Tanya’s
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(group member since May 18, 2010)
Tanya’s
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from the Busy as a Bee Books group.
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Hi Bees!I am so incredibly sorry that this is going up so late. We've had some family stuff come up and I've been completely absent this month. Please post your nominations for our September / October group read and I'll put up a poll next week.
Happy reading Bees!
Just For FunThis Week's Lists:
10 Novels with Moral Dilemmas
11 Books to Help Understand the 1960s
12 Books that Break the Rules of Point of View
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President Obama’s Summer Reading List
Former President Barack Obama has released his summer 2021 reading list. As usual, it’s packed with some outstanding titles. Check it out here.
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Fashion Disasters in Fiction
This is a fun read!
New Releases
All The Lonely People by Mike Gayle
📖 fiction
Appleseed by Matt Bell
🤖 😨 speculative science fiction / thriller
Bring Your Baggage and Don't Pack Light: Essays by Helen Ellis
🤡 📚 humor / essays
The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer by Dean Jobb
👓 nonfiction
The Cellist by Daniel Silva
😨 thriller / adventure
Count the Ways by Joyce Maynard
📖 fiction
Embassy Wife by Katie Crouch
😨 political thriller
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
👻 horror
The Heathens by Ace Atkins
😨 thriller
Immortelle by Catherine McCarthy
👻 horror
It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
💋 romantic comedy
The Icepick Surgeon by Sam Kean
👓 nonfiction
It's Better This Way by Debbie Macomber
📖 fiction
The Last Commandment by Scott Shepherd
😨 thriller
Look What You Made Me Do by Elaine Murphy
😨 thriller
Midnight, Water City by Chris McKinney
🤖 science fiction
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
🤖 science fiction
The Rehearsals by Annette Christie
💋 romantic comedy
Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke
👓 nonfiction
The Shadow People by Joe Clifford
😨 👻 psychological thriller / horror
The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam
📖 fiction
Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge
🔎 mystery
Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda
😨 psychological thriller
Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices by Swapna Krishna
📚 short stories / retelling
The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
👻 horror
The Therapist by B.A. Paris
😨 psychological thriller
A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan
📖 fiction
An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination by Sheera Frenkel
👓 nonfiction
Yoga Pant Nation by Laurie Gelman
📖 🤡 fiction / humor
Adaptation NewsThings We Lost in the Fire
Good news for fans of the Mariana Enriquez’s short story collection Things We Lost in the Fire - the eponymous short story is going to be adapted for film. It’s a feminist horror story about women who take control of their lives and futures in the face of male violence. The book was originally published in Argentina before being translated into English and published in the United States.
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The Alchemist
Westbrook Studios has announced that filming for The Alchemist will begin this September in Morocco. Sebastian de Souza, Tom Hollander, and Shohreh Aghdashloo are set to star in the upcoming film. You can expect to see The Alchemist released near the end of 2022.
Ladies of Horror Fiction Award ShortlistThe Ladies of Horror Fiction announced their nominees for 2021 and here are the nominees in the best novel and best debut categories:
Best Debut
☀ Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed
☀ Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas
☀ Fairest Flesh by K.P. Kulski
☀ Lakewood by Megan Giddings
☀ The Return by Rachel Harrison
☀ The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
Best Novel
☀ Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
☀ The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
☀ Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
☀ Saltblood by T.C. Parker
☀ The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
☀ Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
The rest of the nominees can be found here: https://www.ladiesofhorrorfiction.com/
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Authors Join Howard University Faculty
Howard University announced last week that two iconic American authors would be joining their faculty. Nicole-Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who covers racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine and the creator of the landmark 1619 project, turned down a UNC tenured position to become a tenured faculty member of Howard’s Cathy Hughes School of Communications, filling the newly created Knight Chair in Race and Journalism. Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of Between the World and Me and The Water Dancer, will be a facility member in the flagship College of Arts and Sciences. Both Hannah-Jones and Coates wish to support and help educate the next generation of Black journalists.
Lisa wrote: "Fun and creative challenge! Thanks, Tanya!"Thanks! I've been trying to figure out how to run a murder mystery challenge for a while now. :) If enough people enjoy this I'd be happy to do it more often!
