Books Are My People Weekly Newsletter
out today, paperback releases and more!
It's officially happening newsletter subscribers. I have moved my weekly book recommendation newsletter over to Substack. There is nothing you need to do on your end if you are already a subscriber. However, you will also now receive one additional bookish article from me on Substack a week. If this new system is not for you, feel free to hit "unsubscribe". I'll be sad to see you go, but I understand! :)
For people who already subscribe to my Substack, you will now receive one extra email from me a week - a newsletter each Tuesday, on new book release day, with all the books out that I'm looking forward to reading! If you don’t want the weekly book recommendation newsletter, please scroll all the way to the bottom for further instructions.
Starting in January, I will be offering book read alongs, casual book socials and book giveaways on paid subscription tiers on the Substack App.
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!)
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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!
Phew! That was a LONG intro! Hello! Well, we dove into the foster pool and landed ourselves not one, but two beautiful foster dogs. (You'll recall our own dog ran away while we were out of town in February under the most horrible of circumstances.)
On the left is Buster, a four-month-old male Shepherd. In the middle is Cookie, an eleven-month-old female Pitt bull. And on the right is our dog Dingo. She's NOT up for adoption! :) But the other two are! If you happen to live in L.A. and you're looking to open your home to these two bonded pups, or even just one of them, please reach out and I will get you in touch with their rescue organization.
It's been a little busy over here managing our new friends, but we're relaxing into our routines and we are all enjoying our new cuddles.
I did a quick Instagram Live with Annie of SoThis. We each recommended two backlist books we recently enjoyed, you can check it out by clicking here.
I am still running a giveaway for one copy of All You Have To Do Is Call. I recently interviewed Kerri Maher on Books Are My People. Click here to listen to the episode.
This giveaway will close on November 2nd and I will announce the winner on the original giveaway Instagram post on November 3rd. Open to U.S. mailing addresses only.
Click here to read my latest Substack article about my go to cookbooks.
Books Out Today!
America Fantastica by Tim O'Brien
This novel begins with Boyd Halverson--star journalist turned notorious online disinformation troll turned JCPenney manager--and his irrepressible hostage, Angie Bing. Haunted by his past and weary of his present, Boyd has one goal before the authorities catch up with him: settle a score with the man who destroyed his life.
key words: bank robbery, cross country chase
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
A haunting masterpiece, sure to be an instant classic, about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War.
key words: enslaved girl, New Orleans, hope
The Woman In Me by Britney Spears
Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears's groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love--and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
key words: memoir, conservatorship
Pay As You Go by Eskor David Johnson
Unwilling to accept this fate, Slide--a barber with an opaque past--embarks on a quest for the perfect apartment, pinballing through the sprawling, madcap city of Polis and its endless procession of neighborhoods. As he bounces from foldout couch to disaster-relief tent, falling in with some tough types, Slide begins to realize that he's going to have to scratch and claw just to claim a place for himself in this world--let alone a place with in-unit laundry.
key words: fantastical, odyssey
Julia by Sandra Newman
Julia takes us on a surprising journey through Orwell's now-iconic dystopia, with twists that reveal unexpected sides not only to Julia, but to other familiar figures in the 1984 universe. This unique perspective lays bare our own world in haunting and provocative ways, just as the original did almost seventy-five years ago.
key words: 1984 retelling
Hunting The Falcon by John Guy and Julia Fox
A groundbreaking, freshly-researched examination of one of the most dramatic and consequential marriages in history: Henry VIII's long courtship, short union, and brutal execution of Anne Boleyn.
key words: nonfiction, Tudors, Henry VIII
Everything Is Not Enough by Lola Akinmade Akerstrom
Focusing on the lives of three Black women as they fight their own personal struggles in one of the most egalitarian societies, Sweden.
key words: friendship, own voices, Sweden
Paperback Releases:
(I've starred the ones I've read)
The Magic Kingdom by Russell Banks
From one of America's most beloved storytellers: a dazzling tapestry of love and faith, memory and imagination that questions what it means to look back and accept one's place in history. In 1971, Harley Mann revisits his childhood, recounting his family's move to Florida's swamplands--mere miles away from what would become Disney World--to join a community of Shakers.
key words: literary, historical, coming of age
Dangerous Women by Mark De Castrique
Dangerous Women stirs up the perfect cocktail of ingenious spy-craft and political intrigue of Thomas Perry's The Old Man brightened with the charming, uncanny energy of Killers of a Certain Age. This urgent, cleverly plotted high stakes thriller is set in motion by botched attack on two law clerks leaving one dead and the other in a coma.
Nights of Plague by Orhan Pamuk
From the the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature: Part detective story, part historical epic--a bold and brilliant novel that imagines a plague ravaging a fictional island in the Ottoman Empire.
key words: historical novel, detective novel, plague
Seven Empty Houses by Samanta Schweblin
The seven houses in these seven stories are strange. A person is missing, or a truth, or memory; some rooms are enticing, some unmoored, others empty. But in Samanta Schweblin's tense, visionary tales, something always creeps back inside: a ghost, a fight, trespassers, a list of things to do before you die, a child's first encounter with darkness or the fallibility of parents.
key words: psychological, short stories
Dartmouth Park by Rupert Thomson
In this timely and explosive novel, an academic's seemingly mundane midlife crisis takes an alarming turn after his visit to a Greek monastery.
*Fatty Fatty Boom Boom by Rabia Chaudry
At once an ode to Pakistani cuisine, including Chaudry's favorite recipes; a love letter to her Muslim family both here and in Lahore; and a courageously honest portrait of a woman grappling with a body that gets the job done but refuses to meet the expectations of others.
Ladyparts by Deborah Copaken
Side-splittingly funny one minute, a freak horror show the next, quintessentially American throughout, Ladyparts is an era-defining memoir.
Organ Meats by K-Ming Chang
Two girls are bound by red string and canine heritage in this vivid tale about female companionship and loyalty.
*Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
Division Street is full of secrets. An impulsive lie begets a secret--one which will forever haunt the Wilf family. And the Shenkmans, who move into the neighborhood many years later, bring secrets of their own.. Spanning fifty kaleidoscopic years, on a street--and in a galaxy--where stars collapse and stories collide, these two families become bound in ways they never could have imagined.
White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link
Finding seeds of inspiration in the stories of the Brothers Grimm, seventeenth-century French lore, and Scottish ballads, Kelly Link spins classic fairy tales into utterly original stories of seekers--characters on the hunt for love, connection, revenge, or their own sense of purpose.
Links I like:
A book club finally finished reading their book 28 years later.
Librarians on the front lines
The joy of used books
Boston's most viral bookshop
I enjoyed painting these simple containers in @blueshineart 's foundational course. She is starting a portrait course on Monday that I have signed up for. The great thing about these classes is if you can't make the lives, they are recorded and you can watch any time that works for you!
Here is the link to the portrait course. Remember, the price is in Canadian currency, so it's actually less expensive.
Check out more of my art here!
If you do not want to receive my weekly Books Are My People Book Recommendation Newsletter, you can unsubscribe just to this newsletter and still get my regular Books Are My People Substack content as you’ve been getting.
Simply go to "settings" - go to your "subscriptions" and click on me, Books Are My People.
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Phew! You've made it to the end! Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email at Booksaremypeople@gmail.com
Until next time, I hope you have a wonderfully bookish week!
