I had my first book published last fall for middle grade readers - Detective Thomas and the Biggest Question through Our Sunday Visitor publishing. I'd love people to check it out. I'm reading Argylle right now and really enjoying it!
Some books I’ve recently read and loved: The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali, Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn, and Awaking Wonder by Sally Clarkson.
Well, I just finished your book, Claire, and I thought it was FAR superior to social media in general and everything on Facebook specifically. I enjoyed it!!
I reread Jane Eyre this year for the first time since a college professor ruined it for me 20+ years ago and I'm so glad I did.
Also, highly recommending Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome, which I read aloud with my kids this year. We all loved it.
I just finished reading A Body Made of Glass which has the subtitle A History of Hypochondria - it is that, but it's also the account of the author's own experience with health anxiety and sort of a reflection on medical care and science and what we expect and are promised from both. Really good.
I don’t have a book to toot about (how I wish!) but I did want to comment and say THANK YOU for writing about bookstores and Independent Bookstore Day. Here in Connecticut, it’s celebrated as a weekend and there’s a contest where you’re encouraged to visit shops across the straight for prizes. Now, Connecticut is one of our smallest states (though certainly not the smallest) which means visiting 20+ shops is one weekend is doable — tricky maybe but doable. It strikes me that perhaps having a bookstore is a labor of love. As Kathleen Kelly was a lone reed, I hope that independent booksellers can be the same. (It always bums me out that she closed—could she not afford the rent after a while? Even though Fix Books had that giant children’s section, HER store had the atmosphere and history.
You're sweet to let us join you in tooting our horns! I have published a novel called A Song For The Road, about a Catholic musician (a very imperfect one) on a cross-country road trip to honor the family she lost. Like you, Claire, I operate in multiple genres, with Intentional Catholic as my faith-based and my fiction under my own name, Kathleen Basi. Can't wait to read the other recommendations!
I'm currently enjoying Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want To Come about the introverted author's attempts to extrovert more. She coins the term "shintrovert" (aka shy introvert, or "also a pervert who is very into lower legs")...hilarious. I just requested your book from the library, Claire. Normally I'm not cool enough to request actually popular books, but 25 people are waiting for it before me, so go you!
I just read How To Stay Married, which I learned about in your newsletter! I’m not a huge reader, but you wouldn’t know that by how fast I devoured this one! Anyone have similar recs?
I'm a Catholic author of two books (soon to be three!) Thanks for the opportunity to share about our work, Claire! Anyone interested can check out my substack or website!
I write devotional-journals on the Rosary and am getting ready to release book #2 in my YA dystopian trilogy this June! I'm looking forward to getting some more book ideas to add to my TBR from you all!
I have a question! I love the idea of shopping at an independent local bookstore but….i don’t have one anywhere nearby. So I am curious, where does Barnes&Noble, or a website like ThriftBooks, fall on your spectrum between Amazon and the cute local indie? I haven’t looked into ordering online from an indie not-near-me so that is also intriguing.
The book that surprised me most, recently, was Dune by Frank Herbert. My husband recommended it, I didn’t even know there were movies, I rolled my eyes and then picked it up…I LOVED IT. I don’t usually read sci-fi, but it was such a well-thought-out and interestingly-told story!
I also appreciate being able to support indie bookstores I love from afar via bookshop.org! I have tried to shift nearly all book ordering I do from amazon to that platform. I recently reread Alain de Botton's The Course of Love via audiobook and loved it even more than when I read it the first time- not from a Christian worldview and I have some substantial disagreements with his ruminations on fidelity and monogamy but so many profound insights and genuinely just delightful to read. Currently reading Trust, by Hernan Diaz along with the Close Reads podcast community and I'm hooked!
I’m currently enjoying Ann Patchett’s This is the Story of a Happy Marriage - love nonfiction that inspires me to write! The last fiction I read was Funeral Ladies and I devoured it!
Saintly Moms: 25 Stories of Holiness by
Kelly Ann Guest.
Easy to read and offers encouraging stories about Saints who were called to the vocation of motherhood.
Just here to say thanks, as a new bookstore owner. Can't wait to get your books in the store, Claire!