I'm including this week's new releases for anyone keeping track! :) New Releases
The Devil and the Heiress by Harper St. George
💋 romance
The Fiancée by Kate White
😨 psychological thriller
Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta
🐉 fantasy
Heatwave by Victor Jestin
📖 fiction
Hell of a Book by Jason Mott
📖 fiction
In Royal Service to the Queen: A Novel of the Queen's Governess by Tessa Arlen
⌛ historical fiction
It Takes Two to Mango by Carrie Doyle
🔎 cozy mystery
Lady Sunshine by Amy Mason Doan
📖 fiction
The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths
🔎 mystery
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict
⌛ historical fiction
Rock the Boat by Beck Dorey-Stein
📖 fiction
Survive the Night by Riley Sager
😨 psychological thriller
That Weekend by Kara Thomas
😨 YA suspense
To Sir, with Love by Lauren Layne
💋 romance
The Vixen by Francine Prose
⌛ historical fiction
Walking Through Needles by Heather Levy
😨 psychological thriller
I'm including the new releases for this week for anyone keeping track - I use these lists for my holiday wish lists. :) New Releases
All Together Now by Matthew Norman
📖 fiction
And Then The Gray Heaven by R.E. Katz
📖 literary fiction
Bath Haus by P.J. Vernon
😨 psychological thriller
Battle for the Big Top: P.T. Barnum, James Bailey, John Ringling, and the Death-Defying Saga of the American Circus by Les Standiford
👓 nonfiction
The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson
🔎 mystery
The Brittanys by Brittany Ackerman
📖 fiction
The Cape Doctor by E.J. Levy
⌛ historical fiction
The Confession of Copeland Cane by Keenan Norris
📖 literary fiction
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
👓 nonfiction
The Damage by Caitlin Wahrer
😨 psychological thriller
The Godmothers by Camille Aubray
📖 literary fiction
The Great Mistake by Jonathan Lee
📖 literary fiction
Hairpin Bridge by Taylor Adams
😨 psychological thriller
Hard Like Water by Yan Lianke
📖 fiction
The Heartbeat of Trees: Embracing Our Ancient Bond with Forests and Nature by Peter Wohlleben
👓 nonfiction
The Killing Hills by Chris Offutt
📖 literary thriller
The Layover by Lacie Waldon
💋 romance
Letters to My White Male Friends by Dax-Devlon Ross
👓 nonfiction
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
😨 psychological thrillers
Miseducated: My Journey by Brandon P. Fleming
🖋 memoir
Morningside Heights by Joshua Henkin
📖 fiction
The Natural Mother of the Child by Krys Malcolm Belc
👓 nonfiction
A Past That Breathes by Noel Obiora
😨 legal thriller
The Royal Secret by Andrew Taylor
⌛ 😨 historical fiction / thriller
She Memes Well: Essays by Quinta Brunson
📚 essays
Shutter by Melissa Larsen
😨 psychological thriller
Sisters of the Snake by Sasha Nanua
🐉 YA fantasy
The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris
⌛ historical fiction
Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey
💋 romance
Widespread Panic by James Ellroy
⌛ 🔎 historical fiction / mystery
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
💋 romance
The World Gives Way by Marissa Levien
⚙ dystopian fiction
Just for FunThis Week's Lists
The Palestinian Experience
Indigenous Writers & Residential Schools
Trans Authors
Understanding Ireland Today
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New Releases
The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry
😨 speculative psychological thriller
book:Between Two Kings: A Sequel to The Three Musketeers|55781072] by Alexandre Dumas
⌛ historical fiction / adventure
The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs
😨 thriller
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith
📖 fiction / magical realism
The Cover Wife by Dan Fesperman
😨 thriller
Dear Miss Metropolitan by Carolyn Ferrell
📖 fiction
Dog Eat Dog by David Rosenfelt
🔎 mystery
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily R. Austin
📖 🤡 fiction / dark humor
Fallen by Linda Castillo
🔎 😨 mystery / thriller
Falling by T.J. Newman
😨 thriller
The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel
⌛ historical fiction
Fox & I by Catherine Raven
🖋 memoir
House of Sticks by Ly Tran
🖋 memoir
An Irish Hostage by Charles Todd
⌛ historical mystery
Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev
💋 romance
Island Queen by Vanessa Riley
⌛ historical fiction
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
👓 nonfiction
Kill All Your Darlings by David Bell
😨 psychological thriller
Lost and Found Family by Jennifer Ryan
📖 fiction
Nine Lives by Danielle Steel
📖 fiction
