Happy Summer Reading!
Slowing Down to Savor the Days at Bel Canto Books
Happy July, book peeps! As I write, I’m surrounded by my many checklists and final prep work for the Festival of AAPI Books (FAB) Long Beach this Saturday 7/11. I hope to see some of you at the Michelle Obama Library for this fab-ulous (sorry, I can’t help myself) free event that is many months in the making. If you want to follow along, please visit us on IG at @belcantobooks and @fablongbeach.
We have another wonderful month of author events and book club meetings ahead (see below), and I’m most excited for our annual Boston summer vacation to see family and friends mid-month. Things that are going on my Summer Bingo Card: eating a fried clam sandwich by the water, enjoying a dip in the ocean or pool, visiting a new bookstore, and taking in a sunrise or sunset view. Let me know what you’re looking forward to this summer!
Jho’s June Moments of Joy
EXPERIENCE: This summer, I started a “Project Friday” meetup with friends, encouraging folks to join me at a local coffee shop for a few hours to work, catch up, and daydream. Sometimes it’s just me, and sometimes we get a small table of old and new friends together, but every time, it’s been great fun and helping me to chip away at a new writing project (mostly in research stage at this point).
MEDIA: I finally watched “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” at the Art Theatre of Long Beach, which was our June Movies N’ Books Club pick. I’ve been meaning to see it but was waiting to read the book first, and I’m glad that I did. The book, as usual, was better, especially with internal dialogue since it’s writing in the epistolary form (via letters to a “Dear Friend”), but the casting was great and the soundtrack is excellent. I highly recommend it as a fun summer book/movie pairing, especially good as a buddy read/watch if you have (pre)teens in your life.
FOOD: I cannot say enough good things about Got Your Back LB’s weekly residency at Selva on Anaheim here in Long Beach. We recently took friends out for an incredible birthday meal with offerings from GYB and their collab-partner-of-the-night Baryo. Some of you may remember Baryo and Chef Eugene’s incredible food from the now defunct Union LB. It was such a treat to see Chef Eugene back in action, and I’m still dreaming about the walnut shrimp (Baryo) and grilled fish (GYB) from that memorable meal.
JOURNALING: I’m thrilled to report that I’m back to using my Hobonichi Techo A6 planner after doing a little DIY surgery on the notebook to make it more manageable to carry and write in. One of the joys of keeping a daily or weekly journal is seeing it physically change and grow over time (a truly analog pleasure!), but I found myself turning to it less and less the “chonky”-ier it got. After some internet sleuthing, I figured out a way to cut out the first half of the year (without damaging it too badly) and reassemble the now much slimmer planner with washi tape to keep the spine together. My Hobonichi lives inside of a Japanese fabric book cover, so my doctoring isn’t at all visible - huzzah!
BOOKS: I read 9 books in June (another banner month with lots of reading time while being home sick mid-month). A big chunk of this is book club reading, since we now have 8 book clubs that we host. My favorites of those were MA AND ME (a viscerally powerful memoir about queerness, family obligation and trauma, mother-daughter relationships, and embracing your true self) and ATMOSPHERE (an historical fiction nail-biter about two women astronauts finding love and acceptance in the 1980s space program). I also managed to sneak in a “fun” read now and again, including THE ART THIEF (an eye-raising true crime book about a young couple who stole up to $2B in European artwork; a “Blind Date with a Book” from Godmothers) and PRAISESONG FOR THE WIDOW (a slim, but captivating 1984 novel about a middle-aged Black woman who ditches her friends on a Caribbean cruise; picked up at local favorite Octavia’s Bookshelf).
Read on for more info and signup links to our exciting roster of author events and book clubs.
Here’s to books, laughter, and joyful resistance!
Jhoanna
Head Booknerd + Owner of Bel Canto Books
UPCOMING EVENTS
We’re proud to host these amazing authors and artists this month! Bel Canto Books events are free to attend, unless otherwise noted. Please join us in supporting our authors by RSVPing in advance and purchasing their books from us (or requesting them from your local library)!
Sat 7/11, 11am to 4pm @ Michelle Obama Library
Festival of AAPI Books (FAB) Long Beach
featuring: Ann Chau, Kimberly Tso, Ann Suk Wang, Min Tonai Family + Jolene Gutiérrez, Michelle Sterling, Susie Yi, Kaila Yu, Kenneth Tan, Noelle Falcis Math, Fuzz Garden, Emery Lee, Joss Richard, Julie Tieu, Kaye Rockwell, Aimee Phan, C.B. Lee, David Yoon, Jennifer Chen, Devi S. Laskar, Jasmin Iolani Hakes, Vanessa Hua + Ellie Yang Camp
Sat 7/18, 1pm @ KUBO LB
Storytime + Signing with Lisa Johnston Hancock
Fri 7/24, 6pm-9pm @ BCB Retro Row
Fourth Fridays
Sat 7/25, 6pm @ KUBO LB
Rasheed Newson and Gabrielle Korn
Sun 7/26, 4pm @ KUBO LB
Clare Osongo, with Carolyn Huynh, Julie Tieu + @ofpagesandprint
UPCOMING BOOK CLUBS
Book clubs are free to join and attend. We appreciate your support of our work and our featured authors and encourage you to buy from our stores, Bookshop.org, Libro.fm, and/or request books from your local library. Learn more and kindly RSVP here.
Bel Canto Book Club
Thu 7/23, 6pm (meet in front of AMC Marina Pacifica) special time/location
CLEAR
Burning Issues Book Club
Sun 7/26, 12pm PT (virtual)
HOW TO TELL WHEN WE WILL DIE
Graphic Novel Book Club
Sat 7/25, 10am PT (virtual)
SKATING WILDER
Movies N’ Books Club
Mon 7/13, 7pm
THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY
Queer Book Club
Sat 7/25, 7pm at BCB Retro Row
THE PAIRING
TIMPLA Cookbook Club
Sun 7/26, 12pm at KUBO LB
GOOD THINGS meeting + potluck
Death & Dying Book Club
Thu 8/13, 6:30pm at BCB Retro Row
CRYING IN H MART
AI Ethics Book Club
Wed 8/26, 6:30pm at Ambitious Ales
CULPABILITY