicated reasons for rejecting Aphrodite, but now that he’s a widower free to marry again, will he be able to win back her trust? Or will the reasons they were torn apart in the first place come back to haunt them?

That’s it for now, folks! Stay subscribed for more stories of yesteryear.

If you want to talk books, historical or otherwise, you can find me @rachelsbrittain on Instagram, Goodreads, and Litsy.

Right now, I’m reading Uranians by Theodore McCombs. What about you?

Read This Book

Read This Book…

Post author By Kendra Winchester
Post date February 13, 2024

Sponsored by

Welcome to Read this Book, a newsletter where I recommend one book that needs to jump onto your TBR pile! Sometimes, these books are brand-new releases that I don’t want you to miss, while others are some of my backlist favorites. Today, we’re looking at an essay collection from Singaporean writer Tania De Rozario.

Dinner on Monster Island by Tania De Rozario

When I’m reading publisher emails and combing through book catalogs, I try to keep in mind that some of the best books can fly under the radar, especially books by authors from outside of the U.S. So when I spotted Dinner on Monster Island, I flagged it immediately and added it to my list of books that I wanted to look into more later.

Tania De Rozario’s essay collection Dinner on Monster Island follows her messy life as a biracial, fat, queer femme growing up in Singapore. Many of her essays center around girlhood and the intense fatphobia and queerphobia she experienced. While in her younger years, she was required to do extra exercise because the government deemed her BMI too high. At her all-girls school, the administration made it a priority to find and punish girls suspected of lesbian conduct. And De Rozario’s classmates made fun of her mixed heritage. Everything about her school experience told her that she didn’t belong.

De Rozario grew up with a single mother who became extremely religious and forced De Rozario to have an exorcism to get rid of her queerness. Once she reached adulthood, De Rozario left her mother’s house and never looked back, choosing a life couch surfing and facing eviction rather than spending a single second more with her mother.

The author tackles these subjects from an anti-colonial perspective as she tries to untangle the mess that is the modern world. Now, she lives in Canada, which has its own set of issues. But De Rozario brings it all together, capturing her struggles as a child and connecting with the trauma she’s working through as an adult. Dinner on Monster Island is a hidden gem of 2024 that you definitely won’t want to miss.

Happy reading, Friends!

~ Kendra

Kissing Books

9 Romantic Dark Academia Books

Post author By Samm Saxby
Post date February 13, 2024

Sponsored by

This post is written by Carolina Ciucci

The dark academia trend shows no signs of fading away. The term was coined in 2015 to signify a particular subculture: an intense and all-consuming passion for learning, especially classic literature and ancient languages, observed in romanticized terms.

On the surface, dark academia draws a lot on gothic architecture (bonus points if it’s universities or libraries), dusty books, early to mid-century collegiate clothing, and a uniform color palette of blacks, whites, beiges, and browns. You will not find a glimmer of pink or yellow in the wardrobe of a dark academia aficionado.

As far as books go, dark academia also draws on (very often) delightfully pretentious people who, as Book Riot writer Zoe Robertson put it, “…can’t go a sentence without citing Shakespeare and spend their free periods retreating into the shadows of their secret cult.”

Dark academia books don’t always include romance. But that’s not the case for the books included in this list: whether they’re romance novels or simply novels with romantic elements, these books put rapidly beating hearts and star-crossed lovers side by side with murderers and students of ancient Greek. As one does.

Beware, though: some of the romance in these books might make you want to take a vow of chastity. It is still, after all, dark academia.

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

This YA novel is set at the prestigious Niveus Private Academy. Fellow students, Devon and Chiamaka team up in order to unveil Ace, an anonymous texter who threatens to reveal their secrets.

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

There are few things I love more than dual timelines in books, which is why this one is right up my alley. In 1902, the Brookhants School for Girls had to close after several mysterious deaths. But now, a book about the school is set to be adapted to film, so a cast is sent to the ruins of what was once all splendor.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Only the most special students have a place at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school in ’90s England. But what makes them special? That’s what former student Kathy, newly reunited with her former classmates Ruth and Tommy, is going to find out years later.

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Magical dark academia? Yes, please. At 16, Breen finds herself joining a residential program for gifted students. There, she learns about the existence of demons, and a secret society that hunts them down called the Legendborn. She also finds out that there’s more to her mother’s death than meets the eye.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

The only thing I love as much as magical dark academia? Historical magical dark academia. Set in 1895, Gemma is sent from India to a boarding school in England after her mother dies by suicide. There, she develops visions, and discovers that she’s being followed by a young Indian man. But what does he want?

