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Happy new book day to all who celebrate! I hope you are having a wonderful week so far. Recently, I’ve spent some time rearranging the books in my home. I haven’t done it in several years, and I decided to change things up. This time, I have mostly nonfiction downstairs instead of fiction. I’ve grouped the books by subject, like birds, bats, sharks, basketball, cars, music, the American Civil War, reference books, etc. They sure look purdy. And if the internet ever goes down, my niece and nephew will still be able to write school reports on just about anything, lol. Related: I can’t believe it has been 10 years since a teacher told us that her students were writing weird facts about Harper Lee in their papers, and she finally figured out why. (It was me, hi, I was the problem, it was me.)
Now, let’s talk about this week’s batch of new books! Today, I have an exciting new post-apocalyptic novella, a second book in a wonderful middle grade mystery series, and a dark eldritch horror fantasy. As for this week’s other new releases, I want sooo many of them! I am hoping to get my hands on Wild Failure: Stories by Zoe Whittall, Helga by Catherine Yu, and There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak first. You can hear about more of the fabulous books coming out today on this week’s episode of All the Books! Emily and I talked about some great recent books, including Bad Witches by H. B. Akumiah, We Love the Nightlife by Rachel Koller Croft, and Obitchuary by Spencer Henry and Madison Reyes.
She Who Knows by Nnedi Okorafor
A new Nnedi Okorafor book is always a reason to celebrate! This one is set in the Africanfuturist world of her last novella, Who Fears Death, and is the start to a trilogy. In Najeeba’s village, only men and boys have ever received The Call to the Salt Roads. So when 13-year-old Najeeba experiences it, it’s very surprising. Taking the road to mine salt with the men and boys is quite an event for Najeeba, who has never left her village before. But as they travel the road, it becomes apparent that this anomaly in tradition is going to change everything, and Najeeba is at the center of it all.
Backlist bump: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Asunder by Kerstin Hall
I have been a fan of Hall since I read her wild debut about cannibal nuns, Star Eater. This one is a dark romantasy of demons and eldritch horrors! Karys Eska is a deathspeaker: she has the ability to communicate with the dead, and uses this talent to investigate suspicious deaths (like Ned and Emerson, but way more alarming!). Karys was given this gift by a frightening eldritch being, but when she accidentally becomes connected to a dying stranger, she will have to figure out what is happening and uncover secrets before she is doomed to unimaginable horrors. So, you know, no pressure at all.
Backlist bump: Star Eater by Kerstin Hall
The Swifts: A Gallery of Rogues by Beth Lincoln, illustrated by Claire Powell
If you are a fan of middle grade mystery like I am, you will be very excited to know that the second book about the Swift family is out today! The Swifts are an eccentric family living in a huge reclusive house with lots of hidden doors and passage — and lots of valuables. Shenanigan Swift fancies herself a bit of a detective, having helped solve the case in the first book. So when a very expensive painting is stolen from the house, Shenanigan chases the thieves to Paris, where she enlists the help of several French Swifts, who are all named after French words, naturellement (because all the American Swifts are named for words in the English dictionary). This is a really fun series with lots of great characters and fun vocabulary!
Backlist bump: The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln, illustrated by Claire Powell
This week, I am reading more of Laid-Back Camp by Afro and Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah. Outside of books, I accidentally discovered that ALF is streaming on Peacock and got pulled into the nostalgia whirlpool. I haven’t seen it since I watched it when I was a kid. (Spoiler: …It’s not good.) The song stuck in my head this week is “You Didn’t Know Me When” by Harry Connick, Jr. And here is your weekly cat picture: The cats get confused if they see empty shelf space in my house, because it’s so rare. Zevon is like, “There’s nobody here but us books.”
“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”—Groucho Marx
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