Author: Vanessa Diaz

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In The Club

Sit Down, Karen

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

Howdy, club folk! It’s July, and even though I always say I won’t do it, I checked my reading stats this morning and panicked a little! I’ve read 40+ books which by many standards is plenty and yet some of you are out here with three-digit reading habits. I’m trying not to feel judged by you pero… I feel like you’re looking at me funny. 

While I recover from all the shade, I’m excited to start a new club query! I’ll recap the results from last month’s question and weave in a little princess talk + books to inspire change.

Let’s do the thing, shall we? To the club!!

Sponsored by Book Riot’s Amazon Storefront: shop our favorite reads of the year so far, and bookish summer faves!

Question for the Club

In June I asked: what would (or did!) make you leave a book club. I got so many responses! 

Sometimes life made the decision for you (relocation for school or work, having to care for an ailing family member), but other times… well, read on!

  • Bad discussion, or none at all! – In one example, the group “leader” had a list of questions that they expected specific answers for and would ask everyone to “get back on track” whenever someone tried to delve deeper into a question. Umm… sit down, Karen. We gots things to discuss!
  • Disrespectful club members – You know the deal: rudeness and unwillingness to hear other people’s opinions. In one case, one group member always drank too much and had the loudest opinion in the room despite not having read the book OR read the wrong book… yikes. 
  • Missing the point – Club members seemed ignorant of or unwilling to consider the cultural context of the book. When said context speaks to racism, sexism, etc… that’s a problem. 
  • Lack of Variety – Reading the same type of book over and over + unwillingness to stray from that type.
  • Racism or bigotry – I was so impressed by how many of you took the high road and just walked away. I rolled my eyes and cussed in Spanish all to myself on your behalves. 

Take this info back to your clubs! Examine the vibe and be mindful of the factors that push people away. Book club should be a safe space! Let’s keep it that way. #unintentionalrhyming

New month, new query! Here’s July’s question:


Power to the Princess – I’m notoriously terrible at keeping up with popular TV shows; I generally arrive to the party several seasons late and then annoy everyone with reeeeally old references that I swear are brand new. So sorry to everyone I yelled “Shame!” or “The North remembers!” at earlier this year. 

It is then no surprise that I hadn’t heard of The Spanish Princess, the feminist historical costume drama airing now on Starz. It’s loosely based on a couple of Philippa Gregory novels and features badass ladies like Catherine of Aragon and Margaret Tudor. If you’re a fan like I’m pretty sure I will be, this reading list is for you. 

Book Club Bonus: With the Democratic debates fresh on my mind, I’ve been thinking a lot about the way our society treats confident, competent, and assertive women compared to their (not necessarily equally competent) male counterparts. I’ve thought a lot in particular about Cleopatra as chronicled by Stacy Schiff, and how a very savvy strategist and negotiator has generally been reduced by history to the sum of her sex appeal and womanly wiles. Give Cleopatra: A Life a read and then explore the parallels in how women candidates (and women, period!) are treated today. 

The Book that Changed my Life – You’ve heard the phrase before: “That book totally changed my life!” For some, this rings a little truer than others; check out some amazing stories of books inspiring major life changes in the most recent episode of Annotated. 

Book Club Bonus: True story: reading The Thirteenth Tale inspired me to leave a career in management and sales, live in the English countryside for a few months, then pursue writing and bookselling full time when I came back. That’s how I ended up at the Riot – tada! I am therefore ALL about this life-changing-magic-of-a-book thing and want to see a book club edition. While you can’t always manufacture inspiration, I do think you can find a read that will spark some kind of magic in book group. 

Ideas: 

  • Read Cherly Strayed’s Wild and then plan a challenging hike
  • Read Elizabeth Acevedo’s With the Fire on High or Ruth Reichl’s Save Me the Plums and then take a cooking class
  • Read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and start a writing group
  • Read Red Clocks by Leni Zumas, then volunteer at a local Planned Parenthood or other clinic providing reproductive care

Suggestion Section

PBS’s July book club pick is Luis Alberto Urrea’s The House of Broken Angels. 

The LA Times book club will read Laila Lalami‘s The Other Americans.

We’re not just giving away The Gentleman in Moscow; we’re giving you ten copies for your 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, get it on the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Categories
Audiobooks

Havana in the Heart (and Ears), Kids’ Audiobook Series, and More

Hola Audiophiles!

Blink and you may just miss the end of the month – June is passing us by, friends! It’s been fun sharing Audiobook Month with all of you. Not that we need an excuse to geek out over audiobooks…

As wrap things up, let’s do a little check in: what audiobooks have you been loving? Usually I’m the one doing all the talking: your turn to share the audio love.

Ready? Let’s audio.

Sponsored by Libro.fm

Libro.fm ad

Libro.fm lets you purchase audiobooks directly from your favorite local bookstore. You can pick from more than 100,000 audiobooks, including New York Times best sellers and recommendations from booksellers around the country. With Libro.fm you’ll get the same audiobooks, at the same price as the largest audiobook company out there (you know the name), but you’ll be part of a much different story, one that supports community. In June, Libro.fm is launching their Kids Club and YA Club, which will offer select audiobooks priced under $10 each month, as well as their Summer Listening Challenge–each person to finish will get free audiobook credit and the chance to win free audiobooks for a year! Sign up here to get three audiobooks for the price of one.

Several Pennies for Your Thoughts!

Don’t forget to tell us how you audio! Fill out a quick survey on the Audiobook content you want to see and you’ll be entered to win a $50 Amazon gift card.

Latest Listens

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton has me looking forward to every errand, every workout, every second of my whopping 18-minute commute: anything to sneak in a few more minutes of listening. It slayed me with gorgeous descriptions of the Malecon, of old Havana, of the flavors and aromas of lechon asado and ropa vieja, then pulled at my heartstrings with not one but two stories of devastating romance. What impressed me most though was the care given to portray the extent to which the revolution divided the people of Cuba. I spent the months leading up to my trip there reading non-fiction on its history, but this novel gave me more perspective than all of those combined.