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
📖 fiction
Phosphorescence: On Awe, Wonder and Things That Sustain You When the World Goes Dark by Julia Baird
🖋 memoir
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
😨 thriller
Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy
📖 fiction
Silver Tears by Camilla Läckberg
😨 thriller
Sleeping Bear: A Thriller by Connor Sullivan
😨 thriller
The Stranger Behind You by Carol Goodman
😨 psychological thriller
The Stranger in the Mirror by Liv Constantine
😨 psychological thriller
Tender Is the Bite by Spencer Quinn
🔎 mystery
Thanks for Waiting: The Joy (and Weirdness) of Being a Late Bloomer by Doree Shafrir
🖋 memoir
Together We Will Go by J. Michael Straczynski
📖 fiction
Too Good to Be Real by Melonie Johnson
💋 romance
Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood by Danny Trejo
🖋 memoir
The War Nurse by Tracey Enerson Wood
⌛ historical fiction
Wayward by Dana Spiotta
📖 fiction
We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib
👻 horror
The Wonder Test by Michelle Richmond
😨 thriller
AdaptationsCatch and Kill
HBO has announced a docuseries expansion of Ronan Farrow’s bestselling 2019 book Catch and Kill. Farrow’s book uncovered information about the sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, and other major media figures. The HBO series Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes will feature six half-hour episodes that will recreate the author’s interviews with whistleblowers, journalists, private investigators, and other sources. But although the series is based on the book, HBO promises never-before-seen footage and new details about Farrow’s investigations.
I've read this book and am super excited to see what HBO does with this material!
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Jonny Appleseed
Indigenous producer Stories First has optioned Joshua Whitehead’s bestselling debut novel Jonny Appleseed for a screen adaptation. Whitehead’s novel is the coming-of-age story of two-spirit person named Jonny. Leena Minifle, CEO and producer at Stories First Productions, said in a statement, “This story has already resonated with people across the country and is one we are honoring to bring to an even wider audience. As an Indigenous owned and operated production company we aim to honor the reimagining of Jonny.”
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This Is My America
Erik Feig’s Picturestart has acquired the rights to develop and produce a television adaptation of Kim Johnson’s This Is My America for HBO Max.
This Is My America is the tory of 17-year-old Tracy Beaumont who is fighting for her father, an innocent Black man on death row. She only has 267 days left to save her father’s life, but her life gets even more complicated when her brother is accused of murdering a white girl. The story explores social justice and racism in America from the viewpoint of a Black Gen-Z protagonist.
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Brother
Ania Ahlborn’s novel, Brother, is finally being made into a movie!
Brother is set in the early 1980s and located in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. The book turns on the depraved Morrow family, which lives off the beaten path and preys on the young woman whom they kidnap from the side of the highway. There’s unrest within the family, however, as 19-year-old son Michael Morrow tries to break free from their clutches and his past.
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Abraham’s Boys
Tea Shop Productions, the company behind 47 Meters Down, has hired director Natasha Kermani to write and direct a feature adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story Abraham’s Boys.
The Abraham in question here is the vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing. Hill’s action-horror story is said to be a “follow-up of sorts” to Bram Stoker’s Dracula and “tests the relationships Stoker formed in his original novel. The plot follows Max and Ruby Van Helsing, who know nothing of their father Abraham’s past and cannot understand his overprotective attitude and strange behavior. To make matters worse, Abraham is becoming increasingly more unhinged, paranoid, and violent.”
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The Pale Blue Eye
Louis Byard’s novel, The Pale Blue Eye, is being adapted for a feature film, to be directed by Scott Cooper and starring Christian Bale. Bale will produce with Copper and the plan is to begin shooting in the fall.
The thriller revolves around the attempt to solve a series of murders that took place in 1830 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Bale will play a veteran detective who investigates the murders, helped by a detail-oriented young cadet who will later become a world famous author, Edgar Allan Poe.
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Hamnet
Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell’s critically acclaimed novel about William Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway and the loss of their 11-year-old son, is getting a movie adaptation. Chiara Atik, who co-wrote the film adaptation of Jess Walter’s novel Beautiful Ruins, will write the screenplay.
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For Your Own Good
Robert Downey Jr and Greg Berlanti are teaming up to produce a project for HBOMax based on the upcoming novel For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing. Set to publish in July, For Your Own Good takes place within the halls of New England’s prestigious Belmont Academy. Set amid Ivy League admissions rolling in, stiff competition for this year’s coveted Teacher of the Year Award and planning for the memorial statue for the recently deceased headmaster, the book and potential series also explore the run of poisonings and dead bodies that have started to pile up at the university.
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Interview With a Vampire
After years of development, a television series adaptation of Anne Rice’s vampire novel Interview With the Vampire is a go! According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series will debut sometime in 2022 on AMC and AMC+, a year after the network first showed interested in it. The network plans to build out a much larger Vampire Chronicles universe with the series, much like it’s done with The Walking Dead series. Rice and her son Christopher will also act as executive producers.
Celebrity Book Club Picks☀ Barnes and Noble: The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
☀ Hello Sunshine - The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
☀ Oprah: The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris
☀ Belletrist: Animal by Lisa Taddeo
☀ Jenna Bush Hager: Hell of a Book by Jason Mott
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Oxford Press Closes
Oxford University’s right to print books was first recognized in 1586, in a decree from the Star Chamber, but the centuries-old printing history of Oxford University Press will end this summer. The closure of Oxuniprint (OUP) will take place on August 27th and follows a “decline in sales” that has been “exacerbated by factors relating to the pandemic.”
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Pulitzer Prize Winners
The 2021 Pulitzer Prize announcements were introduced on Friday, June 11, 2021 via YouTube livestream by Mindy Marques and Stephen Engelberg, co-chairs of the Pulitzer Prize board. This year’s fiction prize went to Louise Edrich for The Night Watchman. The rest of the winners can be found here: https://www.pulitzer.org/article/2021....
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McIlvanney Prize 2021 Longlist
The McIlvanney Prize, previously called the Scottish Crime Book of the Year Award, is named in memory of William McIlvanney, often described as the godfather of tartan noir. This year’s shortlist for the prize will be announced on September 2, coinciding with the publication of his final book, The Dark Remains, which was completed with the help of Ian Rankin. The award recognizes excellence in Scottish crime writing and comes with £1000 prize and nationwide promotion in Waterstones. The winner of the prize will be revealed as part of the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival, scheduled to take place in Sterling, Scotland, September 17-19. The longlist for the prize is:
☀ The Cut by Chris Brookmyre
☀ The Silent Daughter by Emma Christie
☀ Before the Storm by Alex Gray
☀ Dead Man’s Grave by Neil Lancaster
☀ The Coffinmaker’s Garden by Stuart MacBride
☀ Still Life by Val McDermid
☀ Bad Debt by William McIntyre
☀ The Less Dead by Denise Mina
☀ How to Survive Everything by Ewan Morrison
☀ Edge of the Grave by Robbie Morrison
☀ The April Dead by Alan Parks
☀ Hyde by Craig Russell
☀ Waking the Tiger by Mark Wightman
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2020 Shirley Jackson Award
The 2020 Shirley Jackson Award nominees have been announced. In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, the Shirley Jackson Awards were established to honor outstanding achievement in psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. A jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics chose nominees in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Fiction, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology. The novels nominated are:
☀ Sisters by Daisy Johnson
☀ Death In Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
☀ Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
☀ Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
☀ The Only Good Heroines by Stephen Graham Jones
☀ True Story by Kate Reed Petty
To see the full list of nominees, check out shirleyjacksonawards.org. The 2020 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented in a prerecorded ceremony on Sunday, August 15, 2021.
