The Literary Weekend that Was
Along with some random bookish stuff
Hi readers,
I so enjoyed seeing all the Independent Bookstore Day posts on social media from everyone across the country. So many bookstores and so little time to see all of them. I hope they felt loved. I took a break from an online Literary Festival for a quick trip to my local bookstore. The store was packed with readers; there were balloons everywhere and delicious treats for the customers. I didn’t buy any books since I primarily read e-books, but I found some Jane Mount journals, a cute mug, and a few other bookish items that I couldn’t pass up.
The Newburyport Literary Festival was so fun again this year. If you couldn’t watch the sessions live, you can view the recordings at your leisure; give them a week or so to get them up on the website. Be sure to check out a few of my favorite events from both days:
Dumplings and Dysfunction: In the Kitchen with the novel The Family Chao, with author Lan Samantha Chang and Mel & Dave from Strong Sense of Place.
The Bookstour: Film and Panel Discussion—following the screening of the documentary is a discussion with creator Mason Engel and two bookstore owners featured. The documentary will air soon on PBS.
The Burning: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 with author Tim Madigan. What an interesting discussion this was with one of the experts on the history of this horrible event.
All About Perspective: Co-Authors Christina Pride and Jo Piazza on their book, We Are Not Them. I read this book as a Net Galley ARC and I enjoyed it. This discussion is not to be missed.
Literary Matchmaking: The Author/Agent Relationship. If you enjoy learning more about what happens behind the scenes, be sure to watch this session with an agent and two authors as they talk about the journey to publishing and how it was so different between the two authors, even though they had the same agent.
Forty-plus events took place over both days last weekend; several were scheduled opposite each other, so I will check out the ones I missed once they are posted on the website. This is the third year of the virtual festival, and I can’t wait to attend in person; hopefully, that will be next year.
I’m slowly but surely learning to enjoy audiobooks. I have a subscription to Libro.fm, I’ve purchased several of their sale audiobooks, and I’ve also checked out a few audiobooks from my library through Libby. My tastes tend to run to “full-cast” audiobooks, and I also have a few favorite narrators that I like to listen to. Audiobooks are expensive, and the price is prohibitive for many people. This Bookriot article explains what goes into the production of an audiobook and why they are so expensive.
Mother’s Day is this coming weekend. Here are a few links to gift guides with unique bookish gifts for Mom:
I wrote about book subscription boxes here and here; a subscription to one of these would be a great, long-lasting gift.
I can’t believe it is already May and almost time for summer reading. What kind of books do you like to read during the summer? Do you read differently in the summer, and if you do, tell me how it is different from the rest of the year?
I’m about halfway finished with three different books; hopefully, I can finish all of them this week. I suffer from “shiny new book syndrome” and have no discipline to stick with a book I’ve already started when a new one comes along that catches my eye. I hope you have a great reading week and can finish a book or two yourself. Happy reading!
Interesting about summer reading! I also read heavier stuff in the summer because I have more mental bandwidth and energy to tackle nonfiction and more serious reads. But a giant novel for the beach is also great - the last time I read on the beach I sat under an umbrella devouring Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. A great novel is also essential to a long-haul flight, I'd be interested in hearing anyone's favorite long-haul-flight reads!
I live in the land of perpetual summer, so my reading habits don’t change much with the seasons. If anything, it’s the political weather and daily news that affect my reading most. The darker that becomes, the more I crave escapist reading fare--like comfort food! Good question!