Author: Vanessa Diaz

Audiobooks 7/2

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date July 1, 2020

Sponsored by Size Zero by Abigail Mangin

Condom dresses and space helmets have debuted on fashion runways. A dead body becomes the trend when a coat made of human skin saunters down fashion’s biggest stage. The body is identified as Annabelle Leigh, the teenager who famously disappeared over a decade ago from her boyfriend’s New York City mansion. This new evidence casts suspicion back on the former boyfriend, Cecil LeClaire. Now a monk, he is forced to return to his dark and absurd childhood home to clear his name. He teams up with Ava Germaine, a renegade ex-model. And together, they investigate the depraved and lawless modeling industry behind Cecil’s family fortune.

Hola Audiophiles! We made it to the end of June! I’m still a little baffled by the fact that half the year is over, and that any return to “normal” is probs not in the cards. What I am clear on is that we should all keep the same energy for Black and queer lives all year and not just in the month of June. Join me in that purpose, but first…

Let’s audio.

New Releases – June 30 (publisher descriptions in quotes)

Daring and the Duke (Bareknuckle Bastards III) by Sarah MacLean, read by Justine Eyre (romance) – Grace Condry was betrayed by her only love in her youth and now lives on the streets as queen of London’s darkest corners. Ewan, Duke of Marwick, has spent a decade searching for the woman he lost in a gamble and never stopped loving. That woman, of course, is Grace, and reconciliation is not on Ms. Condry’s agenda. She wants revenge, but as she gets closer to him, she finds herself overwhelmed with the feely feels she swore she’d never feel again. Passion!

Narrator Note: Justine Eyre is such a lovely narrator! You’ve seen me talk her up plenty from her work on tons of other Sarah MacLean titles as well as books like The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova and The Invited by Jennifer McMahon.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia, read by Frankie Corzo (Gothic horror + historical) – Insert Mexican grito here! I’m an SMG fangirl and this book is one I’ve been waiting on with bated breath, a tight, twisty, and claustrophobic read whose setting is inspired by a real town in the mountains of Hidalgo with a British mining past. Picture it: Mexico, 1950s: after her newlywed cousin Catalina sends a letter begging for help, socialite Noemí leaves the city and travels to the stately manor where Catalina lives. When she gets there, her cousin’s handsome English husband says it was all a misunderstanding, blaming tuberculosis for his wife’s mental state. But Noemí doesn’t think Catalina’s symptoms make sense, then she herself experiences some super weird and creepy goings on in the home. It’s lush, atmospheric, and sooo gothic. I need to finish this newsletter so I can keep reading!

Side note: I see some people referring to this read as magical realism. Here and here are a couple of tweets on why that’s not the move.

Narrator Note: Frankie! I love her. Some of my favorites of her work include Incendiary by Zoraida Cordova and Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton.

Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang, read by Bailey Carr (mystery/thriller) – This is a historical thriller set in Gilded Age New York. Tillie Pembroke’s sister isn’t just dead; her body is drained of blood and there are two puncture wounds on her neck. Gah! Bram Stoker’s Dracula has just been introduced to the world, so Tillie starts to ponder the impossible: could the murderer be a vampire. No! Of course not! Maybe? Tillie becomes obsessed with unraveling the mystery of her sister’s death. But truth isn’t her only addiction; to ease the pain from a recent injury, she’s also picked up a laudanum habit that makes the pursuit of the truth that much murkier.

Narrator Note: Bailey Carr’s recent works include I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson.

Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan, read by Lydia Look (fiction) – Lucie Churchill is vacationing in Capri when she sets eyes on George Zao and she instantly can’t stand his stupid sexy face. Cut to him kissing her in the ancient ruins of a Roman villa, where they’re caught by her snobby cousin who’s all “well your mom is Chinese so of course you’re attracted to that Chinese man.” Lucie is indeed the daughter of an American-born Chinese mother and a blue-blooded New York father, but she’s always played down her Asian side favor of the white side. Because there are clearly some things she needs to unpack, she adamantly denies having feelings for George. But c’mon, we know what feelings do. They demand to be felt!

Narrator Note: I looooved Lydia Look’s reading of Crazy Rich Asians and the other books in the series. Can’t wait to get her in my ears again!

Latest Listens

True story: I listened to Lucy Foley’s The Guest List on accident. I totally meant to press play on another book for an upcoming episode of All the Books and then sort of just kept listening. Good move!

The story is told from five perspectives: the bride, Jules, the smart, magazine publisher marrying a devastatingly handsome reality TV star; the plus one, Hannah, whose husband is Jule’s longtime BFF; the best man, Johnno, whose life hasn’t gone as planned after leaving the elite boarding school he attended with the groom; the wedding planner, Aoife, who’s helped plan the nuptials to Julia’s exact (and luxurious) specification; and the bridesmaid, Jule’s younger sister who is just trying to keep it together long enough to not ruin the big day. All these folks convene on a remote island off the coast of Ireland for the wedding, and it all starts off peachy. However as the day rolls on and the liquor starts to flow, old resentments bubble up and the tension rises. When a body turns up and a storm sets in, it all goes to sh*t.

In the end, and I do mean almost the very end, I did solve the whodunnit but I wasn’t sure that I had. If locked-room (or in this case, secluded island) mysteries with a ton of Agatha Christie-esque red herrings are your jam like they are mine, this will be a fun one for you too. The cast of narrators is fantastic: Jot Davies, Chloe Massey, Olivia Dowd, Aoife McMahon, Sarah Ovens, and Rich Keeble. They each do such an excellent job with pacing, conveying a whole range of emotions, and building suspense!

From the Internets

23 Audiobooks That Are Even Better Than The Print Version

This Publishers Weekly piece from mid June is titled “All Signs Point Up for Audiobooks” and my first reaction was, “Duh.”

Over at Tor.com, a roundup of Marvel fiction podcasts and audiobooks to fill the MCU gap in our hearts.

Over at the Riot

Visiting Home with Appalachia Audiobooks

4 Amazing Audiobooks to Discover on Spotify

Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with all things audiobook or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast, and watch me ramble about even more new books every Tuesday on our YouTube channel.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

In The Club

In the Club – 7/1

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date June 30, 2020

Sponsored by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

In 1933 Louisville, Kentucky, even the ongoing economic depression cannot keep Piper Danson’s parents from insisting on a debut party. After all, they’ve picked out the perfect suitor for their daughter. The only problem? This is not the man—or the life—she really wants. When Piper gets the opportunity to volunteer as a horseback Frontier Nursing courier in the Appalachian Mountains for the summer. The work is taxing, the scenery jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and the people she meets along the way open up a whole new world to her.

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. Summer is officially upon us and thus, for most of us, warmer temperatures. As I began to dig around my closet for bathing suits recently and then panicked over how I’d look in them, I thought this might be a good time to discuss body image in book club. I have a fiction read, some powerful nonfiction, and then a couple of lighter essay collections that tackle this topic from different angles.

Let’s do it to it, mi gente. To the club!!.

Nibbles and Sips

I started watching Nadiya’s Time to Eat on Netflix and now want to try so many of her quick-and-easy recipes! She makes a gorgeous tarte tatin with bananas and tops it with ice cream that she whipped up in a flash and I’m wondering what I’ve been doing with my life all this time to not make my own ice cream more often. As the weather warms up for many of us, why don’t we all indulge and make ourselves this cool, creamy, delicious treat?

All she does is combine a can of sweetened condensed milk (amen) in a bowl with 500 ml of double cream (or 2 cups + a splash of heavy cream for us American folk) and five crushed cardamom pods, then whips it all together with a hand mixer until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Do this, transfer to a freezer-safe container, level off the top, place inside a ziplock bag and freeze.

Other mix-ins I’m interested in trying: chocolate chips, rose petals with a tiny bit of rose syrup, crushed peppermint candies… possibilities!

We’re Talking Body

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha – This story set in contemporary Seoul tells the connected stories of four women: one whose many cosmetic procedures have landed her a job at one of Seoul’s “room salons” where wealthy men seek drink and the entertainment of women; a New York art school graduate who’s returned to Seoul and now has a super rich Korean boyfriend; a hair stylist obsessed with K-pop and her best friend’s plans for extreme cosmetic surgery; and a newlywed trying to conceive who’s unsure if she can actually afford to raise a child. Dive deep into this examination of class, patriarchy, inequality, and crippling beauty standards.

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay (TW: rape, eating disorders) – Let’s get one thing straight right away: this is not going to be an easy read. Roxane Gay experienced a horrifying act of sexual violence that changed her life when she was twelve years old. This memoir exposes the red, raw wound of that trauma, examining Gay’s subsequent relationship to food, body hyperconsciousness, and tendencies towards shame and self loathing. There is a lot to discuss here about the relationship between not only trauma and body issues, but also diet culture and how our society handles obesity. Whew. Have the tea or whiskey at the ready!

F*ck Your Diet: And Other Things My Thighs Tell Me by Chloé Hilliard – I added this to my TBR based on that title alone, as I too have heard similar messaging from my thighs. Chloe was a size 12 shoe and wore size 12 clothes when she was 12 years old, and she stood over six feet tall. Cursed with “the fat trilogy” of “slow metabolism, baby weight, and big bones,” young Chloe went down what too many of us will recognize as the familiar path of dieting, food limitation, and extreme exercise to get her body down to a more “appealing” size. Then one day she woke up and basically said, “eff all that noise!” and decided to love herself in a world constantly telling her she needed to change to be desired. I’ve heard from numerous people that the book is hilarious and insightful, a combo I will take any day of the week.

Gross Anatomy by Mara Altman – I love, love, love this book so hard, it’s so funny and just so damn real! It’s a challenge to find “greatness in our grossness,” holding up a magnifying glass to our twisted beliefs and biases and policing of women’s bodies. Why do we feel like we have to pluck, tweeze, and wax every surface of our skin into smooth submission? Why is boob cleavage hot but a camel toe an embarrasment? Why do we hate sweating like it’s not a completely normal and healthy bodily function? Mara asks all of these questions and then attempts to answer them with hilarious personal anecdotes.