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

One of the few non-romance romantic dark academia books in this list features Oliver, a man who is getting out after ten years in prison. The man who put him there, Detective Colborne, wants to know why — and what his former classmate James has to do with it.

Half Truths by Claire Contreras

Is it truly a dark academia book without a secret society? Mae doesn’t have cause to wonder, because upon transferring colleges, she finds The Eight. This society may hold the answers she needs to learn about her missing brother and friend.

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

This book has been described as The Secret History meets Call Me By Your Name, in case you were wondering what you’re getting out of it. Paul meets Julian as a college freshman in the ’70s, and their bond quickly grows. But there’s a side to Julian that Paul is unprepared for.

Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri

Sometimes, the fate of an empire rests on your shoulders. Just ask Arwa, who must dig through various archives with a prince desperate to save his family in an attempt to voyage to the mysterious Realm of Ash.

Can’t get enough of dark academia? Try out 10 queer dark academia novels to obsess over, or learn whether you’d survive a dark academia novel.

New Books

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date February 12, 2024

Sponsored by

Hiya, star bits! How’s tricks? I had hoped for a weekend full of reading, but instead, I got food poisoning. Womp womp. I didn’t have that on my 2024 bingo card! But I am feeling a bit better now, and I am ready to talk about books with you because today is an amazing day of new releases. Clear your calendar, because the Kelly Link novel is out today, and it is amaaaaazing. It should be a national holiday.

As for other new releases, at the top of my list of today’s books that I want to get my hands on are The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older, No One Dies Yet by Kobby Ben Ben, and What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher. You can hear about more of the fabulous books coming out today on this week’s episode of All the Books! Vanessa and I talked about great books we loved that are out this week, including The Warm Hands of Ghosts, The Fox Wife, and The Book of Doors.

And now it’s time for everyone’s favorite game, “Ahhh, My TBR!” Here are today’s contestants!

The Book of Love by Kelly Link

If you’ve been listening to All the Books! or reading this newsletter even for a little while, you’ve probably heard me mention Kelly Link. She is an incredible writer of fantasy and fairy tale stories. Up to today, she’s released story collections. But now she also has a novel! THIS novel. It’s a 600+ page novel of magic and wonder, a story of teenagers in a small Massachusetts town brought back from the dead by their apparently magical music teacher. The magical tasks they are assigned seem to draw other magical beings to their town as they work to solve the mystery of their deaths and stop whatever destruction seems headed their way. (All while keeping the fact that they were dead and gone from their families and friends.) It’s an amazing, enchanting novel of family, friendship, love, loss, and of course, magic, told only as Kelly Link could tell it. I’m ready to read it again!

Backlist bump: Magic for Beginners: Stories by Kelly Link

An Education in Malice by S. T. Gibson

I haven’t read this one yet, but I am going through a vampire phase (which I assume happens to everyone in middle age?), so I am looking forward to reading it. It’s a retelling of the vampire novel Carmilla (which I also need to read), about two students at an isolated college in Massachusetts who are competing neck and neck (vampire joke!) for the attention and praise of their poetry professor. There are also some strange rituals that happen on campus. Bring on the dark academia! It sounds a bit like “The Secret History but make it vampires,” which is a thing I just realized I wanted. “The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been undead for several weeks…” Camilla, Carmilla—it’s so close already! I may have to read this as soon as I finish writing the newsletter!

Backlist bump: A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson

Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver

And, last but not least, this powerful posthumous collection of stories. Diane Oliver wrote these six stories about the horrors of racism she witnessed and experienced growing up as a young Black girl in the mid-20th century in America. There’s a young woman worried for her brother as he attends his first day at a desegregated school, a college student turning invisible at her college, a couple facing up to the truths of their marriage, and more. Sadly, Oliver died at the age of 22 in an accident while at college in Iowa. This book, her only collection, is haunting and incendiary and displays brilliant talent from a life lost so young. Fans of Tayari Jones, Danielle Evans, and just great short stories will love it.

Backlist bump: Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?: Stories by Kathleen Collins

This week, I am reading There Is No Ethan: How Three Women Caught America’s Biggest Catfish by Anna Akbari, Devil Is Fine by John Vercher, and the eighth book in the middle grade graphic novel series, InvestiGators: Class Action by John Patrick Green. Have you read this series? I adore these books, as well as the Agents of S.U.I.T. spinoff. I am also over the moon because they just announced the second book in the Fry Guys series, which I talked about a billion times last year. And there’s a second Officer Clawsome book on the way! Between all these books, I’m pretty sure they have all the puns. ALL OF THEM. The song stuck in my head this week is “Into Dust” by Mazzy Star. And here is your weekly cat picture: Zevon decided the other day to see if he could open a locked door. Spoiler: He could not.

