Books Are My People Weekly Newsletter
out today, paperback releases and more!
Let Me Help You Discover Books You Might Not Otherwise Read! You can learn more about me by visiting my introductory post here.
Dear Reader,
Did you miss me? I missed you! I hope everyone enjoyed a lovely holiday season with friends and family and books! What did you read and love? Tell me in the comments below! I’m always invigorated by a new year: fresh goals for the year, getting organized to meet them. There are a ton of new books coming out in January, and while I usually don’t include this many books each newsletter, I’m trying to make up for taking December off from Substack.
A special welcome to new subscribers. I got a new flurry of bookish people after appearing on the Mark Thompson show as a bookish guest. Click here to watch if you missed it.
Our January Read With Me series began yesterday with Valeria Luiselli’s Faces in the Crowd (146 pages, published in 2014.) We will be reading this novella this month and meet up over Zoom at the end of the month to discuss. It’s not too late to join, simply upgrade your subscription.
February will be an Independent Reading Month. March will be a Book to Film adaptation month. (TBD) April and May will be Read with Me months (TBD) - one book over a two-month period.
Books Are My People Podcast: On my latest episode, I recommend my favorite reads and audiobook listens from 2024 and well as my favorite backlist that I read. Click here to listen.
I think I recommend over 22 books on this episode! The kindest gift you could give me is to rate my podcast wherever you listen. It helps other book lovers discover it!
I am currently giving away one copy of Homeseeking by Karissa Chen. You can read more about it below. Click here to learn how to enter. This giveaway will close on January 29th and I will reach out to the winner on January 30th. Open to U.S. mailing addresses only.
Out Today: (I’ve starred the ones I’ve read)
*Homeseeking by Karissa Chen
An epic and intimate tale of one couple across sixty years as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and exploring what it means to find home far from your homeland.
I’ll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman
A modern and classic story of family: I'll Come to You chronicles intersecting lives over the course of one year--1995--anchored by the anticipation and arrival of a child.
Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett
A complicated mother and son relationship: At forty, Peter, an asylum lawyer in New York City, is overworked and isolated. But when the asylum case of a young gay man pierces Peter's numbness, the event that he has avoided for twenty years returns to haunt him. Ann, his mother, who runs a women's retreat center she founded after leaving his father, is hurt by the estrangement from Peter but cherishes the world she has built. But as Peter's case plunges him further into the fraught memory of his first love and the night of violence that changed his life, he and his mother must confront the secret that tore them apart.
*Playworld by Adam Ross
A miseducation in New York in the 90’s: Teenager Griffin Hurt is in over his head. Then he meets Naomi Shah, twenty-two years his senior.
The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan
Identity fraud in Hollywood: an elusive bestselling author decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.
How to Sleep at Night by Elizabeth Harris
Ever wonder how couples with political differences do it? Sure, they may have drifted to different ends of the political spectrum, but their marriage still has its spark. Then one night Ethan makes an announcement: he wants to run for Congress as a Republican--but only if he has progressive Gabe's blessing.
The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight
Like coming of age novels with complex relationships?
Arriving at the University of Edinburgh for her first term, Pen knows her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her. She believes she'll find the answer here in Scotland, where an old friend of her father's lives. When she is invited to spend the weekend at his centuries-old estate, Pen begins to unravel her parents' secret, just as she's falling in love for the first time.
Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff
Love a twisty plot? When a beloved actress is cast in a feminist adaptation of a Fitzgerald classic, she finds herself the victim in a deadly game of revenge in which everyone, on screen and off, is playing a part.
The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf by Isa Arsen
A book for theater lovers that takes place in New Mexico. Two Shakespearean actors in an unconventional marriage get caught up in a renowned director's scheme that will bring them closer than ever or rip them apart for good.
The Note by Alafair Burke
Love a page-turner? A vacation in the Hamptons goes terribly wrong for three friends with a complicated history.
Another Man in the Street by Caryl Phillips
Sweeping narrative in London in the 1960’s: Victor Johnson, a young immigrant from the Caribbean, arrives in Britain with dreams of becoming a journalist in the "mother country." Instead, he finds work collecting rent for Peter Feldman, a landlord equally kind and unscrupulous, and then falls into a relationship with Peter's lonely secretary Ruth, herself a migrant from the north of England.
*Early Thirties by Josh Duboff
The messiness of being 30: Victor and Zoey are getting old--well, older--and it's beginning to be a real problem. Best friends,Victor and Zoey, both want something more, and when tragedy befalls Victor their once unbreakable bond is starting to show cracks. They begin to leave each other on read in their constant text thread, and push away what they feel might be the only true love of their lives.
Paperback Releases:
*Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn't write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American.
Holiday Country by Inci Atrek
A seductive and lyrical debut following a young woman's dangerous summer romance during an idyllic vacation on the Aegean coast.
*Mercury by Amy Jo Burns
A roofing family's bonds of loyalty are tested when they uncover a long-hidden secret at the heart of their blue-collar town.
*The Fetishist by Katherine Min
A grieving daughter's revenge on the man who caused her mother's death sets off a series of unexpected reckonings.
The best way you can support this newsletter is to click on the books above and purchase them through my Bookshop.org affiliate store. A portion of your spending goes to independent bookstores! A win-win-win! (You win, I win, indie bookstores win!)
New Followers: In addition to reading, I enjoy painting and typically include an original artwork at the end of each newsletter. I think this bright and cheerful bouquet is a great start to the new year!
18 x 22 inches / acrylic on hot press paper
Share what you read and loved over winter break below!
Books Are My People: A Podcast Companion Newsletter
(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!
Happy you’re back… more people need to read your Substack newsletter!
Love your colourful cheerful painting!
Lost and Lassoed by L.Sage & The Paris Book by R.Reichl
Love them both!