Happy (late) New Year, readers! 2020’s here with its new releases and we can hardly contain the excitement over some of our, as of yet, still secret events programming. It’s also BookPeople’s 50th anniversary of operations, so we’re extra jazzed to be going strong right around now. We’re thrilled for everything we’ve got in store for you…and it all starts here on New Release Tuesday where we get you the 411 on what to keep an eye out for! Hot, new titles, exciting events to make plans for, all of that good stuff. Read on to find your next favorite read or kickstart your New Year’s reading resolutions with something we know you’ll love!
Topics of Conversation by Miranda Popkey
Any Sally Rooney fans out there? Miranda Popkey’s Topics of Conversation has been touted as the book to pick up to fill the void that Normal People and Conversations with Friends has left in their reading hearts.
Popkey’s debut is composed almost exclusively of conversations between women—the stories they tell each other, and the stories they tell themselves, about shame and love, infidelity and self-sabotage—and careens through twenty years in the life of an unnamed narrator hungry for experience and bent on upending her life.
The prose is ferocious and written with a wry, edgy bent. We can’t wait to dive into this new title!
We Are the Luckiest by Laura McKowen
The New Year is here and it’s got us jazzed for stellar new releases like Laura McKowen’s We Are the Luckiest. A fitting title for the season of new beginnings, McKowen’s memoir focuses on the hard-won joy of being newly sober.
It was in this earliest stage of the process that McKowen, no longer able to anesthetize her pain and anxiety, realized that she was actually the lucky one. Lucky to feel her feelings, live honestly, realizing that “those of us who answer the invitation to wake up, whatever our invitation, are really the luckiest of all.”
Here, in straight-talking chapters filled with personal stories, McKowen addresses issues such as facing facts, the question of AA, and other people’s drinking. Without sugarcoating the struggles of sobriety, she relentlessly emphasizes the many blessings of an honest life, one without secrets and debilitating shame.
Hear more about this empowering life story when Laura McKowen joins us on February 13th at 7PM to read from and sign We Are the Luckiest. Hope to see you there!
The Reality Game by Samuel Woolley
With Election 2020 just around the corner, it’s important that readers get informed about the proliferation of online disinformation and how it could morph during this campaign cycle.
Writer and researcher Samuel Woolley has gone out to do the work and warn us about what may lie ahead: humanlike automated voice systems, machine learning, “deepfake” AI-edited videos and images, interactive memes, virtual reality, and more. Deeply researched and compellingly written, The Reality Game describes the profound impact these technologies will have on our lives. Each new invention built without regard for its consequences edges us further into this digital dystopia.
Yet Woolley does not despair. Instead, he argues pointedly for a new culture of innovation, one built around accountability and especially transparency.This book shows how we can use our new tools not to control people but to empower them.
Find out more when the assistant professor at UT stops by BookPeople on January 21st at 7PM to discuss the topics presented in his new book.
Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibanez
Woven in Moonlight is a lush tapestry of magic, romance, and revolución, drawing inspiration from Bolivian politics and history. It follows Ximena, the decoy Condesa, a stand-in for the last remaining Illustrian royal. Her people lost everything when the usurper, Atoc, used an ancient relic to summon ghosts and drive the Illustrians from La Ciudad. Now Ximena’s motivated by her insatiable thirst for revenge, and her rare ability to spin thread from moonlight.
When Atoc demands the real Condesa’s hand in marriage, it’s Ximena’s duty to go in her stead. Using the opportunity to get close to Atoc, she can steal his relic and return the true aristócrata to their rightful place. But a masked vigilante, a warm-hearted princess, and a thoughtful healer challenge Ximena, and her mission becomes more complicated. There could be a way to overthrow the usurper without starting another war, but only if Ximena turns her back on revenge—and her Condesa.
Be sure to join us when Ibanez stops by BookPeople alongside Adrienne Young and Shea Ernshaw on January 31st at 7PM!
From the Grave by Jay Brandon
Join us this Friday, January 10th, at 7PM when Jay Brandon stops by BookPeople to discuss his brand new legal thriller, From the Grave.
In it, disbarred Texas lawyer Edward Hall returns to the courtroom after accepting an offer from the District Attorney to represent the most obviously guilty defendant in town. It’s a poisoned chalice. Not only is his client charged with kidnapping the DA’s sister, he is already well-known for the previous kidnapping of a celebrity’s son.
Laboring under this impossible conflict of interest, Edward prepares for the trial with the help of his resourceful girlfriend Linda. But as the trial approaches, Edward finds himself having to solve and prove a completely different case: one of cold-blooded murder. We’re thrilled to hear more about this one, won’t you join us?
Consider This: Moments In My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different by Chuck Palahniuk
You know all about Fight Club and Choke and Invisible Monsters and Rant and the string of outrageous novels bestselling author and provacateur, Chuck Palahniuk, has released since his breakout in the late 90s. But what lies behind these fabulous, sometimes vomit-inducing, stories?
In Consider This, Palahniuk shares stories and imparts generous advice on what makes writing powerful and what makes for powerful writing.
With advice grounded in years of careful study and a keenly observed life, Palahniuk combines practical advice and concrete examples from beloved classics, his own books, and a”kitchen-table MFA” culled from an evolving circle of beloved authors and artists, with anecdotes, postcards from the road, and much more.
It’s a love letter to stories and storytellers told in a way only the grand maestro of shock fiction can spin it. Read this one now!
The Night Country by Melissa Albert
The Hazel Wood was just the beginning. Melissa Albert takes us back into the menacing, mesmerizing world of dark fairy tales and hidden doors with The Night Country, where Alice Proserpine and Ellery Finch discover that worlds die not with a whimper, but a bang.
Stationed in New York City after the events of the previous novel, Alice is trying to make a new, unmagical life. But something is stalking the Hinterland’s survivors—and she suspects their deaths may have a darker purpose. Meanwhile, in the winking out world of the Hinterland, Finch seeks his own adventure, and—if he can find it—a way back home…
This magical new release has been hotly anticipated around our bookselling staff and we can’t wait to see what Albert does in this one! You can order a SIGNED COPY here.
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
The first big thriller of the year is here! Liz Moore’s heart-pounding new novel, Long Bright River, presents readers with a gripping suspense novel about sisters at odds, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.
It begins with two sisters, Kacey, struggling with a hampering addiction, and Mickey, who roams the streets on her police beat. They haven’t spoken in years, but when Kacey disappears amidst the hysteria of a mysterious string of murders in Mickey’s district the race begins to find the culprit and Kacey.
Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters’ childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-wrenching and moving, a breakout mystery that should not be missed. Grab yours today!
That’s a wrap for this week! Be sure to check out these titles and the rest of the week’s treasures in-store or online. BookPeople ships worldwide, so your next read is only a few clicks away! We’ll see you here next week for another round of new releases to keep on your radar.
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