Happy July, y’all!
Remember last week when I was talking about how great Do Not Be Alarmed is? BAM: here’s an interview with Meloy in which she talks about the book as well as her experience narrating the audiobook. Did anyone maybe go listen to her narration of that Laurie Colwin story, Mr. Parker? If you did will you hit me up on twitter and tell me if you liked it? I know I’m being a little obsessive; I just love that story so much.
Sponsored by Overdrive.
Meet Libby, a new app built with love for readers to discover and enjoy eBooks and audiobooks from your library. Created by OverDrive and inspired by library users, Libby was designed to get people reading as quickly and seamlessly as possible. Libby is a one-tap reading app for your library who is a good friend always ready to go to the library with you. One-tap to borrow, one-tap to read, and one-tap to return to your library or bookshelf to begin your next great book.
I’m really excited about the release of Alissa Nutting’s new book, Made for Love. Tampa was a disturbing, excellent read and Nutting’s collection of short stories, Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls, is among my favorite collections. Publisher’s Weekly included Made for Love on their Best Summer Books of 2017 list, saying “Nutting deftly exploits the comic potential of perverse attachments… The novel charms in its witty portrait of a woman desperate to reconnect with her humanity.”
Usually, I go for realistic fiction or nonfiction but, man, reality has been sucking recently. So I’ve been really into listening to older, favorite classics. Here are two of my standard audiobook escapes. Would love to hear yours…
The Harry Potter Series
: Aside from the way Jim Dale does Hermione’s voice (it’s so breathy!), these audiobooks are perfection. Like the print books, I can start any one of the seven books and open it randomly, start reading, and be happily engaged. I have also fallen asleep to these and had the occasional Hogwarts dream which…#blessed.
Ready Player One
: I could (and have!) listened to this book a million times. I’ve probably talked about it in this newsletter before. It’s just a totally engaging adventure story with corporate bad dudes, ’80s nostalgia, and a treasure hunt. The movie is coming out next year (and for Silicon Valley fans: T.J. Miller is playing iRock in the film. iRock doesn’t have a huge role in the book so…they might make him a more central character in the film? We’ll see…) and if you haven’t listened to this one yet, you’re going to want to hop on that before the movie release.
New releases:
(publisher description in quotes)
Out in the Open by Jesús Carrasco
“A young boy has fled his home. He’s pursued by dangerous forces. What lies before him is an infinite, arid plain, one he must cross in order to escape those from whom he’s fleeing. One night on the road, he meets an old goatherd, a man who lives simply but righteously, and from that moment on their paths intertwine.
Out in the Open tells the story of this journey through a drought-stricken country ruled by violence. A world where names and dates don’t matter, where morals have drained away with the water. In this landscape the boy – not yet a lost cause – has the chance to choose hope and bravery or to live forever mired in the cycle of violence in which he was raised. Carrasco has masterfully created a high-stakes world, a dystopian tale of life and death, right and wrong, terror and salvation.”
This Book Is Gay
by Juno Dawson
“Lesbian. Bisexual. Queer. Transgender. Straight. Curious. This book is for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference. This book is for anyone who’s ever dared to wonder. This book is for you. There’s a long-running joke that after “coming out”, a lesbian, gay guy, bisexual, or trans person should receive a membership card and instruction manual. This is that instruction manual. You’re welcome. In it you’ll find the answers to all the questions you ever wanted to ask: from sex to politics and hooking up to stereotypes, coming out, and more. This candid, funny, and uncensored exploration of sexuality and what it’s like to grow up LGBT also includes real stories from people across the gender and sexual spectrums. You will be entertained. You will be informed. But most importantly, you will know that however you identify (or don’t) and whomever you love, you are exceptional. You matter. And so does this book.”
Persons Unknown by Susie Steiner
“Detective Manon Bradshaw handles only cold cases. But when a man dies just yards from the police station where she works, Manon can’t help taking an interest. And as she sidles in on the briefing she learns that the victim, a banker from London worth millions, is more closely linked to her than she could have imagined. When the case begins to circle in on Manon’s home and her family, she finds herself pitted against the colleagues she once held dear.”
New Book Riot Podcast!
Also, if you are reading this newsletter, you probably love audiobooks. And learning more about books, reading, and language. Well, Book Riot is delighted to announce the launch of our newest podcast, Annotated! Presented by Hachette Book Group, Annotated is an audio documentary series about books, reading, and language. We’re kicking things off with a deep dive into George Orwell’s 1984: how it became stock high school reading, its CIA-supported appearance on the silver screen, its current resurgence, and more. Check it out at bookriot.com/annotated or search for Annotated in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or your podcatcher of choice.
Links for Your Ears:
Audiobooks: Three biographies run the gamut from great to pretty bad–Winston-Salem Journal
June 2017 Audiobook Bestsellers—Libro.fm
The Harry Potter audiobooks have a magic of their own—New Statesman