September! We made it.

I know it’s still technically summer. I know the change of seasons means something different for us all. For me, that turn of the the calendar from August into September feels like a mini-new year. We get to start again. We get to keep trying.

Before we completely turn the page on Summer, though, I’ve got to say goodbye to my Summer reads. You know that little essay you write on the first day of school about what you did that Summer? This is my version of that, except it’s just the books I read. I’ve mostly been curled up on the couch with my dogs (thank god), but these books took me through the Harlem Renaissance to the Reagan Eighties to rural Ireland in the late 1800s to a Catholic school in New Orleans to a near-future Kolkata.

Books are magic. Have you heard??

Anyways, tell me in the comments about your favorite summer reads, and stay until the end to see what I’m hoping to get to this Fall.

Two Romance Recommendations

Reel by Kennedy Ryan

This contemporary romance about an actress on the set of a Harlem Renaissance biopic is just so well done. It’s a straight romance that I was completely invested in, so that should really tell you all you need to know. Seriously, though, Kennedy Ryan knows what she is doing. The pacing, the spice, the stakes. It hit every note and then some. I’ve got to make sure to read the sequel/follow up, Score, which came out this May.

Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian

Gay yearning!! I’ve read four of her books and Cat Sebastian has not let me down yet. After Hours at Dooryard Books is still my favorite, but this one was so much fun. Our two heroes are co-stars on a Star Trek-esque TV show and they hate each other but guess what they might secretly love each other!! This one brings up some interesting discussion around fandom and queer representation that is particularly meaningful in this beautiful, complicated Heated Rivalry era.

I Read a Mystery!

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

I’ve written a lot about Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy, but I simply can’t miss an opportunity to invite you to read about my favorite punk rock, chain-smoking, crime-solving queer nun. I don’t read a ton of mysteries, but this one was just such a good time. It did exactly what I wanted it to do and it was such a pleasure to watch Margot Douaihy play with and push the boundaries of the genre. This would make great Fall reading, I’m just saying.

A Buzzy 2026 Title

Land by Maggie O’Farrell

We’ve sold many, many copies of Land by Maggie O’Farrell at Broadside and I am so grateful for that. This epic takes you through the decades following the Great Hunger in Ireland and it is as brutal as it is beautiful. Maggie O’Farrell’s writing is so gorgeous which makes the misery her characters live through all the more painful. I thought this one was a touch too long, and she lost me a bit at the end, but if you are looking for gorgeous, effecting, epic historical fiction this one is for you.

Most On-Brand (For Me)

The Best Dog in the World edited by Alice Hoffman

What more is there to say??! I will never tire of the stories of people and their dogs. Not all of these essays are winners and some are just annoying (I’m looking at you, Jodi Piccoult), but the Paul Yoon essay alone is worth the price of admission.

Most Off-Brand (For Me)

Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, The Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage by Heather Ann Thompson

A 500+ page non-fiction tome about racist violence?! Who is she? Well, she is a listener of The Stacks Pod of course. I read Heather Ann Thompson’s remarkable history of the Attica Prison uprisings with and my beloved Stacks Book Club back in 2021, and I might not be a big non-fiction girlie, but if Heather Ann Thompson is writing it I will be reading it. The name Bernie Goetz meant nothing to me, so this whole horrible story was completely new, and Heather Ann Thompson tells it with skill, detail, and clarity, never losing sight of how this horrific act of violence set the stage for where we are today. The excellent audiobook made this book accessible to me, and I am so glad I made time for it.

Worst Book for My Blood Pressure & Nervous System

A Guardian and A Thief by Megha Majumdar

Yikes. This book is truly an ordeal. Set in a near-future Kolkata, India ravaged by climate change this novel follows one woman as she attempts to flee the country with her elderly father and young daughter and one man attempting to carve out a life for his family in the decimated city. The pacing of the book is excellent and I was on the edge of my seat from start to finish. I see and admire what she was doing here. That said, it is not for the faint of heart and, much like Land, I felt that the misery Majumdar doles out on her characters teetered over the edge of feeling overdone. Listen, I don’t expect or want my books to be all sunshine and rainbows, but I don’t want to feel used, abused, or manipulated either. Longs story short, my nervous system is still regulating after this one.

