We’re giving away a new library cart to one reader! All you have to do is sign-up for our Daily Deals newsletter and get the best book sales in your inbox every day. Click here or the image below to enter!
Camilla has always loved reading, and earlier this year she launched her Instagram book club to share her enjoyment of books with others during lockdown. Now, she’s announced a second season of her Instagram book club, which includes the following books: The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman, Girl by Edna O’Brien, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, and The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain. Season 2 begins Friday, April 16th, and you can follow along over at Instagram at The Reading Room.
Bound Entertainment is collaborating with author Stacey Lee to develop her novel The Downstairs Girl into a series. Lee will serve as an executive producer on the project alongside Ha and Jamie Lai. In a statement, Lee said, “The Downstairs Girl was a treat to write, and I’m honored to collaborate with Bound Entertainment to bring it off the page and onto the screen!”
Save the date! On Saturday, April 17, Loyalty Books is hosting a virtual reading and fundraiser in support of the AAPI community. While they’re still finalizing their full lineup, they have announced that readers will include Nicole Chung (All You Can Ever Know), Preeti Chhibber (Marvel Avengers Assembly), Cinelle Barnes (Monsoon Mansion), Cat Chow (Seeing Ghosts), and R.O. Kwan (The Incendiaries). All ticket funds will go to Advancing Justice | AAJC. Profits from book sales linked to the event will go to Red Canary Song and Stop Asian Hate. The event will be held virtually via Crowdcast, and you can sign up here.
The winners of the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards were announced on Thursday. Check out all the winners, get all the details about the awards, and/or watch the full online ceremony here!
Sponsored by Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet.
Penelope Prado has always dreamed of opening her own pastelería next to her father’s restaurant, Nacho’s Tacos. But her parents have different plans—leaving Pen to choose between disappointing them or following her own path. Xander Amaro has been searching for home since he was a boy. For him, a job at Nacho’s is an opportunity for just that—a chance at a normal life, to settle in at his abuelo’s, and to find the father who left him behind. Together, Pen and Xander must navigate first love and discovering where they belong in order to save the place they call home.
Hello again! I hope that you got plenty of rest, reading, and relaxing done over the weekend. Also that you’re ready to face this week like the bad-ass that you are! I know that I am ready to face the challenge of this week. A lot of that is because I was able to get my first vaccination last week through my partner’s job. He got it at the same time so we were able to rough the waters (as it were) together.
Up until the moment where it was actually injected, I’ll admit that I was on the fence about whether or not to get it. Historically, there is a lot of deep-rooted mistrust from people of color towards the medical field. Between the Tuskegee Experiment and Henrietta Lacks, the feelings there are rightfully warranted. Hell, I don’t even go to the doctor for myself even though I’m always right on time for my son. I know that I need to get better at it though, especially with my entire family’s health history.
In fact, they’re the reason I decided to get it done. I realized that it would help get one step closer to being able to meet with my family for holidays. I miss that so much. A lot of the elders in my family have already gotten at least one dose themselves, if not a full vaccination. I figure if they were able to get over their own concerns, which run deeper than mine, then I figured I could bite the proverbial bullet as well.
Speaking of vaccinations…
Romancelandia has been fairly tame lately (furiously pounds on all the wooden furniture nearby). One pure thing that happened for us though is that a challenge went around for romance authors. It was the “being vaccinated does NOT mean” with various romance novel plot points. It was great seeing everyone dig into their bag of tropes o’tropes and come up with a unique answer. I’m not sure if Kate Clayborn came up with this or simply shared it, but since it is where I first stumbled across it, I’ll share that thread here.
Keeping with the fun Twitter trends, Really Reading Romance also threw down this gauntlet. The replies were varied on this one and hilarious. Seriously take a moment to look through some of the replies or re-tweets. It took me a moment to figure out my own opinion on this but I came up with one for books and movies. Okay, here goes. *deep breath*
I’m not a fan of sports romances. At all. I’ve tried multiple times to get into a few but it’s just not for me. Personally, I have an issue with the idolatry that we give athletes, even the truly philanthropic ones. Of course, I’ll recommend and hype them up since I know I’ve done that before. However, chances are I am doing that at the advice of a fellow book dragon whose opinion I trust a lot and not from personal experience.
