Mid-Month Reading Update: The Calm Before the NBA Storm
Plus a roundup of great links and the full year's Booker of the Month schedule.
Hi, friends.
It’s finally here! The National Book Awards have announced the longlists for all five categories, and I could not be more excited about the Fiction list. Here’s an Instagram post with some longer thoughts, but suffice it to say those wishes I expressed in my primer came true. If you’re interested, I also made a StoryGraph challenge, and there’s a highlight saved to my Instagram bio with an IG stories template to track your progress through the longlist.
I’m in a bit of denial that we’re more than halfway through September already, although my heart is happy about the leaves starting to change and the prospect of cooler temperatures. My sister and I went on a short hike to a local waterfall last weekend, and it won’t be my last of the season. I’m also planning to start easing back into running very soon, now that I’m 11 weeks postpartum — because fall running with a good audiobook is literal heaven.
Anyway, let’s get to the book talk, shall we?
What I’ve read so far this month
This newsletter is coming to you a couple of days later than I had planned, but that’s because I really wanted to finish up the non-NBA books on my September TBR before I sent it — which I did! The past few weeks have been all about clearing out my NetGalley backlog, plus finally reading my advanced copy of the new Sally Rooney (*swoon*). It feels SO good to feel like I’m heading into the NBA longlist with a clean slate.
Also! I read five books in the first 18 days of this month, which is the same number of books I read in all of August and one more than I read in July. I also really really enjoyed all of them. She’s BACK, y’all!!
Longer reviews for these are coming on the blog, I just didn’t want to delay this newsletter even further. (That said, I’m planning to write them over the next day or two, so if you’re reading this on a delay, you can check here to see if they’re up yet.)
The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko* 📖🎧: This was quick and fun but still felt like it had depth and heart. If you loved Ifueko’s Raybearer duology, put this standalone in the same universe one on your TBR. (And if not, please read Raybearer!)
Small Rain by Garth Greenwell* 📖🎧: Loved this. As someone who just had their own hospital stay (C-section recovery), I could relate to the minutiae depicted here. Bonus: Greenwell reads his own audiobook, it was a really great way to experience the novel.
There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak* 📖🎧: This might be my favorite Shafak to date?! Nobody does gorgeous novels that weave in nature and a little bit of magic quite like Shafak.
The Gods Below (The Gods Below, #1) by Andrea Stewart* 📖🎧: I had a great time reading this. The pacing was perfect and the magic system is so fun and unique. It also had a great twist that I didn’t see coming until she wanted me to. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next one!
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney* 📖: She’s done it again, y’all. If you want to feel your heart crack open for flawed yet lovable characters in deep, often dysfunctional relationships with one another, reach for Rooney.
*gifted to me by the publisher
I also DNFed one book: Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi. It wasn’t bad, just very slow paced, and I wasn’t vibing with it enough to plod through. If you like deeply historical and political fantasy novels (albeit lightly fantasy), this may still be for you.
What’s left on my TBR this month
It’s NBA time, baby!!! I’ve already read James and Martyr!, and my plan is to read as many of the remaining eight books on the longlist before October 1’s finalist announcement as I can. Most of them are short — only three have more than 300 pages, and the longest one is 400 — so I’m feeling optimistic.
Here’s what I’ve got:
My Friends by Hisham Matar* (we got lucky, because this one is also our September Booker of the Month)
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner* (another Booker crossover, and on deck for Ocbtober’s Booker of the Month)
Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio*
All Fours by Miranda July
Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte*
Ghostroots by Pemi Aguda
The Most by Jessica Anthony
Yr Dead by Sam Sax
*gifted to me by the publisher
Presenting the entire Booker of the Month schedule
We got the Booker Prize shortlist this past Monday, which means I could finally set the rest of the year’s Booker of the Month schedule. (I always wait so that we can prioritize the shortlist first and maximize our chances of having read the winner by the time it’s announced.)
As mentioned above, we’re reading Creation Lake in October, but be sure to check out the whole schedule so you can put in your library holds or order the books ahead of time — especially Stone Yard Devotional, which isn’t published in the US, but you can get it shipped here for free from Blackwells in the UK. And if you haven’t read There, There by Tommy Orange, I highly recommend doing so before we get to its sequel, Wandering Stars.
PSA: The StoryGraph challenge is updated to reflect the correct reading order, and the StoryGraph book club page has all the meetings built out. Reminder that you can add discussion questions to any meeting’s question bank if there’s something you’d especially like to discuss!
And finally, if you’re not registered for next Monday’s Zoom chat on My Friends, you can do that here.
Links, glorious links
Remember how the NYPL posted top-notch memes for months and got everyone to help them convince the NYC government to reverse the big, bad budget cuts? Yeah, it was awesome. Here’s an interview with the NYPL’s social media manager about the campaign.
- never misses, especially when she’s rebutting a stupid opinion piece that claimed bookstores are a waste of space. (New Yorker, baby, what are we doing?)
ICYMI: LitHub started a podcast! I haven’t gotten a chance to listen yet, but I’m officially subscribed.
Adaptation trailers incoming! Check out this one for Small Things Like These with Cillian Murphy, adapted from the novel of the same title by Claire Keegan, and this one for Nickel Boys, adapted from The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. I highly recommend reading each novel as well — they’re masterpieces.
I’m a big fan of
’s newsletter , where he just posted a very timely interview with the author of Rejection from the NBA longlist.
As always, thanks for sharing your corner of the internet with me! It would mean a lot if you were to take a second to like this post. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, too.
Finally, if you like this newsletter, please send a few friends my way.
See you on Instagram!
— Deedi (she/her)
Going to lowkey read those 5 pictured NBA fiction long list titles with you—not by Oct 1 but throughout the fall. ☺️
*blows kisses*