Everybody knows why we become readers.
For all the events, right?
OK, that’s probably not the main reason, but it’s one of the benefits of being a reader in Southern California. There are tons of events to rouse us from our cozy chairs and reading forts, and this weekend offers three promising ones.
Festival of AAPI Books (FAB) Long Beach: from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the in Long Beach. Co-hosted by and the Long Beach Public Library, the event will include food trucks, vendors, arts and crafts, and author talks, readings and signings.
Authors scheduled to appear include Rachell Abalos, Gina Apostol, Kaylin Melia, George Lee Herrick, Brandon Hoàng, Pete Hsu, Carolyn Huynh, Linda Kao, Sarah Kuhn, Michelle Lee, Jenny Liao, Virginia Loh-Hagan, Makiia Lucier, Kunthon Meas, Rooja Mohassessy, & Shadab Zeest Hashmi.
For more information, go to the .
Free Comic Book Day: Wait, some people are still saying that reading comics doesn’t count as reading? I’d like to think
because and often , and
There are plenty of being in the .
On May 4, there will be (though the variety and number of free comics available will vary by shop) and these include The Avengers, Spider-Man, Hellboy, Snoopy, Pokemon, Disney’s Encanto and Maleficent, some Star Wars titles and more.
Don’t know where to get your comics? Try the . And please consider, as you load up on your gloriously free reading material, buying some comics from the store, too.
For more information, go to or your local comic store.
LitFest in the Dena: If you attend this year, let it be this one. Kicking off Friday night at with a keynote talk from , the two-day affair, which runs Saturday and Sunday from 12:30 until 6 p.m., promises to be a fun, manageable event in a uniquely unconventional space.
I’ve gone previously and chatted with authors, heard interesting panel discussions and just enjoyed strolling the grounds during this low-key event. (And FYI: these newspapers are supporting it.)
This year promises more than 150 authors and more than 40 panels, workshops, readings and performances. Authors scheduled to appear include Daniel Olivas, , , , , , , and , just to name a few.
For more information, go to the .
More for the weekend
Remember to ‘Take Five’ this weekend: Sure, more people will be celebrating , but it’s also the chance to celebrate the biggest selling jazz single ever (played in 5/4 time, which explains its connection to the date). Want more info? A . (Also, I recommend checking out the work of Brubeck saxophonist-composer Paul Desmond, whose .)
Latest Laureates: Lester Graves Lennon, poetry editor for Rosebud magazine and author of several poetry collections, the Altadena Poet Laureate Editor-in-Chief. And Sehba Sarwar, poet, artist, teacher, social activist and author of the novel “Black Wings,” is the Altadena Poet Laureate for Community Events for the 2024-2026 term. For more information, go to .
Just announced: For the first time, the Asian American Literature Festival will take place across the U.S. and internationally from September 14th to 22nd, 2024 – including in Los Angeles. Find out more .
Sheila Yasmin Marikar could not get enough of The Babysitters Club
Mindy Kaling is said to have been so enthralled with “Friends in Napa,” the new novel by “The Goddess Effect” author Sheila Yasmin Marikar, that she decided to publish it under her own imprint, Mindy’s Book Studio. A satiric look at the ways money, power and privilege upend a group of friends, “Friends in Napa” is a bit like “White Lotus” in wine country. The author answered The Book Pages questions about her reading life.
Q. Name a book you’d like to recommend.
“Social Engagement” by Avery Carpenter Forrey. A brilliant satire of over-the-top wedding culture wrapped around a mystery that will keep you feverishly flipping the pages until the very end.
Q. Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?
I had a visceral reaction (in a good way) to Roald Dahl’s “James and the Giant Peach.” The Babysitter’s Club series set me up for a lifetime of streaming TV binges — I couldn’t get enough of those paperbacks. But the first “adult” book that made an impression on me was J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye.” Holden Caulfield’s audacity enthralled me. I didn’t know that fictional characters could talk like that.
Q. Can you recall a book that you read and thought: That was written just for me (or conversely, one you read that definitely wasn’t written for you)?
“A Touch of Jen” by Beth Morgan. It interrogates our obsession with social media personalities in a weird and wonderful way. I found myself wishing it were 10 times longer. After I finished it on Kindle, I bought the hardcover. I wanted to be able to reach for it at a moment’s notice.
Q. What’s something you took away from a recent reading — a fact, a snatch of dialogue or something else?
From “Tom Lake” by Ann Patchett: “There is no explaining this simple truth about life: You will forget much of it.”
Q. Which are some of your favorite book covers?
The cover of Jay-Z’s “Decoded” qualifies as a work of art. I lost my copy during my move from the Bay Area to Southern California. I should get a new one.
Q. What books do you plan, or hope, to read next?
His Crazy Rich Asians series has been a major inspiration for my fiction, and I can’t wait to meet the characters he’s concocted this time.
Q. Is there a person who made an impact on your reading life — a teacher, a parent, a librarian or someone else?
Mr. Leonard in … I believe it was eighth grade English class. He let me go off script with my essay assignments and tolerated my experiments. But more than anyone else: my parents. My mother took me to the library countless times during summer breaks, I’m sure there are things she would have rather done. My father built a collection of books to rival a library. He took note of what I was reading and would recommend something else I might like. He gave me a copy of “The Handmaid’s Tale” when I was 16. I’m somewhat embarrassed to say that I still haven’t read it.
More books, authors and bestsellers
Sand and deliver
How a French Ph.D. dissertation became a Southern California beach read.
• • •
Wrestling road trip
The Iron Sheik threatened to kill him. Years later, a road trip would reunite them.
• • •
The week’s bestsellers
The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores.
• • •
Get ‘Real’
Why Rachel Khong says novel “Real Americans” explores issues society still faces.
• • •
A guide through grief
How a Pasadena poet uses the gift of words to help autistic adults process loss.
• • •
Righting wrongs
‘Sleeping Giants’ novelist Rene Denfeld explores the harm done in the name of helping.
• • •
Next on ‘Bookish’
Adam Gopnik, author of “All That is Happiness” and Suzanne Park, author of “One Last Word” are the next guests on Bookish on May 17 at 5 p.m. .