This romantic, heartbreaking, and vividly sensory escape opens in 2017. Marisol Ferrera is a Cuban American whose grandmother Elisa Perez has just passed away. Elisa, a Cuban exile, raised Marisol, and in her will asked her granddaughter to take her ashes back to the island. Marisol is in Cuba to do just that, a voyage that brings to light truths from Elisa’s past buried for over 50 years. That story transports us to 1950s Cuba and the tumult of the revolution, a story steeped as equally in love as in tragedy and fear.

The story flashes back and forth between the two women’s perspectives; Marisol’s parts are narrated by Frankie Maria Corzo and Elisa’s by Kyla Garcia. Both do such a stunning job of portraying wonder, infatuation, fear, grief, and of embodying a tone and cadence appropriate for their respective time periods. I’ve got to give special props to Kyla Garcia: I’ve critiqued the pronunciation in some of her narration before, but this heartfelt performance was spot on.

the lost coastListens on Deck

What to listen to next… I haven’t decided! Thinking I might pick up Margaret Rogerson’s Sorcery of Thorns or perhaps catch up on some Leigh Bardugo. I’m also very intrigued by The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta: six queer witches trying to find themselves among the California redwoods? Yeah. THAT’S going on the TBR for sure.

Give me your thoughts!

From the Internets

AudioFile Magazine calls its “best of the best” narrators Golden Voices – how fancy! They’re celebrating Audiobook Month with a spotlight on some of their top narrators.

I am shocked. SHOCKED! Audiobook sales soared in 2018 as the people at Forbes point out.

Over at the Riot

I love this list of beloved children’s book series to enjoy on audio. Yeah, our boy Harry makes the list but there are so many others to choose from; if you haven’t discovered the Juana & Lucas books, get thee to an audiobook player!

For the third week of Audiobook Month and in celebration of Pride, I put together a list of LGBTQ+ audiobooks for our YouTube channel. Send me more of your faves!

That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Categories
In The Club

Please Don’t Get Me Arrested

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

How goes it, friends, and what day is it?! The last week has been a blur of bookselling, reading, writing, family trips to the county fair, World Cup soccer matches, and some much needed sleep in between. I also finally watched Always Be My Maybe and wow, what a gem! I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of funny, inclusive romcoms. 

While I make a list of all the other movies I’ve slept on so far this year (a long list: I’m always the last to watch things!), let’s review today’s club business. Let’s talk true crime and related fiction, knowledge gaps, and our uneasy relationships with problematic faves. 

Ready? To the club!!

This newsletter is sponsored by Lifelines by Heidi Diehl.

Life Lines cover imageFor fans of Meg Wolitzer and Maggie Shipstead: Lifelines is a sweeping debut novel following an American artist who returns to Germany—where she fell in love and had a child decades earlier—to confront her past at her former mother-in-law’s funeral.

Exquisitely balanced, expansive yet wonderfully intimate, Lifelines explores the indelible ties of family; the shape art, history, and nationality give to our lives; and the ways in which we are forever evolving, with each step we take, with each turn of the Earth.

Question for the Club

June’s query is still going and it is:

One more week to send in your responses!

Listen, Linda: Last week’s episode of Read or Dead was all about Australian mystery, women writing in the mystery genre, and some news on Linda Fairstein. That last bit reminded me that I need to find the time and headspace to finally watch When They See Us.

Book Club Bonus: The Linda Fairstein news got me thinking and I have to admit: I know very little about the Central Park Five. I know the general gist of the injustice, but not enough to have a thoughtful conversation. This will be remedied soon. 

I challenge you to find a thing you should know more about and get to knowing. It could be a historical moment, a cultural event, a headline, a humanitarian crisis: the possibilities are clearly plentiful. Decide as a book club that you’re going to educate yourself on that thing and pick a book to help you do so. Earlier this year my goal was to read up on Cuba’s complicated history; I’d love to discuss how decidedly not black and white that is in a book club setting. 

Please Don’t Get Me Arrested – The following is a list of excellent true crime reads for book club. Now repeat after me: I will use these for book club and not as a blueprint… I will use these for book club and not as a blueprint… I will use these for book club and not as a blueprint….  

Book Club Bonus: I really did ask myself, “Would it be weird if I suggested concocting poisons from A is for Arsenic as a book club activity?” I mean, it’s really just chemistry. Yay science! Since I’m really not trying to go down for a mass poisoning though, I do have an alternate suggestion. 

Consider reading both a work of a true crime and a work of fiction inspired by said crime, then discuss one as it compares to the other. Which is ultimately more terrifying? Does reading the fictional version help make sense of the real thing? Yes, truth often is stranger than fiction, but sometimes fiction takes an already strange truth and turns the creepy way the %@*# up high. 

Examples: Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and The Girls by Emma Cline; The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson and See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt.

Perpetually Problematic: A recent piece from LitHub had me very much in my feelings, and not necessarily in a bad way. It’s a nuanced discussion of cancel culture and our relationship to the art of our problematic faves.  

Book Club Bonus: Oof! This is an issue I go round and round and round with myself about: while it is very easy for me to cancel artists who’ve committed egregious acts of abuse or violence, there are still plenty of “less” offensive but undoubtedly problematic faves that I haven’t quite ditched. I don’t confess this last part flippantly; it’s a real source of conflict. I’m still navigating a lot of grey area in the whole “separate the art from the artist” conversation.

That is precisely what needs to happen here: conversation. Talk this issue out with your book group, perhaps after reading an old fave that you now know to be problematic now (and there are…. so many). Use this additional piece from Tor as a jumping board for the discussion. It might get uncomfortable, but face it head on. It’s essential that you (and we) do.

Related: This excellent piece from Buzzfeed on YA Twitter cancel culture and frustrations with disparity in the publishing industry.

Suggestion Section

You and I have been hitting the club for awhile now and now eeeeeverybody wants in. Forbes wrote a piece on why news outlets are suddenly embracing the book club. 

With more than enough celeb book clubs to go around, here’s why Entertainment Weekly is calling Jenna Bush Hager the queen of the 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, get it on the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

More Resources: 
– Our Book Group In A Box guide
– List your group on the Book Group Resources page

Categories
Audiobooks

Mythology, Magic, and Teenagers

Hola Audiophiles!