I had my first book published last fall for middle grade readers - Detective Thomas and the Biggest Question through Our Sunday Visitor publishing. I'd love people to check it out. I'm reading Argylle right now and really enjoying it!
Some books I’ve recently read and loved: The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali, Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn, and Awaking Wonder by Sally Clarkson.
Well, I just finished your book, Claire, and I thought it was FAR superior to social media in general and everything on Facebook specifically. I enjoyed it!!
I reread Jane Eyre this year for the first time since a college professor ruined it for me 20+ years ago and I'm so glad I did.
Also, highly recommending Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome, which I read aloud with my kids this year. We all loved it.
I just finished reading A Body Made of Glass which has the subtitle A History of Hypochondria - it is that, but it's also the account of the author's own experience with health anxiety and sort of a reflection on medical care and science and what we expect and are promised from both. Really good.
I don’t have a book to toot about (how I wish!) but I did want to comment and say THANK YOU for writing about bookstores and Independent Bookstore Day. Here in Connecticut, it’s celebrated as a weekend and there’s a contest where you’re encouraged to visit shops across the straight for prizes. Now, Connecticut is one of our smallest states (though certainly not the smallest) which means visiting 20+ shops is one weekend is doable — tricky maybe but doable. It strikes me that perhaps having a bookstore is a labor of love. As Kathleen Kelly was a lone reed, I hope that independent booksellers can be the same. (It always bums me out that she closed—could she not afford the rent after a while? Even though Fix Books had that giant children’s section, HER store had the atmosphere and history.
You're sweet to let us join you in tooting our horns! I have published a novel called A Song For The Road, about a Catholic musician (a very imperfect one) on a cross-country road trip to honor the family she lost. Like you, Claire, I operate in multiple genres, with Intentional Catholic as my faith-based and my fiction under my own name, Kathleen Basi. Can't wait to read the other recommendations!
Why oh why doesn’t Substack have an edit comment feature????
I'm currently enjoying Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want To Come about the introverted author's attempts to extrovert more. She coins the term "shintrovert" (aka shy introvert, or "also a pervert who is very into lower legs")...hilarious. I just requested your book from the library, Claire. Normally I'm not cool enough to request actually popular books, but 25 people are waiting for it before me, so go you!
I just read How To Stay Married, which I learned about in your newsletter! I’m not a huge reader, but you wouldn’t know that by how fast I devoured this one! Anyone have similar recs?
Hello all!
I'm a Catholic author of two books (soon to be three!) Thanks for the opportunity to share about our work, Claire! Anyone interested can check out my substack or website!
Substack: https://authorallisonramirez.substack.com/p/welcome
Website: author-allison-ramirez.com
I write devotional-journals on the Rosary and am getting ready to release book #2 in my YA dystopian trilogy this June! I'm looking forward to getting some more book ideas to add to my TBR from you all!
If anyone on substack has not seen you’ve got mail they’re, like, really missing the memo here
I have a question! I love the idea of shopping at an independent local bookstore but….i don’t have one anywhere nearby. So I am curious, where does Barnes&Noble, or a website like ThriftBooks, fall on your spectrum between Amazon and the cute local indie? I haven’t looked into ordering online from an indie not-near-me so that is also intriguing.
The book that surprised me most, recently, was Dune by Frank Herbert. My husband recommended it, I didn’t even know there were movies, I rolled my eyes and then picked it up…I LOVED IT. I don’t usually read sci-fi, but it was such a well-thought-out and interestingly-told story!
I also appreciate being able to support indie bookstores I love from afar via bookshop.org! I have tried to shift nearly all book ordering I do from amazon to that platform. I recently reread Alain de Botton's The Course of Love via audiobook and loved it even more than when I read it the first time- not from a Christian worldview and I have some substantial disagreements with his ruminations on fidelity and monogamy but so many profound insights and genuinely just delightful to read. Currently reading Trust, by Hernan Diaz along with the Close Reads podcast community and I'm hooked!
I’m currently enjoying Ann Patchett’s This is the Story of a Happy Marriage - love nonfiction that inspires me to write! The last fiction I read was Funeral Ladies and I devoured it!