All Booked | My Next Chapter

By Emily Lee Wed Apr 24, 2024 | 10:55am

The original version of this newsletter was sent out on Tuesday, April 23

Sign up for All Booked, our bi-monthly newsletter exclusively for book lovers.

Hello, book lovelies!

I have some bittersweet news to share: This will be my last All Booked newsletter. I am leaving the Independent to explore a new opportunity in town. This decision was so tough to make, but I know it’s the right one. I have absolutely loved my time at the paper and I will always look back at this time in my life with nothing but love and gratitude. The Indy staff has become my family and my work really became a passion. I started at the Indy when I was 23 years old. Since then, I’ve hosted countless events, launched a new website, started the niche newsletter program, got married, became a mom (twice!), and much, much more. I am so proud of what I’ve accomplished working here, but it is my time to move on.

All Booked will still be rocking and rolling. It will look a little different and someone else will be writing it, but you can still count on it featuring recommendations, Santa Barbara book events, and local authors.

If you do want to continue to follow me and my reading, then I have some good news for you! I will be starting a Substack! It will have the same tone and vibe to how I write All Booked. It will still come out on Tuesday mornings, but I will not be including the book events or local author sections and it will be unaffiliated with the Independent. It really will be my own thing, and I’m still working on what exactly that looks like. But for now, just know that you can follow me over there for free! I do want to be transparent in the fact that I need a break from reading. I think that’s evident in how long I’ve been in this reading slump. I also need some time to focus on my new role. Because of these things, I most likely won’t send anything through Substack until mid-summer.

Okay, enough personal news. Let’s get into my last All Booked!

As I said above, my reading slump is still very much alive and well, but I have managed to read a couple of things! So there is hope! I figured I’d talk about those two things; plus, I’m going to mention some of the books that I’ve started since getting into a slump — I think that there are some real gems in there. I will definitely be returning to them once I’m out of this rut.

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.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore

If you’re a fan of found-family stories and older main characters, then you may enjoy The Lonely Hearts Book Club. We follow a wide cast of characters of all ages, each with their own set of strengths, flaws, and skeletons in their closets.

This book reminded me of Vera Wang’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. It’s wholesome. it definitely wasn’t one of my favorite reads of the year, but it was nice. And I can see how others may enjoy it more.

The Guest by BA Paris

This is the book I just finished last night and LOVED. A few years ago, I read Behind Closed Doors by BA Paris, and that turned out to be one of my favorite thrillers of all time. The Guest is Paris’s newest release.

In The Guest, we follow a couple, Iris and Gabriel, who return home from a long trip only to find one of their closest friends, Laure, in their home. Laure claims she left her husband because he’s had an affair and has a child. She has been at Iris and Gabriel’s house for about a week now and has made herself right at home with rearranging their kitchen, sleeping in their bed, and even wearing Iris’s clothes. Iris and Gabriel struggle with their unexpected house guest, and things are getting tense.

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

I picked this one up because i was desperately trying to find something that was like The Measure. I came across this article where Nicki Erlick (the author of The Measure) lists a few books that you may like if you liked The Measure, and The Age of Miracles was one of them.

In this novel, the Earth slows its rotation down, causing all sorts of problems. Days are longer, nights are longer, and no one really noticed until scientists made an announcement, causing panic.

I really enjoyed the beginning of this story. I just found it wasn’t keeping my attention, but I think that was more of a me problem then an issue with the book or writing.

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

The Deep Sky is a sci-fi thriller set in space. We follow a group of young adults who were top of their class in a competitive program and were hand-selected to be part of this deep-space mission to essentially save humanity. But well into their journey, there is an explosion on board, leaving many crew members dead and knocking the ship off course. Obviously a crew member is responsible, but who would do this?

I really loved the beginning of this book. I think where it lost me were the number of characters involved. Again, if I were in a different head space reading this, then I know I would have really enjoyed it. I’ll definitely be revisiting.

As always, I’d like to hear from you! Do you have any recommendations for me?

Also, thank you all so much for being here and being part of this All Booked community. Authoring this newsletter has been one of my favorite things I’ve done at the paper. I appreciate you all, and I hope you will venture over to my Substack so we can stay reading buddies!

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.

Book Talk: Wild Life: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World
Tuesday, April 23, 4 p.m. | UCSB Library

Book Signing: Local YA Author Ana Ellickson
Thursday, May 2, 6 p.m. | Chaucer’s Books

Author Susan Hayden in Conversation with Music Journalist Steve Hochman About Now You Are a Missing Person
Saturday, May 4, 3pm | Tecolote Book Shop

Medora’s Book Club: Lush Life
Tuesday, May 7, 6 p.m. | Casa del Herrero

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.

Isla Vista Seasons: Ocean, Land, and Light by Aaron Howard

Points of Light: Curious Essays on Science, Nature, and Other Wonders Along the Pacific Coast by Cameron Walker

Despite the Buzz by Tamara Miller Davis

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.”