Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

This sophomore novel is a story of sisters and grief. The three Blue sisters do not have much in common except they shared the loss of a fourth sister a year earlier. A lawyer, a bouncer, and a model spread out in three of the largest cities in the world, the Blue sisters decide to return to New York to stop the sale of the family apartment. But returning to the family home means returning to the family drama. The secrets, differences, disappointments, and the weight of the recent loss of their other sister will test the bonds of sisterhood. This is a honest, heartbreaking story of the messiness of family and the choices people make to fix it or flee from it. (This pairs well with Bad Sisters.)

Backlist bump: Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

Award-winning author Danzy Senna is back with a biting story of ambition, middle age, and identity. Jane is an author desperate to finish her second novel while she is on sabbatical with her family in Los Angeles. Instead, she falls for the siren’s call of Hollywood and finds herself working with a hotshot producer on a comedy, what he assures her will be a huge hit. Jane has high hopes that the show will impart important views on race while delivering laughs. But nothing turns out how she expects it to go. Senna delivers a darkly funny novel about the Hollywood machine rolling over another writer who dared to stand in front of it with their dreams. (Related: today I learned that Senna is married to author Percival Everett. That is a lot of talent under one roof!)

Backlist bump: New People by Danzy Senna

Last but not least, as we head into scary reading season, this creepy Icelandic horror! Iðunn is exhausted, both mentally and physically. She is constantly tired, but repeated visits to the doctor have found no cause for her fatigue. Nothing she is prescribed, no advice she is given, makes her feel better. Then one day she wakes up in the morning to discover her smart watch telling her she walked 40,000 steps…in her sleep. Iðunn doesn’t remember doing it, but as the nights go on, things get weirder and more alarming. How can Iðunn keep from her nocturnal excursions if no one believes her? This is Knútsdóttir’s first novel translated into English and it’s exciting! And upsetting! Also, we need more horror novels about sleepwalking (or the official name, somnambulism, which is such a great word.) Sleepwalking is creepy! I know people who have woken up in their car, and on their back porch swing, and THAT is scary.

Backlist bump: Come Closer by Sara Gran

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This week, I am reading The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter and The Arizona Triangle by Sydney Graves. I’m also rereading the first two of Jo Rioux’s Cat’s Cradle books because I just got the final book in the trilogy. It is an AMAZING middle grade fantasy series. Outside of books, I did not start Homicide: Life on the Street. Instead I finished up Leverage: Redemption and then inspired by Christian Kane and Noah Wyle, I started the first movie in the Librarians series. I have seen The Librarians show but not the films, so I am watching those and then I plan to rewatch the series. I’m in the middle of the first film and, my goodness, 2004 movie special effects look so awkward now. In earworms, the song stuck in my head this week is “On Hold” by The xx.

Here is your weekly cat picture: Queen Millay, holding court over my office.

“That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.”—Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake