Hello, my friends, and happy Tuesday! I hope your year has started off great. I have been working, watching basketball, reading books, and trying to keep the cats from destroying the house, so it’s been a pretty normal January for me. I can’t believe we are only three months away from the release of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two by Emil Ferris! I don’t believe in being mad at authors about their productivity speed — they can do what they can do — but I am excited when these things finally happen. For you today, I have an electrifying debut mystery, a book of writing advice from amazing authors, and a work of gothic fiction about a haunted mansion!
As far as new releases, at the top of my list of today’s books that I want to buy are The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell (read an excerpt right now!), Sugar, Baby by Celine Saintclare, and California Bear by Duane Swierczynski. You can hear about more of the fabulous books coming out today on this week’s episode of All the Books! Danika and I talked about great books we loved that are out this week, including First Lie Wins, Just Happy to Be Here, and Lunar New Year Love Story.
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!
And now it’s time for everyone’s favorite game, “Ahhhhhhh, My TBR!” Here are today’s contestants!
Northwoods by Amy Pease
We’re kicking this week off with an electrifying debut novel set in a small lakeside town known for its rich vacationers and the growing opioid addiction problem. When the body of a teen boy is found in a boat in Shaky Lake, Wisconsin, the tiny sheriff’s department is stretched thin trying to investigate. Eli is the son of the sheriff and has been dealing with alcoholism and PTSD since his return from combat. His life has gotten so out of control that others are worried it may hinder his ability to help the investigation, including Eli himself. Luckily, the FBI sends an agent to help because there’s also a missing teen girl, so everyone will have to work together to find out what is really happening in Shaky Lake. It’s a well-plotted, sympathetic story about crime, addiction, war, and family. It felt like a real story, one that doesn’t glorify or judge drug use and mental health issues, with warm, interesting characters and an even plot throughout. I hope we hear more from Shaky Lake. (CW includes alcohol and substance use and abuse; partner abuse; trauma, depression, and PTSD; child neglect, harm, and death; loss of a loved one; violence and murder; and suicidal ideation.)
Backlist bump: Open Season by Archer Mayor
1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round by Jami Attenberg
#1000WordsofSummer started out as an online project started by Jami Attenberg to give encouragement to anyone who was looking to make time to write. It has become such a successful event that now it’s this book, filled with advice and tips about making time to write, being creative, and staying focused from some of the biggest names in the business, including Roxane Gay, Lauren Groff, Celeste Ng, Meg Wolitzer, and Carmen Maria Machado. No two writers are the same, and with the information here, people are sure to find something that works for them. I hope 2024 is the year you write the things you want!
Backlist-ish bump: You: The Story: A Writer’s Guide to Craft Through Memory by Ruta Sepetys
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan
If you lived in a boardinghouse with a room behind a locked door, and no one knew what was behind it, would you want to open it? Sana certainly does. She’s a resident at Akbar Manzil, a once-glamorous mansion that fell into ruin and is now rented out by the room. In the mansion’s east wing is a story waiting to be told behind that locked door: the tragic love story of Meena and the grieving djinn that haunts the room. When Sana learns about Meena, she becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about what happened to her, even if it means ruffling the feathers of the living and the dead. It’s a lush gothic story of love, loss, and searching for yourself through others.
Backlist bump: If you like misfit boarders in mansions, check out Observatory Mansions by Edward Carey. If you like djinn, pick up A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark and this other book I love simply for the title, Jinn and Juice by Nicole D. Peeler.
This week, I am reading The Night of the Storm by Nishita Parekh and Ilium by Lea Carpenter. I am still watching a lot of NBA basketball and quiz shows and have taken to playing several hands of solitaire on the computer each night, which I haven’t done for a long time. The song stuck in my head this week is “National Anthem” by Lana Del Rey. And here is your weekly cat picture: Zevon likes to sleep like an otter floating on its back.
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