The Ethics of Storytelling in Repetition

Let’s vote on when we should meet up to discuss Repetition:

As always, you can leave me more detailed notes in the comments, ranking your vote or send me a DM.

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Hi Bookies!

Here are my July updates. My mom’s surgery went great although my dad fell three days before her surgery…

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Dear Reader,

I went to the beach and I survived! Let me back up. When I was 25, a melanoma was discovered on my right ear. It was safely removed through Mohs surgery, but boy did my doctor scare me when she said had I not removed it, it could have done me in in less than three months. And just like that, beach days were over. Living in Los Angeles my entire life not a day goes by that I don’t think about the beach or drive past it. So when my friend had a birthday gathering at the beach in Malibu, I packed up my popup tent, my shade chair, my obnoxiously dense sunscreen, my rash guard, two hats (one for the beach and one for the ocean) and gave it a go. And I’m here to tell the tale! :)

It also started raining, which, if you know me, you know that’s my absolute favorite. So, perhaps I’ll give the beach another go before summer is over.

Locals Come Say Hi!

I am delighted to be acting as a guest bookseller at Los Angeles’s very first book crawl sponsored by amazing indie bookstores including my favorite, Diesel Books in Santa Monica. I will be at Diesel doling out personal recommendations, signing copies of my summer read young adult novel Strays and giving away Books Are My People coffee mugs.

If you are local, please come say hi!

Saturday, July 25th from 10am - 11 am

225 26th Street, Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402

Poll Results:

So many of you voted in last week’s poll! I found the results really interesting. The most important thing to the majority of you is a compelling plot. Next up, a combination of plot, characters, beautiful writing and learning something new (I fall into that camp). Learning something new was the lowest on the list. I think this poll tracks with consumer purchases out in the real world. I’d say that commercial fiction is more plot-driven, while literary fiction is more character driven. As commercial fiction is much more popular than literary fiction, it makes sense that more people would place plot at the top. While beautiful writing isn’t necessarily a requirement for me to love a book, I will say that I do appreciate beautiful writing and I’ve had that experience before where I’ve loved the writing, but was simply not compelled enough by a book.

The Summer of Book Giveaways Continues:

I am currently giving away one copy of Sigrid Nunez’s It Will Come Back To You, out today!

This is Nunez’s first collection, a compendium of thirteen dazzling stories showcasing her signature blend of brilliance and emotional depth. These stories have appeared in various literary magazines from 1992 – 2025 and are gathered for the first time.

To Enter: Simply leave a comment on my Instagram giveaway post and follow the other instructions for extra entries.This giveaway will close on Monday, August 5th and I will contact a winner on August 4th. This giveaway is open to US mailing addresses only. Thank you to Riverhead Books for sponsoring this giveaway.

The Mash Up by Laura Marie Meyers: In this romance novel, after a birthday breakup shatters her carefully planned life, Ruby Wynne wakes up inside the colorful fantasy future her thirteen-year-old self imagined in a game of M.A.S.H. The only way home? Convince her lifelong nemesis, her brother’s best friend, to become the soulmate the game insists he’s always been.

To Enter: Simply leave a comment on my Instagram giveaway post. Earn extra entries by sharing this newsletter on Substack. This giveaway will close on July 27th and I will contact the winner on July 28^th. Open to US Mailing addresses only. Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for sponsoring this giveaway.

Sisters of a Halved Heart by Nayantara Roy: In this literary family drama, Mira Guhathakurta, a poetry editor living in New York, believes she’s finally found her soulmate. But when a shocking betrayal by her sister shatters both their family and her future, buried secrets come to light forcing her to examine her entire relationship with her once beloved sister.

To Enter: Simply leave a comment on my Instagram giveaway post. Earn extra entries by sharing this newsletter on Substack. This giveaway will close on July 22nd and I will contact the winner on July 23rd. Open to US Mailing addresses only. Thank you to Algonquin Books for sponsoring this giveaway.

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Click here to listen to the most recent episode of my book recommendation podcast - And, if you haven’t yet, the greatest gift would be to rate my show, wherever you listen.

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Member Corner:

July: Read With Me: Repetition by Vigdis Hjorth. Week 3 began yesterday!

August: Independent Reading Month. Read whatever you’d like and we will meetup and discuss.

September: Read With Me Month (I’m switching the order around so we have a little more time to catch some fall film releases)

October: Book To Film

November: Independent Reading Month

Let Me Help You Discover New Books! (I’ve starred the ones I’ve read) I’m confident readers of all stripes will find their next read in this newsletter, where there’s something for everyone! You can learn more about me by visiting my introductory post here.

Subscribe now

If you buy your books online, please consider using the links to my Bookshop.org affiliate store. *please make sure you’re in my Books Are My People store! A portion of your spending goes to independent bookstores! A win-win-win! (You win, I win, indie bookstores win!)

Out Today:

*short fiction: It Will Come Back to You: The Collected Stories - Sigrid Nunez - The first story collection from one of contemporary fiction’s most acclaimed novelists. Nunez gathers thirteen elegant, emotionally incisive tales that explore grief, love, art, and the quiet mysteries of ordinary life with Sigrid Nunez’s signature wit and wisdom.

riotous: Hustle, Baby - Priya Guns - This novel follows a family of Tamil refugees who fled civil war in Sri Lanka to pursue a better life, just for it to be up-ended by the schemes of a self-proclaimed day-trading savant, jeopardizing everything they’ve worked so desperately to secure.