My movie related take is that My Best Friend’s Wedding is not a rom-com. It’s a movie about a woman who acts like an entitled, spoiled brat when the ‘back up’ man that she never wanted is suddenly unavailable and tries to break up an obviously happy couple. Best part of that movie (apart from the singing scene) was the brutal verbal reality slap Rupert Everett’s George gives her at the end by reminding her no one is chasing her. Truth hurts, ma’am.
In the hustle and bustle of life and this last year, a lot of us still forget to take the time to stop and be goofy. Sometimes all you can do is laugh. Whether it’s with your partner, kids, friends, or extended family, be sure to take the time to be silly.
I readily co-sign all the books that Jess listed here and will be ready with the popcorn and adult beverage when/if it happens!
Here are some of the romance novel based movies that are currently in the works.
If you love second chance romances, here are some books to add to your likely already massive TBR recommended by Rioter Brooke.
Do you like a bit of crying with your romance? If so, then here are some recommendations for you.
Check out debut author Ruby Barrett’s (see more info below) take on the Cinnamon Roll Character.
Here are some of the new releases headed our way this week, including a few under the radar ones:
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Hot Copy by Ruby Barrett (debut)
Love So Beautiful by Angel Mystique
Earn Your Extra Credit by Meghan Quinn
How to Catch a Duke by Grace Burrowes
The Marriage He Demands by Brenda Jackson
And here are some deals to help fill out your digital shelves:
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Love Always, Wild by A.M. Johnson is available for $1.99
Holiday Brides by Farrah Rochon, Stefanie Worth, and Jewel Amethyst can be snagged for $1.49
Everything But a Groom by Holly Jacobs is also $0.99
Six More Minutes: New-Year Bae Solutions by A.C Arthur can be picked up for $1.99
That’s it for now. As always you can follow me @PScribe801 over on Twitter. Until next time friends!
Sponsored by Flatiron Books, publisher of Ariadne by Jennifer Saint.
Hypnotic, propulsive, and utterly transporting, Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne forges a new epic, one that puts the forgotten women of Greek mythology back at the heart of the story, as they strive for a better world.
It’s Monday!!! Wow, that was fast. I hope everyone had a successful weekend of reading. I managed to get a few new books under my belt, and I watched a couple of documentaries on Netflix. (Why didn’t anyone tell me there was a He-Man documentary???) My plans for the week are to read more books (of course), find more wild documentaries to watch, and to keep watch on the burrows under the bushes in my yard to see if there are any baby woodchucks yet!
Before I jump into today’s newsletter, I want to thank you for joining me each week. Wring Book Radar is so much fun, and I appreciate everyone who reads it. (Socially distanced hugs for you all!) And if you’re so inclined, it would be a great help if you shared the sign up link with other people you think would enjoy it too. Your support means a lot to me, and I thank you.
Moving on: I have some exciting book news for you today and a look at a fun space opera, plus cover reveals, a terrible pun, a naughty orange gremlin, and trivia! Let’s get started, shall we?
Here’s Monday’s trivia question: Who wrote the ten-volume novel Jean-Christophe? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)
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Stacey Lee’s The Downstairs Girl to be developed as a series.
Here are the 2021 Young Lions Fiction Award finalists.
And here are the winners of the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards.
Here’s the first look at I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness, the new novel by Claire Vaye Watkins.
Two books by Kennedy Ryan are going to be made into limited series.
Here’s the cover reveal of The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities: New Stories About Mythic Heroes edited by Rick Riordan.
Here’s the final trailer for The Woman in the Window with Amy Adams.
Here’s the cover reveal of People from My Neighborhood: Stories by Hiromi Kawakami and translated by Ted Goossen.
