Books, Books, Books

A book report, a book hack, and an update on books I'm making

Hello!

Let me be the first to acknowledge that I fell off the face of the Substack earth for <checks calendar> almost a month. But with good reason! It’s been a book pitch party over here, which I’ll get into down below.

Alas, the trials and tribulations of getting published does not a newsletter make (at least after ghosting you for so long). So in the spirit of catching up over coffee, this week I’m sending some books to put on your radar, as well as a recent book hack I can’t believe I just uncovered.

My only other update is between my last post and now, we went to Kauai. I took exactly three photos: one of my daughter in a cute dress, one with her tongue dyed red from a sno-cone, and one of this pretty amazing sunrise:

Check out the red-orange sun peeking through the “window” of clouds!

Onto the books, books, books!

HOMESEEKING | It can’t be overstated: I loved this book! I mean, any book that features historical fiction, diasporas, and AAPI characters/history/topics gets an automatic rankings bump, but even without all that, this was a swoonworthy read. Sweeping, immersive, beautifully written, it follows the story of Haiwen and Suchi, friends turned lovers turned lost loves who randomly run into each other many years later at a 99 Ranch in L.A. The story is told from their alternating viewpoints, with Haiwen’s POV moving from present day back to their childhood in wartime Shanghai, and Suchi’s POV moving from their childhood to present. The stories intersect in the middle of their lives, and it’s satisfying, sad, wonderful. A perfect summer beach read, plane read, bedtime read, anytime read.

DANCES | This book was an SF Public Library “On the Same Page” selection, which is how I discovered it. Ballet? Coming of age? Family secrets? I was sold. As a gal who danced throughout my childhood and teenage years, the ballet descriptions were spot on and it was fun to read ballet terms I had only ever heard spoken (and with a Texas twang, to boot). I thought it portrayed the world of professional dance really well, better than what I can recall from Astonish Me. I’d classify this as an easy read, with compelling story conflict that kept me interested, but no big book hangover to speak of. If you were a Center Stage girlie, you’ll enjoy it!

TRUST EXERCISE | This book. Gah, this book. In January, I wrote to a fellow writer, “Am now reading TRUST EXERCISE and find it engrossing and propulsive and can't wait to see the ‘flip’ everyone talks about.” Well, I got to the flip. And I didn’t know what to make of it! Essentially, without giving too much away, the narration changes in the second act and forces you to question everything you have read up to that point. As a literary experiment, I found it fascinating and skillfully crafted. As a reader trying to parse out the story, I felt my interest waning. When the narration changed again in the third act, I gave up. So it was a DNF…but for what it’s worth, even after giving it up, I thought about this book for far longer than three days.

PINEAPPLE STREET | My building has a little free library/book giveaway thing, which is where I found Pineapple Street. It’s not new, but seemed to be everywhere a couple years ago and…meh? Everything about it was fine—no better, no worse. But if it says anything, I didn’t care about any of the characters during or after reading. If you find it at your own library (of any variety), by all means go for it. Otherwise, like I said: meh.

CHAMP | You know I had to include a picture book. Telling you about the many picture books I enjoyed the last few months would break all rules of newsletter word counts, but this one was a standout. A secret hack for finding unusual, daring, or experimental picture books is to look for presses that translate international ones (a few faves are Elsewhere Editions, and Greystone). Such is Champ, a PB originally published in Farsi. It’s about being a black sheep in a family, pursuing the thing you love, and (if you want to know my real takeaway), giving your family the middle finger if they don’t support you.

SHOW DON’T TELL | I have been SO SO excited for Curtis Sittenfeld’s latest collection of short stories to come out, and finally got my “hold” copy from the library! Fearing I won’t finish before it’s due back (that holds list is a mile long), I started with the final story of the bunch: “Lost But Not Forgotten,” a return to the world of Prep’s Lee Fiora, on the occasion of her 30th high school reunion at Ault. You guys, it was so satisfying to revisit Prep’s characters. I loved the story. I’m working my way through the others now, and so far, have enjoyed every single one. If you loved Prep, this is worth reading for the final short story alone.

Speaking of the library: my new favorite book hack is borrowing design and coffee table books. Let’s discuss all the ways it is awesome:

• You don’t have to buy titles you’re happy to simply peek at.

• It’s a great way to preview books from authors/lifestyle gurus/designers, so you can decide if the title is one you simply have to have. (Case in point: I enjoyed Lauren Liess’s debut HABITAT but never got around to looking at DOWN TO EARTH. It’s pretty, but I’m glad I didn’t buy it, as it probably isn’t one I’d refer to over and over again.)

• It’s a free, easy way to switch up your coffee table vibe, especially if you are short on book storage.

• The best: you can explore all types of random topics without having to commit to actually buying (often expensive!) books. I’ve rotated in books on ceramics, photography, and outer space.

Bonus: I find that people don’t really put holds on these types of books at the library—I’ve never had to immediately bring one back after the initial three week lending period. It’s nice!

Oh also—the colorful book at the top of the stack is a hardcover book of my daughter’s art from the first couple years of her life. I made it through Artifact Uprising, with the idea that it’d allow me to recycle the originals. But alas, I am too sentimental and still have a drawer stuffed full of her beautiful, wondrous scribble scrabbles. However, she loves looking through this book, so despite it taking forever to produce and freeing up zero space in my files, it was worth it!

So where exactly did I disappear to this past month? Pitch land, my friends.