All Booked | 2024, How You Doin’?

The original version of this newsletter was sent out on Tuesday, January 2

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Hello, book lovelies!

Happy New Year! With a brand-new year comes another year of new releases! What a lovely thought. Over the past few weeks, I have been reading for fun, consuming lots of bookish content, and looking ahead to all the new books hitting shelves this year. I haven’t been this excited about reading in a bit, and I think it’s because I am LOVING my current read. I hope you’re in a similar place, and if not, that’s okay too. Maybe you’ll see something below that interests you. To kick off the New Year, I want to share the list of books that I’m looking forward to picking up in 2024.

I am a big believer in going into a book knowing as little as possible. I try not to read too much of the synopses or reviews, since most of them over-share. My pitches below are short and sweet just for that reason.

Emily Henry is coming out with a new romance in April. Henry is now an auto-read author for me. I will absolutely read anything that she writes. She makes me feel all the feels, and because of that, I am highly anticipating her newest release, Funny Story.

To me, the synopsis has no weight on whether I will pick it up or not, but I figure some of you may want to know! We follow Daphne, whose fiancé just dumped her for his childhood best friend, Petra. Daphne is determined to start over and asks to be roommates with the only other person who can relate to her situation: Petra’s ex.

A few years back, I read Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, and it was incredibly impactful for me and my relationship with social media. Newport has written many books in the self-help/productivity world. His newest release, Slow Productivity, is hitting shelves in March. In it, Newport discusses the balancing act between hustle culture and lack of ambition. In a society that values monetary success and worshiping the corporate grind, it’s hard to redefine what a healthy relationship with work looks like. Newport dives into the idea of slow productivity, in which there’s a balanced life that in the long run will prevent burnout. Looking at our relationship with work is always a good idea. I’m excited to jump into this one.

Another nonfiction that’s on my list is The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell. Many of you may recognize Montell from her previous book Cultish. I never picked that one up, but from what I can gather from the synopsis of this one, it’s going to be an interesting read. If you’re at all interested in the cultural and societal effects of language and cognitive biases, then this will be a great read to add to your shelf. This book will be released in April.

As I mentioned in the intro, I’m LOVING my current read, which is Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson. It falls into that genre of a cozy thriller but slightly on the less-cozy end, and I’m all about it. I have been loving the cozy mystery/thriller genre recently, and there are so many coming out in 2024. How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin caught my eye first because of the title and then because of the synopsis. In 1965, we follow Frances, who has been told that she will be murdered. She spends her whole life trying to prevent that, and yet, 60 years later, she is found murdered. Her great-niece Annie is determined to find out what happened to Frances.

As always, I would love to hear from you. What are you looking forward to picking up in 2024? Let me know!

Your smitten bookworm, Emily

UPCOMING BOOK EVENTS

Below, you will find a few bookish events coming up in Santa Barbara. If you are hosting a bookish event in Santa Barbara, be sure to submit the event to our online events calendar

ook signing & launch party for Diana Raab’s Hummingbird: Messages from My Ancestors
Saturday, January 13, 2 – 4pm | Tecolote Book Shop

LOCAL BOOK SPOTLIGHT

We at the Independent get many books sent to us by local authors, sometimes too many! It’s practically impossible for us to read and review them all, but just because we are busy bees does not mean that they aren’t worth the attention. In an attempt to not completely drop the ball, we have compiled a list of books here that have a local spin. They are all either written by a local author, feature someone in our community, or have another tie to Santa Barbara. I urge you to look through this list. Perhaps you will find your new favorite read!

The following are the most recent titles that have been sent to us. Click here for a more comprehensive list.

Unlocking the Moon’s Secrets: From Galileo to Giant Impact by James Lawerence Powell

Drown Town by Steven Silverman

One Sky to the Next by Christopher Buckley

Flight to Armageddon by William Congdon

The Rogue Insurrection by William Congdon

Juan Felipe Herrera: Migrant, Activist, Poet Laureate edited by Francisco Lomelí and Osiris Aníbal Gómez

Border Crossings by Sneed B. Collard III and illustrated by Howard Gray

If you are a local author and would like us to feature your book in this section, please email allbooked@independent.com with the subject line “Local Author Spotlight.”