Here’s the trailer for the new adaptation of The Mosquito Coast.
Tom Holland will star in a new series based on The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes.
And Benedict Cumberbatch will star in a remake of The 39 Steps.
At Book Riot, I work on the New Books! email, the All the Books! podcast about new releases, and the Book Riot Insiders New Release Index. I am very fortunate to get to read a lot of upcoming titles, and learn about a lot of upcoming titles, and I’m delighted to share a couple with you each week so you can add them to your TBR! (It will now be books I loved on Mondays and books I’m excited to read on Thursdays. YAY, BOOKS!)
I had been trying to get my hands on this for months, ever since I read that it was like “Farscape meets The Great British Bake Off.” And now I have read it, and it is indeed great! But I would say it is more like Farscape meets the movie Big Night.
Niko Larson is a former Admiral in the Grand Military of the Hive Mind. She now runs a restaurant, The Last Chance, with several others who had been under her command at the TwiceFar space station on the edge of the galaxy. When the book opens, the restaurant is getting ready to receive a very important food critic, whose glowing recommendation could launch their restaurant into the stratosphere. So of course, it’s going to be one of those days. While trying to get the foods needed to impress the critic, Niko also receives a mysterious package, and a huge party including Niko’s former boss requests a last-minute reservation that she can’t turn away. Could anything else go wrong?
Yes, it can! Because just as dinner gets underway, the space station is attacked and Niko and her crew wind up on a sentient spaceship called You Sexy Thing. The ship thinks Niko and her crew are stealing it, so it charts a course for the galactic prison. Niko and her crew have four days to convince the ship not to take them to jail, while also dealing with the contents of that mysterious package AND an evil space pirate. Will they ever get back to their restaurant?
This book is a lot of fun. It wasn’t quite as silly as I was expecting from the description, and the plot was a lot more intricate, but it was still plenty funny and fun! There’s lots of wisecracks, action, ghosts, pirates, aliens, politics, and foodie talk. Niko’s crew is comprised by beings from other worlds, including a 12-tentacled alien, a Jawa-like little priest with a big prophecy for Niko, and rambunctious twin brothers who shape-shift into lions. There’s also a lot of backstory involving Niko and her time in the Hive Mind, and a particular incident.
If you like space operas, talking ships, and lots of outer space action, this is a perfect read to mark down on your TBR now!
(CW for space violence and action, war, and death.)
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Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir by Ashley C. Ford
Bath Haus by PJ Vernon
The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu
The Maid by Nita Prose
Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart
Why do bees have sticky hair? Because they use a honeycomb.
I wish my cats would do this.
Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:
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There is no place in my house that Zevon hasn’t conquered.
Trivia answer: Romain Rolland.
Remember that whatever you are doing or watching or reading this week, I am sending you love and hugs. Please be safe, and be mindful of others. It takes no effort to be kind. I’ll see you again on Thursday. xoxo, Liberty
Sponsored by Quirk Books.
Richard, an elementary school teacher, is a man without a past. But when he becomes the focus in sudden murders at his school, he knows some lies are coming back to haunt him. The murders have a ritualistic quality to them that are eerily similar to stories he told in another lifetime, thirty years before, when he was someone else. Someone out there knows about his past, and a reckoning is in store. Inspired by the McMartin preschool trials and the Satanic Panic of the ‘80s, Whisper Down the Lane delivers a harrowing portrait of the horrors of mass hysteria.
Hey there horror fans, I’m Jessica Avery and I’ll be delivering your weekly brief of all that’s ghastly and grim in the world of Horror. Whether you’re looking for a backlist book that will give you the willies, a terrifying new release, or the latest in horror community news, you’ll find it here in The Fright Stuff.
So if you’ve been subscribed to the newsletter for a while now you know that I occasionally like to break up the weekly books recs to talk about something horror-related, or horror reading-related in this case – that has caught my attention. This week it’s reader burnout, finding your niche(s) in the genre, and having that be okay.
