Here’s A List Of What Us Wenches Are Reading Right Now!

Books as Gifts

Hi all, JoAnn here.

Since January is what we retail folks call The Season of Returns, and Valentine’s Day is closing in quick, I figured it might be time for a quick and dirty “Books as Gifts Guide.”

First things first, I will pretty much always advocate that there is a book for just about everyone. 

Narrowing down what is the appropriate book for a given person is the more difficult part.

Did the person you are buying your gift for request a specific title?

Yes: easy peasy.

Your local bookseller should be able to help you lay your hands on that which you seek.

No: less easy but no less peasy.

Did they not give you a title because they couldn’t remember it or because your plan was to go to your local bookstore and see what spoke to you?

If they couldn’t remember the title, booksellers will gladly attempt to Sherlock Holmes their way to what you are looking for. If you don’t have a title or author, being able to tell a bookseller a few basic things about the book you are looking for (what it’s about, name of a character if you are looking for a novel or a series, where the person heard about the book, etc) can make things so much easier. Many times the Google on the Internet Machine has helped me put a name to broken pieces of information and allowed me to put the proper title in the hands of a customer.

And now, for the person that didn’t ask for a book but is on your list to be given one.

The difficulty with this bit is that if someone does not consider themselves a reader and/or doesn’t like books (gasp), there really isn’t anything you can do to force the change upon them. The book you give them will, most likely, sit on a case and gather dust.

Story time: I have a friend named Jon. Jon is an electrician by trade and a mechanic by hobby. He does not like to read novels. He flat out says he is not a reader. He will buy huge, densely written technical manuals and read them for fun. I shit you not, these books are written in such a way that if I try to read them I feel like I’m having a stroke. He will devour these while loudly ranting about how he doesn’t like to read. He does not recognize the contradiction.

For Jon, the best thing to get him book-wise is, you guessed it, a technical manual for something in his wheelhouse. Or a highly inappropriate humor book with lots of pictures. But that is just because I know what makes Jon laugh.

The following questions are a few tools that booksellers will typically use to help you figure out what direction to point you in if you are looking for a book but aren’t sure what book is right for your situation:

1) What is the last book you/insert person here read and loved? 2) What type of books do you/insert person here like to read? 3) What movie was the last movie that you/insert person here really enjoyed?

Question number three I’ve started tossing in my bag of tricks since a bunch of books that have done well in book format have been getting turned into movies. While many of the more literary snobs may pooh-pooh such things, I love it because the books start to fly off the shelves around the time the movie gets closer to hitting theaters and then I can suggest other titles that might tickle someone’s fancy.

At the end of the day, trust your judgment. You know the person that you are buying for. You know their personality and what they like. You can do this, I believe in you.

5 Exciting YA Book Trends to Look for in 2016

Are you ready to discover the newest YA titles coming to a bookstore (or e-reader) near you in 2016? As a YA book blogger and book curator, I've scoured the Internet for forthcoming releases and f...

Hurrah for Cincinnati authors! Emily Henry and Kate Hattemer are both on the list!

The War In Our Stars

Kylo Ren: It's a metaphor

Kylo Ren: you wear the scary breathing mask but you don't actually need it to breathe

February book haul 📚

                             Image Credit: Pottermore/Warner Brothers HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET of NOPE!  Dear JK Rowling,

Alia here.  There’s no denying you’re one of the most brilliant minds of our era. You’ve created worlds that we get lost in and complex characters that we love dearly. But with MAGIC IN NORTH AMERICA, something went wrong.  Maybe it’s that you’re not from North America? But surely you did your research into the complexities that are the native peoples of this continent...Maybe it’s that you didn’t grow up constantly bombarded by stereotypical images of native people on TV, in movies, as Halloween costumes, etc.? Maybe it’s because you didn’t go to school here and didn’t receive an incomplete history of native peoples that basically stops after “First Contact” & “Thanksgiving” and ignores modern native people? Perhaps...

There are real issues here. You’re dealing with real people, cultures, traditions and religions and with that comes a lot of responsibility. Native people are already heavily stereotyped around the world as “Magical Beings” and now...they’re in your magical canon! Not only do you refer to them as a monolithic group (there are hundreds of nations in the US alone), you *seem* to imply that native wand-less magic is powerful but not as refined as European magic (due to the power of a wand).

I encourage you, Ms. Rowling, to respond to native academics, fans, etc. who are asking you tough, but important questions. Debbie Reese, Dr. Adrienne Keene and many others have tweeted at you. Here, here, here & here are some EXCELLENT articles that delve into your work from a native perspective. This one is excellent as well. I ask you to check out Debbie Reese and Dr. Adrienne Keene’s websites in general. Just look around. They do great work.

Let’s get this discussion going and please let us know who you consulted for this project because we’re SUPER CURIOUS. (at least I am...) Representation Matters. It really does and yes, anyone CAN write a story, but I’d hope they LISTEN and learn as much as possible before releasing it to the world, especially when you’re dealing with living people, religions, and NATIVE KIDS. There’s a long history of misrepresentation, exploitation and stereotyping of native peoples. There’s also the fact native writers already have a difficult time getting published. They have a hard time telling their own stories. MAGIC IN NORTH AMERICA is problematic and we await your response... Sincerely, A Fan **SIPS TEA (out of the Goblet of Fire)**

A Feminist Reading List for the Holidays: Books by strong, spirited, whip-smart, flawed, fantastic, human, devastatingly talented women for anyone - female, male, or otherwise - on your list.

My Life On The Road by Gloria Steinem

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Hissing Cousins by Marc Peyser and Timothy Dwyer

Isabella: The Warrior Queen by Kirstin Downey

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein

A House Of My Own by Sandra Cisneros

Fates & Furies by Lauren Groff

Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar

The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan

Missoula by Jon Krakauer

Let Me Tell You by Shirley Jackson

The Mare by Mary Gaitskill

You Don’t Have to Like Me by Alida Nugent (@thefrenemy​)

Peruse all of our holiday lists here!

Hello!

So--me in a nutshell. I’m Marita. I’m 24 years old, I have a degree in biology that I’m going to do something with eventually, I’m fluent in French, I’m a vegetarian, and I ride a scooter. I love theater, traveling, music, and boating.

In terms of fiction, I gravitate towards science fiction and fantasy, especially in a modern-day setting. I love the books that make me feel like there’s still magic in the world, that the near future is full of limitless possibilities, and that I could walk out my front door on any given day and get swept up in an adventure.

I prefer to find weird, unrecognized books no one’s ever heard of as opposed to reading whatever’s getting a ton of attention at the moment. And yes, I know this makes me a huge hypocrite because I love telling other people what to read.

When it comes to nonfiction, I read my fair share of science writing--especially in the hard sciences--but I also like to read a lot of philosophy and theology because while science is an extremely powerful tool, there are a lot of big questions that it will never be able to answer.

My all-time favorite fiction books include John Dies at the End, Breakfast of Champions, Uprooted, Strangers and Sojourners, The Blue Castle, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Sandman, The Raw Shark Texts, Society of S, Good Omens, and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal.

Favorite non-fiction books include Guns, Germs, & Steel, A Beautiful Question, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Something Other Than God, The Violinist’s Thumb, Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension, Christianity for the Modern Pagan, and Lab Girl.

It would take a long time to list my all-time favorite YA books, but I’ll inhale anything by Scott Westerfeld, Neal Shusterman, Garth Nix, Holly Black, Marissa Meyer, Rosamund Hodge, and William Sleator.

The other book wenches already know this because I mention it at any given opportunity, but my favorite series of all time is Animorphs. If you need me to explain why it is a masterpiece of the English language, give me a few hours and I’ll set you straight.

A look at recent YA books by Latino authors, providing “much-needed windows for all readers.” @schoollibraryjournal

Hello from your friendly neighborhood Book Wench!

Since I’m the first of us slackers to actually post something on here, I figured I’d go ahead and introduce myself and our blog and what we’re about!

So, About Us:

The Book Wenches are a collective of fantastic booksellers, former coworkers, and eternal friends Alia, Claire, Jo Ann, Marita, Melissa, and Tori. Life has drawn several of us away from our beloved bookstore to distant and varied lands of the book industry. Thus out of a desire to keep in touch and to keep each other updated on the books we love, this blog was created!

While you will certainly encounter a wide range of genres, age levels, and interests here, we are all deeply invested in reading and promoting diversity in literature and are huge fans and supporters our faves @weneeddiversebooks.

We’ll be here to talk with you about what we’re reading–what’s new, what’s classic, what’s yet to be…and what’s good.

About Me:

Oh hey, I’m Tori! I’m 25, biracial, and coming to you live from the coffee shop I work in when I’m not out peddling books.

I primarily read Young/New Adult, but you can also expect a good deal of Middle Grade, some picture books, and occasionally an adult book or two (my attention span isn’t really capable of handling anything over 300 pages). The vast majority of what I read is Fantasy and Science Fiction (I am a sucker for a good fairy tale retelling), with a little Romance thrown in. I’m also a big fan of comics and graphic novels.

My favorite book of all time is The Two Princesses of Bamarre. The best book I read this year was Welcome to Night Vale (@welcometonightvalebook). The book I’m most excited about in 2016 is Catherine Egan’s Julia Vanishes (seriously guys, it is so good–I plan to read it at least twice more before it comes out in June)

Let's be friends