Current Newsletter: Real Books, Recommended by Real People

Bookstores with reviews in this week's newsletter:

• Kimberly Todd, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi
• Doron Klemer, Octavia Books in New Orleans, Louisiana
• Nath Mayes, Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky
• Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia
• Kristen Iskandrian, Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama
• Patience Allan-Glick, Hills & Hamlets Bookshop in Carrollton, Georgia
• Julia Lewis, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia
• Joyce McKinnon, Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama
• Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina
• Mandy Martin, Novel. in Memphis, Tennessee
• Jim Clemmons, Sundog Books in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida
• Emily Lessig, The Violet Fox Bookshop in Virginia Beach, Virginia
• Winter Goldsmith, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia
• Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia
• Molly Reinhardt, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina
• Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina
• Caitlyn Vanorder, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Book Buzz Feature: Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle
Food has always been an obsession of mine, but I had never written it really into my fiction, aside from, occasionally describing what somebody was eating, describing a flavor somebody remembered. But this was the first time where, I think years of reading cookbooks, of watching cooking shows, of watching my parents cook, of cooking myself, and experiencing different flavors and different cuisines, and being really tuned into that…I think this was when all of that sort of manifested.

― Daria Lavelle, Interview, Table Talk

Decide For Yourself Banned Book Feature:
The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh
I can still remember reading The Wrath and The Dawn for the first time, and how much the beautiful world, and incredible romance affected me. Today I’m gushing about Renee’s new book about vampires in 19th century New Orleans! The best part of it is, she doesn’t stick strictly to vampires, at all, nor the normal glittering, sometimes scary vampires we’re used to today! Ahdieh takes the vampire mythos and shapes it into something all her own, making it beautiful and lush and terrifying.
―Caitlyn Vanorder, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina