Books Are My People Weekly Newsletter
out today, paperback releases and more!
Hello Bookies! It’s been a productive week over here. I finished writing the suspense novel that I’ve been working on for two years! This is my fifth novel and hopefully, by the time this newsletter is published it be off to my agent to read.
I had completely forgotten that I’d sent some of my art to The Kitchen Table Quarterly, so imagine my delight when I received a notification that the publication was live! It features three words of art that combine upcycled books, mono printing, collage and….swallows! They are all for sale in my Etsy shop in one form or another. Lastly, I’ve been waiting to try something BIG with my art, so I went for it, and the results are at towards the end of this newsletter. I’d love to know what you think!
Welcome to my weekly book recommendation newsletter. You can learn more about me by visiting my introductory post here. Please consider purchasing recommended books through my Bookshop.org affiliate links. It’s a great way to support the show and an ethical way to support your local bookstore. (You can even buy books I don’t link in my shop!)
GOING LIVE: I will be live with Annie from So This on my Instagram account on Friday, April 19th at 10:30 am PT. We’ll each be recommending two favorite fantasy reads.
GIVEAWAY:I’m still giving away a copy of Monsters We Have Made by Lindsay Starck to two lucky winners! Click here to learn how to enter this giveaway on my Instagram. This giveaway will close TOMORROW, April 17th. Open to U.S. Mailing addresses only. Thank you to Vintage Books for sponsoring this giveaway.
A poignant and evocative novel that explores the bounds of familial love, the high stakes of parenthood, and the tenuous divide between fiction and reality.
Let Me Help You Discover Books You Might Not Otherwise Read!
Out Today:
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
I am eagerly anticipating reading this memoir about the fatwa ordered against Rushdie and the attack at an author event in August 2022. Rushdie is a renowned writer and thinker.
key words: memoir, writing as healing
*A Kind of Madness by Uche Okonkow
In ten vivid, evocative stories set in contemporary Nigeria, Uche Okonkwo's A Kind of Madness unravels the tensions between mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, best friends, siblings, and more.
key words: short stories, Nigeria, familial struggle
Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings
A woman in post-apartheid South Africa confronts her family's troubling past in this taut and daring novel about national trauma and collective guilt.
key words: Cape Town, near-future, drought, post-apartheid South Africa, fractured family
Between Two Trailers by J. Dana Trent
A powerful, unforgettable memoir about a girl who escapes her childhood as a preschool drug dealer in rural Indiana--only to find that no one can really "make it out" until they make peace with where their story began: home
key words: drug dealers, Indiana, childhood
Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in the Tokyo Detention House convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, whom she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation's imagination, but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew, and Kajii can't resist writing back.
The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer, and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story.
key words: inspired by a true story, Japan, crime-fiction, food
Weird Black Girls by Elwin Cotman
A rural town finds itself under the authoritarian sway of a tree that punishes children. A pair of old friends navigate their fraught history as strange happenings escalate in a Mexican restaurant. A pair of narcissistic friends wreak havoc on an activist community. An aloof young man finds himself living through his lover's memories. And a day of LARPing takes a cosmic turn.
key words: short fiction, hybrid-literature, the human experience
Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina
A man lunges in front of a car. An elderly woman silently drowns herself. A corpse sits up in its coffin and speaks. On this reservation, not all is what it seems, in this new spine-chilling mythological horror.
key words: Native American, mythical horror
The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes
The Flattery sisters were plunged prematurely into adulthood when their parents died in tragic circumstances. Now in their thirties--all single, all with PhDs--they are each attempting to do meaningful work in a rapidly foundering world until one day their oldest sister, abruptly vanishes from her work and home. Together for the first time in years, the Flatterys descend on the Irish countryside in search of a sister who doesn't want to be found.
hey words: Ireland, sisters
In honest, crackling investigations of the psychiatric system and the young people trying to find their way, Gråbøl's soaring debut offers a critique of institutionalization and an urgent recalibrating of the language and conceptions of care.
key words: coming-of-age, Denmark, mental health
What are you excited to read?
Online Writing, Reading and Art Events This Week (three things I love!)
Reading Events and Writing Events:
Saturday and Sunday April 20th and 21st ALL DAY The Los Angeles Time Festival of Books is happening here in L.A. and I will be there both days. Click here to learn more. Please reach out if you are attending and we can meet up and say hello and I can give you a Books Are My people bookmark!
Tuesday, April 16th 6-7 PMConferencing for Introverts
Thursday, April 18th 7 PM Timed Writing Sprints.
Thursday, April 16th 8 pm Salman Rushdie in conversation with Suleika Jaouad
Art Events:
Tuesday, April 16th at 10 am PT Eyes Workshop with
Click here for more infor or to sign up.
Thursday, April 18th at 10 am PT Ears Workshop with
Click here for more info or to sign up.
4 pm PT Art Hang Party with
who will be painting cakes! Yum! Click here to join.
Friday, April 19th at 11 am PT Sketch and Paint Your Coffee with
Click here to sign up for this free class.Sunday, April 21st at 5 am PT (I’ll have to catch the replay!)
from Designers Who Draw is hosting a Wes Anderson-inspired palette Live session for paid subscribers. Click here to learn more.
Here is a sneak peak at my BIG collage! I really enjoyed working large! But I did struggle with deciding when this piece was complete.
I hope you all have a wonderfully bookish week! Any new releases out today that you’re excited to share? Leave me a comment!
Like what you read? You can buy me a coffee!
Books Are My People: A Podcast Companion Newsletter
(click here to listen to the most recent episode of my book recommendation podcast.)
The best way you can support this show 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!)
And, if you haven't yet, the greatest gift would be to rate my show, wherever you listen!
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 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.
Five novels - wow! Amazing! Let’s celebrate with (drawing) cake on Thursday! 🤗💖✨
Congratulations on finishing your novel!!!!!!!yippee!