The Book Lovers' Briefing
You're invited to the biggest book party on Substack
A Note from Zibby:
Hi everyone,
Welcome to the biggest book party on Substack! (Well, maybe.) You’ll now be getting your bookish content from all parts of “the Zibby-verse” in one short weekly email. Bookstore bestsellers. Events. Behind-the-scenes of publishing. Author conversations. Original essays. My own thoughts. And more.
You can browse throughout the week on zibbyowens.com where we’ll be adding new content regularly. Our Zibby platform is interactive. That means: we’d love to hear from you, too. (But no pressure.) You’re part of the conversation. As I like to say, no two people who have read the same book are really strangers. Hope you enjoy the new format! Read this week’s update below.
Warmly,
Zibby
Your Father’s Day is Booked
Need a book for the father in your life? Browse through the ones our booksellers have recommended here, including Checkmate by Ben Mezrich, The Lost Empire of Emanuel Nobel by Douglas Brunt (coming up on the podcast this week!) and London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe.
John Kenney’s novel I See You’ve Called in Dead, which just hit the USA Today paperback bestseller list, is the perfect gift for any dad who loves to laugh.
Ever wondered how publishers launch paperbacks? We share how we did it with John’s book as an example, including behind-the-scenes footage and insights.
We went live last night with Zibby’s Bookshop right here in the Substack app. We’ll be broadcasting all our bookshop events to our V.I.P.s (which we call Z.I.Ps, haha). You can become one here! In the meantime, sample John Kenney’s event and try not to laugh. We dare you!
Need some gift ideas? A few of the Zibby team’s favorite Father’s Day gifts: a mug with dad jokes that you can scan every day, a canvas weekender bag from Mark & Graham, and a Yeti ice bucket.
Revisit some of Zibby’s podcasts to get you in the spirit. Hear from Wally Lamb, Matt Fogelson, Ziggy Marley, and Penn Holderness who helps his kids with ADHD.
The Buzz
Want to know what’s selling like hotcakes at Zibby’s Bookshop? Here are our fiction and non-fiction bestsellers of the week.
Fiction: Yesteryear by caro claire burke, Whistler by Ann Patchett, Land by Maggie O’Farrell, I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney, Theo of Golden by Allen Levi.
Nonfiction: Famesick by Lena Dunham, Strangers by Belle Burden, On Being Jewish Now by Zibby Owens, The Theater by James Verini, The Killer and Frank Lloyd Wright by Casey Sherman.
In exciting adaptation news, Carley Fortune’s new series “Every Year After” (based on her novel Every Summer After) is now streaming on Amazon Prime! Are you reading, watching, or neither? For some author insights, listen to Carley discuss the book on Zibby’s podcast back in 2022 and again in 2024.
Bestselling author of About a Boy, Fever Pitch, and High Fidelity, Nick Hornby just sold a new book. As reported in Publishers Lunch, “CASH OUT… is an ode to sports fandom, romance, and not selling yourself short, about a young woman whose fortunes—in life and in love—are transformed when her uncle places a long shot bet on an underdog Premier league soccer team in her name and the team starts winning.” Sound good? World Cup fever, anyone? (Listen to him on Zibby’s podcast.)
Between Chapters:
Read the new essays and features up on Between Chapters, our new home for conversations on navigating the chapters of life based on the book. You’ll find inspiration — and commiseration. Zibby put out a call for contributions last week and already received 63 essays. We’ve published nine of them here. Keep them coming and we’ll publish the best! Read how.
109 of you voted in last week’s newsletter.
33% of you are starting a new chapter
32% are loving this chapter
18% are looking for a new chapter
17% said you’re ready for this chapter to end
NEW essays: Author Dena Moes RN CNM got engaged at age fifty-seven, Wendy Selig-Prieb went from running a baseball organization to a fashion company, Mihal Levy contends with a newly empty nest, and Jo Piazza, Soon Wiley, and Sara Goodman Confino shared thoughts in our new feature Opening Chapters. And more here. Want to write for us? Read how.
Gatherings
Zibby’s Bookshop has a full slate of upcoming events (here on Eventbrite) including Sonya Walger from “Lost” and Samantha Dockser of Preoccupied, and Justin Halpern from “Abbott Elementary.” Again, you can watch all our in-store events from anywhere in the world on our new Substack Live broadcast channel with brand-new state-of-the-art video, available for all Z.I.P. subscribers.
In person: Join us for a Petite Retreat in the Chicago-area on July 25th at Matchmaker Bookshop with Zibby and Renee Rosen (Renee Rosen's Book Bunker) followed by a luncheon. From October 2nd - 4th, join us—and 14 featured authors!!) at the Santa Monica Retreat. Retreat info here.
To browse events for Zibby Publishing authors currently touring—including Annabelle Gurwitch, John Kenney, and Jane Hamilton—click here.
Finally, Zibby and Samantha Ettus, The Jewsletter, are co-hosting an event for On Being Jewish Now at Veronica Beard Beverly Hills on June 22nd. (Don’t miss those essays, too.) RSVP here.
Conversation Starter:
“The most devastating secret is the one we keep from ourselves.”
- Lila Raicek, The Plunge, on Totally Booked with Zibby
Discuss. Have you kept secrets from yourself? Loved ones? What if you… didn’t? What are your favorite books that center around secrets?
See you next Monday. Have a great week!
Is there a family that doesn't have secrets or keeps secrets from different generations?
Love a book with secrets. MAD MABEL was full of secrets.