Ooh, I can't wait to pick this one up. I just bought my husband a copy for Father's Day and I'm trying to decide what is an acceptable amount of time to let pass before I casually steal it from his office. Lol
Tanya's Clue ChallengeSuspects
Miss Scarlet:
Colonel Mustard: Dial A for Aunties
Mrs. White:
Rev. Green:
Mrs. Peacock: Local Woman Missing
Professor Plum:
Weapons
candlestick:
lead pipe:
wrench:
rope: Long Bright River
revolver:
dagger:
Rooms
ballroom: The Duke and I
billiards room:
conservatory:
dining room: A Game of Cones
hall:
kitchen: Arsenic and Adobo
library:
lounge: Survive the Night
study: The Maidens
Books Read:
Miss Scarlet:
Read a book with a red cover.
Colonel Mustard:
Read a book with a yellow cover.
Mrs. White:
Read a book with a white cover.
Reverend Green:
Read a book with a green cover.
Mrs. Peacock:
Read a book with a blue cover.
Professor Plum:
Read a book with a purple cover.
The candlestick.
Read a book with "light" words in the title.
The lead pipe.
Read a book with "heavy" words in the title.
The wrench.
Read a book with "tool" words in the title.
The rope.
Read a book with "length" words in the title.
The revolver.
Read a book with "round" words in the title.
The Knife.
Read a book with "sharp" words in the title.
The ballroom.
Read a book featuring a party or get-together.
The billiards room.
Read a book featuring your favorite craft, game, hobby, or activity.
The conservatory.
Read a book featuring nature.
The dining room.
Read a book featuring food or drinks in the title or on the cover.
The hall.
Read a book that is the first in a series.
The kitchen.
Read a book featuring cooking or that has a chef or restaurant owner as a character.
The library.
Read a book about books or that has a librarian as a character.
The lounge.
Relax with a book in your favorite genre.
The study.
Read a nonfiction book or one that takes place at a school.
The ultimate goal of the game is to figure out who killed Mr. Boddy, with what weapon, and in which room.
🔎 As a detective, you must gather evidence in order to make your accusation. This means reading a book that corresponds to each assigned task for the suspect, weapon, and room in your accusation.
🔎 Once you have read the books required for your picks, you can message me with your accusation. I will let you know which elements are correct and which are not.
🔎 As the weeks go by I will announce new clues that may help you narrow down your evidence gathering, by sharing information I have about the whereabouts of various suspects and weapons during the night of Mr. Boddy's murder.
🔎 Create a thread below to record your evidence gathering.
As always, please feel free to message me with any questions and I'll do my best to update the rules with any clarifications if necessary.
You are invited to join Yvette and Wadsworth at Boddy Manor, an art deco mansion in Washington, D.C. to solve a murder. One of the six guests dining with Mr. Boddy over the 4th of July weekend has murdered him and only you can figure out whodunit before they strike again!
Can you figure out who the murderer is? What weapon was used? In what room the murder took place?
Each week I will provide you with extra clues but you can come to me with your accusations at any time. The game will run through August to coincide with our Summer Reading Extravaganza.
Good luck, detectives!
Why hello, Bees! Welcome to Boddy Manor. Please, come in and have a seat. Can I get you something to drink? Who am I? Oh, I'm Wadsworth, the butler. Normally I'm in charge of the kitchen and dining room but at the moment we have a bit of a problem and I'm busy...well, see for yourself.
That's Mr. Boddy's ... erm, well... body. I was serving brandy to the dinner guests after dinner when the lights went out. When they came back on, Mr. Boddy was dead! It all happened so quickly that it must have been one of the guests in the room. Perhaps you could stay and help me figure out who the murderer is before they have a chance to strike again?
Y'all...I am *so* excited to dive into this summer's crop of books! We've picked some good ones. I have a few on my shelves already, like Malibu Rising, The Maidens, and The Push, along with my two picks, Survive the Night and Into the Drowning Deep. I'm also looking at possibly picking up Miss Benson's Beetle and The Duke and I! What is everyone planning to try out this summer?
Project Hail Maryby Andy Weir
Published: 4 May 2021
Avg. Rating: 4.57
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.