I appreciate you more than I can say, friends. Thank you for joining me each Tuesday as I rave about books! I am wishing you all a wonderful rest of your week, whatever situation you find yourself in now. And yay, books! See you next week! – XO, Liberty

The Kids Are All Right

Art, Social Media, And More!

Post author By Margaret Kingsbury
Post date February 12, 2024

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, kidlit friends! Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and my daughter and I created valentines for everyone in her class over the weekend for a Valentine’s party. I’m pretty sure we exchanged Valentines when I was in elementary school, but I oddly have no memory of it. Since we worked on art so much this weekend, I thought I would review four middle grade novels that center art.

Bookish Goods

Ida B. Wells Quote Sweatshirt by TheCultureRef

This Ida B. Wells sweatshirt has a powerful quote: “Turn The Light Of Truth Upon Them.” It comes in multiple colors and can be ordered as a long-sleeved shirt instead. $35+

New Releases

Where Is Poppy? by Caroline Kusin Pritchard, illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte

This lovely picture book explores grief as a young child misses her grandfather during her family’s Passover celebrations. Her family says Poppy is still there, but how can that be? She can’t find him anywhere. As she searches, she remembers special times between the two until she finally realizes what everyone means —Poppy will always be with her as long as she continues to remember him. This is a beautiful new Passover children’s book.

Averil Offline by Amy Noelle Parks

This fun middle grade novel tackles a very relevant feeling for a lot of middle schoolers: frustration with overbearing parents monitoring their phone usage. Averil’s parents take it to extremes. They have made her download the Ruby Slippers app, which tracks where she goes and how she uses her phone. If she doesn’t text back fast enough, or even if she takes a little longer than normal on her walk home from school, an alarm goes off. Averil is supposed to go to coding camp that summer, but then a kid with similar problems asks her to team up with him in finding the founder of Ruby Slippers, but the founder doesn’t make it easy to get to him.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

There have been lots of middle grade novels centering young artists lately. Here are four I loved: two graphic novels and two prose novels. I’ve also recently reviewed Alterations, Drawing Deena, and Tagging Freedom with this theme as well.

Art Club by Rashad Doucet

This is a cute middle grade graphic novel about a kid, Dale Donavan, who starts an art club at his very anti-art middle school. The vice principal detests art and creativity and pushes kids to figure out what practical jobs they’ll have as adults. I personally wanted to be a spy as a kid, so I’m glad I didn’t attend this school. Dale wants to prove to his vice principal and the school that artists can be successful and that the school should have an art club. So, he starts an art club with four other kids in the school. In their free time, the kids also bond over a video game they play. Each of the four characters has a nuanced background and story. I really love the character interactions.

Doodles from the Boogie Down by Stephanie Rodriguez

This semi-autobiographical middle grade graphic novel also stars a tween who wants to become an artist but is told it’s an impractical career choice, this time by her mother. Steph, a Dominican 8th-grader living in the Bronx, wants to apply to an arts high school in Manhattan, but her mother wants her to continue going to Catholic school. Steph decides the only way to get what she wants is to lie, but it’s hard to keep up with all her lies.

Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom by Sangu Mandanna

Now for an action-packed fantasy novel. Kiki has anxiety, and to calm her nerves, she draws. She loves drawing characters from Indian myths and legends, but when she draws the legend of Mysore, she accidentally opens a portal into another world, and the demon king Mahishasura hops into her bedroom. Kiki has to return Mahishasura to his own world before he wreaks havoc in hers, but that means venturing into the portal.

Lost Kites and Other Treasures by Cathy Carr

In this lovely novel, 12-year-old Franny Petroski creates art with found objects. Her mother left when she was young, and she lives happily with her Nana. When Nana breaks her leg taking out the trash, the pair have to move to a new one-story rental, and then her uncle comes to live with them to help out. Her uncle doesn’t get along well with Nana due to difficulties with Franny’s mother when they were kids, which Franny is now learning about. It’s a quiet but touching novel about mental illness and family secrets.

In addition to Valentine’s Day crafts, my daughter also recently celebrated her 100th day of kindergarten. She drew a shirt with one hundred cats on it for the day. The front says, “I’ve had a meowrific 100 days of kindergarten.” All her idea!

If you’d like to read more of my kidlit reviews, I’m on Instagram @BabyLibrarians, Twitter @AReaderlyMom, Bluesky @AReaderlyMom.bsky.social, and blog irregularly at Baby Librarians. You can also read my Book Riot posts. If you’d like to drop me a line, my email is kingsbury.margaret@gmail.com.