How goes it this week? I’m over here with a renewed mythology obsession thanks to Madeline Miller wordsmithing (more on that in a minute). I tell you: my allergies and travel tendencies don’t make pet adoption very likely, but I swear I’d name my puppies Circe and Patroclus if I had any. I’m also obsessed with the name Ariadne for a daughter, pero… a) I still don’t know if I want kids, and b) I can already hear my abuelos going, “Ari-QUE?”

Allow me to gush just a little bit more about Achilles & friends, and to share a refreshing magical mystery that I can’t stop thinking about. Don’t forget to check out Book Riot’s Amazon storefront. We’ve put together a selection of our favorite books and bookish stuff for summer!

For now, let’s audio.

Sponsored by Harper Audio

HarperAudio is celebrating Audiobook Month by offering a stunning array of some of our favorite recordings from the likes of Amy Poehler, Questlove, Jonathan Lethem, Kiera Cass, and many more, each for a low price from $3.99 to $6.99! The sale ends on June 30th so stock up now and start listening! #LoveAudiobooks

We Want to Hear from You!

Tell us how you audio! Fill out a quick survey on the Audiobook content you want to see and you’ll be entered to win a $50 Amazon gift card.

Latest Listens

Madeline Miller, girl, Imma be straight with you: I did not think I was going to love another book as much as I love Circe. Yet here I stand, ruined and beguiled by The Song of Achilles. I am not worthy!

The book is an homage to the Iliad told from the perspective of Patroclus, whom Achilles befriends and names his companion when the young price is exiled to the city of Phthia. While we’ll obvs never know for sure, it has long been speculated that Patroclus and Achilles were lovers. Madeline Miller imagines their intimate relationship from boyhood through the Trojan war in vivid and heart-breaking detail, reducing me to a puddle of tears even when I knew precisely what was coming.

My one critique of the otherwise flawless audio is the Miss Piggy treatment given to poor forsaken Deidamia. She already got the rawest of deals when Thetis married her to Achilles in secret only for him to abandon her 4.72 seconds later. Then the narrator went and gave her a comically high-pitched and whiny voice that on second thought it more Mrs. Doubtfire than Piggy. Otherwise though, it was beautifully told.

magic for liarsI also just finished Sarah Gailey’s Magic for Liars, the noir murder mystery + magic school fantasy mashup I mentioned in the first half of June’s new book round-up. In Gailey’s fantasy debut, private detective Ivy Gamble has mostly gotten by on insurance disputes and adultery cases. Her luck appears to change when the headmaster at The Osthorne Academy of Young Mages hires her to solve a grizzly murder, a job that will earn her some dolla dolla bills and give her a first crack at a homicide case. It just so happens that her twin Tabitha teaches at the school, the magically gifted sister of whom she’s always been jealous and hasn’t spoken to in years. Ivy will have to weed her way through secrets, lies, prophecies, and (gasp) teenagers to determine who it was that split another teacher in half.

There’s so much to love about this novel. It plays with genre stereotypes so cheekily, throwing in a “chosen one” arc that doesn’t play out the way you think it will go. Sure there’s magic, but there’s the usual slew of teenager problems too, plus a detective with a drinking problem and iffy moral compass ala classic detective noir. Gailey, a non-binary author themself, gives us a whole cast of queer characters and they get to just be; there’s no abuse or hardship, no big discussion about gender or sexuality. Their queerness is a thing but not the thing, a matter-of-fact part of who they are like eye color or height.

Throw in some narration by award-winning narrator Xe Sands and you’ve got one deliciously entertaining listen.

Listens on Deck

Bet you thought I was done talking about Cuba, huh? Guess again, audiophiles! I think I’ll dive into Chanel Cleeton’s Next Year in Havana, a historical romance that will whisk me away to the island once more.  

From the Internets

And here’s the Washington Post’s best audiobooks of the month. I haven’t listened to a single of these titles, but there’s one on “the welfare queen” narrated by January LaVoy that has my interest piqued.

More best book lists! Here’s Paste Magazine’s roundup of best audiobooks of the year so far. So many of my faves made this list! Helen Oyeyemi’s Gingerbread, the last Flavia de Luce mystery by Alan Bradley, Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams and more.

Over at the Riot

I was feeling the audiolibro love last week! Check out my quick roundup of some audiobooks in Spanish I’ve enjoyed.

That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Categories
In The Club

Periods and Patreon

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

Como estan, friends? How’s the club life treating you these days? I’m out here trying to perfect a hair routine for my city’s indecisive weather and reading more books at one time than is probably wise. I am pretty stoked to be reading Leni Zumas’ Red Clocks for the book club at my indie. I’m thinking that convo is going to be fire! Tell me: what are you all reading in your clubs these days?

In the meantime, let’s chat about letters to tragedy, period business, and using Patreon to patronize your faves. And don’t forget to visit Book Riot’s Amazon storefront. We’ve put together a selection of our favorite books and bookish stuff for summer!

Ready? To the club!!

This newsletter is sponsored by The Medallion by Cathy Gohlke, new in paperback from Tyndale House Publishers.

a young white girl with curly brown hair, wearing a large blue hat that obscures her face, looks down. she's wearing a white shirt and a necklace.For fans of World War II fiction comes a story about two couples whose lives are ravaged by Hitler’s war yet redeemed through the fate of one little girl. The German blitzkrieg of Warsaw in 1939 shatters the life of each citizen. Sophie, a British bride, is determined that she and the baby in her womb will stay safe. Rosa faces a terrifying reality: to save her daughter’s life, she must send her into hiding. Her only hope of finding her after the war is the medallion she cuts in half and places around her daughter’s neck.

Question for the Club

June’s club query is:

Hit me with your answers all month!

Bustle and the Book Club – Bustle asked three club connoisseurs – USA Today Books Editor Barbara Vandenburgh, Girls’ Night In CEO & Founder Alisha Ramos, and Belletrist Book Club co-founder Karah Preiss – for their advice on book club format and selections. I love all of their responses, including the general idea that the best book club chat is the one where not everyone likes the book. Food for thought!

Dear Tragedy

A middle school book club at St. Catherine’s School in Milwaukee read books on tragedy and then wrote letters to tragedy based on their life experiences. Read their letters here and prepare thyself for tears.