Favorite Read / Can’t Stop Thinking About / Best Brain Food

Transcription by Ben Lerner

I’ve already written about how much I loved this book. It’s a tricky book to write about because I think the ideal reading experience involves knowing very little before diving in. This book felt like an invitation to discuss and pay attention and it surprised me at every turn. We’re all students of life (lol, sorry) and this is the perfect book to get your brain spinning in this back to school season.

Autumn Ambitions

This is what I am manifesting for my reading life in the coming months! Usually my eyes are bigger than my stomach, but a girl can dream. I’m just grateful to have so much art to look forward to.

London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe

The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers

Music Against the Night by Yiyun Li (out October 13th)

Muñeca by Cynthia Gomez

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

John of John by Douglas Stuart

What did you read and love this summer? What are you looking forward to this Fall?

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I’m so glad September is here & that I am in it with you.

I love you.

Love,

Rosamond

As we sit here on the cusp of a new season, I hope you get a chance to soak in the end of summer with all the bright color and deep feeling it brings. I’m learning to love the hope and melancholy of the end of summer. Whether you long for cooler days and crunchy leaves or you ache for the loss of sunshine, I know there is so much to look forward to. I really believe that, and I hope you can too.

Meanwhile, I am, of course, thinking about Dolly.

Best answer of all time. Thank you, Dolly.

Anyways, here are some things that kept me afloat this August.

Favorite Read

Transcription by Ben Lerner

Listen, I did not expect to love this book as much as I did. I promise I am not putting myself down, but I thought maybe this one would be a little beyond me or what I am interested in as a reader? A little too literary as though that even means anything but I think you know what I mean. That said, many readers I admire said this one was worth reading and it’s short and fit a prompt for the Mega Reading Challenge so I figured I would give it a go.

Readers, I was gripped. I don’t want to tell you too much because I think it’s best to just go into this one knowing very little and let Ben Lerner do his thing. It’s about memory and art and technology and somehow Ben Lerner manages to wrestle with big ideas in a way that felt accessible and reachable to me as a reader. I felt invited in to untie the knots at the center of the book. I finished it in one sitting, and I don’t know how to describe it except that it felt like a kind of literary adrenaline rush. This novel is rich for discussion, and I absolutely think it is worth your time.

One Bright Glimmer

what is a glimmer?

Pumpkin at Dunkin! Need I say more? I know people have strong feelings about when is the right time to have pumpkin coffee, but you know what I have strong feelings about?? Joy. Why would God give Dunkin the secret recipe for perfect artificial pumpkin flavor if she didn’t want us to enjoy it on these heavy late-August days???

Joy is not meant to be a crumb. So says Mary Oliver. So say I.

Book I’m Looking Forward To

The Disappearers by Marlon James

There are SO MANY exciting books coming this Fall. Truly, a bounty. I put together my Most Anticipated Books of 2026: Part Two back in June and I’m really trying to be excited about what’s coming and not stressed about how I will find the time.

All that said, I think I am going to make the time for all 640 pages of The Disappearers by Marlon James (Out September 1st!). I’m hearing good things about it, and after reading American Hagwon (Out September 29th!), I appreciate that in the hands of the right author a 600+ page novel can be a gift.

Biggest Surprise

Warning: this is just about my dogs and how much I love them.

Dunkin has been through so much this year. Losing his sister and his companion, Yaya, must have been so confusing and disorienting for him. Looking back, I think he knew before we did when Yaya’s time had come. I think he often knows more than we do.

Enter Christina, who has brought her own kind of beautiful upheaval into our home. I really didn’t know how Dunkin would manage all this change. He is a dog who is scared of most things. The circle of people that make him feel safe is small. Can you imagine what it’s like, then, to see our spicy dog be a big brother? He is patient and gentle with Christina and has been from the moment he met her. We went on a car trip this weekend and Christina spent the whole drive sleeping on Dunkin in some fashion. He is scared of most things, but he was made to be her brother.

Again, I think he knows more than we do.

I love dogs. I love Dolly. I love you.

I’m glad you’re here.

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Love,

Rosamond

I know so many of you are walking around with burning questions that only a bookseller can answer, so I am here to dutifully answer the call. Over on my instagram I put out a request for questions for booksellers (and rescue dogs.)

Christina was born for the spotlight and has wisdom to share let me tell you. As for me, just please remember that I’m basically a dozen toothless senior chihuahuas in a trench coat.

What’s been surprising about independent bookselling this year?

I’ve written previously about the joy of bookselling in the era of Heated Rivalry, but I really cannot properly express the surprise and delight these slutty little beautiful books have brought to my personal and professional life. Just yesterday a customer bought Role Model and Frog & Toad, and we had a little giggle over the perfection of this pairing. We also agreed that we are not emotionally prepared for season two. Not even close.

If you’d told me that a six-book series of gay Canadian romance novels about hockey players would be Broadside Bestsellers in 2026 I would quite simply never have believed you. And yet here we are! Surprised by joy! Thank you, Rachel!

Another cute little book surprise has been the success of the Dungeon Crawler Carl books. Now I don’t really know much about these books except they are huge both in popularity and in size, and therefore very annoying to shelve, because where do we put twelve humongous hardcovers?

But you know what I do love? When people get excited about books. There is one particular customer who has been slowly working his way through the series and every time he comes in for the next book he is just giddy. He said these are the first books he’s been excited about reading in over twenty years and now he and his son are reading them together. And does he order those big ‘ole hardcovers on Amazon? No he does not!! He comes into his local indie bookstore so we can cheer him on and hear his reflections on why these books work so well for him. This is what it’s all about, people.

What are your favorite books to hand sell right now?

You already know!! If I haven’t convinced you to read Etna yet, may I recommend today’s episode of The Stacks podcast with ?? But really, what a deep pleasure to see a book I care about in the hands of our customers. I’m recommending it as often as I can and it must be working because it’s a been a Broadside Bestseller two weeks in a row. I take that as a personal win. I mean I guess I can give Paul Yoon some credit for writing a brilliant, singular novel, but it was really a team effort.

Just yesterday a customer asked me to recommend some mysteries by women authors that she could take on her upcoming beach trip. It can be a bit nerve wracking when customers ask for recommendations in genres like mystery and science fiction that are far from my expertise. I hear that you are looking for a mystery but have you tried hockey smut?

I wasn’t nervous this time, though, because I just read a deeply fun and smart mystery that is an absolute pleasure to hand sell: Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy.

Let’s be honest this book really sells itself. Just look at that cover. If that gorgeous cover doesn’t get you the tagline about a queer, chain-smoking, punk rock nun who solves crimes really seals the deal. What I really love about handselling this book, though, is that Margot Douaihy is a local author and Broadside customer who I know firsthand to be deeply kind, generous, and radical. I admire her so much, it’s a privilege to help get her work in the hands of readers. Imagine shopping at a local indie bookstore and supporting a local author at the same time?? What a rush.

What are the best and worst trends in bookselling/publishing right now?

Best trend is mainstream publishing’s embrace of gay hockey romance.

Worst trend is publishers promoting straight hockey romance and being like perfect for fans of Heated Rivalry! Guys, respectfully, I think you are missing the point.

Worst trend is the illustrated covers when these original covers were RIGHT THERE.

Best trend is dogs on book covers.

Best trend is special editions of buzzy new titles that are exclusive to indie bookstores.

Worst trend is special edition hardcovers that mean nothing.

Why is Heated Rivalry always the answer?

I truly believe scholars will be unpacking the impact of Heated Rivalry on our culture for generations to come. As for me and my house we will continue to rewatch until our TV bursts into flames probably.

Now that Christina has had a few months to adjust to life in a lesbian household, I figured it was time to introduce her to her hockey daddies.

Speaking of Xtina, here are a couple questions that I will answer on her behalf because she doesn’t get out bed this early.

How do you like your new home?

I think she is largely satisfied, but remains confused why I keep trying to take pictures of her with these weird paper rectangles that are not even that fun to chew on.

Are you still a genie in a bottle, baby?

Once a pop princess, always a pop princess.

Never thought I would have a chihuahua named for Christina Aguilera, but life remains surprising and beautiful.

Speaking of which, today is an important day in my culture, and I am off to celebrate.

I’m glad you’re here.

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Love,

Rosamond

No really, I am so grateful you are here. I wrote my first Rosamond Reads piece three years ago this month, and I don’t take for granted that anyone spends their precious time and attention on these words.

Unless you are just here are for the dog pictures in which case I respect that too.

Since it’s been three whole years of weekly Wednesday missives, I thought I would do a little walk down memory lane and share some of my favorite pieces.

A Rosamond Reads retrospective if you will.

I started this whole project just after my 30th birthday with the idea of writing about 30 books that made me.

Thirty Books for Thirty Years: part one, part two, and part three.

This newsletter by a bookseller about books quickly devolved into a newsletter by a bookseller about her dogs, and I think we all saw that coming.