Horror is a massive genre. We have the full complement of subgenres, and our subgenres have subgenres/categories/things. Many of which overlap! That’s a lot of ground to cover for a newbie horror reader, which I was just a couple of years ago. It can be intimidating, like approaching a series with 13 books except it’s a whole genre with thousands of books. Picking a place to start, I have found, happens in one of a couple of ways. Some new readers slide in from other related genres like dark fantasy, true crime, or thrillers. Others decide that they want to try horror and they just dive in blind and start feeling their way around. Regardless of how a horror reader gets their start, one thing remains constant: it always starts with a book, that leads to another book. Then the next thing you know, you’re a horror reader.
And in the beginning, you want to try everything. Sample every subgenre, every writing style, every format from poetry to full-length novels. And that’s good! That’s exactly how you should go at a new genre because it’s the best way to figure out what you’re going to love, what you’ll only like, and what you will definitely not want. But, like I said, it’s a lot of open ground. Eventually you have to narrow your field, or you’ll keep trying to push yourself to read everything and you’ll burn out on the genre and all the fun will go out of your reading.
Ask me how I know.
I love horror. But I may, just slightly, have over done it in the last year. And suddenly I was looking at stacks of horror in my TBR and found that I had 0 interest in like 40% of them. I thought “Well. That’s it. So much for my newsletter. I’m off horror.” Which, I’ll grant you, was a bit of an overreaction but hey. 2021. Also known as 2020: The Re-twentying.
But my problem wasn’t that I’d gone off horror. It was that, without realizing it or at least without acknowledging it, I had refined my preferences in the last two years. I had realized what I loved and wanted in horror and what I didn’t. Yet I was stuck on this idea that I had to be reading ALL the horror, and it was throwing up a roadblock because in the end I just didn’t want to. There are some horror books that I’ve read that I regretted reading because they left me feeling gross, or disturbed, and put images in my head I’ll never unread. And some people want that from their horror, and that’s great! That’s their kind of horror.
But I don’t like feeling like that, which is probably one of the reasons that – as I’ve mentioned before – I like my horror to end on an upbeat note. And thinking that I had to read horror I didn’t want to read completely killed my fun. There’s no greater thief of joy than homework reading.
I guess what I’m saying – the point of all this – is that it’s okay to cherry pick your horror. It doesn’t have to interfere with your ability to read diversely! Whatever your horror poison of choice is, more likely than not you can find diverse recs for your reading list. That’s the beauty of a big genre that grows in diversity every year! You can pick the books you want to read and ignore the rest, even if “the rest” are bestsellers and the hot picks on everybody’s lists. You don’t have to read “the next big horror novel” if it’s not your thing, even if everyone else is reading it. Sometimes we get so caught up in being professional readers, especially if you’re a blogger or a reviewer, and we feel like we have to read what’s new when it’s new even if we aren’t feeling it.
So if you are one of those people, like me, who need permission: here it is! Read what you love and you’ll keep loving the genre you read.
Check out this gorgeous cover art for the forthcoming spec fic anthology Unfettered Hexes: Queer Tales of Insatiable Darkness, edited by Dave Ring and set to be published by Neon Hemlock in October!
This folk horror anthology being crowdsourced over at Unbound is absolutely gorgeous The illustrations are creepy and atmospheric, and as far as collectable books go it’s definitely worth checking out. Pledging closes on April 25th, so it’s not to late to join in and pre-order your copy!
Don’t mind me, I’m just somewhat mesmerized by these Fabergé organs. Technically they’re not real – they’re digital images created as part of a pro-organ donation campaign from Brazil – but aren’t they stunning!?
Lauren Blackwood’s Within These Wicked Walls (an Ethiopian-inspired fantasy retelling of Jane Eyre) is WAY up there on my shopping list for this fall, and would you just look at this gorgeous painting of the heroine by @ArthShahverdyan. So good.
This announcement for Jessica Lewis’ forthcoming book, right? Oh 2022 why are you so far away?
