Happy New Book Day to all who celebrate it! It’s about eleventy million degrees in Maine right now and my brain feels like soup in my brain pot. Thank goodness I don’t need it, lol. The scorching weather hasn’t stopped the critters from visiting. Last weekend I saw my first red-bellied woodpecker, which was so beautiful! And also, in my opinion, a bad name. Its head was the most amazing shade of red I’ve ever seen in nature, while its belly was just a faint hint of pale orange. It should be called the Play-Doh Red-headed Woodpecker. Unfortunately, I wasn’t asked. This is in keeping with my opinion that humans have historically been bad at naming things. (Says the redhead whose hair should be called orange or copper or even rust-red, but certainly not red.)
Now let’s talk books! Today I have a wild crime novel about a rock band that literally kicks ass, a young adult graphic novel about demon fighters, and a speculative novel that’s being compared to Cloud Atlas! As for this week’s other new releases, at the top of my list of today’s books to get my hands on are The Spice Gate by Prashanth Srivatsa, The Lucky Ones: A Memoir by Zara Chowdhary, and The West Passage by Jared Pechaček. You can find more of the fabulous books coming out today in this week’s episode of All books! Vanessa and I talked about books we love, including I Was A Teenage Slasher, The Astrology House, and Sharks Don’t Sink!
The Bang Bang Sisters by Rio Youers
Brea, Jessie and Flo are the Bang-Bang Sisters, a trio of badass rock musicians who tour the country in a shabby van, playing loud concerts in the way that rock music is meant to be shared. But they also have a secret – they’re also a trio of badass vigilantes who hunt down criminals who have evaded justice. But when a hot tip turns into a trap set by a gangster with a score to settle, the sisters find themselves facing the only people they never thought they’d have to defeat: each other. This is a fast-paced crime adventure that takes you on a rocking ride and is definitely a must-see movie.
Backlist boost: The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen
Youth group of Jordan Morris and Bowen McCurdy
For fans of demonic possession stories, here’s this fun young adult graphic novel about a church youth group with some spooky extracurricular activities. Since her parents split up, Kay’s dad is going through his midlife crisis, while her mom is depressed and working all the time to support them. When her Christian mom asks Kay to attend her church’s youth group, Kay reluctantly agrees to help her mom get better. And it’s just as cheesy as Kay expected. But she didn’t expect to accidentally find out that the group leaders also exorcise demons. Suddenly, church became a lot more interesting—and dangerous—for Kay. Because as it turns out, Kay is a Blight, a person who can’t be possessed, making her great at fighting demons. And they’re going to need her as the demons increase in number and size. This fast-paced story features hilarious renditions of popular songs from the 1990s, which is when this story takes place. (Of course, people were possessed by demons in the 1990s, how else would you explain Furbies, Snow, and people wearing their clothes backwards?)
Backlist boost: Specter Inspectors by Bowen McCurdy, Kaitlyn Musto
The Melancholy of the Untold Story by Minsoo Kang
I haven’t actually read the latter yet, but I’m so excited because it’s being compared to Cloud Atlas, which I loved. It’s four interconnected stories inspired by East Asian mythology, spanning three centuries. There’s a storyteller who brings worlds into being (ahem – like an author – ahem), four quarrelsome mountain gods, a grieving history professor, and his young protégé. The professor and his protégé’s search for a way forward leads them to the stories of the storyteller and the gods who may or may not have the best interests of the Earth in mind. It sounds fascinating, epic, and mind-blowing, and I can’t wait to get my hot little hands on it. I’ll let you know how it goes!
New backlist addition: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (and happy tenth anniversary of the time a bunch of Rioters braved a line for the Mitchell book signing at BEA.)
This week I’m reading Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor and Huda F Wants to Know? by Huda Fahmy. Outside of books, I’m re-reading Amazing stories. (Er, the original series.) You’re probably thinking, “Liberty, it seems like you’ve already seen most of what you’re looking at.” That’s because while I’m working on the new releases index and scouring book catalogs for new titles, I like to leave things I’ve already seen playing in the background so I don’t have to give them my full attention. Plus, it’s scientifically proven that nostalgia is good for the brain. The song I can’t get out of my head this week is “Circadian Rhythm” by Son Volt. And here’s your weekly cat picture: I can’t decide if Zevon doesn’t know how to sleep properly, or if he’s an alien species posing as a cat and thinks that’s how they sleep. He looks like a turtle with its shell on backwards.
“There is no surer foundation for a wonderful friendship than a common literary taste.” – P. G. Wodehouse, My Man Jeeves
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