On Dunkin

I will always be grateful I used this space to write about our life with Yaya. Every day with her was a gift, and sharing her with you increased the joy tenfold. I will never forget the way this community showed up for our family when we said goodbye to Yaya. The loss was unbearable, and the love that held us was unforgettable.

On Yaya & For Yaya

I still write about books and bookselling from time to time, and I’m especially fond of this piece about some of the small things I love about my work.

Ten Good Things

I want to be known for loving my weirdo rescue dogs and my singular little bookshop.

And, of course, I want to be known as a champion for the books and authors I love. I take my top ten books of the year posts so seriously because those aren’t just books, those are my friends and my people. Those books changed my life and now I ride for them forever. It’s serious!

Best Books of 2025 & 2024 & 2023.

I love writing about books and dogs, and I love sharing the small, quiet, good moments in between.

Snowdrops

Thanks to your generosity and care, I felt safe to share more of the hard bits of this life, too. I hope I can continue to tell the truth about all that is beautiful and terrible.

On Grief Memoirs

I can’t write about reading without writing about grief. I can’t think about love without thinking about loss. This space has given me room to stretch my arms wide enough to hold both. I do not take that for granted.

A Book “Review.”

We lost my sister Anna 21 years ago this month. August is always the hardest time for me. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I started this project in August. And I shouldn’t be surprised that she is on the margins of every piece I write.

When you lose someone to suicide, there is a pressure in our world to be quiet about it. Don’t bring it up or else you’ll make people sad. Bring down the vibe. Maybe even put the idea in someone else’s head. Experts are clear that this last part is a myth, and I am learning that silence is not always compassion. Because of course loss is the one thing we all share. There is room for all of it. Our hearts are more spacious than we know. This newsletter is about books and dogs, but I hope it’s about this too. All the ways we continue.

Thank you for holding it all. I think she would have loved it.

I love you.

I’m glad you’re here.

Love,

Rosamond

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It’s hard for me to believe, but I’m coming up on three years of writing this here little newsletter. Time is weird! All that to say, I figure now is as good a time as any to do a little reintroduction.

What better way to reintroduce myself than by pretending I’m a fancy author being interviewed by the New York Times Book Review?? I do this in my head all the time anyway, so I may as well share my answers with you.

This is partly inspired by who did something similar on her substack, and, of course, , who asks some of these questions and many better ones of her guests on the Stacks each week.

The Times column always includes a lovely little illustration of the interviewee. I don’t have one of those on hand, but this is a portrait that Rebecca once drew of me and it is truly how I see myself.

I took all of these questions from most recent By the Book interview with Valeria Luiselli.

Describe your ideal reading experience.

It’s mid-October. Forty degrees and cloudy. There is a full pot of hot, pumpkin spice coffee simmering in the kitchen. My dogs are napping on the couch with me. We have nothing to do but read, drink coffee, eat some kind of bread to soak up the coffee, and occasionally take a break to walk outside and sniff around in the freshly fallen leaves.

What’s the last book you recommended to a family member?

Etna by Paul Yoon is the book I’m recommending to absolutely everyone right now. I gave my Dad my advanced reader copy earlier this summer and he loved it as I knew he would. Where do you think I got my good taste??

The last book a member of your family recommended to you?

My Mom and my Brother-in-Law recently read and recommended The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai, and my sister is reading it right now. Fear of missing out is real and it’s about to motivate me to read this chunker.

What books are on your night stand?

I don’t know why the New York Times assumes people have all these books on their night stand? My night stand has an old glass of water and the special lavender-infused dog treats we give the dogs at bedtime.

That said, I do have my thrifted copies of every book in the Twilight Saga on a little shelf by my bed, because I can’t look at those books without smiling. They fill me with love for myself as a young reader, and remind me it’s just not that serious.

What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?

I think I’m a pretty open book (hehe) so I don’t imagine much here would be a surprise, but maybe people would be surprised that anyone owns the Gilmore Girls Pop Culture Reference Guide, an index of every reference in all 153 episodes (though Rebecca and I checked and some are missing)?? You might be surprised this book exists, but if you are surprised I own it then you don’t me very well.

What’s the last great book you read?

Whistler by Ann Patchett knocked me out. It’s deceptively simple and low-stakes, and no one but Ann Patchett could pull it off.

Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?

I read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley with my beloved Stacks Book Club last year and a good time was had by all (except Victor Frankenstein obviously wow he really goes through it).