Book Club Bonus: I recently heard a keynote speech by author Reyna Grande (The Distance Between Us) wherein she spoke of the trauma she suffered as a child immigrant, and of the depression that followed from living under a constant fear of deportation and family separation. She found escape through storytelling at a young age and now uses her stories to spread awareness on the issues that immigrants face today. Cases of child depression and PTSD appear to be increasing; I don’t have to tell you why.

I thought of immigrant children and so many others when reading about the book club at St. Catherine’s: when tragedy strikes, do we do enough to take care of our young? I’d be interested to know how many educators lead book clubs where young children get to read, learn about, and discuss the effects of school shootings, deportations, poverty, etc. If you know of such safe spaces, tell me about them! And if you see an opportunity to do so, create one.

Read These. Period.

I got my period when I was a smooth nine years old and I did *not* see it coming. An injury to my jaw did some stuff to my pituitary gland and puberty came out of left field, like, “Heeeey girl! Ready to rock?” Armed only with my Catholic school “family life” lesson and a welcome kit from Lucky magazine, I felt pretty dang lost on all that came next. I wish I’d had these books on periods at my disposal.  

Book Club Bonus: You know I’m an advocate for better, more frequent discussions on sexual health and these period books have my synapses firing. Start a book club for teens new to the Period Posse, or one for parents and teens. Start one for people going through menopause, or anyone wanting to learn more about menstruation in general and the movement to normalize free bleeding. This could be a one-time or ongoing book club depending on everyone’s needs. I just love the idea of sharing knowledge and experience to make what are often difficult experiences less trying.

PAY-tree-on, PAT-tree-on, Puh-TREE-on… Whatever!

The ladies of When in Romance are so good at teaching me a thing or two while gifting me a hearty laugh, and this latest episode was no exception! Jess may not be able to say Patreon, but she and Trisha did turn me on to how easy and affordable it is to support creatives on the platform.

Book Club Bonus: I recently decided that I wanted to try and provide financial support to creatives whose work I love; the trouble was, I didn’t think I could actually afford to do so. Trisha and Jess showed me that it’s very much within my means to give to creators on Patreon, where many donation tiers start at just a $1/month. That I can do!

Consider pooling your resources as a book club and donating to a creative or cause of your choice (and that has an account)! Does your club love romance? Give to The Ripped Bodice! Love Latinx lit of all kinds? Give to an author like Silvia Moreno Garcia like I did today. A few dollars from your book club may not seem like a lot to you, but they could go a long way in helping people and their projects persist.

Suggestion Section

In movie news, Book Club 2 Is Happening and yes I will be watching. I love me some Diane Keaton and am here for lady friendships. Also, BAAHAHAAH the subheading of this piece is, “And will eternal zaddy Andy Garcia return to the fold?” THIS IS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION.

You know I’m all about doing a little good with book club. Lots of love to this Santa Barbara book club for launching a Little Free Laundromat Library for kids.

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, get it on the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Categories
Audiobooks

Free Books, New Books, All the Books!

Hola Audiophiles!

Well, amigx (has that caught on yet?): I am ruined! I asked you all to help me pick my next listen and the winner was Song of Achilles. I definitely showed up to a lunch date with my dad with bloodshot eyes and a broken heart. Taco Tuesday is supposed to be a happy occasion, Madeline Miller! How dare you rip me wide open AGAIN with your mythical word magic??

This newsletter is sponsored by Libro.fm.

Get three audiobooks for the price of one, with code BR19!

 

While I wipe away my tears and whisper Patroclus’ name into the wind, read on for a quick announcement and several chances to win free books! Then we’ll get into Part Dos of June audiobooks.

Survey done? Giveaways entered? Storefront shopped? Let’s audio.

New Releases (publisher descriptions in quotes)

Fleishman Is in Trouble by: Taffy Brodesser-Akner, narrated by Allyson Ryan (June 18)

Doctor Toby Fleishman and his wife of 15 years have separated and are navigating the wonderful world of coparenting when Rachel up and vanishes into thin air. Toby is left with their two young kids and is trying to balance fatherhood with his career, not to mention his newly active sexy-time schedule (thanks dating apps!). He’s convinced himself that it’s all Rachel’s fault, that her ambition was the undoing of their marriage and her disappearance an act of selfishness. He soon learns that there truly are two sides to every story, and that his side maaaaybe ain’t all there is to it.

This exploration of marriage, divorce, and ambition is insightful, smart, and really damn funny debut.

The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull, narrated by Janina Edwards and Ron Butler (June 18)

Spaceships, feuding families, missions of vengeance: all of this goodness from a writer I’ve seen compared to Octavia Butler. “An alien ship rests over Water Island. For five years, the people of the US Virgin Islands have lived with the Ynaa, a race of super-advanced aliens on a research mission they will not fully disclose. They are benevolent in many ways but meet any act of aggression with disproportional wrath. This has led to a strained relationship between the Ynaa and the local Virgin Islanders, and a peace that cannot last.”

A year after a young boy has died at the hands of an Ynaa, an inevitable conflict comes to a head that will leave not a soul untouched.

The Travelers by Regina Porter, narrated by Bahni Turpin and Dominic Hoffman(June 18)

**insert air horns** Bahni Turpin in the house! I love that she’s narrating this book, one I had the privilege of reading it earlier this year while serving as a panelist for Indies Introduce Summer/Fall 2019. This was taken from the blurb I shared on the American Booksellers Association page:

“I’m blown away by the fact that this stunning work is a debut effort. It’s a sweeping history of our country and the traumas we have yet to fully heal from, spanning the American South in the 50s through the early years of Obama’s presidency. It’s told through a series of narratives that connect unexpectedly and beautifully, exploring the many nuanced layers of the human condition with each emotional character arc. The writing is both powerful and restrained, one of sparse but evocative details that quietly crack your heart wide open when you least expect it.”