As always, you can catch me on twitter at @JtheBookworm, where I try to keep up on all that’s new and frightening.
Sponsored by Holiday House / Neal Porter Books.
Enter to win a copy! A heartwarming story of a three-legged dog who follows his nose all over the city, out to the country, and into the arms of a new friend. As a three-legged dog, Three does pretty well. His waggly tail keeps him fed, and he meets many different legged creatures. He’s happy just the way he is, but sometimes he wonders what it’d be like to have a real home. That all changes when he wanders into the country and meets a quirky young girl and her welcoming family who accept him for who he is.
Hi Kid Lit Friends!
There are a handful of great new chapter books (and one going out in October that I just had to put on your radar) that I want to share with you today! Chapter books are great for newly independent readers who need books that aren’t too intimidating. These books also include illustrations, which I LOVE! (And can we admire the fact the Newbery Medal winner Erin Entrada Kelly also illustrated her new chapter book?)
This is the follow-up story to the hugely popular Dragons in a Bag book! Fans of fantasy will love this one! Jaxon has to return three baby dragons to the realm of magic but when he gets there, only two dragons were left in the bag. Kavita, Jaxon’s best friend, has stolen the third dragon, thinking she was doing what was best for the baby dragon, but now every time she feeds it, the dragon grows and grows! Kavita is definitely in over her head, and Jaxon needs all the help he can get to find Kavita, outsmart a trickster named Blue, and return the baby dragon to its true home.
Fans of Ivy and Bean, rejoice! It’s the 12th book in this charming series, and this time it’s Career Day at Emerson Elementary School. All the students have to choose what they want to be when they grow up, and best friends Ivy and Bean already have that all figured out. At least, they thought so, until they met Herman the Treasure Hunter. Now everyone in the second grade is looking for treasure—and finding it. Everyone except Ivy and Bean, that is. They need to get out their shovels and turn up some treasure on the double!
I was first introduced to Aven Green through the middle grade book, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus. In this new series for younger readers, third grader Aven Green, who was born without arms, finds herself confronted with not one, but two mysteries to solve! When her teacher’s lunch bag disappears and then Aven’s great-grandmother’s dog goes missing, Aven needs to summon all of her sleuthing powers to solve the mysteries.
I love Marisol Rainey! This wonderfully spunky character is sure to capture your heart. Marisol’s family is different from any of the other families she knows in her small Louisiana town. Her mother was born in the Philippines and her father works and lives part-time on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. But Marisol is ready for the summer, even though she has to figure out how to get annoying Evie Smythe to leave her alone and how to gain to courage to climb the big tree in her backyard.
This adorable book is filled with full color illustrations. Wilson was Abigail Atwood’s friendliest, woolliest, and smartest sheep. He was also a very a curious sheep, which gets him into trouble when he climbs into the back of a piano movers’ truck and ends up alone in the big city. Can Wilson find his way home?
What are you reading these days? Let me know! Find me on Twitter at @KarinaYanGlaser, on Instagram at @KarinaIsReadingAndWriting, or email me at KarinaBookRiot@gmail.com.
Until next time!
Karina
*If this e-mail was forwarded to you, follow this link to subscribe to “The Kids Are All Right” newsletter and other fabulous Book Riot newsletters for your own customized e-mail delivery. Thank you!*
Sponsored by Farrar Straus and Giroux/MCD Books
From the author of Annihilation, a brilliant speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things.
Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research will be holding its 2nd Annual National Antiracist Book Festival on Saturday, April 24. This virtual book festival “is the first and only book festival that brings together, showcases, and celebrates the nation’s leading antiracist writers and helps to prepare the writers of tomorrow.” Events will take place all day, including topically-organized panels featuring writers such as Pulitzer Prize finalist Tommy Orange (There There), New York Times bestselling author Kiley Reid (Such a Fun Age), co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter Alicia Garza (The Purpose of Power), and many more. There will also be writers workshops facilitated by leading book editors and literary agents. For a full list of events and registration details, check out the event page.
