Books Are My People
out today, paperback releases and more!
I am back from my too-quick trip up north. Stayed with my college roommate in Oakland and then I was in Vacaville for my son’s hockey tournament and then I buzzed up to Petaluma to visit lifelong friends. Nothing is better than catching up with people who feel like family.
I’m officially hunkered down for the next few days. My plan is to stay in my pajamas and read and relax before heading out of town for another hockey tournament this weekend. I just need a minute to recalibrate.
Fun fact: This tree in Piedmont (next to Oakland) was recently struck by lightening and apparently it was the talk of the town. And I know I get ridiculously excited about fall leaves, but it’s fall in Northern California! I couldn’t get enough of the beautiful trees.
Annie from SoThis and I recommended two backlist books each on Instagram last week. You can catch the quick picks here!
I am SO thankful for my paid Substack subscribers! Next week, we will vote on our Read With Me selection for January and I can’t wait to see what you pick! It’s easy to become a paid subscriber and your support means the world to me. I love nothing more than getting the right book in the right hands.
And please do share my Substack with book lovers who may be interested!
For more bookish holiday gift ideas, check out last week’s post:
And thanks to a comment from a subscriber, key words are back! See? We’re in this together!
One of the easiest ways you can support me and my podcast is to click the links and purchase books from my bookshop.org bookshop!
While Thanksgiving week maybe bountiful in the food department, not so in the books department. However, it doesn’t mean there isn’t anything releasing this week, it’s just the variety is scant.
Out Today:
There Should Have Been Eight by Nalini Singh
They met when they were teenagers. Now they're adults, and time has been kind to some and unkind to others--none more so than to Bea, the one they lost nine long years ago.
They've gathered to reminisce at Bea's family's estate, a once-glorious mansion straight out of a gothic novel. Best friends, old flames, secret enemies, and new lovers are all under one roof. But when the weather turns and they're snowed in at the edge of eternity, there's nowhere left to hide from their shared history.
key words: suspense, thriller, New Zealand, remote estate
I previously recommended Singh’s Quiet in Her Bones on episode #71 of Books Are My People. Listen Here.
The Other Half by Charlotte Vassell
Rupert's 30th birthday party is a black-tie dinner at the Kentish Town McDonald's--catered with cocaine and expensive champagne. The morning after, his girlfriend Clemmie is found murdered on Hampstead Heath, a single stiletto heel jutting from under a bush.
key words: mystery, thriller, suspense, London socialites, humor
Winter Solstice: An Essay by Nina MacLaughlin
A celebration and meditation on the season for drinking hot chocolate, spotting a wreath on a neighbor's door, experiencing the change in light of shorter days. All aspects of Winter, from the meteorological to the mythological, are captured in this masterful essay, told in wise and luminous prose that pushes back the dark.
key words: personal memoir, essay, seasons
Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games by Carmen Maria Machado et al
A wide-ranging anthology of essays exploring one of the most vital art forms on the planet today. This would make the perfect holiday gift for the bookish gamer in your life!
key words: anthology, games, electronics, pop culture
Tone by Sofia Sammatar and Kate Zambreno
This study treats a variety of questions: How is tone filtered through translation? Can a text hold the feelings that pass between humans and animals? What can attention to literary tone reveal about shared spaces such as factories, universities, and streets and the clashes and connections that happen there? Searching and conversational, Tone seeks immersion in literary affect to convey the experience of reading--and living--together.
key words: semitics, theory, literature, reading
Global Language Justice by Charlotte A. Silverman et al.
More than 40 percent of the world's estimated 7,100+ languages are in danger of disappearing by the end of this century. This book brings together leading experts and younger scholars across the humanities and social sciences to investigate what global language justice looks like in a time of climate crisis.
key words: linguistics, history, comparative literature, anthropology, translation
Set in a close-knit suburb in the grip of winter, A Quiet Life follows three people grappling with loss and finding a tender wisdom in their grief.
key words: grief, loss, missing child, character-driven
Paperback Releases:
Hollywood: The Oral History by Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson
The real story of Hollywood as told by such luminaries as Steven Spielberg, Frank Capra, Katharine Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Harold Lloyd, and nearly four hundred others, assembled from the American Film Institute's treasure trove of interviews, reveals a fresh history of the American movie industry from its beginnings to today.
Five Years From Now by Paige Toon
A heartbreaking story of star-crossed, fated love, and two people who are brought together and torn apart every five years until they must make a choice that's bigger than their lives alone.
It Ends At Midnight by Harriet Tyce
It's New Year's Eve, and the stage is set for a lavish party in one of Edinburgh's best postcodes. It's a moment for old friends to set the past to rights - and move on. And yet, the celebration fails to materialize.
Because someone at this party is going to die.
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Thanks for the book recommendations.