Listen to my previous podcast interview with Priya Guns.

inventive, genre-defying: Please Don’t Touch the Body - Emily Doyle - These eleven stories explore identity, desire, power, and belonging through characters navigating the absurd, the surreal, and the painfully familiar realities of modern life.

romance: I Want You To Be Happy - Jem Calder - A burnt-out copywriter and an aspiring poet mistake each other for fresh starts, discovering that reinvention is harder than falling in love.

Sandwich meets The Wedding People: Make Nice - Ryan Effgen - A comedy of manners involving three generations of family—a snail scientist, a soon-to-be divorcée, her teenage daughter, a hapless con man, and their feckless patriarch as they descend on a ritzy Lake Michigan vacation island.

ambition and power: Famous Men - Julie Buntin - An ostracized teenager's search for the famous writer she believes is her father.

political thriller meets fable: Astronaut - Oana Artistide - During the final months of Communist Romania, a detective investigating murders blamed on a bear and a defiant schoolgirl learn that the deadliest myths are the ones dictators convince people to believe.

biting satire: Ada - Mark Haber - A delusional strongman ruling a tiny European nation becomes consumed with rekindling a long-lost affair, even as revolution, assassination plots, and the collapse of his regime gather outside his door.

Chicago rock band novel: The Come Apart - Susannah Felts - As the music industry collapses beneath her feet, a struggling indie rocker must decide whether chasing the dream is worth everything she's sacrificed to keep it alive.

love story meets coming-of age: Everything to the Sea - Alicia Upano - A breathtaking debut novel spanning years and shores after a sudden tsunami devastates the island of Hawai’i and cuts short a young couple’s budding romance.

Paperback Releases:

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter - Stephen Graham Jones - A hidden diary unlocks the truth behind an American Indian revenge story that spans generations, as buried history refuses to stay buried. Equal parts historical horror and moral reckoning, the novel asks what happens when the ghosts of genocide finally demand to be heard.

If You Love It, Let It Kill You - Hannah Pittard - When a novelist discovers she's about to become an unflattering character in her ex-husband's debut novel, her carefully constructed contentment unravels into a surreal midlife crisis, forcing her to confront questions of art, identity, and who gets to tell whose story.

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ART:

I finally framed these two works of art I made on the gelli plate from photos that I took from my trip to Italy in March. My 20-year-old’s girlfriend did a semester abroad in Florence, so I made these for her as a keepsake of her special time abroad.

Want to learn how to use a gelli plate? You can purchase my intro to gelli printing workshop here. I will be adding more workshops soon.

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Family Dynamics and Family Systems Theory in Repetition

Below is the video for week three where I discuss family dynamics and family systems theory in Repetition.

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Dear Reader,

To those of you in the U.S. I hope you enjoyed the 250th birthday of our complicated nation! As a child born in 1976, it’s odd to think I was born during the 200th celebration. We had a lovely BBQ over here with some pool time even though our big dog was convinced that everyone was drowning. We have some work to do on her nervous system. And, this is the first year where I felt like the fireworks occurred all-day. Can you even see fireworks before the sun goes down?

Poll:

Guest Author Recommendation:

This week’s guest author recommendation comes from Laura Marie Meyers, author of The Mash Up, out today!

After a birthday breakup shatters her carefully planned life, Ruby Wynne wakes up inside the colorful fantasy future her thirteen-year-old self imagined in a game of M.A.S.H. The only way home? Convince her lifelong nemesis, her brother’s best friend, to become the soulmate the game insists he’s always been.

I have such vivid memories of playing M.A.S.H. on the bus to p.e. in middle school. Let’s hear what Laura has to recommend!

The Summer of Book Giveaways Continues:

The Mash Up by Laura Marie Meyers: In this romance novel, after a birthday breakup shatters her carefully planned life, Ruby Wynne wakes up inside the colorful fantasy future her thirteen-year-old self imagined in a game of M.A.S.H. The only way home? Convince her lifelong nemesis, her brother’s best friend, to become the soulmate the game insists he’s always been.

To Enter: Simply leave a comment on my Instagram giveaway post. Earn extra entries by sharing this newsletter on Substack. This giveaway will close on July 27th and I will contact the winner on July 28^th. Open to US Mailing addresses only. Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s sons for sponsoring this giveaway.

Sisters of a Halved Heart by Nayantara Roy: In this literary family drama, Mira Guhathakurta, a poetry editor living in New York, believes she’s finally found her soulmate. But when a shocking betrayal by her sister shatters both their family and her future, buried secrets come to light forcing her to examine her entire relationship with her once beloved sister.

To Enter: Simply leave a comment on my Instagram giveaway post. Earn extra entries by sharing this newsletter on Substack. This giveaway will close on July 22nd and I will contact the winner on July 23rd. Open to US Mailing addresses only. Thank you to Algonquin Books for sponsoring this giveaway.

The Future Perfect by Cay Kim

To Enter: Simply leave a comment on my Instagram giveaway post. Earn extra entries by sharing this newsletter on Substack. This giveaway will close on July 13^th and I will contact the winner on July 14^th. Open to US Mailing addresses only. Thank you to Riverhead Books for sponsoring this giveaway.

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Leave a comment

Click here to listen to the most recent episode of my book recommendation podcast - And, if you haven’t yet, the greatest gift would be to rate my show, wherever you listen.

Subscribe now

Member Corner:

July: Read With Me: Repetition by Vigdis Hjorth. Week 2 began yesterday!

August: Independent Reading Month. Read whatever you’d like and we will meetup and discuss.

September: Read With Me Month (I’m switching the order around so we have a little more time to catch some fall film releases)

October: Book To Film

November: Independent Reading Month

Let Me Help You Discover New Books! (I’ve starred the ones I’ve read) I’m confident readers of all stripes will find their next read in this newsletter, where there’s something for everyone! You can learn more about me by visiting my introductory post here.

Subscribe now

If you buy your books online, please consider using the links to my Bookshop.org affiliate store. *please make sure you’re in my Books Are My People store! A portion of your spending goes to independent bookstores! A win-win-win! (You win, I win, indie bookstores win!)

Out Today:

So many books out today!! Like, SO many!!

literary fiction: Country People - Daniel Mason - I LOVED North Woods, so I’m super excited to read this novel about a year in the life of a family as they strike out into the unknown (aka Vermont), leaving all the comforts of home behind.

*high concept rom-com: The Mash Up - Laura Marie Meyers - Dumped on her thirty-fifth birthday, a lifelong planner wakes up trapped inside the outrageous future predicted by her seventh-grade M.A.S.H. game. To get back to reality, she’ll have to break every rule she’s ever lived by, starting with falling for her brother’s best friend. If this sounds good to you, scroll up to enter the giveaway!

high concept: Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt - Ben Reeves - When Death befriends the family living across the hall, he discovers the beauty of human connection for the first time and begins to question the lonely purpose he’s carried for eternity.

Family Saga The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders - An impulsive and heartbroken woman inherits her father’s share of a Tennessee farm that is rich in family secrets and occupied with busybody ghosts.

family drama: Some People - Parini Shroff - When an accident forces a woman to rely on her daughter’s estranged husband for care, an uneasy week together compels them to confront the family wounds that have cost them both the person they love most.

mythology lovers: Ungodly Rich - Katherine McGee - Old gods, new rules. New York Times bestselling author Katharine McGee puts a modern-day twist on ancient mythology in this bold reimagining of the Greek gods as a family of billionaires—with all the messy drama that entails.

psychological thriller: Helpless by Jessica Knoll - After a chance reunion ends with her charismatic ex kidnapping her, a successful Hollywood producer is pulled back into their obsessive romance, uncovering a long-buried mystery that upends everything she believed about their shared past.

on growing up: A Real Animal - Emeline Atwood - After surviving a sexual assault, a young woman spends her twenties searching for meaning through love, estrangement, and the natural world, confronting the unsettling possibility that wildness and loneliness are inseparable parts of being alive.

Paperback Releases:

*Sunbirth - An Yu - The sun is dying, the world is freezing, and mysterious figures with blazing suns for heads begin to appear. While their isolated town teeters on the edge of extinction, two sisters uncover clues that link these impossible beings to their father's long-unsolved disappearance.

Summer People - Sally Blakely - Five friends have spent every summer reuniting at the same beach house under one simple rule: never date within the group. But after years of secretly breaking that promise, two former lovers are forced back together for one unforgettable week where old chemistry, buried heartbreak, and long-kept secrets refuse to stay in the past.

*The Imagined Life - Andrew Porter - As his own marriage crumbles, a man retraces the life of his father, a charismatic professor who disappeared in disgrace decades earlier, uncovering family secrets that force him to confront the man he has become.

Which book do you want to read first? I’m going Country People.

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ART:

I spent a good part of the weekend experimenting on a BIG gelli plate using the artist Rex Ray as inspiration for an upcoming gelli printing class I am teaching. It was really fun playing with bold colors and geometric forms. This print is 11 x 14.

You can sign up for my intro to gelli printing workshop here.

I will hopefully be offering another class in July - just trying to figure out when exactly because it turns out my July is super busy!

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Week 2: The Psychology of Repetition

Below, please find the short video for week two. Below that, you will find some bonus material to enhance your reading experience. Questions? Comments? Scroll all…

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Happy almost 4th of July weekend!

Welcome to the Midwinter Break discussion replay below:

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This week, we will learn about author Vigdis Hjorth as well as her backlist and how her real-life family drama may perhaps inform her writing.

I first read her last year when I came across her transl…

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Dear Reader,

So much is happening this week in the Books Are My People space! We had our Book-to-Film meetup for Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty yesterday. The replay is coming Thursday for those of you who missed it. And, we begin our July Read With Me pick, Repetition by Vigdis Hjorth. I am giving away a free month in July if you’d like to read and discuss with us. Visit here to learn more!

Poll Results:

It makes me so happy to see that libraries are alive and well amongst this reading group. I LOVE my local library and I also LOVE my Libby app for audiobooks. I’d be lost without it. But also, why aren’t more friends lending us books? Lol.

Gelli Class:

My introduction to gelli printing class Meet The Gelli Plate is now available for purchase. This is a pre-recorded webinar that you can save and watch as many times as you’d like! Click here to purchase. I aim to record a live gelli webinar once a month on a different Gelli-related topic where attendees can ask questions and troubleshoot live. If there’s anything you want to learn in particular, let me know in the comments and I’ll add it to the list!

Leave a comment

In-Person Matisse Inspired Paper Cut Out on the Gelli Plate Class:

I’m teaching an in-person class on Wednesday, July 22 from 6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. at The Brentwood Art Center in Santa Monica. You can click here for more information.

This is the summer of book giveaways! And even more are on the way!

Book Giveaways:

I am giving away one copy of The Future Perfect, by Cay Kim, out today! This one is for fans of lyrical fiction. In this coming-of-age novel written in second person, a Korean girl immigrates from Soeul to Minnesota and is caught between her mother’s dreams and her own, navigating identity, ambition and the fraught tension that can come with belonging to two cultures.

To Enter: Simply leave a comment on my Instagram giveaway post. Earn extra entries by sharing this newsletter on Substack. This giveaway will close on July 13^th and I will contact the winner on July 14^th. Open to US Mailing addresses only. Thank you to Riverhead Books for sponsoring this giveaway.

I am giving away one copy Camille Perri’s Social Animals. To Enter: Simply leave a comment on my Instagram giveaway post. Earn extra entries by sharing this newsletter on Substack. This giveaway will close on July 6^th and I will contact the winner on July 7^th. Open to US Mailing addresses only. Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for sponsoring this giveaway.

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Leave a comment

Click here to listen to the most recent episode of my book recommendation podcast - And, if you haven’t yet, the greatest gift would be to rate my show, wherever you listen.

Subscribe now

Member Corner:

July: Read With Me: Repetition by Vigdis Hjorth. I’ll post the first video on July 1st!

August: Independent Reading Month. Read whatever you’d like and we will meetup and discuss.

Let Me Help You Discover New Books! (I’ve starred the ones I’ve read) I’m confident readers of all stripes will find their next read in this newsletter, where there’s something for everyone! You can learn more about me by visiting my introductory post here.

Subscribe now

If you buy your books online, please consider using the links to my Bookshop.org affiliate store. *please make sure you’re in my Books Are My People store! A portion of your spending goes to independent bookstores! A win-win-win! (You win, I win, indie bookstores win!)

Out Today:

beach read: The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson - An ambitious young woman insinuates herself into a tight-knit social set, shaking up friendships and marriages in a small seaside town. A frothy novel of love, money, sex, and friendship.

part satire / party literary mystery: Bone Horn by Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain - What begins as an impossible case about a rumored horn on Alice B. Toklas’s head becomes a globe-spanning investigation into grief, queer history, and who gets to write the past.

thriller: The Au Pair by Teddy Wayne - Once a celebrated novelist, Steven Hammer is now watching his career and marriage collapse. When he begins an affair with the family's young Norwegian au pair, a relationship built on admiration spirals into a sensational trial that captivates the world.

in a near future America: Vera, Or Faith by Gary Shteyngart - When her unconventional family begins to unravel in a rapidly changing America, an observant young girl embarks on a search for her birth mother, hoping to discover not only who she is, but how love can survive in a world coming apart.

British Rom-Com: Main Characters by Bobby Palmer - Two aspiring artists fall into a love affair that captivates everyone around them, but over two decades, passion gives way to betrayal. Told through the voices of friends, rivals, and bystanders, this is a sweeping novel about the stories we tell about other people's relationships, and the truths only lovers know.

short story collection: July Sun by Aamina Ahmad - In a searing collection by the award-winning author of The Return of Faraz Ali, characters seek to make their futures their own in a Pakistan riven by class, gender and religion.

connected stories: Small Comfort by Ia Genberg - From washed-up actors to desperate couples performing happiness, five interconnected tales examine the small performances of everyday life and the outsized role money plays in shaping who we become.

Paperback Releases:

(I’ve starred the ones I’ve read, which in this case, is all of them!)

*The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami - After an algorithm predicts she will commit a violent crime based on her dreams, a woman is imprisoned before she's done anything wrong. Trapped in a detention center where freedom depends on obeying ever-changing rules, she must fight a surveillance system that claims to know her better than she knows herself.

*A Marriage At Sea by Sophie Elmhirst - I loved the first two thirds of this book SO much. They quit their jobs, sold everything, and sailed into the adventure of a lifetime. Then a whale sank their boat. Based on an astonishing true story, this is both a gripping survival narrative and an intimate portrait of a marriage tested at the edge of human endurance.

*The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King - A young woman discovers her family possesses a hidden magic: the ability to restore the memories trapped inside old pencils. As she uncovers her grandmother's wartime past, she must piece together a legacy of love, sacrifice, and espionage before those stories disappear forever.

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ART:

I’ve been slowly adding paintings of book covers to my reading journals. It wasn’t until I painted the cover of David Szalay’s novel, Flesh, that I noticed the two silhouetted faces in the negative space of the apple core. Have you read this one? I found it surprisingly compelling considering the main character is quite passive and quite unlikable.

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Hello Bookies!

Below if our reading schedule for Repetition, which we will begin next week! I know it’s still June next week, but the way the days fall, it gives us more time for a meetup at the end …

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In July, we will be reading the concise novel, Repetition by Vigdis Hjorth.

As the dark Norwegian winter closes in, a novelist is pulled back to the year she turned sixteen, a year marked by first loves, first mistakes, and a family secret that would shape the rest of her life. In Repetition, acclaimed writer Vigdis Hjorth delivers a piercing, emotionally rich novel about adolescence, memory, and the sacrifices families make to survive. Both intimate and unsettling, it explores how the unresolved moments of youth continue to echo decades later.

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I will release a new video each week on a different aspect of this book as well as a ton of supplemental content related to the book, and we will gather over zoom at the end of July to discuss.

⭐I’m giving away a free month in July to one reader who can join in the fun as well as receive all of the other benefits of being a paid subscriber including Subscriber-only Thursday posts. ⭐

To be considered for the free month, simply leave a comment below! You can earn an extra entry by sharing this post in your notes.

The winner will have access to all paid subscriber-only posts for the month of July, beginning July 1st, including an invitation to our end-of-July meetup to discuss Repetition.

Already a paying member? You too are eligible to win the free month! (I’d just extend your membership by a month.)

I hope to see you in July!

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p.s. I am raising my monthly price in September. Paid annual members, you are locked in to the currently low price. If you are a month paying member, consider upgrading your membership to the annual fee.

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I read the book, now I have to watch the movie!! You can do any combination of the two you’d like.

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Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed a lovely Father’s Day whether it was remembering a father, spending time with a father, enjoying being a father, or doing something totally unrelated to fatherhood! I spent the first half of the day with my sister at a memorial service for a close friend of my father’s, which sounds depressing, but it was actually beautiful and life-affirming. People matter. The way you treat others matters and it was touching to see how this friend impacted so many people around him. Then, we met up with my kids who took lunch over to my parents, who are both recovering from various medical issues, and it was so nice to spend the time together.

Gelli Class:

My introduction to gelli printing class Meet The Gelli Plate is now available for purchase. This is a pre-recorded webinar that you can save and watch as many times as you’d like! Click here to purchase. I aim to record a live gelli webinar once a month on a different Gelli-related topic where attendees can ask questions and troubleshoot live. If there’s anything you want to learn in particular, let me know in the comments and I’ll add it to the list!

Leave a comment

In-Person Matisse Inspired Paper Cut Out on the Gelli Plate Class:

I’m teaching an in-person class on Wednesday, July 22 from 6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. at The Brentwood Art Center in Santa Monica. You can click here for more information.

New Poll:

Guest Author Recommendation:

Today, we have a guest author recommendation from Laura Lekkos, author of All the Little Ways, out now!

In All the Little Ways, a driven 43-year-old finance executive who never planned on having children and a 32-year-old reality TV producer desperate to become a mother forge an unlikely friendship during pregnancy, only to face a life-altering secret that tests their families, futures, and faith in each other.

Let’s hear what Laura has to recommend!

This is the summer of book giveaways!

Book Giveaways:

I am giving away one copy of The Future Perfect, by Cay Kim, out today! This one is for fans of lyrical fiction. In this coming-of-age novel written in second person, a Korean girl immigrates from Soeul to Minnesota and is caught between her mother’s dreams and her own, navigating identity, ambition and the fraught tension that can come with belonging to two cultures.

To Enter: Simply leave a comment on my Instagram giveaway post. Earn extra entries by sharing this newsletter on Substack. This giveaway will close on July 13^th and I will contact the winner on July 14^th. Open to US Mailing addresses only. Thank you to Riverhead Books for sponsoring this giveaway.

I am giving away one copy Camille Perri’s Social Animals. To Enter: Simply leave a comment on my Instagram giveaway post. Earn extra entries by sharing this newsletter on Substack. This giveaway will close on July 6^th and I will contact the winner on July 7^th. Open to US Mailing addresses only. Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for sponsoring this giveaway.

Share

Leave a comment

Click here to listen to the most recent episode of my book recommendation podcast - And, if you haven’t yet, the greatest gift would be to rate my show, wherever you listen.

Subscribe now

Member Corner:

June: Book to Film Adaptation is Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty. We will be meeting Monday, June 29th at 10 am PT

July: Read With Me: I’ll post the reading schedule for Vigdis Hjorth’s Repetition on Thursday.

August: Independent Reading Month.

Let Me Help You Discover New Books! (I’ve starred the ones I’ve read) I’m confident readers of all stripes will find their next read in this newsletter, where there’s something for everyone! You can learn more about me by visiting my introductory post here.

Subscribe now

If you buy your books online, please consider using the links to my Bookshop.org affiliate store. *please make sure you’re in my Books Are My People store! A portion of your spending goes to independent bookstores! A win-win-win! (You win, I win, indie bookstores win!)

