Bookclub just got an upgrade, and then upgrade is YOU!
As you know, I run two bookclubs for this community: Good Day To Read Indigenous and Women in Horror. I love the idea of us coming together every month, and not only reading the same book, but supporting the authors! and championing these books. I'm excited that this year, we've chosen both new releases and backlist titles to read together! Imagine, what we as a community (and there are well over 2,000 of you here now!) could do for a backlist titles (AND NEW RELEASES!) if we all purchased the books and reviewed them around the same time (convincing those that follow our reviews to go out and get the books, rinse and repeat!)
I believe that my chronic mood reading (my ADHD) has negatively impacted book club and so to counter that, I'm going to be making reading schedules moving forward for each club (See Below!)
There will be four blocks (weeks typically) with Chapter (page) designations. There will be a Discord channel for each session. Please note: THIS MEANS SPOILERS FOR THAT SECTION. My hope is that we can all be reading at the same time (I know in reality, this won't be possible for everyone all the time, so if there are times you get behind or don't feel like keeping up, you can visit the channels whenever you'd like).
I imagine our reader community discord as a space to come together to build connection, to share conversations and to share perspectives. Our community is a strong source of support for Indigenous authors and women writing horror, the voices that haunt and heal us. We are choosing to be intentional about our reading choices. These conversations matter. I'd love everyone to join in this month, in any way that makes sense for you, whether that's coming with a question, sharing a quote or passage that moved you, something that deeply unsettled you or gave you a different perspective. This year I'd like to focus on moving beyond consuming stories and toward honoring them. You all shape and strengthen this space and it's a privilege to share it with you.
Beyond The Page
This month, Boozhoo Books will be supporting Black Walnut Books. That means that every book purchased by clicking a book below through Bookshop (or on any post) is purchasing a book from Black Walnut Books, an Indigenous, Queer, Woman owned independent bookstore. In fact, even if you don't buy the book from the post, but click through, ANY and EVERY book that you purchase, supports this bookstore. Choosing to purchase from Indigenous owned bookstores is a way for us to support Indigenous communities beyond amplifying author's voices. I also see a small percentage from your book purchases, so not only will you receive a book (or 7, no judgment) you will be supporting an Indigenous creator and publisher, authors, bookseller, bookstore all at once. Hillary, the owner, is Southern Pomo and Coastal Miwok and a member of the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians. She focuses on sharing and amplifying Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Queer communities, voices and authors. If you are able to spend money on books this month, please consider purchasing books through my bookshop link below, supporting both this imprint and Black Walnut Books. Where you choose to spend your money could make a real difference, going beyond values and into action.
Book reviews help authors. I encourage you to share your reviews beyond our Discord, whether that's on social media or a site like Goodreads. If you don't feel like posting a review, post a picture and of the book and tag the author (do not tag the author in reviews!). You can also tag me, so I can repost! If you end up buying your books through Black Walnut Books, tag them as well!
THIS MONTH'S BOOKS
Good Day to Read Indigenous
Each year, this club will read a book by Louise Erdrich. This month we will be reading The Night Watchman, winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize. Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.
Women in Horror
This month we will be reading The Year of Witching by Alexis Henderson.
In the lands of Bethel, where the Prophet's word is law, Immanuelle Moore's very existence is blasphemy. Her mother’s union with an outsider of a different race cast her once-proud family into disgrace, so Immanuelle does her best to worship the Father, follow Holy Protocol, and lead a life of submission, devotion, and absolute conformity, like all the other women in the settlement.
But a mishap lures her into the forbidden Darkwood surrounding Bethel, where the first prophet once chased and killed four powerful witches. Their spirits are still lurking there, and they bestow a gift on Immanuelle: the journal of her dead mother, who Immanuelle is shocked to learn once sought sanctuary in the wood.
Fascinated by the secrets in the diary, Immanuelle finds herself struggling to understand how her mother could have consorted with the witches. But when she begins to learn grim truths about the Church and its history, she realizes the true threat to Bethel is its own darkness. And she starts to understand that if Bethel is to change, it must begin with her.
I can't wait for us to read March's selection together! Let me know down below what you're most looking forward to about bookclub in March!
