“I hope you’re ready to have your to-read list exploded! Here are 55 of the best LGBTQ books published in 2019. Below are gorgeous graphic memoirs, epic fantasy tales, twisty thrillers, swoony romances, exceptional essay collections, and more!”
Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis was named one of the best LGBTQ books published in 2019 by Autostraddle! Follow the link above to see the full list.
NPR has selected Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis for their 2019 “Book Concierge!” Follow the link above to see the entire selection.
“With food writer Chambers, Smalls creates a ‘playlist’ of ‘essential African-American dishes’ in which each chapter is inspired by a different musical tradition… Home cooks are sure to give this excellent recipe collection a standing ovation.”
Meals, Music, and Muses by Alexander Smalls received a starred review from Publishers Weekly! Follow the link above to read the full review.
“There’s a reason so many kids cry on Santa’s lap: Holiday traditions can be kind of weird.
There are trees and candles, presents and costumes and — why is there candy in socks again? For kids learning to celebrate and encountering new traditions, a little explanation goes a long way.
That’s why we’re excited for the latest batch of holiday books for kids. Whether you’re looking for something to read ahead of the holidays or a gift that lasts all year, there’s something for every little one on Santa’s list.”
Oskar and the Eight Blessings was included in this fabulous round-up! Please follow the link above to read the full article.
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks is nominated for the “Best Graphic Novels & Comics” award by Goodreads! Click the link above to see the full list and vote for your favorite.
An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen has been nominated for the “Best Mystery & Thriller” category by Goodreads! Please follow the link above to see the full list and vote for your favorite.
“‘As a writer, I prefer to get bossed around by my notebook and the facts therein,’ David Carr wrote in his reported memoir The Night of the Gun, one of Slate’s 50 best nonfiction books of the past 25 years. Carr was mulling over the difference between fiction and nonfiction, the novelist’s art and the reporter’s craft. ‘They may not lead to a perfect, seamless arc, but they lead to a story that coheres in another way, because it is mostly true.’
In the work of canon-building, nonfiction tends to get short shrift. While memoir has gained a foothold in the literary conversation, narrative and reported nonfiction tend to be ignored. It can be easy to dismiss these forms as the worthwhile but fundamentally unliterary assemblage of facts into paragraphs. Yet what reader hasn’t had her mind expanded, her heart plucked, her conscience stirred by a nonfiction book? The responsibility the writers of such books take on, to arrange the facts of the world into a form that makes sense of its tumult, can produce in the reader a kind of clarity of thought that no other genre can match.
Slate’s list of the definitive nonfiction books written in English in the past quarter-century includes beautifully written memoirs but also books of reportage, collections of essays, travelogues, works of cultural criticism, passionate arguments, even a compendium of household tips. What they all share is a commitment to ‘mostly truth’ and the belief that digging deep to find a real story—whether it’s located in your memory, on dusty archive shelves, in Russian literature, in a slum in Mumbai—is a task worth undertaking.”
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop by Jeff Chang was included in this fantastic round-up by Slate! Follow the link above to see the full list.
“In Levangie’s rollicking latest (after Seven Deadlies), divorce turns into blood sport for Agnes Murphy Nash, a Hollywood author who must regroup when her powerful movie producer husband Trevor decides he doesn’t ‘want to marriage anymore.’ Trevor is not only a no-show to her book launch party, but Agnes must hop the gate to their home after discovering the code has been changed, only to get tased on the other side. After Trevor cancels Agnes’s credit cards, tries to sell the house out from under her, and gets her shipped off to rehab for her almond habit, it’s time for Agnes to lawyer up. Trevor and Agnes’s cat-and-mouse game soars to ridiculous heights, and when Agnes’s delightful jailbird sister Fin comes to stay, she’s more than happy to help Agnes drive the childish and neurotic Trevor out of his wits. However, things get serious when Trevor tries to take sole custody of their 11-year-old daughter, Pep. Screenwriter Levangie has a keen insight into the inner workings, and foibles, of the Hollywood elite, and her sharp, canny wit drives her mile-a-minute prose and spares no one. Agnes’s voice is wry and funny, and there’s just enough pathos about her to keep the more farcical elements in check. Readers looking for a fast, laugh-out-loud romp will find much to enjoy.”
Been There, Married That by Gigi Levangie received a fantastic review from Publishers Weekly! Follow the link above to read.
“The best psychological thrillers and mysteries are a lot like movies: They keep you hooked from the moment you press play up until the final credits roll, with plenty of shocking twists and unexpected turns along the way. It's no wonder that many of them end up getting scooped up for film and TV adaptations by Hollywood.
For a few years now, readers have been living in something of a golden age for psychological thrillers, mysteries, crime novels, and other suspenseful reads, thanks in large part to hugely successful novels—and their film and TV adaptations—like Gone Girl and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, both of which spawned a thousand copycats with "girl" in the title. The publishing world has largely moved on from "girl" books (hilariously, now we see a lot of "women" books), but what hasn't changed is the sheer amount of surprising, shocking psychological thrillers and mysteries being published every season.
If you're addicted to shows like HBO's Sharp Objects (based on the novel by Gillian Flynn and starring Amy Adams) and can't read enough psychological thrillers like The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins (which was made into a film starring Emily Blunt), check out our list of some of the best recent psychological thrillers and crime novels, along with a few classics you might have missed.”
Little Voices by Vanessa Lillie was included in this round-up! Follow the link above to see the full list.
“The story of the CIA laboring to get Doctor Zhivago published in the late Fifties and the story of a group of queer Uruguayan women creating a sanctuary where they can escape persecution in the late Seventies—you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re not an obvious pairing.
But the number one takeaway from Saturday’s Finding Their Power: Novels of Female Community and Autonomy panel was that Carolina De Robertis’ Cantoras and Lara Prescott’s The Secrets We Kept are sisters of the best kind—they share a set of values and ambitions and they are instantly in conversation with each other, placed in the same room.”
Carolina De Robertis, author of Cantoras, participated in the “Novels of Female Community and Autonomy” panel at the 2019 Texas Book Festival. Read a full recap of the panel at the link above!
“Make the most of your holiday travels by getting lost in these recent page-turners by local authors.”
Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis was included in this fantastic round-up! Diablo Magazine says that “through her lyrical prose, De Robertis—who lives in Oakland—captures the essence of revolution by giving it a human face.” Follow the link above to see the full list.
“Vanessa Lillie is the debut author of thriller Little Voices, a story of an investigation by a woman who is both struggling as a new mom and whose friend was murdered on the night she went into labor. It's not just a riveting murder mystery. It's also a story about new motherhood, the doubts we all have, and the pressure to be perfect parents. Vanessa's astute ability to craft characters with relatable experiences adds a world of depth to the novel and intrigue around her writing process.”
Vanessa Lillie, author of Little Voices, was interviewed on Zibby Owens’ podcast “Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books”! Follow the link above to listen to the interview!
“Recast by the creators of Primates (2013) from NASA oral-history interviews with ex-astronaut Mary Cleave and other eyewitnesses, this likewise lightly fictionalized memoir takes its narrator from childhood interests in science and piloting aircraft to two space shuttle missions and then on to later educational and administrative roles. The core of the tale is a frank and funny account of how women shouldered their way into NASA’s masculine culture and as astronaut trainees broke it down by demonstrating that they too had both the competencies and the toughness that added up to the right stuff. Highlighted by a vivid series of scenes showing Cleave with a monkey on her chest, then a chimpanzee, an orangutan, a gorilla, and finally a larger gorilla to symbolize the G-forces of liftoff, Wicks offers cleanly drawn depictions of technical gear, actual training exercises, eye-rolling encounters with sexist reporters and clueless NASA engineers, iconic figures (such as a group portrait of the watershed astronaut class of 1978: ‘Twenty-six white guys and nine…well…people who were not. Pretty diverse for NASA’), and astronauts at work on the ground and in space. They capture both the heady thrill of space travel and the achievements of those who led the way there.
Exhilarating—as well as hilarious, enraging, or both at once depending on the reader.”
Astronauts, illustrated by Maris Wicks, received a starred review in Kirkus. Follow the link above!
“The day Devon nearly dies in childbirth, her friend Belina is murdered, the crime shocking the residents of Providence. Lawyer Devon promises her husband that she won’t practice after the baby is born. However, while in the fog of postpartum depression, Devon discovers more details of Belina’s murder and starts to work on the case, putting her family, home, and emotional stability on the line. Devon met with Belina the day she was killed, and unknowingly to Devon, Belina had slipped her day planner in Devon’s purse. With a baby strapped to her chest, and the voices of postpartum psychosis running through her thoughts, Devon retraces Belina’s last days. When Devon’s friend Alec emerges as the prime suspect, Devon, contradicting the cruel voices in her head, doesn’t believe that Alec is Belina’s killer. She pieces together evidence indicating that the true killer is still at large—though Alec might not be completely innocent.
VERDICT Fast paced and psychologically complex, this debut mystery has plenty of twists and turns that will appeal to fans of Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins, and Megan Abbott.”
Little Voices by Vanessa Lillie received a starred review in Library Journal. Follow the link above!
Pumpkinheads, illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks, is #8 on The New York Times bestseller list for Graphic Books and Manga! Follow the link above to see the entire list!
“Watch panel discussions with cooking experts and Times journalists as they tackle the biggest food issues of today.”
Chef Alexander Smalls, author of Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro-Asian-American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day, participated in The New York Times Food Festival this past weekend. Chef Smalls was a panelist in a discussion on “The Fine Art of Hospitality.” Follow the link above to watch his panel discussion!
“The Literature for Justice Committee is honored to select five books that explore the criminal justice system and aim to help advance public understanding of mass incarceration in the United States. In the second year of this initiative, the selection committee deemed it crucial to focus on those often neglected in public conversations on mass incarceration: women and families. The list centers first-person narratives from formerly incarcerated authors, partners of those behind bars, and leaders of prison reform and abolishment movements since the 1980s. Similarly to the inaugural year, the committee hoped to provide multiple access points, including research-based nonfiction, memoir, and fiction.”
The Prisoner’s Wife by asha bandele has been named by the National Book Foundation as one of five titles to be featured on their 2019 - 2020 reading list for their immensely important Literature for Justice (LFJ) campaign. The LFJ committee chooses books that “contextualize and humanize experiences of incarcerated people in the United States.” Follow the link above to view the entire reading list!
“Writing is a unique and challenging pursuit, and writers have many different ways of describing it. For Vanessa Lillie, it’s like playing poker. Lillie is the author of Little Voices, a psychological thriller that Bookish named one of the season’s must-reads. She’s also an accomplished poker player. Here, Lillie breaks down the similarities between playing poker and writing.”
Author of Little Voices Vanessa Lillie shares with Bookish her take on the similarities between poker and publishing. Follow the link above to read her article!