Books Are My People Newsletter
out today, paperback releases and more!
Happy Tuesday! I accidentally set this to PM instead of AM, so you get an evening treat! Tuesday is always my favorite day of the week because of books, books, books! December is steamrolling through my life, but I’m embracing the chaos, because what else can I do? I leave for Dallas for my son’s hockey tournament on Thursday and then it’s the holidays, my eldest’s will turn 18 in two short weeks, plus everything else that happens in December. You know the drill.
I started decorating for the holidays, which makes me happy. I used to wait until after my son’s birthday, but since he’s practically an adult, I think I can put that approach to rest. Did you know I have an affinity for nutcrackers?
(artwork by my friend Matthew Ehrmann)
Books Are My People: A Podcast Companion Newsletter
(click here to listen to the most recent episode of my book recommendation podcast.)
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I'm Jennifer Caloyeras and I love books. And I love sharing books! I even love writing books. And making books! And teaching people how to write books!
This will be the biggest book release day in December and, please note, I will be taking the week off between Christmas and New Year’s.
Books Out Today:
The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner
When a young nanny is found dead in mysterious circumstances, new mom, Tash, is intrigued. She has been searching for a story to launch her career as a freelance journalist. But she has also been searching for something else--new friends to help her navigate motherhood and she soon finds them in her son’s new playgroup. Could there be a more dangerous reason why she has been so quickly accepted into their group?
key words: murder, class, motherhood, London
The End of the World is a Cul De Sac by Louise Kennedy
In these visceral, stunningly crafted stories by the author of the much-acclaimed Trespasses, women's lives are etched by poverty--material, emotional, sexual--but also splashed by beauty, sometimes even joy, as they search for the good in the cards they've been dealt.
key words: stories, women, intimacy, violence, redemption
Meet The Bernadettos by Katie Cotugno
The Kardashians meets Pride and Prejudice in this novel about an A-list movie star who moves to Los Angeles, next door to a family of five eligible sisters.
key words: romance, comedy, fame
Blake Butler and Molly Brodak instantly connected, fell in love, married and built a life together. Both writers with deep roots in contemporary American literature, their union was an iconic joining of forces between two major and beloved talents.
Nearly three years into their marriage, grappling with mental illness and a lifetime of trauma, Molly took her own life. In the days and weeks after Molly's death, Blake discovered shocking secrets she had held back from the world, fundamentally altering his view of their relationship and who she was.
key words: autobiography, mental health, writers
Songs on Endless Repeat: Essays and Outtakes by Anthony Veasna So
From the author of the Afterparties, this latest book gathers those essays together, along with previously unpublished fiction. Written with razor-sharp wit and an unflinching eye, the essays examine his youth in California, the lives of his refugee parents, his intimate friendships, loss, pop culture, and more. And in linked fiction following three Cambodian American cousins who stand to inherit their late aunt's illegitimate loan-sharking business, So explores community, grief, and longing with inimitable humor and depth.
key words: essays, posthumous, sharp, humor, poignant, grief, Cambodian-American
The Archive Of Feelings by Peter Stamm translated by Michael Hofmann
Given a second chance with an old love, a coolly detached archivist questions the life he could have had, and whether it's not too late to live it.
key words: late bloomers, love, relationships, memory
Flora and Miss Paula by Melissa Rivero
Thirtysomething Flores and her mother, Paula, still live in the same Brooklyn apartment, but that may be the only thing they have in common. It's been nearly three years since they lost beloved husband and father Martín, who had always been the bridge between them. One day, cleaning beneath his urn, Flores discovers a note written in her mother's handwriting: Perdóname si te falle. Recuerda que siempre te quise. ("Forgive me if I failed you. Remember that I always loved you.") But what would Paula need forgiveness for?
key words: mother-daughter relationships, Peruvian immigrant, memories, feel-good
Yours For The Taking by Gabrielle Korn
At once a mesmerizing story of queer love, betrayal, and chosen family, and an unflinching indictment of white, corporate feminism, Gabrielle Korn's Yours for the Taking holds a mirror to our own world, in all its beauty and horror.
key words: dystopian, LGBTQ+, New York, class
Amber A'Lee Frost came to New York City from her home state of Indiana as a working class activist (and member of then-unknown Cold War hold-out, Democratic Socialists of America), just before the first major movement for economic justice of the millennium, Occupy Wall Street. Of course, Occupy went bust, then Bernie Sanders went boom, and she threw herself into the campaign with everything she had. Frost has been one of the foremost evangelists of labor and socialist politics ever since, as a writer, activist, former staff and lifetime member of DSA, and cohost of the wildly popular Chapo Trap House podcast.
key words: NYC, activism, essays, socialism, Bernie Sanders
Loaded: The Life (And Afterlife) Of The Velvet Underground by Dylan Jones
Drawing on contributions from remaining members, contemporaneous musicians, critics, filmmakers, and the generation of artists who emerged in their wake, this "monumental origin story" celebrates the legacy of the Velvet Underground, which burns brighter than ever in the 21st century (New York Times bestselling author Bob Spitz).
key words: pop culture, music, New York
Welcome Home, Stranger by Kate Christensen
A novel about grief, love, growing older, and the complications of family that is the story of a fifty-something woman who goes home--reluctantly--to Maine after the death of her mother.
key words: Maine, grief, family,
Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel by Shanaz Habib
This witty personal and cultural history of travel from the perspective of a Third World-raised woman of color, Airplane Mode, asks: what does it mean to be a joyous traveler when we live in the ruins of colonialism, capitalism and climate change?
key words: travel, race, power dynamics, subversive histories
Paperback Releases:
A dazzling retelling of the Greek myth of Medusa, illuminating the woman behind the legend.
Endpapers by Jennifer Savran Kelly
It's 2003, and artist Dawn Levit is stuck. A bookbinder who works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she spends all day repairing old books but hasn't created anything of her own in years.One day at work, Dawn discovers something hidden under the endpapers of an old book: the torn-off cover of a lesbian pulp novel from the 1950s, with an illustration of a woman looking into a mirror and seeing a man's face. Dawn becomes obsessed with tracking down the author of the letter, convinced the mysterious writer can help her find her place in the world.
Listen to my recommendations on episode 97 of Books Are My People.
The House In The Pines by Ana Reyes
Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they'd been spending time with all summer.
Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can't account for. But her past comes rushing back when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer--the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey.
I’m thinking of doing a simple tutorial on how to make your own book / journal as I’ve been making loads of them lately to give as gifts as well as draw and keeps notes. Would anyone be interested in this sort of quick (30-minute) tutorial? I can do it over zoom and record it for those who aren’t able to make it.
Thank you to
for her rescue mutt meetup last weekend. I had so much fun painting these doggies!
This post contains affiliate links to my Bookshop.org shop which not only supports me, but independent bookstores as well. Please consider purchasing books through these links as a way of supporting Books Are My People.
Thank you for all your recommendations , I’m going to see if Endpapers is on audible. It’s the only way I can consume any books at the moment.
Have a wonderful time in Texas.
I love your nutcracker collection, I only have a couple of nutcrackers...and yes, decorate now, don’t wait!