The Stephen King Rules Dollar Baby Film Festival will be streaming 25 short films adapted from the works of prolific author Stephen King. The virtual event is entirely free and will run from April 23rd to the 25th. The films include adaptations of King’s short stories, such as “Popsy,” “The Woman in the Room,” and “The Last Rung on the Ladder.” Additionally, the festival will include exclusive interviews and discussions with the filmmakers. You can find the full schedule on the Barker Street Cinema website.
Dear Netflix: Please adapt these romance novels by and about queer Black people. We need them right now. Please and thank you.
We’re giving away $100 to spend at the children’s bookstore Books of Wonder! All you have to do is sign-up for our Kid Lit Giveaways newsletter, and get notified whenever we’re giving away free kids’ and middle grade books! Click here or the image below to enter now!
Sponsored by Workman Publishing.
Funny, thoughtful, inspiring, and deeply personal essays about yoga, wellness, and life from author of Every Body Yoga, Jessamyn Stanley. Stanley explores her relationship to yoga, including why we practice, rather than how; wrestles with issues like cultural appropriation, materialism, and racism; and explores the ways we can all use yoga as a tool for self-love. Click through to download an egalley, now!
Welcome to Check Your Shelf. For those of you following along with the saga of my injured finger from Tuesday’s newsletter, I’m happy to report that it’s healing quite nicely and I no longer need to wear a bandage 24/7. The cut itself looks quite small, and there’s a part of me that wants to insist that no, really, I swear it was bleeding all over the place, I’m not just being a big baby for nothing!
Anyway, let’s library.
ALA asks the Biden administration to include specific funding for libraries in the American Jobs Plan.
Tennessee state legislators have introduced a bill that would ban any books that “promote, normalize, support, or address lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgender issues or lifestyles” from Tennesse schools. The bill passed out of committee last week, so if you live in Tennessee, now is a good time to contact your state representatives.
Georgia school librarians are alarmed by proposed legislation that seeks to remove them from decisions about which books students can (or can’t) read at school.
The most frequently banned books of 2020 include a lot more titles focused on racial inequality.
Public programming with virtual murder mysteries.
“Whispering libraries” are coming to Brooklyn this summer.
7 library changes that this librarian hopes will stick around after the pandemic.
Banned books in Florida prisons.
You don’t have to be cool to promote your library to teens!
Tessa Thompson launches a production company and is set to executive produce adaptations of Who Fears Death and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.
Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page will not return for season two.
A To All the Boys spinoff series is in the works.
Ken Follett’s The Evening and the Morning is being developed as a TV series.
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen is also being developed as a TV series.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is starring in the upcoming Amazon series, Hot Pink, which is based on the book What Girls Are Made Of by Elana K. Arnold.
Amanda Seyfriend has replaced Kate McKinnon to play Elizabeth Holmes in the Hulu series The Dropout.
Casting update for Station Eleven, The Good Nurse, and Matilda.
Vanity Fair has a piece about “The failure of American Gods and the trouble with Neil Gaiman,” in response to the news that American Gods has been canceled.
A Cincinnati firefighter wrote a children’s book to inspire and empower young girls.
The many faces of Ramona Quimby.
A rare 1938 Superman comic book has sold for a record $3.5 million at auction.
The winners of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Awards have been announced.
Deesha Philyaw wins the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.
James McBride wins the inaugural Gotham Book Prize.
The British Science Fiction Association Award winners have been announced.
The winners of the Windham-Campbell Prize have been announced.
Here are the shortlists for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction and the 2020 Aurealis Awards.
NPR wants your mini poems to celebrate National Poetry Month!
Visiting the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.
An English professor’s perspective on hating poetry.
Beginner mistakes to avoid during a 24-hour readathon.
A guide to Lord of the Rings special edition sets.
All right. Everyone’s fingers still attached? Good. Let’s keep it that way. Have a safe weekend, everyone!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.