All the best,

Margaret Kingsbury

Check Your Shelf

Murder on the Dancefloor

Post author By Katie McLain
Post date February 12, 2024

Sponsored by

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I’m writing this newsletter prior to Super Bowl Sunday, although considering I am not a huge fan of the NFL, Usher, or Taylor Swift (don’t hurt me!), I am mostly getting excited for the food. And, of course, being able to meet the Superb Owl. Hopefully, he makes an appearance this year. (My husband and I also have money on a couple spots on my MIL’s charity Super Bowl Square sheet, so fingers crossed!)

Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

The Lambda Literary Review has announced a hiatus.

Soho Press announces a new horror imprint: Hell’s Hundred.

New & Upcoming Titles

Brittney Griner is publishing a memoir about her incarceration in Russia and her subsequent release, which will be published on May 7.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s memoir will be published in September this year.

Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Emily Nussbaum has a cover reveal for her latest book, Cue the Sun: The Invention of Reality TV.

Attica Locke shared that the third book in her Darren Matthews trilogy will be coming out this year! The other two books are Bluebird, Bluebird and Heaven, My Home, and they’re both amazing.

Paula Hawkins has a new thriller coming out.

Anthony Fauci is publishing a memoir.

Ina Garten (a.k .a. the Barefoot Contessa) is also publishing a memoir.

We’re getting a posthumous picture book from Maurice Sendak 12 years after his death.

Emma Heming Willis is publishing a book about caregiving following her husband Bruce Willis’ dementia diagnosis.

Rioter Tirzah Price shares the cover for her next Lizzie & Darcy mystery, In Want of a Suspect.

Cover reveal for Richard Chizmar’s upcoming horror novel, Memorials.

Cover reveal for Stephanie Wrobel’s upcoming thriller, The Hitchcock Hotel.

Book club picks for February.

5 of the best recent book picks from Ukraine.

Most anticipated debuts of 2024.

Weekly picks from Crime Reads, LitHub, New York Times.

February picks from AARP, Amazon, Gizmodo (SFF/H).

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood – Ed Zwick (Entertainment Weekly, People, Washington Post)

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis – Jonathan Blitzer (New York Times, Washington Post)

The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster – John O’Connor (New York Times, Washington Post)

RA/Genre Resources

A crime reader’s guide to Laurie R. King.

A look at several recent books featuring elderly protagonists.

On the Riot

11 of the best new cookbooks to look for in 2024.

The best weekly releases to TBR.

February 2024 picks for horror, romance, nonfiction.

Black historical fiction to read with your book club.

All Things Comics

On the Riot

February picks for comics & graphic novels.

1 in 4 books sold in France are comics.

Audiophilia

Michelle Obama won her second Grammy for her narration on The Light We Carry.

Spotify reports “exponential” audiobook growth and is introducing more listeners to audiobooks.

Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem gets a new audiobook recording narrated by Rosalind Chao, who also appears in the Netflix adaptation.

Cognitive Books has launched a series for and by people living with dementia and other cognitive difficulties, in partnership with Alzheimer’s Society, featuring narration from Bill Nighy. The first title, Looking Back at… The Beatles will be published in April.

AudioFile’s February 2024 Earphones Award winners have been announced.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

Books and activities for teaching kids about Black history and culture.

10 kids’ books for snowy days.

Adults

19 Canadian books to check out for Black History Month.

11 impactful books about Black history.

7 books about the triumphs and tragedies of mountain climbing.

Murder on the Dancefloor: 9 novels if you loved Saltburn.

Taylor Swift song-to-book pairings.

5 SFF works that explore the (sometimes perilous) power of libraries.

Literary works in which crimes are a means to understanding complexity.

Seven SFF stories about artists and the creative struggle.

Football fiction to get you through your figurative (or literal!) Super Bowl hangover.

7 Texas novels about mother-daughter relationships.

Emily Henry’s top 5 books about love.

6 books about winter as it once was.

On the Riot

The best middle grade fiction that sneaks in sex ed.

The best fantasy series to fill your life with magic.

8 inspirational books on finding your purpose.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in Library Reads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen has a guide to discovering upcoming diverse books, and Edelweiss has a new catalog dedicated to diverse titles, which is managed by Early Word Galley Chatter Vicki Nesting. Check it out!

I call this photo “Dini smells Portillo’s.” That’s a glass-topped coffee table and our primary defense against Dini stealing our food.

Well, that’s all I have for this newsletter. I hope both Super Bowl teams had fun this year. Catch you on Friday!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.