miareadthis - 813
What I've been up to since February and a full review of Tia William's The Missed Connection!
Hello my bookish friends! It’s been a minute since I last posted on this here ‘ol Substack. ‘Sup.
Anyone else do their ‘best writing’ when not writing? I’ll think of whole intros and passages and by the time I sit down and actually write — say this substack for instance — it’s all gone, poof, out the window. What’s the point?
Anywho — recently I just got back to Brooklyn from two back to back whirlwind trips to Los Angeles and D.C. and was so happy to have a galley of Tia Williams’ latest The Missed Connection (out June 9!) to accompany me on my travels. Since my last miareadthis, it seems I’ve bodied 14 books (how?!) A quick recap —
I reread Sonali Dev’s There’s Something About Mira as homework for Dev’s romance novel writing class with StoryStudio Chicago. While Sonali is a genius and the class kicked my butt, it was refreshing to peek inside her brain and witness how she crafts her epic contemporary romances. I could never but would love to try.
Then we had two back to back blizzards and I took the liberty to don my firefighter-grade snow boots and take videos of my favorite, local bookstore with snow swirling all around it. It’s cozy to look at but a bit torturous to capture. I’m happy with the results though.
Cue The Olympics! Was so happy to have by my side Rufaro Faith Mazarura’s sophomore novel Skate It Till You Make It while watching history being made with the Women’s US Hockey team. 10/10. No notes.
To my surprise I found myself trekking up to Lincoln Center to a The Strand sponsored event for Corinne Bailey Rae’s foray into children’s literature. While I stomached the steep price of entry that initially included only a “two song performance” and pre signed books, I’m so happy I second guessed myself, phoned a friend who told me to just go and enjoy myself because…. Corinne gave us a whole ass intimate concert. Y’all, I was crying. Felt like I won the lottery. And met so many interesting, professional Black women too! Truly, what a night to remember.
I joined a book club recently despite me being very specific on what I like to read. But these are the sacrifices you make for community, ammiright?! Because of book club, I picked up Elise Bryant’s It’s Elementary, and while it was a fun romp, we of book club had so many differing opinions on how the ending went down! I would’ve broken down that door so fast…but I digress.
While working at a bookstore, I spotted my alma mater’s flag waving in the cartooned/illustrated wind when I shelved Halfway To Somewhere. I was able to read it in one go and it was beautifully drawn and written, highlighting the immigrant-American experience and what it means to be of two cultures physically and emotionally and all taking place in Lawrence, Kansas. #RockChalk
With nostalgia knocking at the door I then picked up a new copy of Stephen King’s The Gunslinger. I consider myself a King fan and have been itching to re-enter the world of The Dark Tower, especially after wrapping up “Welcome to Derry” on HBO(Max). But whaaaaaa - yo. I do not remember it being so graphic, violent, sexually explicit, and misogynistic. Why was I gobbling this up in high school like it was Harry Potter? And I had my little cousin (he’s a grown man but still) along for the ride. Recently I visited my parents house where I unearthed the rest of my OG mass paperback Dark Tower series and we’ll see how this re-read unfolds. For now, I’ve hit pause.
Shaking off the literal horror it was to dip back into ‘ka’ (iykyk), I decided to dip my toe into the world of Yoko Ogawa and her short story collection Revenge. Y’all. I highly recommend. It was so good and unhinged in only the best ways.
Event wise, I hopped on over to Greenlight Bookstore for Mary Helen Washington discussing her new biography of thee iconic but not talked about often enough Paule Marshall with Edwidge Danticat and Farah Jasmine Griffin in conversation. I learned a lot and got chills when Edwidge explained that Marshall was her mentor and Marshall’s mentor was no other than Langston Hughes. For a moment I felt the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance in the room with us. While Brown Girl, Brownstones is one of my friend’s favorite Paule Marshall novels, and why we were at the event, I actually should finally read it especially too now with this gorgeous reissue with artwork by Kadir Nelson on the cover.
Riss M. Neilson came to The Ripped Bodice Brooklyn to promote her latest, The Bridge Back to You. While it was hard to see the guests of honor (in conversation with Kristina Forest!) it was fun sitting in the crowd with giddy and excited fans — some of which brought out mini scrapbooks for the post discussion signing. It was too cute.
For whatever reason I thought it would be a good idea to sign up to be a ‘first novel reader’ for Center For Fiction. I think I thought that we’d be invited to the end of year gala or something. However, because I’m not one to back out on promises, I picked up the two books assigned to me and read them despite them being wholly outside my wheelhouse. First was Mad Eden which dives inside the mind of a newly diagnosed neurodivergent adult battling rural healthcare access and gender affirming care. Second was A Beast Slinks Toward Beijing which has been long listed for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction. It was giving Haley’s Roots x Gyasi’s Homegoing but make it speculative and Japanese occupation in China weaving through time to present day Chinatown, Manhattan. It was, in a phrase, a lot.
As a palate cleanser, I finally cracked open Riss M. Neilson’s The Bridge Back to You which was a real treat and then read Sonali Dev’s latest How Simi Got Her Groom Back which I’d have to say has to be Dev’s most angst driven work to date (that I’ve read).
Not wanting to spend all my money at the bookstore, I looked over on my TBR cart and picked back up Jacinda Townsend’s Trigger Warning. I had a better go of it at my second attempt and the way Townsend wields her sentences, particularly her use of simile, whew chile. Writing like that makes me laugh at my own sad attempts at prose.
And despite my inner dialog telling me don’t do it don’t do it don’t do it, I decided to read the source material of some IP for an NBC pilot I was working on. While reading source material IP has never boded well for me in the past, I couldn’t resist the allure of picking up The Puzzle Master.
With book club circling back around, I somehow picked our next book: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I know y’all love TJR, and while I still feel some type of way on how she got all the love with Daisy Jones & the Six while Dawnie Walton’s The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is RIGHT HERE (read it, you won’t regret it and Onyx, come pick up this adaptation please and thank you), I was pleasantly surprised by Atmosphere and how much it moved me. Yes, tears were shed.
With my borrowed copy of Atmosphere returned to its original owner, who I quote, said it could have been, ‘more gay’ (Happy Pride btw!), I picked up my arc/galley of The Missed Connection (compliments of my coworker returning with a suitcase full of books from Winter Institute) to take with me by plane, bus, and train from Los Angeles to D.C. Review below!
Next on deck is Jhumpa Lahiri’s Roman Stories. Because, guess what, I’m going to Rome! Pinch me… but also pray for me. Not only do I love Lahiri and she’s an auto-buy for me, but she also lowkey shamed me once for a question I asked during last year’s Day of Translation event. I won’t get into all the details, but y’all, don’t meet your heroes. While my question was submitted anonymously, it was the only one she answered that evening in front of a full audience with Katie Kitamura by her side. Lahiri decided to even slam the question itself before answering it. All that to say, I’m hoping to go into Roman Stories with ‘fresh’ interest and not let my pseudo negative interaction distract me from the writing I love so much… le sigh.
Bonus Content - my mom met THEE JESMYN WARD down in Dallas. So now I’m mailing her my copy of Jesmyn’s latest compendium of previously published essays and she’s mailing me hers that she got signed for me… gotta love moms!
A Wee D.C. Book Crawl —
While I was in D.C., I took myself on a wee book crawl between hanging with old friends and co-hosting a baby shower. On deck were Politics & Prose (on the wharf), Bold Fork Books (been so curious about this spot), and Lost City Books.
After the fiasco that was Amtrak cancelling all southbound trains from Moynihan and a Hunger Games style booking of bus tickets and a minor kerfuffle of being kind of kicked out of an upscale lounge (fun times), I found myself on a Flix bus headed to D.C. and by the time I arrived (in Bethesda mind you) it was time for dinner and a strong drink. But first — a bookstore. Heading to dinner on ‘the wharf,’ we decided to swing by Politics & Prose where… there was an event happening. So we whisper talked up front, picking up interesting titles and ‘sideline items’ and I managed to snap a few pics of things I’ll probably order at my local for when the time is right.
On my camera roll from Politics & Prose: this stunning collection of illustrations from J.R.R. Tolkien, these beautiful Inuit Art playing cards (why do I like to collect playing cards y’all?), Virtual You (it was giving non-fiction Crichton), The African-American Heritage Cookbook (I stay reading cookbooks), The Taste of Country Cooking 50th Anniversary Edition by Edna Lewis (I feel like I should know more about her, no?), this graphic novel titled Saint Catherine (the Catholicism still has a pull on me, what can I say), this dark expose on Johnson&Johnson, this palm sized hardback of The Emancipation Proclamation (adds to cart), this curious little thing called Aftertaste, and Julie Chan is Dead which I spotted on the AANHPI table.
The next day as I rushed to the baby shower’s after party (very on brand for who we were showering), I stumbled upon Bold Fork Books. Ever since I visited Books for Cooks in Notting Hill (return trip hopefully soon!), I’ve been craving something like it closer to home. Stepping inside the little shop I oddly felt at peace, but given I had ten minutes until closing time, I did my best to skim the selection and asked the lone bookseller if they had any recs for any Nora Ephron style of food writing.
On my camera roll from Bold Fork Books: Salt, Sweat, & Steam by Brigid Washington, Seafood Simple by Eric Ripert, Cooking for the Culture by Toya Boudy, Gullah Geechee Home Cooking from the matriarch of Edisto Island Emily Meggett, and The Book of Difficult Fruit by Kate Lebo.
Snaking my way south as I got off on the wrong metro stop, I did a double take as I passed Lost City Books. Checking my time, and text thread (we were all running late it seems!), I decided to slow my arrival and pop in for a quick peek while I waited for my friends and their family to arrive at a jazz club nearby. It was cute and winding and had multiple floors! And I was on the phone with my mom. Not wanting to be too late coupled with my ADHD fueled multitasking, I returned to the front desk and left with a bookmark to remember the quick trip by.
The Missed Connection by Tia Williams (out June 9!)
Y’all. Tia can do no wrong. A Creole baddie like myself living her best Brooklyn life, I knew KNEW I’d consume too quickly her latest — The Missed Connection. While Seven Days In June and The Accidental Diva remain my favorites (close second being her YA Audre & Bash Are Just Friends of course!), The Missed Connection does not disappoint!
Tia knocked it out of the park yet again. I loved the familiarity of which she wrote (and I read) about our shared Brooklyn haunts, the very relatable description of what it’s like to be agoraphobic-lite (it me), the subtle doses of Catholicism, the question of what identity we’re allowed to claim, and obvs the very HOT spice, The Missed Connection is a surefire classic Tia Williams grounded, nuanced romance.
Logline - when casting director Sasha shoots off an accidental company wide email to find her mysterious man in Seat F on a corporate flight from New York to Paris, she sets off an unintended chain reaction to her past and future self involving a love triangle, a barbecuing brooding detective, an international crusader, and ripples of love that reminded me of the ‘love story’ interstitials from When Harry Met Sally.
Critical Corner though (can’t help myself!) I wanted to SEE ‘the bad’ being ‘bad’ instead of being TOLD about the ‘bad’ (trying to avoid spoilers). I wanted to know why our Miss Sasha was making herself some gumbo in the summer heat (this was strictly a cold weather meal in our Creole house), I didn’t understand the ‘return address of it all’ in regards to a postcard subplot because there are no return addresses on postcards (?!), and while I loved the ad campaign career journey, I wanted to see the end results! Don’t leave us hanging please and thank you.
But back on my effusive positive soapbox. I thought The Missed Connection was a fun escapist romp and loved the Jasmine Guillory shoutout, the references to Shonda Rhimes and “Scandal,” as well as the blink and you’ll miss it cameos of Ricki and Ezra from A Love Song For Ricki Wilde.
Okay, now for only some of the quotes I dogeared and underlined (because believe me, half the book is dogeared and underlined!)…
It was easier than explaining the way fear works. After a while, it stops being vivid. It turns into a lifestyle. The fear of the traumatic incident evolves into a fear of everything. Sasha used to be a normal woman, fully experiencing the world. Free. Now, she was in chains—unable to even stay at a hotel without barricading the door at night.
Feeding people was compassionate. It was like communion. It was a reciprocal dopamine rush. And these days, most people were teeter-tottering on the verge, trying not to tip over into despair. One good brisket could soothe your psychic wound for five minutes, an hour, an afternoon.
It was one of those weirdly cool early summer days, when the sun’s beating down, but there’s also a crisp breeze.
…in searching for monsters, be careful not to turn into one yourself.
If you hang out at a barbershop long enough, you’re gonna get a haircut.
Thank you Tia for delivering yet another swoon worthy love story. Always a fan… xo
After Roman Stories, I’m hoping to procure Assembly by Natasha Brown at an indie London bookshop for my TBR while I’m in town and am looking forward to picking up my pre-ordered copy of Kristina Forest’s The Summer Girlfriend when I’m back from my trip. While I’m sad to miss both Kristina Forest and Tia Williams while on their tours this summer, I did sign up to see Shirlene Obuobi live for her romantasy debut Die For Me (and I don’t even read romantasy!). Just wish it came in hardback so my Obuobi spines could match. We can’t win them all.
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That’s all I’ve got for my bookish update! I stay addicted to bookstagram despite mental health concerns but love connecting with other readers and writers always.
You can find my main ‘booksta’ account over on @miareadthis
Stay safe and sane out there, know your rights, and RIP Marjane Satrapi.
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