Books Are My People Weekly Newsletter
out today, paperback releases and more!
I’ve had a bunch of new subscribers recently, so I wanted to give the newbies a special hello! And thanks for subscribing!
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!)
I am giving away one copy of Here After by Amy Lin, which releases today. Here is the link for the giveaway.
This giveaway will close on Wednesday, March 27th.
Did you catch my recent lives?
You can watch my live with Amy here.
You can watch my live with Annie here.
Episode #121 of Books Are My People is here , author of The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women’s Lives and Field Guide to Graphic Literature.
I’m starting with the books and ending with Subscriber Notes and Events.
Let Me Help You Discover Books You Might Not Otherwise Read!
Out Today:
(I’ve starred the ones I’ve read.)
*James by Percival Everett author of Erasure (American Fiction movie)
This is so weird because today is the book’s release day and yet, it was in a Barnes & Noble I visited in Irvine, CA this weekend. Hm. Anyhow, this is a brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.
key words: Huckleberry Finn, retelling, thriller
*The Morningside by Tea Obreht
A mother-daughter story set in the future in a half-underwater city where Silvia, a refugee, tries to learn about her past through folktales of her demolished homeland. Silvia becomes obsessed with the mysterious older woman neighbor who has her own elevator entrance and leaves only to go out at night and walk her three massive hounds, often not returning until the early morning. Silvia's mission, to unravel the truth about this woman's life, and her own haunted past, may end up costing her everything.
key words: environmental collapse, folklores, fairytales, human resilience.
*The Tree Doctor by Marie Mutsuki Mockett
An English professor, the unnamed narrator returns to Carmel to care for her mother, and is separated from her family in Hong Kong because of a pandemic. She becomes obsessed with revitalizing her mother’s garden as well as revitalizing her own sexuality.
key words: Carmel, aging parent, pleasure
In the early 1980s, Giselle Chin, Jackie Ong, and Ellen Ng are three teenagers drawn together by their shared sense of alienation and desire for something different. "Allied in the weirdest parts of themselves," they envision each other as artistic collaborators and embark on a future defined by freedom and creativity. Over time their friendship matures and changes, their definitions of success become complicated, and their sense of what matters evolves.
key words: 1980’s, friendship, art, ambition
A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock
A captivating tale of two Victorian gentlemen hiding their relationship away in a botanical garden who embark on a Frankenstein-style experiment with unexpected consequences.
key words: Victorian, gothic, queer, plants
Wolf at the Table by Adam Rapp
The Corrections meets We Need to Talk About Kevin in this harrowing multigenerational saga about a family harboring a serial killer. Through one family's pursuit of the American dream, Wolf at the Table explores our consistent proximity to violence and its effects over time.
key words: saga, serial killer, sibling, secrets
This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
Over seven decades, from 1940 to 2010, the pieds-noirs Cassars live in an itinerant state--separated in the chaos of World War II, running from a complicated colonial homeland, and, after Algerian independence, without a homeland at all. This Strange Eventful History, told with historical sweep, is above all a family story.
keywords: historical fiction, sweeping, colonialism, Algeria
The Mars House by Natasha Pulley
A compulsively readable queer sci-fi novel about a marriage of convenience between a Mars politician and an Earth refugee.
key words: queer science fiction, Earth, refugees, Mars, politics
Paperback Releases:
*Biography of X by Catherine Lacey
From one of our fiercest stylists, a roaring epic chronicling the life, times, and secrets of a notorious artist.
After Shelby’s wife dies of cancer, she joins a grief support group where she meets Cammie, who is also recovering from cancer. They forge a friendship, even though Shelby suspects something isn’t right. Gibson, divorced and almost forty, falls for Cammie, yet also has the feeling something is off with her. This is a novel about liars and the impact their lies have on others.
Subscriber Notes:
Join us in reading and / or watching The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee and / or The Expats on Prime Video. We will have a zoom meet toward the end of this month.
Feel free to upgrade to paying even if only for one month and check it out!
We’ll be doing our second round of voting for our May Read With Me book on Friday! (we’re down to two finalists!)
We will also be selecting a time to zoom at the end of the month to discuss The Expatriates / The Expats.
Events:
Online Writing, Reading and Art Events This Week (three things I love!)
Reading Events:
Sunday, March 24th at 1 PM Book Launch for What the Living Do that you can stream live.
Writing Events:
Thursday, March 21st 12 pm PT Pushing Through - Finishing Your Novel
Thursday, March 21 at 4 pm PT Timed Writing Sprints
Art Events:
We’re on week 3 of
’s The Sketchbook Games Sketchbook Scavenger Hunt This week, the theme is barns and machines. I was out of town this weekend, but managed to paint two of the images.
Thursday, March 21th at 4:00 PM PT
This week’s theme is shoes on feet! I’ll be there! Here’s one of my last week’s hair through the decades pieces:
Sunday, March 24th at 7 am pt
and are holding a fantastically quirky Old Album Covers Reimagined as Cats session for paying members. If I’m awake, I’m so there!! (You can sign up below.)🎸 Old Album Covers Reimagined as Cats! - March 24 at 9 am CST / 3 pm GMT
Like what you read? You can buy me a coffee!
Books Are My People: A Podcast Companion Newsletter
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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 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.
Thanks for the shoutout! Bring a coffee! ☕️😺
Thanks for the shout out! Hope to see you there!