Book Reports

I recently joined L.A. Times journalist Gustavo Arrellano’s book club “Guti’s Fookin Ingrates.” He selects the books and so far, he’s picked things I never would have thought of reading. I wasn’t a big fan of last month’s Watchman but I really liked his most recent choice.

The Perfect Tuba by Sam Quinones is inspiring storytelling. It’s a love letter to public school music teachers and band leaders and makes me regret giving up the clarinet back in junior high school.

Here’s some of the back cover copy:

The tuba's sound is mighty, emerging, it seems, from deep in the human body. Very little music has, up until recently, been written to play to its strengths. The best the tuba seems to promise is a seat at the back of the band.”

“Quinones takes us through the tuba scenes of New Orleans, Orlando, Knoxville, New York City, and, most importantly, Roma, Texas, a dusty town in the Rio Grande Valley where a visionary high school marching band director fashioned a program that now regularly wins state championships and sends its students off to college.”

Those band kids in Roma, Texas didn’t have parents who could offer private lessons or even buy them an instrument and yet they managed to compete against wealthy schools in Austin and Dallas and win.

When I was their age, I thought band kids weren’t cool. One of the many things I’ve been wrong about.

I also used to say I didn’t like thrillers so much, but I was happy to oblige when Matt Witten reached out to me and asked if I’d like to read an Advanced Reader Copy of his new novel 51%. Release date is April 28, 2026.

in 51%, Witten has created a disturbingly believable dystopian New York City twenty years in the future, where syndicates own schools, roads, the police, and percentages of human beings. In this world, humans sell percentages of themselves in exchange for college education and health care.

Since we’d just returned from New York City, I enjoyed the slightly tweaked local references. Witten’s attention to detail in this world building is impressive, his cast of characters are distinct and memorable, and his pacing, stakes-raising, and tension building lead to an electrifying and satisfying ending. Relevant and accessible and hopefully not a prediction of what is to come.

Bravo Matt.

A Sea of Lemon Trees by María Dolores Águila was a Christmas gift from a dear friend. I savored this book. It’s an unusual combination of prose and poetry, based on the true story of Roberto Alvarez and the Lemon Grove Incident, a landmark case in 1931 that was the first successful desegregation case in the United States.

Mexican American children in the Lemon Grove neighborhood near San Diego, California were forced to go to a “so-called new school that had been built for them. In the words of students of the time “It wasn’t a school. It was an old building. Everyone called it ‘La Caballeriza' (the barnyard).”

The community banded together and won, establishing the rights of their children to an equal education. The language is beautiful and this heartbreaking history is important and timely. Recommended for middle school and adults.

A wonderful book club called “Bound by Books” selected Those People Behind Us for their March read and I joined them for dinner last night. They’ve been meeting for two years and are related either by geography, employment, or education to the Town and Gown organization from Chapman University in Orange, California.

These folks are on a mission to read local authors from Orange County and were a delightful bunch. They asked great questions and had terrific book suggestions. They all seemed to enjoy Those People, which makes them my favorite type of people.

I love book clubs. Reach out to me if you’d like me to join yours, either in person or on Zoom.

Come to Art Walk in the Downtown Artist Village next Saturday, April 4th. I’ll be on stage sometime between six and 10 p.m. as a part of “Five Women Over Fifty,” sponsored by LibroMobile.

I’m definitely the furthest from fifty in this lineup but I’m excited to join them. We’ll all be reading…something. Maybe from these books below.

all available at LibroMobile.

I was a volunteer book seller at the bookstore for a few hours last Saturday. They need free labor to stay open, but what they really need is for folks to buy books.

My shift was a lot more fun that I was expecting. I figured out how to get the door open and sell things anyway and I really liked talking about books and making suggestions. I also really love pointing to the Local Authors shelf where my novels have found a home.

I plan on volunteering again on April 11th from nine to one, so please stop by and purchase something.

What are you reading this spring? Write back and let me know and I’ll enter you in a drawing (US readers only) for a signed paperback of The Lockhart Women.