Current Newsletter: Reading far and wide.

Bookstores with reviews in this week's newsletter:

• Doron Klemer, Octavia Books in New Orleans, Louisiana
• Joshua Lambie, Underground Books in Carrollton, Georgia
• Rachel Brewer, Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky
• Ian McCord, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia
• Charlie Marks, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia
• Lana Repic, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia
• Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina
• Sarai Rivera, Spellbound Bookstore in Sanford, Florida
• Jackie Davison, The Lynx in Gainesville, Florida
• Hallee Israel, Pearl’s Books in Fayetteville, Arkansas
• Ashton Ahart, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina
• Shelby Barnett, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, Louisiana
• Sarah Goddin, McIntyre’s Books in Pittsboro, North Carolina
• Jan Blodgett, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina
• Ruth Heckendorf, Pretty Good Books in LaGrange, Georgia
• Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia
• Jessica Nock, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina
• Amanda Gawthorpe, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

Book Buzz Feature: Soft Core by Brittany Newell
I think of San Francisco as a main character in the book, exactly like you say. The book is about all the different sorts of intimacies that fill up Ruth’s life, from easily recognizable relationships like her romance with Dino to her intensely emotional and sometimes libidinal friendships with Mazzy and Ophelia. Also, the intimacies that are harder to name but just as impactful, i.e. her intimacies with different johns. All this is to say, a hugely intimate relationship in her life is the relationship she has with San Francisco, especially as she wanders around in her unraveling fugue state and revisits all the different places where special things have happened to her…Grace Cathedral, China Beach, the bus where she met Dino…She traces the city like you might trace a lover’s sleeping face.

― Brittany Newell, Interview, Chicago Review of Books

Decide For Yourself Banned Book Feature:
In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner
This book is classic Zentner. With lovely prose, it make you laugh, cry, and appreciate the family you have—both by birth and by choice.
― Amanda Gawthorpe, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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