Fun fact: The Russian translation of this book is called “Body Trash” and that fact never ceases to tickle me.

Suggestion Section

Claudia Rankine’s Citizen is PBS’s latest book club pick.

For a laugh, check out this Doubleday Book Club ad from 1999. Who else remembers that 7 books for 99 cents thing!?

The Vox Book Club will discuss Curtis Sittenfeld’s Rodham in July.

In morning show book club announcements, here are July picks for Good Morning America and Today with Jenna Bush Hager.

Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine book club has selected two books in one month for the first time. I cynically wonder if one of one of these titles was thrown in there sorta last minute for optics, but Reese does have a decent inclusion track record so I’ll calm myself. I’m also not going to knock the effort if it gets more people to read Austin Channing Brown.

Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter, catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast, and watch me ramble about even more new books every Tuesday on our YouTube channel.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Audiobooks

Audiobooks – 6/25

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date June 24, 2020

In The Club 6/24

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date June 23, 2020

Sponsored by Ocean Front Publishing. Bad Karma eBook just $2.99 for a limited time only!

In the summer of 1978, twenty-one-year-old Paul Wilson jumps at the chance to join two local icons on a dream surf trip to Mexico, unaware their ultimate destination lies in the heart of cartel country. Having no earthly idea of where he’ll get the money, and determined to prove his mettle, he does the only thing he can think of: he robs a supermarket. If karma needed more reasons to doom the trip, he soon learns one of his companions is a convicted killer on the run, the other an unscrupulous cad. Soon enough, mere survival takes precedence over surfing.

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. This week’s club agenda is inspired by a fact that’s always been true but feels especially important to remember as publishers and editorial sites appear newly interested in hiring Black writers: writers from marginalized communities can—and do!—write all of the things. They can write “issue” books and columns, yes. They can also write heart-pounding mysteries, swoon worthy romance, wildly inventive SFF, and more. So today, I have a few genre titles to share with you by authors from one or more marginalized communities and invite you to consider how this same idea of inclusion can and should be applied to all spaces.

Before we dive in, we have favor to ask! We’re running a reader survey and would love it if you’d take a few minutes to fill it out. As a thank you, you’ll be entered for the chance to win an ereader!

Okay, now to the club!!

Nibbles and Sips

I’m bringing back this section in case anyone out there would like a little comfort food recipe. I recently made the decision to shelter in place with family so I’m currently back in San Diego and was reminded of the simple goodness of my sister-in-law’s tacos dorados de papa (hard shell potato tacos).

Ingredients:

Potatoes, peeled and sliced into thin rounds or slices (one to two small potatoes per person)
Lettuce, chopped
Cotija cheese, grated (This is a salty, hard, Mexican cheese that’s a little like feta. Another cheese could work, but the saltiness really makes a difference!)
Salsa of choice- I recommend a simple blended salsa versus a chunky one for this recipe
Corn tortillas (a thin variety works best here)
Oil for frying (avocado, canola, etc)
Salt

Peel the potatoes then slice into strips or rounds; they should be on the thinner side, no more than 1/4 inch thick. Fry up the potatoes until they’re just golden brown, then drain/pat dry their excess oil and toss with a little salt. Now begin to assemble your tacos: fold a warmed corn tortilla in half and stuff with some potato slices—the amount is up to you, but I don’t overstuff. Fry the tacos up, just enough for the tortillas to get nice and crispy. This happens quickly, so keep an eye on them! For the perfect taco, add lettuce, some salsa, and a heap of the salty cotija cheese to each shell.

Tip: thread a toothpick through the tortilla to keep it folded while frying. You could also go more traditional and choose to boil and mash the potatoes and use that as the filling instead, and could also roll the tortillas instead of folding them before frying.

Enjoy!

Genre: Awesome

A Phoenix First Must Burn edited by Patrice Caldwell – Oh look, it’s a whole bunch of Black girl magic in one convenient volume. Huzzah! This stellar list of contributors includes Elizabeth Acevedo, Dhonielle Clayton, L.L. McKinney, Ibi Zoboi, and Justina Ireland. Do yourself a favor and check out these gorgeous stories that center Black women and gender nonconforming individuals through tales of fantasy, science fiction, and magic.

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey – Private detective Ivy Gamble is only just getting by when her luck appears to change: the headmaster at The Osthorne Academy of Young Mages hires her to solve a grizzly murder, a job that pays mucho dinero and will finally give her a shot at a homicide case. Buuuut the magically gifted Tabitha teaches at the school, the sister she’s always been a little jealous of and hasn’t spoken to in years. Ivy will have to weed her way through secrets, lies, “chosen one” prophecies, and (eek!) teenagers to determine who split another teacher in half with forbidden magic.

The Cutting Season by Attica Locke – This thriller is one hell of a page-turner and also tackles big topics like race and generational trauma. It weaves together two mysteries from two different timelines: a murder on a historic plantation in Louisiana’s Sugar Cane country in present day and another involving a missing slave more than a hundred years earlier. It’s so suspenseful and brilliantly plotted!

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang – Stella has Autism Spectrum Disorder and has always felt more comfortable with math and numbers than people. Applying the age old mantra that practice make perfect, she decides there’s only one way to get over her discomfort with kissing and sexy times, and that’s to hire a male escort. Michael can’t afford to turn her down and agrees to help Stella with her (literal) to-do list. Then their “no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic.”

Suggestion Section

Oprah’s next book club pick is James McBride’s Deacon King Kong.

Vox’s book club has assembled a pretty sweet panel for its next live discussion of The Princess Bride.

Pardon the paywall, but this piece from The Washington Post is a must-read. It will make a lot of non-Black people feel uncomfortable, and may even seem ironic to include in a newsletter about book clubs that urges you to read anti-racist lit. The message is an important one though: reading the books, discussing them, and patting yourself on the back for doing so is not nearly, not even a little bit enough.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Audiobooks

Audiobooks – 6/18

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date June 17, 2020

Sponsored by The Boy in the Red Dress by Kristin Lambert. Available now!

An immersive romp through Jazz Age New Orleans!

It’s New Year’s Eve 1929, and Millie is running the show at her aunt’s French Quarter speakeasy. The city is celebrating, but even partygoers’ diamonds can’t outshine Marion, the club’s star drag performer and Millie’s best friend. Until a socialite is found dead, and all signs point to Marion as her killer. Millie vows to prove he’s innocent. As she chases clues, her attention is divided between a beautiful waitress and a charming bootlegger, but the clock is ticking for Marion, and the true killer might be closer than Millie thinks.

Hola Audiophiles! Welcome to another Thursday and a brand spanking new edition of the Audiobooks newsletter. I’ve got a few new releases for you as usual, some antiracism playlists, and a cool bit of news involving audiobooks and Juneteenth.

Ready? Let’s audio.

New Releases – June 16 (publisher descriptions in quotes)

I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman, read by Lisa Flanagan, Bailey Carr (fiction) – Jessica and Emily Bernstein are a mother-daughter duo on a college tour. For Emily, this is a taste of freedom, even if she’s not entirely sure she wants to go to college. Jessica sees it as a chance to bond with Emily. They used to be so close, but they’ve drifted apart; Jessica isn’t sure if her daughter even likes her anymore, or if she even likes herself. Together with a dozen strangers on a bus, Jessica and Emily will travel the East Coast, meet up with family and old friends, and discover surprises and secrets that will change their relationship forever.

Narrator Note: I’ve heard such great things about Lisa Flanagan’s performance of Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik and A. J. Hackwith’s The Library of the Unwritten! Bailey Carr has read titles like When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore and Laura van den Berg’s The Third Hotel.

Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West, read by Kim Staunton, Imani Parks, Ron Butler, Adam Lazarre-White, Lloyd Roberson II, Terra Strong Lyons (fiction) – When Ruby King’s mother is found dead in her home, the police dismiss it as just another violent act in a Black neighborhood. Ruby is devastated but also terrified, because her mother’s death means the loss of her protector, and she will now have to live alone with her abusive father. Ruby’s best friend Layla wants to help, but her father, the pastor of their church, demands that Layla stay away from Ruby. “In a relentless quest to save Ruby, Layla uncovers the murky loyalties and dangerous secrets that have bound their families together for generations.”

Narrator Note: I love an ensemble cast and that is a good one! Some notable performances from each of the narrators include: Kim Staunton reading several Rebel: Women Who Dare and lots of other Beverly Jenkins titles; Imani Parks reads Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton; Ron Butler reads Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin while Adam Lazarre-White reads Go Tell It On the Mountain. Lloyd Roberson II and Terra Strong Lyons are new (as far as I can tell) to the audiobook game!

Vera Kelly is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht, read by Elisabeth Rodgers (mystery/thriller) – This is the next book in the Vera Kelly series! Ex-CIA agent Vera is newly jobless and girlfriendless. Heartbroken and broke AF, she reluctantly takes a job as a private detective. Her first case brings up dark memories and “attracts dangerous characters from across the Cold War landscape. Before it’s over, she’ll chase a lost child through foster care and follow a trail of Dominican exiles to the Caribbean.” Forever on the run, Vera will have to confront her desire for home, connection, and a little romance.

Narrator Note: Elisabeth Rodgers reads a lot of Dean Koontz and Iris Johansen titles and also read the first book in the Vera Kelly Series (Who is Vera Kelly?). Her style really captures Vera’s smart, bone-dry wit.

Latest Listens

I am taking my sweet time with Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi right now, not sure when I will be done because I keep rewinding it to hear parts of it again, and I may even switch over to print to make notes whenever I can get my hands on it. It’s an 18 hour listen that I’m barely an hour into, but it’s already so powerful and just so powerful in its detail and scope. Reminder that Stamped from the Beginning is currently available to stream on Spotify; FYI some people have pointed out that the free version of Spotify does not let you listen to it in order. Boo!

