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The week of June 20, 2022 Summer Reads Summer solstice is here, and with it the long, lazy, sunny days of summer. Beach blankets, barbecues, and of course…books! Here are some recent bookseller reviews of summery reads perfect for any beach bag or picnic basket. Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo The Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle The Narrowboat Summer by Anne Youngson Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler
Read This Now | Read This Next | The Bookseller Directory |
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Read This Now! Recommended by Southern indies… |
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Girls They Write Songs About by Carlene Bauer Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction It’s so hard to pin down exactly how I feel about this one. Safe to say, though, to start: I loved reading every page, so there is that! I think part of what makes me feel confused is how close to the bone it could have cut given a few of the similarities between me and Rose and Charlotte. But I was never ambitious. Never really tried to make a go of it as a writer. I was never of New York or the region. Girls They Write Songs About is brilliant, deliciously wry, not afraid to proceed to its destination. It pulls zero punches. It’s mature in a way that is hard to describe. It respects its characters and the reader enough to stay the course on its own terms. And that is a little difficult to accept at times, like real life. I loved it and will have no trouble recommending it to customers. But I’m going to spend between now and June refining my elevator pitch. Reviewed by Kat Leache, Novel in Memphis, Tennessee |
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Bookseller Buzz |
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Spotlight on: One’s Company by Ashley Hutson
“I guess at the end, I want to break someone’s heart. I want to feel like I’ve made something that is beyond just a story. Like when you wake up from a dream, and you can’t remember the dream, but you know you’ve been somewhere, you’ve seen something, and you know it’s important, but you’re only left with a deep question, and maybe you’ll never know, you’ll never truly understand that feeling. Maybe if you thoroughly express that feeling, it would lose something. It would be ruined. That’s what I hope when I write fiction, that’s what I like to communicate. And that’s what I like to read—I like to read stuff that makes me ask a question or makes me feel disturbed, that upsets me somehow. I like being disturbed.” –Ashley Hutson, interview, Berkley Fiction Review What booksellers are saying about One’s Company 
About Ashley Hutson Ashley Hutson is a writer living in rural Maryland. Her work has appeared in Granta, Electric Literature, Catapult, Fanzine, and elsewhere. Her honors include the 2018 Small Fictions Award, judged by Aimee Bender, and several Pushcart Prize nominations. |
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The Scent of Burnt Flowers by Blitz Bazawule Adult Fiction, African American & Black, Historical Fiction, Magical Realism Bazawule swiftly drops you into an immediate and tumultuous love story between Bernadette and Melvin as they escape the States seeking a fantastical refuge in 1960s Ghana. This piece is deeply heartbreaking, yet manages to hold it together through its magical storytelling. “Queen and Slim” fans will love this novel as its deep cinematic influence encourages evocative visuals and sentient understandings of the character’s interiors. Reviewed by Eden Hakimzadeh, Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida |
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Blood Orange Night by Melissa Bond Adult Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Personal Memoirs The deeply personal story of a journalist and young mother who is given a long-term prescription for drugs (benzodiazepines) that are meant for short time use only. Her descriptions of life as an addict are deeply personal and harrowing. Reviewed by Anne Peck, Righton Books in Memphis, Tennessee |
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My Name Is Jason. Mine Too by Jason Reynolds Friendship, Young Adult, Young Adult Nonfiction Calling this the coolest most creative young adult book I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, just wow! Powerhouse Jason Reynolds teams up with longtime best friend and artist Jason Griffin to bring the most interesting memoir I’ve ever read. Originally published in 2009 as Reynolds’s first book, this tiny but mighty memoir follows the two as they chase huge aspirations in New York City. Worlds, collages, and paint splatters cover the pages rather than paragraphs and it works so perfectly. Almost like a zine nonfiction novella, and if that wasn’t a thing it is now and I want more! Reviewed by Grace Sullivan, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia |
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Brave Every Day by Trudy Ludwig Children, Emotions & Feelings, Friendship, Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance A great reminder that our hearts are bigger than our worries. As adults we sometimes forget how kids struggle with big feelings they don’t always understand. This book is great to start the conversation about emotional awareness and other social emotional skills that are important for kids to be successful in school and life. Reviewed by Lupe Penn, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
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Read This Next! Books on the horizon: Forthcoming favorites from Southern indies… |
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It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler Adult Fiction, Women A June 2022 Read This Next! Selection In the forward Therese writes that the book is for everyone, including herself, who needed some brightness during a dark time. At the beginning I felt like there was anything but brightness in this book. First there was the big secret that Marti Geller had been keeping from her family, then her death and subsequent burden she placed on her three daughters and then the obvious unhappiness that each of her daughters had been experiencing. As usual, Fowler’s writing pulls you right in to the lives of the Geller sisters and gives a very believable look at how each sister has lived their lives because they thought that was what was expected of them and because they didn’t understand what it meant to be true to themselves and what they wanted. I loved the very believable scenes between sisters – the jealousy, the selfishness, the misunderstandings and eventually their forgiveness. It is a story of fate, love, second chances and finally realizing that being true to yourself is the ultimate way to happiness. This book was a well-needed breath of fresh air in my reading. Reviewed by Nancy McFarlane, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina |
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Southern Bestsellers What’s popular this week with Southern Readers. |
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Parting Thought “Books have a unique way of stopping time in a particular moment and saying: Let’s not forget this.”” |
Publisher:
The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance /
siba@sibaweb.com |
SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805
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