Hello, Tuesday friends! I hope you all had lovely weekends. I had a terrible headache, but I got to relax and spend a lot of time looking out the window. There were so many birds in my backyard! A dozen different types came to visit, including a gorgeous broad-winged hawk, and it was amazing. Er, unless you don’t like birds, lol.
Back to books: We get an extra Tuesday this month, and we are being rewarded with a lot of great new releases. I want to get so many of them, including How Strange a Season by Megan Mayhew Bergman, Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto, Conversations with People Who Hate Me by Dylan Marron, and So This Is Ever After by F.T. Lukens.
For this week’s episode of All the Books! all the hosts of ATB had a special chat about burnout and self-care, and then Patricia and I discussed A House Between the Earth and Moon, Ten Steps to Nanette, A Magic Steeped in Poison, and more. And now, it’s time for everyone’s favorite game show: AHHHHHH MY TBR! Here are today’s contestants:
Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton
I have been a big fan of Maud Newton since the first week I started using the internet. She had the first literary blog I had ever heard of (and she was also the first person I knew who had their blog hacked.) She has been pouring her heart and soul into this memoir for many years and it shows. It’s a fascinating investigation into her Southern family, beginning with the wild story she was told about a relative who murdered someone in Texas. It’s a remarkable look at family and the lasting powers of stories, whether true or not. (CW for illness and death, loss of a loved one.)
Backlist bump: Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro
Survive the Dome by Kosoko Jackson
This is an excellent YA sci-fi thriller! After another police killing of a young Black man, residents of Baltimore lead a city-wide protest. Jamal Lawson is a young Black aspiring journalist who hopes to cover the story, but then the government uses a new total militarized tactic: the Dome. It covers the city, trapping people inside and keeping information from getting out. Suddenly, Jacob is now a part of the story, and he joins up with two other people trapped alongside him who may be able to find a way out if they work together.
Backlist bump: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Temps by Andrew DeYoung
And last, but not least, a fun dystopian satire about office work and a hazardous outbreak in a tech company building. On Jacob’s first day as a temp at Delphi Enterprises, a Google-like tech company, a deadly contaminant is released into the world and only the temps manage to survive. As they search around for supplies and answers, they uncover a much darker conspiracy that may go all the way to the top. It’s kind of a locked room mystery with a high body count and some serious swipes at Silicon Valley. (CW for mentions of mass illness and death, chemical use, violence, assault, and murder.)
Backlist bump: Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
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This week: I’m currently reading Now Is Not the Time To Panic by Kevin Wilson (I know, right?!!) and The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri. Outside of books, I have been making collages, and the song stuck in my head is Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby by Counting Crows. And as promised, here is a cat picture: Zevon is learning to read by paws-mosis. (Sorry not sorry.)
Thank you, as always, for joining me each week as I rave about books! I am wishing the best for all of you in whatever situation you find yourself in now. And yay, books! – XO, Liberty ❤️