Anyway, I’ll report back when I’m further into it. What audiobooks have you been loving? Reply to this email and let me know!

From the Internets

Tomorrow on Juneteenth (Friday, June 19th), Libro.fm will deliver 100% of audiobook sales to Black-owned bookstore partners. In addition to their collection of antiracism playlists, they’ve also added New Fiction by Black Women and Pride Picks by Black Authors

at BuzzFeed: 21 Audiobooks We’re Excited to Listen To This Summer

at AudioFile: 5 Young Adult Audiobooks That Center Black Lives

at Audible: Listens for Raising an Antiracist

Over at the Riot

12 Recent Queer Audiobooks That Will Fill Your Ears With Pride

5 Audiobooks Narrated by a Full Cast

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

In The Club

In the Club 6/17

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date June 17, 2020

Sponsored by our 1-year Audible subscription giveaway courtesy of Macmillan Audiobooks.

We’re giving away a 1-year subscription to Audible to one lucky winner, courtesy of Macmillan’s Audiobooks Newsletter.

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. This week I’ve seen a lot of folks on Twitter honoring this week’s celebration of Juneteenth by flooding the timeline with Black joy. I love this so much and want to talk this week about amplifying Black voices while also making time for that joy.

To the club!!

I’m still skipping Nibbles and Sips for now and instead bringing attention to more ways to make an impact. Here are a few organizations doing great work to protect and uplift the LGBTQ community (and all Black-led according to Marie Claire); consider throwing a few dollars their way if you can and/or spreading the word.

The Okra Project sends Black trans chefs to the homes of Black trans people experiencing food insecurity and provides cooking lessons and other resources.

The Marsha P. Johnson Institue was founded in honor of activist and drag queen Marsha P. Johnson. It focuses on the protection and defense of the human rights of Black transgender people and provide fellowships for transgender artists.

The LGBTQ+ Freedom Fund helps post bond for LGBTQ+ people in jail or immigrant detention. They’re also work to raise awareness about LGBTQ over-incarceration in the US.

Joy to the World

You may have seen this image going around (more info here). I love this initiative to amplify Black voices! Two things:

A. Antiracism lit is essential, but don’t forget to supplement that reading with all the rest of the work that Black authors write (i.e. general fiction, kidlit, romance, etc)

B. You can and should support Black authors any ol’ time and not just this week.

That being said, I thought I’d hit you all with three reads full of Black joy.

You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson – Phoebe Robinson is a standup comedian, writer, and actress who you may know from the comedy podcast-turned-HBO-show Two Dope Queens. She is absolutely hilarious and a person you should follow on Instagram for some of the most delightfully ridiculous captions your eyes ever did see! While this collection of essays and observational humor definitely examines issues like racism and misogyny, it’s also full of Bono thirst (yes, that Bono) and gratuitous hashtags. This is one of the few books I can remember making me laugh out loud to the point of tears in the last few years.

The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon – Black romance is an obvious choice for readers searching for Black joy; you get some love, maybe some sexy times, and a happily ever! When Samiah’s live Tweets of a terrible date go viral, two other women show up to the date and reveal that this garbage dude was three-timing them all. The three women dump the guy and form an almost immediate sisterhood, making a pact to take a break from dating to focus on themselves. As luck would have it though, there’s a new hottie in the office and Samiah can’t help but look his way. I picked this recent release because on top of being a really fun romance, it also gives us an amazing portrayal of female friendship while also diving into the struggles of being a Black woman in STEM.

Pride by Ibi Zoboi – Remixes of classics are a thing I enjoy very mucho and this reimagining of Pride and Prejudice set in Bushwick with a cast of Black characters is one of my favorites. It gets into some deep stuff, of course–cultural identity, class, gentrification–but it’s just so lovely to see a young Afro-Latina centered in this kind of story. The joy is multiplied exponentially in the audiobook, which is narrated by the so-beautiful-and-talented-it’s-like-how-dare-she Elizabeth Acevedo. She breathes such life into main character Zuri, her four wild sisters, and really the entire cast.

Suggestion Section

Introducing Tor.com’s Terry Pratchett Book Club!

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas is BuzzFeed’s July book club pick.

Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter, catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast, and watch me ramble about even more new books every Tuesday on our YouTube channel.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Audiobooks

Audiobooks 6/11

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date June 11, 2020

In the Club – 6/10

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date June 9, 2020

Sponsored by The Secret Women from Amistad Books

After a yoga class, three women realize they share a devastating experience: all three of their mothers have recently passed away, leaving behind a lifetime of items that neither woman can bear to handle alone. Making a pact to help each other sort through their mothers’ belongings, the women dig deep into their mothers’ pasts, building a better understanding of both their mothers and themselves.

A story about the power of female friendship, family dynamics, and the importance of the bond that is, or isn’t, shared with a mother

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. How’s everyone doing this week? Are we all staying fed, hydrated? Remember that you can’t fight the good fight without taking care of your bodies. So here’s your Book Club Mom reminding you to take a moment to breathe, especially if you’re out on the front lines.

Today I’m honoring Pride with a list of book club picks by queer authors, with several titles by Black queer authors to start because Black lives matter and we’re all about the intersectionality here. Ready? To the club!!

Skipping Nibbles & Sips again this week to encourage all my club peeps to consider giving as a group (if it’s within your means) to an organization doing important work in support of Black and queer causes. If you’re not sure which one to give to, may I suggest this big ol’ list of bail and legal defense funds, policy reform organizations, queer advocacy groups, mental health resources, and more. Start there and remember that it’s okay not to be able to help them all at once.

Celebrating Pride

Do the work here to ask tough questions in your discussions about bias, internalized racism and homophobia as brought up in the pages of these reads. It’s time (been time?) to get uncomfortable with it; admit to your shortcomings and times you’ve gotten it wrong, and share what you’ve learned to do better.

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson – Liz has always felt too Black, poor, and awkward for her small, rich Midwestern town. But she has a plan to get the heck out of dodge: she’ll attend an uber-elite college, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor. Boom! When her financial aid package falls through and her plans come crashing down, Liz remembers her school offers a scholarship for the prom king and queen. If she can just endure the trolling and cattiness of the competition, she might still have a shot. But Mack is also in the running for queen, the new girl that Liz is increasingly drawn to…

Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock – This memoir won so many awards and I’m a little ashamed to admit I still haven’t read it. Mock relays her experience growing up multiracial, poor, and trans in America. She shares her struggles and journey towards self-actualization and calls for greater acceptance of one another and of ourselves.

Homie by Danez Smith – This interview at Them contains my favorite description of this book, calling it a book “hellbent on envisioning a world where queer Black joy exists not as a release but as a constant reality, while still recognizing the current state of affairs.” Read that sentence back a few times, I implore you. This powerful, hilarious, heart-wrenching love letter to Black queer friendship is also superb as an audiobook, which Smith narrates themself.

Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn – As a girl, Margot was taught to trade her sexuality for survival and now works at an opulent Montego Bay resort to shield her younger sister from the same fate. When plans for a new hotel threaten their village, Margot sees an opportunity for financial independence and to finally make known her attraction to women. As the sisters face the impending destruction of their community, they each fight “to balance the burdens she shoulders with the freedom she craves.”

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi – In their debut novel, Nigerian writer Akwaeke Emezi tells the story of Ada, a young girl who develops multiple selves as a result of being born “with one foot on the other side.” The selves begin to grow both in power and agency after she moves to America for college, then a traumatic assault precipitates the forming of two very distinct alternate selves. Ada’s life takes a dangerous turn as those selves assume more and more control, but she emerges from the darkness as she begins to understand the beautiful complexity of her identity.

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson – My go-to pitch for this book is always some version of, “How can such a small book pack such a punch??” Two families from different social classes are brought together by an unexpected pregnancy in a story that flashes back and forth between 2001 and 1985. I highly recommend this as an audiobook, which is narrated by an ensemble cast of Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Peter Francis James, Shayna Small, Bahni Turpin, and Jacqueline Woodson herself. It’s only four hours long and it had me sobbing in my car.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas – This work of paranormal YA is full of magic, mystery, and Day of the Dead folklore with a trans teenage boy protagonist and I cannot wait for more people to read it! My Mexican American heart was just so moved by the witchy story, the romance, the use of Spanish, the homage to so many beautiful Latinx traditions. Also, Aiden is a trans author who lives here in Portland and I may or may not be stalking his Instagram. One more thing: this one isn’t out yet, don’t be mad at me! Its pub date was moved to September, so you have plenty of time to get those preorder and holds in.

All My Mother’s Lovers by Ilana Masad – A queer 20-something returns to her hometown when her homophobic mother passes away. When she finds five letters to five men in her mother’s will (none of whom is her father), she goes on a mission to deliver each one in person and discovers how little she knew of her mother’s life.

Mostly Dead Things by Kristin Arnett – All I’m going to say is this: queerness, grief, and lewd taxidermy. Look this one up, you won’t regret it.

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston – I finally read this book after it made the Book Riot rounds and hoped it wasn’t overhyped. ‘TWAS NOT! I laughed, I sobbed, I loved every page of this friends to lovers romance between the Mexican American son of the first woman President of the United States and an English prince. Sexy and smart with some amazing banter.

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado – I couldn’t not include this genre-bending memoir by the inimitable Carmen Maria Machado. This is one you need to sit with both for it’s gorgeous, haunting prose and the often heavy subject matter; it examines cultural representations of psychological abuse and stereotypes about the “safety” of lesbian relationships as she relays the details of her relationship with a volatile partner.

Suggestion Section

I know a lot of us have Zoom burnout, but Vox shares why for some it’s the perfect, honest, and vulnerable way to keep book club going strong.

Speaking of Vox: The Princess Bride is their next book club pick.

Have you heard of the Byzans app? I’ll admit I had not until this Rioter shared how it helped her find connection in quarantine. This is probably the lowest barrier to entry I can think of to finding a book club.

Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter, catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast, and watch me ramble about even more new books every Tuesday on our YouTube channel.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Audiobooks

Audiobooks – 6/4

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date June 4, 2020

Sponsored by audiobook edition of The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner, read by Richard Armitage.

Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable. One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England’s finest novelists. Now, it’s home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. With the last bit of Austen’s legacy threatened, a group comes together to preserve both Jane Austen’s home and her legacy. The audiobook is read by the award-winning narrator, Richard Armitage, and includes a bonus interview with the author.

Hola Audiophiles,

I don’t have it in me to be funny in any way today. This moment in time feels so heavy, so exhausting. Every statement I can think of to describe what I can only imagine the Black community is feeling feels trite and inadequate. So I will just say that Black lives matter and flood your ears with new releases by Black authors and antiracism reads that examine the history and effects of racism and white supremacy.

Let’s audio.

New Releases – June 2nd (publisher descriptions in quotes)

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown, read by Jordan Cobb, A. J. Beckles (fantasy) – When Malik and his sisters flee their war-torn home to start a new life in Ziran, a vengeful spirit abducts his youngest sister as payment to enter the prosperous desert city. Malik agrees to kill Crown Princess Karina in exchange for Nadia’s freedom. Princess Karina is busy using ancient magic to resurrect her assassinated mother and needs the beating heart of a king to complete the ritual. She plans to offer her hand in marriage to the victor of a giant competition that Malik, of course, has entered to get close to her. So he wants to kill her, she wants to kill him. Problem! They’re each super attracted to the person they’re trying to kill.

Narrator Note: Jordan Cobb read with Bahni Turpin for Justina Ireland’s Deathless Divide, and this is A.J. Beckles’ audiobook debut!

The Dragons, the Giant, the Women by Wayétu Moore, read by Tovah Ott (memoir) – Wayétu Moore was five years old when war broke out in Liberia, forcing her and her family to flee their home on foot and hide for weeks before arriving at the village of Lai. From there, the family was smuggled into to Sierra Leone by a rebel soldier before embarking on another harrowing journey to the United States. Wayétu Moore shares this experience along with her years adjusting to life in Texas as a black woman and an immigrant, and her eventual return to Liberia.

Narrator Note: Tovah Ott is another newish narrator who I want to read me sleep stories. Check the sample to see what I’m talking about; I hope we get lots more work from her in the future!

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, read by Shayna Small (fiction) – In this multi-generational story that takes up from the Deep South to California from the 50s to the 90s, we meet identical twin sisters who are inseparable at birth but go on to lead entirely different lives. One sister eventually goes on to live with her Black daughter in that same town she tried to escape, and the other is passing as white and married to a white man who has no idea that she is Black.They’re separated by many miles and many lies, but their fates intertwine again when their daughters’ own storylines intersect.

Narrator Note: Shayna Small is part of the phenomenal ensemble casts for books like Jacqueline Woodson’s Red at the Bone and N.K. Jemisin’s How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson, read by Alaska Jackson (YA contemporary fiction) – Liz has always felt too black, too poor, too awkward for her small, rich Midwestern town. But she has a plan that will get her the heck out of Campbell, Indiana: she’ll attend an uber-elite college, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor. Bye, haters! When the financial aid she was counting on falls through and her plans come crashing down, Liz remembers her school’s scholarship for prom king and queen. If she can just endure the trolling and cattiness of the competition, she might still have a shot. But Mack is also in the running for queen, the new girl that Liz is increasingly drawn to. “Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams…or make them come true?”

Narrator Note: I believe this is Alaska Jackson’s first audiobook performance as well! Love all the new narrator energy.

~~Latest Listens~~ Need to Listens

Today I’m switching up the program to putting the focus on audiobooks to read in your antiracist education and in support of Black authors (though there are a few titles by non-Black authors too). Going with a straight list format in the interest of getting more titles on the page. Lots of these are titles you’re seeing everywhere, others less so. These are listens for listening, if you feel me. Listening it the very least we can do.

Nonfiction:

How to Be an Antiracist and Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi (the latter of which is available for free on Spotify right now).

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo & Michael Eric Dyson

How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones

Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Motherhood So White by Nefertiti Austin

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Men We Reaped and The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Blood at the Root by Patrick Phillips

When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

The Compton Cowboys by Walter Thompson-Hernandez

The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nahisi Coates

Fiction:

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

The Nickel Boys by by Colson Whitehead

Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi

The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Poetry:

Homie and Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith

The Tradition Jericho Brown by Jericho Brown

Wade in the Water by Tracy K. Smith

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

From the Internets

Check out Libro.fm’s How to Be an Antiracist reading list

Over at the Riot

15 Compelling Historical Fictional Audiobooks

6 of the Best Audiobooks by Women for Caribbean Heritage Month

Thanks for hanging with me today. Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter, catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast, and watch me ramble about even more new books every Tuesday on our YouTube channel.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

In The Club

In the Club 6/3

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date June 2, 2020

Sponsored by The Yield from HarperVia Books

A celebration of language and an exploration of what makes a place “home.” A young Australian woman searches for her grandfather’s dictionary, the key to halting a mining company from destroying her family’s home and ancestral land. The Yield is a story of a people and a culture dispossessed, and a joyful reminder of what once was and what endures—a powerful reclaiming of Indigenous language, storytelling, and identity, that offers hope for the future.

“A beautifully written novel that puts language at the heart of remembering the past and understanding the present.”—Kate Morton

Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed.

Black lives matter.
Black lives matter.
Black lives matter.
Black lives matter.
Black lives matter.
Black lives matter.
Black lives matter.
Black lives matter.
Black lives matter.
Black lives matter.

To the club.

No nibbles & sips today. Stay healthy and try to carve out time to take care of your bodies and minds.

Antiracist Lit

Today’s newsletter is completely dedicated to antiracist literature. I want all book clubs to take the time to read at least one book on the subject, and I do mean all book clubs. I don’t care if you consider yourselves progressive, liberal, if you have Black Lives Matter signs on your lawns. We all have something (read: lots) more to learn, teach, or both.

I’m highlighting the three books that I have on my immediate TBR pile. Start here, but please don’t stop.

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi – This is the title you’re probably seeing recommended a ton right now, along with a call to not only not be racist, but to be anti-racist. That is precisely what it boils down to; passivity won’t cut it, activism is essential. Educate yourself on what antiracism looks like and what meaningful action can achieve. Side note: Ibram X. Kendi authored that wonderful Antiracist Reading List in the New York Times that I’ll link in Suggestion Section.

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall – I’ve talked about this one a few times and I am the most not sorry. I’ve been thinking a lot about it in the context of the Women’s March; Black women show up for literally everybody; do we show u for them? Feminism must be intersectional. Period. The sort of prettily photographed stuff you so often see in your Instagram feed leaves Black women behind, concerning itself not with basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. If your approach to feminism ain’t inclusive, it’s trash.

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad – The idea behind this book began as an online call for accountability. In 2018, Layla Saad hosted a free month-long Instagram campaign wherein she asked folks to share the ways in which they, knowingly or not, had upheld white supremacy. She expected resistance and reluctance and was blown away instead by a worldwide outpouring of self-examination and admission. That then turned into a workbook which eventually lead to the book, a manual for understanding white privilege and participation in white supremacy so that we might stop stop our harmful actions against BIPOC and help others do the same. This right here: essential.

Suggestion Section: Reading Lists + Black-Owned Bookshops

Lists – Many of these lists contain overlapping titles—and good, because they’re important ones. I hope you will take the time to read and discuss thoughtfully, uncomfortably, urgently.

Book Riot: 35 Must-Read Books About Racism
The New York Times: An Antiracist Reading List (yes, it’s behind a paywall if you’ve maxed out your free views of the NYT, but I couldn’t leave it out of this mix)
Esquire: If You Want to Learn About Anti-Racism, These 10 Books Are a Start
BuzzFeed: An Essential Reading Guide For Fighting Racism
Libro.fm: How to Be an Antiracist: Audiobook Picks
Bookshop.org: Antiracist Reading List – a fantastic list + easy way to support indie bookstores
Newsweek: Books About Race That Everyone Should Be Reading Right Now

Support Black-Owned Bookstores – I’m giving you locations so you know where they are, but support now through online ordering. You may find some popular titles are backordered (a sign of hope?); if you run into this issue, consider purchasing other titles, or support an Indie with an audiobook purchase or membership from Libro.fm.

The Lit. Bar in The Bronx, NY – Noelle and her team even made it easy for you with a Dear White People reading list.

Loyalty Bookstores in Petworth, DC and downtown Silver Springs, MD – While you’re there, check out their events page; upcoming events include Date Night with Alyssa Cole and discussions for the Agatha Christie + Sherry, Too Lit to Quit, and Antiracist book clubs.

Mahogany Books in Washington, DC – The book bundles under Featured Products on the main page are chef’s kiss!

Marcus Books in Oakland, CA is the oldest independent black bookstore in the country! They were forced into temporary closure due to COVID-19 (and by that I mean closed altogether, even for online ordering), so I’ve linked to their GoFundMe page. I’m seeing tons of donations pouring in with BLM hashtags! Donating as soon as I wrap up this newsletter.

Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis, MN – Come for the pizza-eating, wine-drinking sloth on their main page, stay for their call to action.

Semicolon Bookstore in Chicago, IL – Consider supporting their now ongoing #CleartheShelves campaign to provide free books to Chicago kids!

Uncle Bobbie’s in Philadelphia, PA – There are lots of antiracist reads to choose from on their online order page.

For more Black-owned shops, please see this Twitter thread from Third Place Books.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa