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.
Today’s newsletter is brought to you by MOLDed: A Memoir of Loss & Resilience - a dark yet humorous journey into the underreported experience of fighting toxic mold. MOLDed begins with an overnight explosion of toxic mold, then chronicles the authors' surreal two-year odyssey of loss, anxiety, and absurdity in a desperate effort to protect her family's health while battling an unseen enemy. MOLDed is a well-crafted testament to the human spirit’s unwavering resolve. Within these suspenseful pages of horror, survival, and dark humor, you’ll walk with a woman who, along with her husband and three children, refused to surrender. As her world tilted off its axis, she clung to humor, gratitude, and hope as lifelines to survival and sanity.
MOLDed is a gripping, suspenseful real-life thriller, and as an inspirational reminder that resilience flourishes even in the darkest corners.
Dear Reader,
Another multi-day rainstorm is set to hit Los Angeles today, which I think is great for the air quality and cooling the burning land, but not so great for people who have cliffside homes in the fire zone. At a Super Bowl gathering this weekend (no, I don’t watch football, but I like food!) I learned that around 20% of the families at my son’s school lost their homes to the Palisades fire. It feels like such an extraordinarily high number. Everything feels so heavy right now, both in my community and in the world at large. But that’s why there are books! I have been leaning into reading as escapism lately.
On my Books Are My People Podcast:
This week, I spoke with Jennifer Caspar, founder and owner of Village Well Books & Coffee and one of their events coordinators, Brett Morrow. We talked about the many activities and events held at this wonderful independent bookstore and focused on The Culver City Book Festival, Saturday, February 22nd from 10 - 5 pm. I will be there representing Books Are My People. I’ll have stickers and bookmarks and coffee mugs. I’ll also have journals made out of upcycled books and even some art created from book pages. If you’re local, come say hi!
We also talked about the many activities and events held at this wonderful independent bookstore. And of course, everyone shared book recommendations including a special guest author recommendation from Cynthia Weiner @cynthiaweiner , author of the fantastic, A Gorgeous Excitement.
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.
Book Giveaway:
I’m giving away a copy of The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez. I loved this historical fiction novel told from many different points of view about the construction of the Panama Canal. I learned so much! I think that fans of historical fiction who enjoy a large cast of characters will also love this novel.
To Enter: Visit my giveaway page. This giveaway will close on Wednesday, March 5th and I will contact a winner on Thursday, March 6th.
This giveaway is open to US mailing addresses only.
Member Corner:
Missed the Faces in the Crowd Meetup? Catch the replay here.
February: It’s an Independent Reading Month - read whatever you’d like and we’ll meetup at the end of February to discuss.
March: Book to Film Month:
We will be reading and watching The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead in March. I’m really eager to read this novel and watch the movie. Upgrade your membership and join us!
The best way you can support this newsletter is to click on the books below 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!)
Books Are My People: A Podcast Companion Newsletter
Out Today:
Essay collection alert: Alligator Tears: A Memoir in Essays by Edgar Gomez: A memoir-in-essays about finding love, purpose, and community on your own terms as a queer LatinX person in Florida.
Are you a fan of short stories? I loved Amanda Peters’ The Berry Pickers! Waiting for the Long Night Moon is her debut collection of short fiction. Peters describes the Indigenous experience from an astonishingly wide spectrum in time and place—from contact with the first European settlers, to the forced removal of Indigenous children, to the present-day fight for the right to clean water
Like books about family with humor and heart? Three Days in June by Anne Tyler: a socially awkward mother of the bride navigates the days before and after her daughter's wedding.
A world full of dysfunction, tyranny, and disparity (wait, is this fiction or our current state of the world??) Brother Brontë by Fernando A. Flores ,Two women fight to save their dystopian border town—and literature—in this gonzo near-future adventure.
Historical suspense fiction based: The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict. A thrilling story of the five greatest women writers (Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy) of the Golden Age of Mystery and their bid to solve a real-life murder.
For the eco-reader of nonfiction: After The North Pole: A Story of Survival, Mythmaking, and Melting Ice by Erling Kagge: An exploration of the Arctic’s changing landscape, blending personal adventure with reflections on climate change and its global implications.
Paperback Releases:
The Book of Love by Kelly Link
Welcome to Kelly Link’s incomparable Lovesend, where you’ll encounter love and loss, laughter and dread, magic and karaoke, and some really good pizza.
Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story by Leslie Jamison
A story about rebuilding a life after the end of a marriage--an exploration of motherhood, art, and new love.
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we go around collecting qi, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking . . .
Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss and Family Recipes by Chantha Nguon
A haunting and beautiful memoir from a Cambodian refugee who lost her country and her family during Pol Pot's genocide in the 1970s but who finds hope by reclaiming the recipes she tasted in her mother's kitchen.
To be a bookseller or librarian...You have to play detective. Be a treasure hunter. A matchmaker. An advocate. A visionary. A person who creates "book joy" by pulling a book from a shelf, handing it to someone and saying, "You've got to read this. You're going to love it."
I had so much fun painting these negative space monkeys (this makes it sound like they were angry monkeys in space - I just mean the negative space around the monkeys) with
!What books are you looking forward to reading?
Same---Secret Lives looks awesome! Slow Noodles looks great too!
The secret lives of booksellers and librarians!!!!! I’m all about that!