#USBookShow & Summer Reading Bonanza

Once again the Publishers Weekly U.S. Book Show delivered information, entertainment, and inspiration!

Outstanding keynote speakers, author chats, and panel discussions with the engaging Friends & Fiction fun with Tia Williams (Seven Days in June) and T.J. Newman (Falling), Libraries Are Essential, Black Women, Black Voices: Debut Memoirists on Career and Publishing, Celeste Ng, TikTok and Books, and Bringing the World to Your Door as particular favorites, along with Comics and Graphic Novels and so much more. My TBR pile may collapse under the weight of all the new editions.

Plus, the Prince George's County Memorial Library System offers plenty of summer reading options (as usual).

Shifters in Love

Wish Out of Water by Holley Trent

Mad for a Mate by MaryJanice Davidson

All About the Digits

Starry-Eyed Love by Helena Hunting

Mr. Wrong Number by Lynn Painter

Brace for Impact

The Book of Luke: Earthquake by Iris Bolling

Magical Mayhem

Boss Witch by Ann Aguirre

Surprise Inheritances, Collisions, a Foodie Mystery, Second Chances & Crossroads

With Love from London by Sarah Jio

Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey

A Brush with Love by Mazey Eddings

A Fatal Family Feast by Lynn Cahoon

Love and Lotus Blossoms by Anne Shade

Pay Attention to Your True Self & Each Phase of Your Journey

Speak: How to Find Your Voice, Trust Your Gut, and Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Tunde Oyeneyin

It's been an emotionally grueling past week, month, and 2+ years (and decade and life for many).

Books provide information, a range of perspectives, motivation, solace, and escape, all of which are essential to advancing toward a more inclusive, healthier, safer existence for all of us.

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New Arrivals Giving BRBF Vibes + BAC Issues

Even as my friends and I enjoyed a fantastic community event yesterday in and around the Bowie Branch of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System, there was envy in my heart for all of the attendees and participants at the Black Romance Book Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. Reports of issues of crowding just made me happy for the event organizers' success while they posted apologies and corrective strategies for crowd control during the last day. In the meantime, the new arrivals shelves at the closest library in the neighboring county offered a variety of books by BRBF authors. "Where the Melanated Are Celebrated" indeed. [9 books, from left to right: Positive Obsession, Communion, Big Girl Blitz (atop a bookstack), The Started Ex, Fire Sword & Sea, Leave Your Mess at Home, Archangel's Eternity, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, First Sign of Danger] Currently reading Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Mo...

Legacies of Octavia Butler & June BAC Issues

It's so exciting to read about a trailblazer who was ethical, thoughtful, generous, and funny in addition to being diligent and multifaceted. [Positive Obsession atop a bookstack of 7 books - The Last Lady B spine showing, then 6 books showing page edges; Communion propped to the left of the bookstack] Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris non-fiction biography Amistad, 2025 Opening with a quote from Parable of the Sower, this biographer uses every word in the O.E.B. chronology, author's note, introduction, six chapters, epilogue, and acknowledgements to engage readers in an intimate personal study of this extraordinary, talented, driven woman who was vulnerable and complicated in her brilliant humanity. The author's access to the O.E.B. archives adds layers of emotional depth that enrich the context of the details of the author's personal life and creative and professional development. from the Author's Note:...

When What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Funny

Need to laugh out loud? To feel inspired? To feel seen? To feel encouraged to pursue your heart's most ambitious desires despite overwhelming odds against succeeding? Read Zarna Garg's memoir, which offers an intimate, compelling coming of age, immigrant's journey, family saga, and keen observations about humans and life as experienced by a hilarious, intrepid individual. [front cover of "Zarna Garg, This American Woman: A One-In-A-Billion Memoir" showing the Statue of Liberty holding the author in her arms with the New York City skyline in the lower half of the background] This American Woman: A One-In-A-Billion Memoir by Zarna Garg non-fiction memoir Ballantine Books, April 2025 Universal themes of family love and family conflict, support and abandonment, grieving as a years' long process with lulls, parenting and being parented (or not), finding your people in friendship, romance, community presented and dissected with the author's sharp wit ...

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