What are your favorite road trip novels?

I imagine the NYT asked Valeria Luiselli this question because her new novel Beginning Middle End is about a mother and daughter on the road in search of a new life.

Nobody every asks me about my favorite road trip novels, but if they did do you know what I would say? The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. This middle grade novel, follows the Watson family as they road trip from Flint, Michigan to Birmingham, Alabama at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. It’s a valuable piece of historical fiction and one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. I remember reading this during Silent Sustained Reading time in 4th grade (my personal peak) and absolutely vibrating with silent laughter.

Christopher Paul Curtis is also the author of one of my favorite novels of all-time for any reader, Bud, Not Buddy. He is a legend and you should read him.

Do you listen to audiobooks on the road? What’s a great one?

I don’t really go “on the road,” but the best audiobook I’ve read in recent memory has to be Small Rain by Garth Greenwell read by the author himself. Greenwell’s narration of his own prose is hypnotic and unforgettable.

What’s your favorite book no one else has heard of?

Did you know that Fran Lebowitz wrote a children’s book in 1994? Well, she did and it’s about two pandas who live a secret life in their New York City apartment building, and dream about being dogs in Paris.

I didn’t know how to answer this question because saying that no one has heard of a book feels like a real diss to that particular book, but I know Fran can take it. When we brought a copy for her to sign after one of her events years ago she seemed genuinely surprised anyone still had a copy.

Do you count any books as guilty pleasures?

NO. And quite frankly I would love to explain to the New York Times why this question is dumb, elitist, and probably misogynistic. Mary Oliver said joy is not meant to be a crumb, and I don’t believe pleasure is either. Take that, New York Times!!

What’s your favorite book to discuss with your students?

Again, this question is obviously intended for Louisa Luiselli. Unlike her, I’m not a teacher, but I had a brief career teaching fifth grade and you haven’t lived until you’ve talked about Holes with an 11 year-old.

What book would you elevate to the canon, and what book would you remove?

There are two contemporary novels that I would elevate to canon right now. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong and Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. I am certain that readers will be engaging with these works long into our future, and that brings me great hope.

I will be so honest with you, New York Times, I don’t even know the canon well enough to pick a book to remove. If a book’s in the canon then good on her, she worked to get there so who am I to knock her off.

Now should we make more room for Hockey smut in the canon? Yes. You didn’t ask me that, but my answer is yes.

You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?

Fran Lebowitz, Toni Morrison, and Zadie Smith. I don’t cook, and I certainly wouldn’t make my famous frozen pizza for those three, but I imagine we would go to some fancy restaurant on Penguin Random House’s dime. We’d sit outside so Fran can smoke. I would take every word uttered at that table to my grave. Assuming I don’t just spontaneously combust right there at the table, which would be a fine way to go.

If you know him please do tell the New York Times I am available anytime.

Now tell me your answers! Who are you inviting to your literary dinner party? Do you really keep books on your night stand? I need to know.

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I love you.

I’m glad you’re here.

Love,

Rosamond

I hope July held a little sweetness for you. I felt like I devoured July in big, juicy bites. Rebecca and I had a little western mass staycation that I never wanted to end. We shared sacred space with hundreds and hundreds of lesbians (bless) at the Lucy Dacus concert at MASS MOCA, we drank good coffee, we ate pizza outside next to some goats, we talked about Yaya, and how much we miss her, we snuggled Christina and Dunkin. My heart is stretching, stretching to hold it all.

As we turn back to the day to day, I’m thinking about all the books I want to read in the coming months, because of course I am. Did you see the Booker Longlist that dropped yesterday? I love book awards season! There is so much to look forward to, and I am clinging to that.

Here are some things that kept me floating on in July.

Favorite Read

Reel by Kennedy Ryan

Now this is a romance novel! Respectfully, if I am picking a straight romance as my favorite read of the month you know it’s good. I loved everything about it. This was my first Kennedy Ryan, but it won’t be my last. You already know this was a rec from my friend Grace. She doesn’t miss! We know this!

One Bright Glimmer

what is a glimmer?

I got to spend some time with my nephew this month and it was glimmer after glimmer after glimmer. Playing trains in your bear slippers and your blue rain hat? Undefeated!! I feel so lucky to be auntie to this hilarious, creative, curious, loving little human. We read so many books together and I don’t know who had more fun. Me, it was me. Shout out to Dog vs. Strawberry which was truly delightful even on the 37th read.

