Anu Recommends #32
In-person book events, reading updates, and more
Hi and welcome to the Storyteller!
We’re back on live time and to weekly issues—how has everyone been? I’m excited to return to the fold, as it were. The ol’ creative well has been sufficiently filled, and there’s a lot planned coming up that I cannot wait for all of you to see, but all in good time 😊
Today, I want to share what I’ve been reading during this break, talk about a lovely book event I attended during a trip to London for a friend’s wedding, and recommend two newsletters started by book friends in my absence on here. So let’s get to it, shall we?
Fantasy Glow-ups: Reimaginings that Hit Different
When I found out that my London visit was coinciding with a book event featuring not one but two Storyteller authors, imagine my joy! Penguin Platform’s House of YA x Waterstones Bookfest, hosted at their flagship store in London Piccadilly, featured a panel discussion between debut authors Kika Hatzapoulou and Bea Fitzgerald (who are already familiar to the readers of this newsletter—catch yourselves up through the hyperlinks, if not 🤓), and author Natasha Bowen whose work was new to me but I cannot wait to read (black mermaids and African myth!).
This is what the event info had to say:
Bravely step forward to join your favourite fantasy authors as they explore what it means to reimagine folktales, myths and legends – transforming familiar stories into extraordinary adventures with unexpected twists.
Bea Fitzgerald (Girl, Goddess, Queen), Kika Hatzopoulou (Threads That Bind), and Natasha Bowen (Skin of the Sea) will have their compasses out, ready to guide the conversation through the endlessly exciting, creative opportunities that retellings have to offer. There will be a chance to ask questions and gain insights into each author’s approach to reinventing beloved tales. Chart a path straight to the bookstore for this one!
The panel was moderated by Lauren, of Lauren’s Little Library, a BookToker and Bookstagrammer, and the hour or so that followed made me remember why I love, and miss, live book events. From discussions about agency and its complexity (especially for young women—how do you maintain it even when you don’t quite know what you want to do?), to nuanced insights on the entangled, ensnaring power and control exerted on us and by us, to opinions about why retellings remain so popular (the symphony of the longevity of these everlasting stories, the human legacy of the spoken and written word, the comfort and constancy), to how much and what to research and how to decide which parts to keep and which to reinvent, to circling back around to choice vs fate vs destiny. This was an absolute delight.
It was also amazing to finally hold these two books in my hands after having read digital advance review copies (in the case of Threads That Bind; I’m yet to read Girl, Goddess, Queen, and am looking forward to it). There is something so tangible about books as physical objects that no matter how much I love my Kindle it can never replace *that* feeling, at least for me.
There was a signing after the event, and it was lovely to finally meet both Kika and Bea in person after chatting with them via email and Instagram for the past so many months! Another part of in-person book events and book festivals that I don’t think you can replicate. That human connection and interaction between authors, between us in the audience and the authors, between fellow readers and fans and avid book lovers. I’m very grateful I got to store away that feeling and these memories after a long time without 💜 (photos with both authors in the Instagram post below, just swipe through the carousel 😊).
On my Kindle (mostly): reading updates
In a digital spin on What’s on Your Nightstand, behold what I’ve been reading during this break. Barring one physical book (Yellowface), all others were on my Kindle. I’ll be sharing longer thoughts on them in future issues, so let me know if there are any, in particular, that you’d like to see me tackle first.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang: this darkly humorous satire is every bit as bitingly sharp a commentary on the state of the publishing industry and its offshoots as everyone has been saying, and addictively readable to boot. I do, however, think that the final third is the book’s weakest, in comparison (just like the author’s previous, Babel).
A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes by Rodrigo Garcia: a son bids goodbye to his larger-than-life, many-layered, genius-but-unfailingly-human father—Gabo as he was affectionately known—blending memoir and reportage. This short but impactful text offers a loving, honest tribute to the legacy of his formidable parents.
Hammer Head by Nina MacLaughlin: a memoir that I picked up at the perfect time, don’t you love when that happens! Storyteller readers know that I’m a fan of the author (I wrote about her Summer Solstice long essay just a few issues ago), but did you know that she’s also a carpenter? This Classics major and writer gave up a full-time, secure desk job to search for more meaning in her life and craft…and ended up becoming a carpenter under the tutelage of Mary, her unforgettable mentor.
Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher: not as consistently sparkling as Swordheart by the same author (which I now realise I read before the break and still need to write about 😅), but this is a funny, endearing, and very solid offering set in the same world, and I’m invested enough to want to read the other two in the series.
Currently reading:
The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner
Publisher’s blurb: Dellaria Wells—petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch—is behind on her rent. To make ends meet, Delly talks her way into a guard job in the city of Leiscourt, joining a team of unconventional women to protect an aristocrat from unseen assassins.
It looks like easy money and a chance to romance her confident companion Winn, but when did anything in Delly's life go to plan? With the help of a necromancer, a shapeshifting schoolgirl, and a reanimated mouse named Buttons, Delly and Winn find themselves facing an adversary who wields a twisted magic and has friends in the highest of places.
I’m finding it witty, absorbing, and very unexpected. Stay tuned for more thoughts (just over the halfway mark at the moment). This was recommended by my sister who is a voracious reader of, especially, fantasy books and always has great recs up her sleeve—I’ve been trying to get her to agree to a regular feature on here with her recommendations, throw your support in so I can convince her 😉.
Before I let you go today, I want to round up this issue with two new newsletters you should consider checking out. Both Sonali and Nupur are book friends, so let’s welcome them to the Substack community!
Hope you enjoyed this return issue! Let me know what I’ve missed during the time I’ve not been active in the space, anything you’re reading and enjoying, any recent favourites, anything and everything. I’m all ears.
As always, please feel free to send in recommendations—books, movie, TV shows, authors to interview, ideas of what you’d like me to write on, rants/ramblings/excited monologues, GIFs and memes (especially them) and more. Just drop me a line and turn this into a conversation, even if just to say hi and let me know what you thought of the latest issue 😊 Or share this with someone you think might enjoy it.
(For a while now the paragraph above has had a WHOLE word missing and I only just realised it since I copy and paste it into every issue. You can’t see me but I’m cringing really hard. Better late than never, I guess! And it goes to show what familiarity can do to one’s eyes, even if it’s one’s job to pick out errors like that.)
Take care and see you next week!
Anu
If you really like the newsletter, please feel free to buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/anushreenande
You can find me on Twitter at @AnuNande (follow for all the football chatter) and on Instagram at @booksinboston.
Welcome back Anu. It was a pleasure to read about your travels and about the new books on the horizon.
Thank you Anu :) looking forward to meeting you when you are in London next.