The Poison Thread by Laura Purcell, narrated by Jayne Entwistle and Elizabeth Knowelden (June 18)

I’m sorry, I hope you can hear me over the sound of all my bells ringing! In this Victorian gothic thriller, wealthy, beautiful Dorothea Truelove is obsessed with phrenology and goes to Oakgate Prison to test some theories on skull shape and crime. There she meets Ruth, a teenage seamstress with quite the story: she claims to possess a supernatural power to kill with only a needle and thread. Is homegirl for reals? Is she mad? Is she a cold-booded killer tryna make her sewing kit a scapegoat? This plot is giving me Sarah Waters Affinity vibes and me likey very much.

Side note: this one is performed in part of Jayne Entwhistle, the inimitable voice of Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce series!

Emperors of the Deep by Wiliiam McKeever, narrated by Tim Andres Pabon (June 25)

Shaaaarks! I love sharks! I mean, maybe not as much as Amanda loves sharks. I’ve never thrown a Shark Week party, but hey: there’s still time.

William McKeever is a documentarian and conservationist determined to correct common misconceptions on these beautiful, terrifying creatures. The book is rife with factoids that’d make even a casual shark lover giddy: sharks are 50-million years older than trees, account for only 6 human fatalities per year, and have a sixth-sense that lets them pick up on electric fields generated by living things. Through a fascinating examination of four shark types (Mako, Tiger, Hammerhead, and Great White), he explains why shark survival is essential for ecological stability.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything narrated by Tim Andres Pabon before, but I dig his delivery in spite of it sounding a little like a voice you might hear on the CVS pharmacy recording.

evvie drake starts overEvvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes, narrated by Julia Whelan and Linda Holmes (June 25)

You may recognize Linda Holmes as the host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast! Her debut is the hope-filled, heartwarming story of Evvie, a grieving widow who rarely leaves her house, and Dean, a former Major League pitcher who’s off his game. Dean moves into an apartment behind Evvie’s home and the two agree not to ask each other questions about what ails them. But ya know: rules schmules. An unlikely friendship blossoms as they each share buried secrets, a bond that quickly grows into something more.

Look for lots of baseball analogies, some truly hilarious interactions, and top notch narration from the voice behind works like Educated, Gone Girl, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beath Keane, narrated by Molly Pope (June 25)

“Two neighboring families in a suburban town, the friendship between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades…:” Sound familiar? Fair Verona may not be a suburban town, but parts of this story certainly appear to draw from that star-crossed lovers tale. Two rookie NYPD cops end up living next door to one another in the Bronx and have children born six months apart. A close friendship develops between those children, a bond that is tested in their eighth grade year when a violent event tears their families apart. Ask Again, Yes explores how “the events of childhood look different when reexamined from the distance of adulthood – villains lose their menace, and those who appeared innocent seem less so.”

Sweet Heat by Zuri Day, narrated by Shari Peele (June 25)

I said to the universe: “Universe, your girl wants to read more romance by authors of color. Whatcha got?” The clouds parted and down from the heavens came this gem. Julian Drake is the youngest heir to a Northern California dynasty on the cusp of opening up his very own therapy practice. He runs into Nicki Long, a Broadway dancer and his long lost love; sparks fly, love is professed, and soon Nicki is relocating out west. The trouble is, she’s brought danger with her, a threat that could be her undoing and that of the illustrious Drake clan.

This one is part of the Blue Collar Lover Series – more to explore! Also, I’d listen to Shari Peele read the ingredients in my body wash.

From the Internets

We all know audiobook listenership is on the rise, but just how many people out there audio? A Publishers Association study suggests it’s as many as one in every five readers.

La verdad? I clicked on this because I saw the Coco thumbnail. Glad I did too, because I stumbled on a wonderful list of Spanish audiobooks to get kids reading from HipLatina.com.

Over at the Riot

In keeping with the Audiobook Month theme, last week’s YouTube video was all about my favorite audiobook narrators. Tell me: who are some of your faves?

Speaking of great audiobook narrators, don’t miss out on this piece on terrific memoirs narrated by their authors. It’s a solid list, and I firmly believe that everyone should experience Trevor Noah’s kid voice at least once.

That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Categories
In The Club

Beyond the Struggle

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

Before we get started, I want to let you know that we’ve put together a selection of our favorite books and bookish stuff for summer! Go check out Book Riot’s Amazon storefront to get in on all that goodness.

As for life on my end, I’m knee deep in books on mythology as part of my Read Harder podcast homework and just have so many feelings! I really want to start a book club dedicated to reading nothing but works of mythology for a year, if for no other reason than to have someone to scream at about women’s mistreatment since the dawn of time. Can we discuss how the heroes of these stories are all super terrible more often than not? And how strong, courageous women like Circe and Briseis get the rawest of deals?! Que desmadre!

While I let my rage cool, let’s talk Pride reads, white dude moratoriums, and a healthy dose of tea. To the club!!

This newsletter is sponsored by Libro.fm.

Get three audiobooks for the price of one, with code BR19!

Question for the Club

This month’s club query is below. I’ll be compiling answers all month long!

And That’s the Tea! – Few things suit me better than curling up with a book and a perfect cup of tea. It’s no surprise then that this piece on tea and book pairings is extremely my sh*t.  

Book Club Bonus: Have I suggested an afternoon tea version of book club yet? Because I’m a power tea drinker. Black tea, green tea, white tea, herbal tea, oolong tea: if it involves a dried leaf soaking in some hot water, I’m ‘bout that life.

I’m now going to make it a personal goal to host a book club tea and I think you should too! I’m going to pile on to the suggestions in the aforementioned post and give you a couple of my own:

The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo + Milk Oolong: I find the floral, milky smoothness of this traditional Chinese tea irresistible. Served slightly sweetened and piping hot, it would perfectly mimic the lush, sumptuous heat of the book’s 1930s colonial Malaysia setting. Warning: this book will also make you huuuungry. You’ve been warned: have good snacks on hand.

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah Maclean (or any Regency romance) + Darjeeling: They don’t call Darjeeling the champagne of teas for nothin’, honey! The delicate muscatel flavor of this beautiful brew is just the most perfect delight. I drink mine with a dash of cream and two cubes of sugar (and yeah, a lot of y’all are cringing because you’re supposed to have Darjeeling plain but I DO WHAT I WANT). It feels like the perfect sweet treat to pair with a Sarah Maclean romance. A steamy cup for a steamy read!

Joy to the Book – Happy Pride, Riot family! And I do mean happy: this list of queer books to read during Pride are happy, joyful, and altogether fun.

Book Club Bonus: As my podcast buddy Tirzah points out, many LGBTQ+ books focus on hardship. This is true of books on most marginalized communities, a fact I’m not even knocking: it’s important to tell the stories that make us uncomfortable and force us to confront injustice. Equally important though are the stories of joy, romance, happiness, silliness, adventure – ones where the characters get to just live and/or be a general badass. So make your next book club pick a romance, YA fantasy, mystery, or funny piece of fiction that features featuring queer characters, disabled characters, characters of color, etc. Discuss how the characters’ identities inform the piece without centering solely on struggle.

Suggestions: Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole, Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova, Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey, The Pretty One by Keah Brown (out 8/6)

White Guys Gon’ Be Alright – One of our Rioters recently shared her decision to not read books by white men for at least one year. This had a lot of people on the internet rull deep in their feelings, many of which seemed to miss the entire point behind that choice.

Book Club Bonus: A lot of the arguments I saw in opposition to that piece hinged on the idea that we should all read whatever is “good” and not “discriminate” based on gender or race, and that not reading books by white men was racist and uselessly divisive. I don’t have the energy to commit to the full Powerpoint presentation that this response deserves, to break down why that thinking is insidious at its worst and misinformed at its best. I’ll just say this: if you aren’t actively going out of your way to support work by marginalized authors, you’re not helping.

I won’t tell you that I don’t read books by white men. When Dan Brown, Jasper Fforde, or Alan Bradley put a book into the world, I’m hitting that pre-order button but QUICK. But I do also consciously put my dollars behind work by marginalized voices, supporting writers against whom publishing is still highly biased. Keep this idea in mind when picking out your book club reads. Read what you like, absolutely! But check in and verify that you’re working in diverse reads. Trust me, the white guys aren’t going anywhere. There’s enough pie for everyone, they will be just fine if they share.

Suggestion Section

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, get it on the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

More Resources: 
– Our Book Group In A Box guide
– List your group on the Book Group Resources page

Categories
Audiobooks

Choose My Next Listen, Bodies in Barrels, and More in Audiobooks

Hola Audiophiles!

How was everyone’s weekend? I spent mine in lovely Portland, Oregon whose greenery makes San Diego look like a big brown blur. I love my hometown but good GAWD I love those trees!

Sponsored by Libby, the one-tap reading app from your library and OverDrive

Meet Libby. The award-winning reading app that makes sure you always have something to read. It’s like having your entire library right in your pocket. Download the app today and get instant access to thousands of ebooks and audiobooks for free thanks to your public library and OverDrive.

I also had the interesting experience of listening to an audiobook set in 1920s Portland while I was there. There I was, in what most of us think of as a super liberal and progressive city, listening to historical fiction that chronicles Oregon’s ugly history as a whites-only state. Every chapter opened up with a line from a piece of Oregon legislation or a local article/advertisement, each of which could have been pulled right out of the Jim Crow Handbook for Being a Racist A$$hole. Yikes… proof that we’ve come a long way but have a long, long way to go.

I’ll tell you all about that fascinating read and lots more goings on in the audiobook world. Ready? Let’s audio.

Latest Listens

The Paragon Hotel cover imageLet’s talk The Paragon Hotel!  A plot refresher, one mo’ time: the year is 1921 and Alice “Nobody” James is on a train ride west from Harlem to Portland with a couple of bullet wounds in her side. She’s on the run after a botched drug & booze deal puts a target on her head, and befriends Max, a black porter who takes her to the Paragon Hotel to get her the down-low medical care she needs. The residents of Portland’s only all-black hotel are immediately terrified at the idea of a white woman’s presence among them, and Alice soon learns why: the Klu Klux Klan has made its way to Oregon. Every moment she spends at the Paragon puts its inhabitants in danger.

The book flips back and forth between Alice’s time in New York and her arrival in Oregon, slowly revealing details of Alice’s past and how she came to be involved with the booze trade and the mafia (warning: references to horse death and bodies chopped up in barrels). As the threat of the clan grows stronger and a young boy from the Paragon goes missing, all manner of secrets bubble to the surface. No one, it would appear, is exactly who they seem.

I have to give it up again to narrator January LaVoy; she really goes in! She pulls off quite the cast of characters with a whole arsenal of accents and affectations that create distinction without ever resorting to the ridiculous. She pulls off smooth and buttery then harsh and sharp in the blink of an eye. Such skill, I tell you.

Listens on Deck + Audiobook Month News:

Help me pick my next listen! Do I go with:

A. Recursion by Blake Crouch: new, buzzy book about the threat of implanted memories reminiscent of Inception

B. Spinning Silver, a reimagining of Rumpelstiltskin set in a Eastern Europe-like country from fantasy maven Naomi Novik (it’s been on my TBR since it first came out in hardback)

C. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller since I’ve never rid myself of this Circe hangover

Help me decide!

Let’s also talk about some of the fun stuff out in the world for Audiobook Month!

Libro.fm has a whole month of festivities planned for Audiobook Month, all of which are detailed here. Check out the adorable graphic designed by beloved bookish artist Jane Mount!

Audiobooks.com is celebrating with some sweet giveaways: enter here to win one of three audiobook prize packs! They’re not messing around: you could win Air Pods, a Sonos speaker, or a Samsung smartwatch plus gift cards.

From the Internets

Where was this piece the year I attended *12* weddings (and was in eight of them, good grief)? Paste Magazine recommends these 10 must-listen audiobooks for wedding season. Some are kid-friendly too!

I’ve got that summertime, summertime playlist… yeah, I did sing that in my best languid Lana del Rey voice. Also, it’s Goodreads that has the playlist and it’s got 40 reader-approved road trip listens.

Brace yourself: it’s June and that means aaaall of the “best books of the year so far!” lists (no shade, we love these). Here’s one from The Guardian on the best audiobooks of 2019 thus far.

I’m newer to comics but have loved what I’ve read for both the stories and the treat for the eyes. Now it looks like the Marvel Comics will soon be a treat for the ears, too: they’re getting the audiobooks treatment according to Geek.com.

Over at the Riot

In case you missed it, I kicked off Audiobook Month with a quick video on where to get audiobooks. Did I mention some of them are free?

That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Categories
In The Club

Not Just Tacos: In the Club

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

Hey friends! What’s good in the world of books and reading? I’m writing to you from a short getaway in the lush green loveliness that is Portland, Oregon, where I’m once again gawking at trees like they’re beautiful alien inventions. So many biscuits, so much craft beer, so many scoops of funky-flavored ice cream. I could seriously live here! Maybe someday I will.

So tell me: anyone have fun summer travel plans? While you all chew on that, let’s talk Tinderless romance, food that’s not tacos, and therapy via paintbrush. Everyone ready? To the club!!

This newsletter is sponsored by Waisted: A Novel by Randy Susan Meyers and Atria Books.

a cartoon of a white woman in a red dress, looking to the side, holding a blue plate in front of her chest. the plate has the book's title and author on it.“To Alice and Daphne, being thin is taking over their world. They become fast friends when they both sign up for a program promising dramatic weight loss in one month. Meyers exquisitely explores body image, family, and marriage. . . she dips into major issues of race, culture, obsession, and sisterhood. Taking on the timely topic of how a woman is perceived in today’s society, she twists it into how far women will go to be what society deems right, and at what cost—a marriage, a family obligation, a personal goal? A compelling story that will leave readers giving their scale the side eye.” — Booklist on Waisted: A Novel

Question for the Club

Ok folks, the results of our first monthly book club query are in! I asked for the funniest books you’ve read in book club and these were the most popular responses:

The 100-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Johansson (and its sequel)

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

How to Make White People Laugh by Negin Farsad

The biggest takeaways from this query:

1. A book doesn’t have to be a humor book to be funny as hell.

2. Not enough people read funny books in book club. So many of the responses I got touched on this and I’m here to remind you to pick up a funny read from time to time. A book doesn’t have to be dripping with gravitas in order to make club discussion worthwhile. Also, #treatyourself.

Ready for June’s question? Here goes!

An Invitation to Persist: We’re baaaaaack! Persist, our feminsit book club run exclusively on Instagram, has returned! Our summer read and “meeting” schedule is live on the gram now. Join us!

How To Find Romance, Tinder Not Required – If you’ve come to me for love advice, Yikes. Thou art sh*teth out of lucketh to the power of ten. I can however help you romance novices find your first romance read with a little help from Rioter Kathleen.

Book Club Bonus: I love the podcast suggestion in this piece; I really appreciate the depth of discussion that you get from this particular medium! If you’re still having trouble convincing your book club to read romance, introduce them to the world of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Their whole concept and the podcast born from it (Smart Podcast, Trashy Books) are a great resource for reminding readers that there ain’t no shame in this game. There’s even a page on the blog dedicated to new readers that might help reluctant romantics find the perfect read.

Not Just Tacos: The cuisine of my people is varied, vibrant, and delicious, but not all cookbooks do it justice. I can personally vouch for a ton of the books on this list! Make delicious tacos, yes; but por favor, do yourself a favor and try elotes con queso y crema, cochinita de pibil, mole, and the amazing fusion versions of these recipes therein.

Book Club Bonus: I live in Southern California where my people and our cuisine are found in abundance, and yet I still meet people all the time who can’t name a Mexican dish that ain’t tacos, burritos, or enchiladas (and burritos barely count!). Learn a little more about my mother country’s cuisine and that of any other by diving into a cookbook with book club. Have every member commit to creating a dish that’s a little less commonly found, perhaps from a specific region of the country at hand. For Mexico, perhaps try food from Oaxaca or the Yucatan Peninsula; read up and then share how the recipe you’ve made is representative of that region.

Got Me in My Feelings – Some days I wake up ready to take on the world, others I go straight into the chorus of Monica’s “Don’t Take It Personal.” When you find yourself deep in your feelings and scream-crying JUST ONE OF THEM DAAAAYS, consider picking up one of these creative art therapy books.

Book Club Bonus: There’s a reason those wine and paint nights are so popular these days: there is something therapeutic about getting together with your besties to paint stuff and drink old grape juice! If you’re feeling a little burnout these days, consider incorporating art therapy into your next book club meeting. Discuss the book like usual, but do so while you color, paint, mold, etc. Let the activity work its calming magic.

Suggestion Section

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, get it on the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

More Resources: 
– Our Book Group In A Box guide
– List your group on the Book Group Resources page

Categories
Audiobooks

New June Audiobooks!

Hola Audiophiles!

Guess what guess what guess what? June is Audiobook Month! And not just in my head either, but in real life. Because we’re friends, I will confess that I did a super awkward cha-cha dance when I realized this earlier that involved pointing at my ears and then miming the opening of a book. It was… well, strange.

Back to Audiobook Month! Various audiobook outlets are sure to have fun promos going so make sure to check those out. I’ll include any I hear about in the newsletter all month long. For now, you know what’s up: a new month around the corner means new audiobooks! Here’s a batch of new listens coming at you in June.

Let’s audio.

Sponsored by Whatbook, the first app for social readia

You’ve heard of social media, but Whatbook is the first app for social readia. Whatbook offers users a new platform to share and discover book recommendations from people- just like we do in real life! Choose to follow friends, family, and colleagues for reliable recommendations, while discovering new users with similar reading interests for a more varied, yet human
recommendation experience. Whatbook has also introduced podcasts onto the platform, so now users can find their next favorite podcast series alongside their next read. Now available for free in the app store. So, What book next?

New Audiobooks (publisher descriptions in quotes)

I’m sticking to the two-part breakdown again this month for new books. Does this work for you all, or are you like “Give them to us all at once, you fool!!”? Let me know what you prefer.

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey, narrated by Xe Sands (June 4)

If you don’t already know Sarah Gailey, they are the genius behind the American Hippos novellas, a fictional take on a very real moment in history when our government tried to breed hippos and make them our new meat source. Did these nutters never watch the nature channel??!

Magic for Liars is Gailey’s fantasy debut, wherein detective Ivy Gamble has a little Petunia Dursley thing going on. She was born without magic while her estranged twin Tabitha possesses the gift, and phew because Ivy don’t want it! Except, ya know, she does. When a grizzly murder goes down at the school where Tabitha teaches theoretical magic, Ivy gets pulled into a world of danger and secrets. Magic school + noir thriller? I’m so there.

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert, narrated by Blair Brown (June 4)

Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a book that’s a little less Eat, Pray, Love and a lot more Sex & the City. Set in the 1940s New York theatre scene, this sexy adventure is the story of an older woman looking back on her youth with a few regrets and a lot of pleasure. It’s nice to see more books exploring female sexuality and promiscuity without the slut shaming. What a concept: a woman can partake in casual sex and still be a good person who lives a fulfilling and meaningful life!

on earth we're briefly gorgeousOn Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, narrated by the author (June 4)

Every last person I know who’s read it has given me that “This will crack you open, prepare thyself!” look. It’s a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read told from the 20-something son’s perspective. It’s an exploration of class, race, and masculinity, of the importance of preserving our histories and the crippling effects of feeling we’ve gone unheard. “Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness,” it promises to be a truly powerful testament to the healing we find in storytelling.

Mostly Dead Things by Kristin Arnett, narrated by Jesse Vilinsky (June 4)

You know when a book is described as darkly funny? This is what you call a title that features a grieving widow with a habit of making lewd art with stuffed animal corpses, n’est-ce pas?

Jessa-Lynn Morton discovers her father’s dead body in the family taxidermy shop. In the thick of her grief, she steps up to take over the failing business while the rest of her family falls apart. Some of them go completely withdrawn, others walk away; then there’s the aforementioned mother’s own illicit taxidermy activity, a hobby that only escalates in its absurdity over time. Jessa must find a way to keep the business above water and figure out what her place is in her motley crew of a family.

Underland by Robert Macfarlane, narrated by Roy Mcmillan (June 4)

Robert Macfarlane is the award-winning author of books like The Old Ways and The Lost Words, a nature writer whose insatiable curiosity and endless respect for the natural world is evident with every word he puts to page. Underland is all about the worlds beneath our feet, a journey that takes us everywhere from Bronze Age burial chambers and Arctic sea caves to the Paris catacombs. It’s compelling and haunting in its implications as so much of his writing is, and beautiful to boot. This is shaping up to be one of my favorite books of the year.

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib, narrated by Parmida Vand (June 4)

Whether as an Ahmadi Muslim in Pakistan or a refugee in Canada, there was never a time in Samra Habib’s life when it was safe to be her authentic self. Every aspect of her identity and physicality was policed by men and women insisting she fit a certain model of pious obedience, all while she navigated religious persecution, bullying, racism, and even an arranged marriage. “So begins an exploration of faith, art, love, and queer sexuality, a journey that takes her to the far reaches of the globe to uncover a truth that was within her all along.”

Bunny by Mona Awad, narrated by Sophie Amoss (June 11)

I saw this described as The Vegetarian meets Heathers, and that’s not wrong. But also: maybe Mean Girls meets The Craft??

Samantha Mackey is a student in a bougie New England MFA program who can’t stand the rest of the girls in her cohort. They’re rich, entitled, and extra AF, plus they call each other “Bunny.” Then she gets an invite from the Bunnies to join their clique and get into some weird ritual sh*t that makes the Burn Book look like a bedtime story, and dear Sam is all too quick to ditch her only friend Ava to get in with the Bunny crew. I’m making light of things here to keep an ominous sense of dread at bay; things get pretty dark and twisty before they come to a deadly and explosive end.

Call Your Daughter Home by Deb Spera, narrated by Robin Miles, Adenrele Ojo, and Brittany Pressley  (June 11)

Told from each of their perspectives, this is the story of three Southern women in South Carolina in the years leading up to the Great Depression. Gertrude lives under the daily threat of death at the hands of her abusive husband and does the unthinkable to ensure her daughters’ survival. Retta, a freed slave employed by the Coles family that once enslaved her family, is learning that for some, freedom isn’t all the way free. Annie is the Coles family matriarch grappling with a terrible truth that has ripped her family apart. “These three women seemingly have nothing in common, yet as they unite to stand up to the terrible injustices that have long plagued the small town, they find strength in the bond that ties women together.”

The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason, narrated by Derek Perkins (June 11)

London, June 1860: moments after an assassination attempt against Queen Victoria, a low-level thief is found gruesomely murdered a block away. Something about the crimes makes Chief Detective Inspector Charles Field think the incidents are not only related but all a part of a grander, more sinister plot. He soon learns that Charles Darwin’s publication of On the Origin of Species is at the core of a string of murders, arson, and kidnapping; his pursuit of the culprit takes him on a high-stakes journey from London to the halls of Oxford that made me blow right through this book in a day.

P.S. the black-eyed villain Chorister is soooo creepy.

Recursion by Blake Crouch, narrated by Jon Lindstrom, Abby Craden (June 11)

I’ve been trying to write a brief description for this book for a half hour that isn’t just “This is like Inception with the WTF factor turned up high.” Barry is a New York cop investigating what’s known as False Memory Syndrome, a condition that drives its victims mad with memories of things that never actually happened. Helena is a neuroscientist working on a technology that would allow a person to preserve and re-experience their most cherished memories. Together they’re up against a dark and terrifying force that “attacks not just our minds, but the very fabric of the past.” It asks the mind-boggling question: what if someone had the power to implant a memory?

From the Internets

I somehow missed that the audiobook reviews I’ve seen from The Washington Post are a regular feature. Whoops! In any case, May’s roundup of recs from WaPo are titles that are the sounds of spring.

Libro.fm got the ball rolling early on Audiobook Month! They have a blog post up now previewing the fun stuff they’ve got planned in June.

Audiofile Magazine posted a blog entry earlier this month on audiobooks for kids that highlight STEM skills.  I couldn’t love this more! I recommend the Ada Twist books to kids all the time at the bookstore and now have a whole batch of other titles to suggest to young readers.

Over at the Riot

Working on some thangs here ok STOP LOOKING AT ME WITH JUDGEMENT IN YOUR EYES!

That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa