Boohmarked 2026 Week 13: Book Events and Spring Reads

How has your week been? What are you reading? And happy first few days of Spring! I spent most of last week doing work in our yard and spending way too much $$ on plants – already!!

What I Read

This weekend, my husband and I took a road trip. We visited family, relaxed and I finished reading Kin, Tayari Jones. The author sure knows how to tell a good story! I got caught up reading about the lives of “cradle friends” Vernice and Annie, 2 motherless girls growing up in the small town of Honeysuckle, Louisiana. It’s told from alternating points of view, so we get to see both perspectives as the girls grow up together, apart and back together again. They never leave each other in thoughts, but their lives diverge as they both take different paths when they get older. I love how Jones captured their characters, their Worlds in the deep dirty South during segregation times, their family dynamics and friends. BUT if there was ever a book begging for an epilogue – this is it! The ending felt a bit abrupt to me – and I wanted more dammit.

Tayari Jones also wrote An American Marriage, which was a 5 star read for me. Jones took a heavy subject like race and the injustices perpetuated against black males that lands them in the prison system – and shows us the effect on family relationships. It’s an interesting, character driven plot which dives deep and pulls us in. Highly recommended!

Currently Reading

The True Story of Raja the Gullible (and his Mother), Rabih Alameddine, which was the 2025 National Book Award Winner for Fiction. I picked this book up at a recent trip to a (new to me) bookstore in my town.

Told in Raja’s irresistible and wickedly funny voice, the novel dances across six decades to tell the unforgettable story of a singular life and its absurdities – a tale of mistakes, self-discovery, trauma, and maybe even forgiveness.

Book Events, Retreats & Literary Lifestyle

⮕ I attended the Amelia Island Book Festival at the end of February and it was so amazing – not only the talks I attended, but also meeting one of my favorite authors. I definitely want to attend more book events, and one resource I bookmarked is Writers Digest List of Book Fairs and  Festivals by State. Of course – stalking author’s Instagram and website for where they are going to be is another way to go.

⮕ Another bookish thing I would love to do is go on a reading retreat. Especially one of BookofCinz Reading Retreats which is hosted in the Caribbean – Grenada, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Anguilla and Dominica. Who’s with me? When are we going?

⮕ Who’s behind London’s hottest new bookstore? Freud’s librarian grandson … Well, “great-great grandson,” to be technical about it.

⮕ I took my cousins to join their local library this weekend. One loves Manga and I had to turn him on to the fact that he could be borrowing books for FREE AND getting reading them on his phone via a free app. So for anyone else who needs it, here’s a handy dandy Beginner’s Guide to Libby – an app available for anyone who has a library card with a participating library.

⮕ Have you ever included visiting libraries when you’re on holiday? I hadn’t really thought about it before but I saw 40 of the Most Beautiful Libraries in the World and Magical Libraries You NEED to Visit Around the World and now I can’t stop thinking about how much I love libraries as a quiet space to just think, read and sometimes tune out the noise of the outside World.

Spring Reading

⮕ Have you seen the “personal curriculum” trend on the socials? More adults are embracing a self‑designed life syllabus to help them learn more about their interests & hobbies. Some ideas -> very realistic spring curriculum and a whimsical and earthy spring personal curriculum for the months ahead. Those are very different but highlight how it’s all about “you” and what you want to do.

⮕ Lots of readers are sharing their Spring 2026 To-Read List (via Top Ten Tuesday). What’s a must-read book for you this Spring?

⮕ And the Amazon editors Most anticipated fiction of spring 2026. I so do not want to add more books to my reading list, but I’m most looking forward to Love by the Book, Jessica George – her second novel after Maame, which I LOVED.

Etc.

⮕ Goodreads New! Did Not Finish Shelf is On Its Way at last. I’ve moved my books from being tagged as “quit early” to the new “did not finish” shelf. I still HATE to not finish a book, but then it drags on and on and can lead me right into a reading slump. So I’ve gotten better with moving on.

⮕ Hachette yanks horror novel Shy Girl from shelves after accusations of AI use. I think it’s only a matter of time before this becomes more pervasive.

⮕ Nebula Award Finalists were announced recently. These awards celebrate science fiction & fantasy writing. I’m excited to see Death of the Author, N.K. Jemisin in the running for Best Fiction. It was such a fabulous read. I’ve also updated 2026 Major Literary and Genre Fiction Book Awards Calendar with some new award dates.

—- That’s it from me. Cheers to the week ahead!