Out Today:

Some weeks are huge for releases. Others, not so much. This is one of those weeks. Also, horror and suspense heavy this week. I can’t explain why!

mystery with a canine twist: It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell. Returning a stray dog should have been simple. Instead, it draws Jane Trevally back to the house that haunts her nightmares, where a missing girl, a frightened woman, and secrets buried for twenty-five years collide.

dark comedy: Agnes Lives! Hallie Elizabeth Newton - In 2014 Manhattan, Agnes Maurer is searching for someone to kill her. As she drifts between luxury boutiques, toxic relationships, and increasingly surreal encounters, her quest becomes a darkly comic performance of self-destruction.

thriller: Tata by Valerie Perrin - When a woman discovers her aunt has died for the second time, she embarks on a haunting investigation into a life built on secrets, uncovering a tangled family history where nothing is quite as it seems.

Queer romance and gothic horror: Little Wild by Laura Evans - Suffolk, 1937. Margaret and her best friend Joanie are secretly planning to escape their privileged but suffocating world and begin a new life together in London. When their relationship is discovered, their future is shattered, and Margaret is exiled to a remote cabin with the father she barely knows. There, strange dreams, unsettling transformations, and whispers of a dark inheritance force her to confront a mysterious power linked to her mother's tragic past.

Paperback Releases:

*Among Friends Hal Ebbott - Over a seemingly idyllic autumn weekend in the New York countryside, two families bound by decades of friendship gather to celebrate a birthday and the life they've built together. But beneath the rituals, affection, and shared history, old resentments and hidden envies are quietly simmering.

I listened to this one last summer and “enjoyed” it is hard to write because it’s about a difficult subject matter, but I thought it was really well-written and I couldn’t put it down.

*Family drama. The Accidental Favorite Fran Littlewood - What begins as a joyful weeklong celebration of a mother's seventieth birthday quickly unravels when a split-second reaction reveals a father's long-hidden favorite child. The revelation sends shockwaves through three accomplished sisters, exposing decades of rivalry, resentment, and carefully buried secrets.

I also listened to this one last summer and really enjoyed all of the sibling tension. This is a funny and moving book.

Which release do you want to read?

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ARTIST JOURNALS:

Thank you to those of you who have purchased my lie-flat artist journals crafted from vintage books! I still have some left in my Etsy shop. Here’s a small sampling. These covers crack me up!

And did I mention shipping is FREE?

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Please let me know what time works best for you for a meetup for Midwinter Break the book and / or the film.

If more than one time slot works for you, feel free to leave that in a comment below. As a…

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Dear Reader,

As a former theater kid, it’s strange that I spent the weekend watching more sports than I ever have in my life: hockey, soccer, basketball. It’s sports overload! I’m not complaining (am I?) and I always have a book with me for hydration breaks. The World Cup games in L.A. are very close to our hockey rink, so traffic has been a nightmare, but then again, traffic is always a nightmare here. How can I connect my sports tangent to books? I can’t. Moving on…

One last thing, my parents both made it successfully through their respective procedures and are resting and recuperating at home. While my mom was in surgery, I took a long walk to the beach. I’m so thankful to live near the ocean.

Art Class:

It’s today! Online Gelli Printing Class: You asked for it and it’s happening! On Tuesday, June 16th at 4pm PT, I’ll be teaching an hour and a half introductory gelli printing class. You will learn how to apply paint to the plate, what materials can be used on the plate, how to care for your plate and we will run through a series of exercises showing you how you can use your plate to create beautiful art. Plus, I will be there live to answer any troubleshooting questions.

Members: you can access a code to get the class for FREE here!

This class will be recorded so even if you can’t make it, you can sign up and receive the replay to watch whenever you’d like.

My aim is to hold an online class like this once a month. Click here to sign up, learn more about the class and learn what materials to bring. I’m SO excited to share my favorite art tool!

In-Person Matisse Inspired Paper Cut Out on the Gelli Plate Class:

I’m teaching an in-person class on Wednesday, July 22 from 6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. at The Brentwood Art Center in Santa Monica. You can click here for more information.

Poll Results:

Looks like most people’s reading habits do not change over summer. Fair enough.

Guest Author Recommendation:

Over the summer, we’re going to get some special guest author recommendations from a variety of authors. To kick it off today is Camille Perri, author of Social Animals.

When a PI is hired to investigate a devoted dog owner suspected of cheating on her husband, three women's lives intersect at a beloved local dog park. What begins as surveillance turns into friendship, self-discovery, and a chance to rewrite their futures.

Everyone who goes to a dog park will relate to this one and I’m obsessed with this cover, it’s so darn cute.

You can learn more about Camille Perri here. And listen to her recommendation below!

Book Giveaway:

I am giving away one copy Camille Perri’s Social Animals. To Enter, simple leave a comment here or on my Instagram giveaway post. Earn extra entries by sharing this newsletter on Substack. This giveaway will close on July 6^th and I will contact the winner on July 7^th. Open to US Mailing addresses only. Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for sponsoring this giveaway.

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Click here to listen to the most recent episode of my book recommendation podcast - And, if you haven’t yet, the greatest gift would be to rate my show, wherever you listen.

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Member Corner:

June: Book to Film Adaptation is Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty.

July: Read With Me: It’s a tie! I’ll announce what we’re reading in July soon. (Although, if you attended the meetup, you know what’s up!)

August: Independent Reading Month.

Let Me Help You Discover New Books! (I’ve starred the ones I’ve read) I’m confident readers of all stripes will find their next read in this newsletter, where there’s something for everyone! You can learn more about me by visiting my introductory post here.

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If you buy your books online, please consider using the links to my Bookshop.org affiliate store. *please make sure you’re in my Books Are My People store! A portion of your spending goes to independent bookstores! A win-win-win! (You win, I win, indie bookstores win!)

Out Today:

Another big release day! I’ve tried to curate a variety of different books for your reading pleasure.

A Year in the Life of a Family: Country People - Daniel Mason - Boy, did I love his previous novel, North Woods. In Mason’s latest novel, when an underachieving folklorist follows his wife and children to rural Vermont for what he hopes will be a fresh start, he quickly becomes enchanted by the region's eccentric residents, strange histories, and lingering mysteries.

Aging, memory and multigenerational caregiving: On the Other Side is March - Solrun Michelsen - Sixty-year-old Solrun, a Faroese woman, navigates the demands of caregiving and reflects on childhood memories, family stories, and the generations of women who quietly shoulder the work of care. This looks beautiful and introspective.

alien abduction, fame and memory: Voyagers - Meg Charlton - When a mysterious signal from the edge of the solar system throws the world into turmoil, Alex is forced to revisit the childhood event that made him famous: a thirty-six-hour disappearance that many believed was an alien abduction. Reconnecting with Ana, the only other person who shared this event, he embarks on a search for the truth behind their lost time. This is getting a lot of great buzz.

Looking for a beach read? The Lake Club - Lina Patton - At an exclusive country club where status is everything, glamorous socialite Danika and disgraced hometown returnee Augie find themselves unexpectedly fixated on the same person: Chat, the charismatic male nanny hired for the summer.

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Paperback Releases:

Intemperance - Sonora Jha - At fifty-five, a twice-divorced Indian American intellectual shocks her community by announcing a modern-day swayamvar, an ancient tradition in which suitors compete for a woman's hand in marriage. As the event attracts supporters, protesters, meddling family members, and even mythological visitors from the past, she is forced to confront questions about aging, desire, disability and feminism. Has anyone read this? I threw it out there as a book club pick a few months ago. I think it looks so interesting!

*The Original - Nell Stevens - When a man claiming to be Grace’s long-lost cousin returns to claim the family fortune, his arrival threatens to expose old fractures and forces Grace to confront questions of identity, inheritance, and authenticity.

The Mobius Book - Catherine Lacey - After a devastating breakup, writer Catherine Lacey turns to both memoir and fiction to make sense of loss, faith, and the possibility of beginning again. The book can be read back-to-front or front-to-back! I have this one, but I haven’t read it yet. Should I read it forward or backwards?

Which release do you want to read?

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ART:

Not art exactly, but I’ve created a collection of handmade literary journals crafted from covers of beloved books from the New York Review Books Children’s Collection.

Inside you’ll find approximately 75 pages of heavyweight 270 GSM blank cardstock, perfect for sketching, journaling, mixed media art, reading notes, gelli printing, poetry and creative writing and everyday inspiration.

✨ I’m offering FREE U.S. SHIPPING

The collection is available now in my Etsy shop. Click here to learn more.

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Hi Bookies!

My mom is having major surgery this morning, so send good thoughts her way!

Summer is here! Stone fruit …

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Dear Reader,

Would you believe my youngest had his very last hockey tryouts for high school travel hockey? This is where it begins, the list of lasts. What a strange and wondrous thing it is to see your children grow up.

Are you excited for summer reading?

Leave a comment

I am! I want to focus on the Storygraph Read The World Challenge and well as catch up on some backlisted books. I’m really enjoying shorter reads during this reading season. My ability to concentrate has left the building.

Art Class:

Online Gelli Printing Class: You asked for it and it’s happening! On Tuesday, June 16th at 4pm PT, I’ll be teaching an hour and a half introductory gelli printing class. You will learn how to apply paint to the plate, what materials can be used on the plate, how to care for your plate and we will run through a series of exercises showing you how you can use your plate to create beautiful art. Plus, I will be there live to answer any troubleshooting questions.

My aim is to hold an online class like this once a month. Click here to sign up, learn more about the class and learn what materials to bring. I’m SO excited to share my favorite art tool!

New Poll :

Podcast News: 🎙️

On episode #167, we get a visit from Laurie Frankel, author of the recently published, Enormous Wings. It’s SO fantastic! We discuss reproductive freedoms, bodily autonomy, aging and ageism. She runs the Substack .

And I make a very special and bittersweet announcement.

Click here to listen to the most recent episode of my book recommendation podcast - And, if you haven’t yet, the greatest gift would be to rate my show, wherever you listen.

Subscribe now

Member Corner:

May: Independent Reading Month. To watch the replay of our fun meetup, click here.

June: Book to Film Adaptation is Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty.

July: Read With Me: It’s a tie! I’ll announce what we’re reading in July soon. (Although, if you attended the meetup, you know what’s up!)

Let Me Help You Discover New Books! (I’ve starred the ones I’ve read) I’m confident readers of all stripes will find their next read in this newsletter, where there’s something for everyone! You can learn more about me by visiting my introductory post here.

Subscribe now

If you buy your books online, please consider using the links to my Bookshop.org affiliate store. *please make sure you’re in my Books Are My People store! A portion of your spending goes to independent bookstores! A win-win-win! (You win, I win, indie bookstores win!)

Out Today:

Another big release day! I’ve tried to curate a variety of different books for your reading pleasure.

messy families: Pool House - Mary H.K. Choi - Oh how I love a painterly cover! After the death of her mother’s longtime lover and television co-star, Stevie and her once-famous actress mother, Moon, find themselves broke, grieving, and trapped together in a Los Angeles pool house they can barely afford.

Linked short stories: The Animal Room - Lauren Acampora - A woman is unsettled by her neighbor's hunting trophies. A psychiatric patient is convinced she's becoming a bird. These interconnected stories use the natural world to explore loneliness, desire, power, and belonging.

living a creative life: Contrapposto - Dave Eggers - When a gifted young artist from the American Midwest falls under the influence of the brilliant and charismatic Olympia Argyros, a friendship begins that will shape the next sixty-five years of both their lives.

a book about friendship: Waist Deep - Linea Maja Ernst - Five friends reunite for a week at a Danish lake house, hoping to recapture the freedom and intimacy of their university days. But beneath the sun-soaked swims, flirtations, and late-night dinners, old desires and unresolved tensions begin to surface, forcing them to confront the lives they've chosen and the dreams they've left behind.

a shocking revelation between two friends: *All the Little Ways - Laura Lekkos - Two women with seemingly nothing in common meet in a prenatal class and form an unexpected friendship that becomes a lifeline as they navigate pregnancy, relationships, and uncertain futures.

a novel about reinvention: Villa Coco - Andrew Sean Greer - An ambitious young archivist escapes to the Italian countryside hoping to begin a more serious life, only to find himself working for Coco, a flamboyant ninety-two-year-old baroness surrounded by eccentrics, aristocrats, and chaos.

psychological suspense: The Fine Art of Lying - Alexander Andrews - When Clare Bast, a young mother and former art scholar, is drawn back into the elite art world she once dreamed of joining, she sees a chance to reclaim a part of herself lost to marriage and motherhood. But after she becomes entangled in the theft of a priceless painting and finds herself linked to a brutal murder, Clare is plunged into a dangerous world of deception, privilege, and international art crime.

a funny, sexy rom-com: The Missed Connection - Tia Williams - When a chance connection with a handsome stranger on a flight to Paris leaves her convinced she's met the one, busy casting director Sasha Cruz launches a wildly public search to find him again, accidentally enlisting her entire company in the hunt.

coming-of-age: Nymph - Sofia Montrone - Set at a weathered family agriturismo in rural Italy, this novel follows Leo from childhood into adolescence. When she falls for Dolores, an American girl spending the summer nearby, first love awakens new desires and forces Leo to confront parts of herself she can no longer ignore.

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Paperback Releases:

Food Person: a novel - Adam Roberts - After losing her dream job at a food magazine, cookbook-obsessed Isabella Pasternack reluctantly takes a gig ghostwriting a cookbook for a scandal-plagued Hollywood actress who barely seems interested in food. What begins as a professional disaster evolves into an unlikely friendship as Isabella discovers unexpected depths beneath her celebrity client’s chaotic exterior.

Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid - When a reserved astronomy professor is selected as one of the first women to train for NASA's Space Shuttle program in the 1980s, she enters a world of intense competition, extraordinary ambition, and unexpected friendship.

So Far Gone - Jess Walter - After abandoning modern life and retreating to a remote cabin in the woods, Rhys Kinnick wants nothing more than to be left alone. But when his daughter disappears and his grandchildren become entangled with a dangerous militia, he is forced back into a world he thought he'd escaped.

Is A River Alive? Robert Macfarlane - Macfarlane travels from Ecuador to India to Canada, exploring a provocative question with profound environmental and legal implications: should rivers be considered living beings with rights of their own?

Which book do you want to read first?

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ART:

I had some fun experimenting with image transfers on the Gelli Plate. I took this photo of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence when I visited in March. I am excited to share an editioned series of these prints soon. (Eventually, I’ll do an Image Transfer Class on the plate, but for now, you can sign up for my Live Online Meet The Gelli Plate Class here.)

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Next Tuesday, June 16th, I am teaching a live beginning Gelli Printing class online over zoom and I’d love for you to join for FREE!

This is not a book related post, however, the Gelli P…

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As many of you know, in addition to being a voracious reader, I teach printmaking in person, but what you may not know is that I also teach online and I am holding a beginning gelli printing workshop on June 16th at 4 pm PT. This class will be an hour and half long.

You’ll learn all about the gelli plate: how to apply paint to the plate, how to pull a great print, what materials can be used on the plate and how to care for and store your plate. We will run through a series of exercises designed to show you how you can use your plate to create beautiful art. Plus, I will be there live to answer any troubleshooting questions.

Click here to register and check out the materials list.

​A recording will be sent out to all participants within 48 hours of the class.

​​Questions? Email me at booksaremypeople@gmail.com

I’m an artist and author living in Los Angeles. You can learn more about me and my work at www.jennifercaloyeras.com

Please share with anyone you think may be interested. My hope is to run an online gelli printing workshop once a month if there is enough interest.

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