Book I’m Looking Forward To

Fruit Fly by Josh Silver

This recommendation comes directly from my friend Derrick who calls this a “start to finish gaggy banger of a book.” Say less, Derrick!! But really, I trust Derrick’s excellent taste implicitly. I’m in need of a propulsive, grippy, funny, weird, gay book and this sounds like the one!

Biggest Surprise:

Rebecca’s meadow is showing off this year and every bloom is a surprise in the best way. My role is full on cheerleader and I’m actually flabbergasted every time something new comes up out of the dirt. Like what kind of sorcery is this? How are we all just being normal about flowers? Have you seen those guys?

I’m trying to learn the names of more of these wonders and the bee balm is really vying for top spot this year.

I’m Still Learning

I’m on something of a soft serve journey this summer and, no one asked, but here is the update I know you want.

First off is this gourgeoussima a twist cone from Village Green in Williamsburg, MA. Thank you for the rec ! I mean just look at that twist.

And on the last day of our staycation, we got Maple Creamees from the North Hadley Sugar Shack, and that’s a string of words that never lets me down.

I’m still learning to love summer. I’m still learning to let the sweet things in this life just be sweet. I’m still learning to be stubborn in seeking out pleasure.

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Please tell me about the best ice cream you’ve had this summer. I really, really want to know.

I love you.

I’m glad you’re here.

Love,

Rosamond

Today, I’m just a girl on a Wednesday in July, thinking about Mary Oliver.

This is nothing new, but after having the deep pleasure of seeing the new Mary Oliver doc, Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World, so much feels brand new, and I can’t help but tell you about it.

The new documentary film by Sasha Waters will premiere on PBS on August 25th, but Rebecca and I got to see it this weekend at our local independent theater, and it felt like winning the lottery. If you live in western mass, the film will be showing at Amherst Cinema through next Wednesday and I think you should get the soft animal of your body a ticket right now.

Someone from the company distributing the film reached out to Broadside to see if we would help promote the showings at the Amherst Cinema. That very nice person may have gotten more than they bargained for when I responded with deep enthusiasm. Sometimes deep enthusiasm pays off, though, because they sent me the press kit from the film including remarkable stills and photographs. If you’re tired of hearing me moon about Mary (real), please do scroll past my nonsense and take a look at the photographs below. They are all courtesy of Kino Lorber.

Mary Oliver’s papers are now housed in the Library of Congress, and I know for a fact that so many of the photographs, letters, and scraps of journals from the film are thanks to that remarkable archive.

And, of course, if I’m thinking about Mary Oliver, I’m thinking about my dear friend Laura, who is a poet, and the Mary Oliver scholar I trust the most.

This photo encapsulates what I loved and admired most about this film. When we think of Mary Oliver, we think of a mind in the woods, of birds, of the shore, of the grasshopper and the geese. All of that is right, but it is not what I see in this photo. I see a woman at work. I see clutter, I see deep thought, I see that cigarette. I see a woman who climbed uphill to get to that spot in that chair at that desk in front of that typewriter. Really, what the hell do I know, but I see worry. I see sorrow.

This film tries to tell the story of a poet who built her life brick by brick, choice by choice, with intention and love for the world and for herself. Saving your own life is miraculous. It is also painful and terrifying. This film tries to tell it all.

You know what else it doesn’t shy away from?? Mary Oliver’s undeniable, jubilant, glorious queer life.

For many of us, Mary’s queerness is an inextricable part of her work, but it’s easy to forget how quickly and seamlessly that legacy can be erased in the popular imagination.

The film is not just Mary’s story. It is very much the story of Mary and her partner of over forty years, the photographer Molly Malone Cook. It’s the story of how these two women built a life and a world in Provincetown before anyone knew Mary’s work, before they had anything but a desire to make art and draw the map of their own lives.

I know that Mary was not comfortable being labeled as a lesbian poet, or really being labeled at all. That is valid and right and complicated and true. It is also right that I cried when I first saw the photo below, because I didn’t know that my favorite writer went home every night to a woman who made her world possible.

I want young queer readers to know this, and I am grateful this film tells that story.

The film includes interviews with Mary’s friend and neighbor in Provincetown, the filmmaker John Waters, and even if the rest of the movie were a dud it would be worth a watch just for his memories and reflections. Let’s just say he does away with the myth of Mary as a pixie dream woods girl…

And, of course, we must pause and pay our respects to the best and gayest (respectfully: dyke-iest) author photo of all time.

I got to hear the wonderful Gabrielle Calvocoressi give a close reading of the above photo at the Smith College Poetry Center a few years back and I’ve never forgotten it.

As Gabrielle says in the film, “Mary is basically cruising you” in this photo. God bless.

It feels cosmic that we got this film in the same year as the extraordinary documentary Come See Me in the Good Light about the late poet Andrea Gibson. Both films offer intimate, tender windows into the lives of childless lesbian couples who love their dogs. This means something real to me.

Mary was many things, but to me, caregiver to her dogs will always be near the top of the list.

There is so much to say, and I’m only beginning to piece together the ways Mary Oliver’s life and work make my life possible. That is not a euphemism, but a true expression of the ways queerness begets queerness1 and survival begets survival.

Mary Oliver’s work saves lives. Again, that is not a euphemism. Here’s a quick story about one way Mary saved me.

I was a first year teacher in Greenwood, Mississippi in the fall of 2015. That is mostly a story for another time. I shouldn’t have been there. I was failure, embodied. I was not the teacher my fifth grade students deserved. My presence as a Teach for America corps member, as the supposed best possible option for these brilliant, singular children, was evidence of the deep, tragic, unforgivable ways that the vision of public education failed the students and families of the Mississippi Delta.

All that to say, I was in pain. The pain was my own and it was infinitely bigger than me. It’s something I have a hard time speaking about but suffice it to say that the agony of that failure very nearly felled me.

Somehow, and I truly don’t remember exactly how, I came across this poem during that time.

The Poet with His Face in His Hands by Mary Oliver

You want to cry aloud for your
mistakes. But to tell the truth the world
doesn’t need any more of that sound.

So if you’re going to do it and can’t
stop yourself, if your pretty mouth can’t
hold it in, at least go by yourself across

the forty fields and the forty dark inclines
of rocks and water to the place where
the falls are flinging out their white sheets

like crazy, and there is a cave behind all that
jubilation and water fun and you can
stand there, under it, and roar all you

want and nothing will be disturbed; you can
drip with despair all afternoon and still,
on a green branch, its wings just lightly touched

by the passing foil of the water, the thrush,
puffing out its spotted breast, will sing
of the perfect, stone-hard beauty of everything.

I remember, after a particularly brutal day, I silent screamed in the shower. If we’re honest, I think many of us are familiar with this kind of shower cry. And then I sat on the cold bathroom tile and I read this poem on my phone over and over and over again. It was a prayer and a magic spell. It didn’t make everything better. I was still a failure. My mistakes were and are still my mistakes. But, if even Mary Oliver knew what it was to have a shame so deep and real you can’t hold it in, then somehow I believed I could carry it with me and keep living, too.

I don’t know when Mary wrote this poem. I know it was published in the New Yorker in April of 2005. Four months later her love Molly Malone Cook would die from complications due to Lung Cancer at the age of 80. The film tells this story, too. What do we know about what Mary’s survival looked like in the wake of this loss. It is not simple, it cannot be contained or fully known.

When Mary said, tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine, she meant it. I will let you see the film, yourself, but she knew despair. She knew the cost of saving her own life.

Mary’s poetry is on coffee mugs, it’s on t-shirts, it’s on bumper stickers. I am the proud of owner of Mary Oliver merch myself. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think it makes the words any less meaningful. No matter how many times you encounter her lines in memes or in the marketplace, the layers of meaning rest beneath.

She lived the life she lived and she wrote in her notebook: You don’t have to be good.

She lost the great love of her life and rather than retreat to the woods, she chose to give readings, to publish, to give interviews, to open the door. That matters to me.

I’m going to wear my Mary Oliver hat, repost every Mary Oliver meme, and repeat every line that keeps me going until I can see my own way forward.

Thank you, Mary.

Anyway, go see the movie!!

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I love you.

I’m glad you’re here.

Love,

Rosamond

As we wade through another wave of sticky, hot days here in New England, I hope you are finding some relief whether that be air conditioning, a swimming hole, a sweet treat, or just some quiet time to read.

I’m trying my very best to be present in these long summer days, even as my heart longs for sweet Autumn. Summer has some goodness to offer, and I am trying to pay attention.

Here are five good things that are getting me through.

I know we’re not reinventing the wheel here, but have you tried a sweet treat? I’m on a soft serve ice cream journey this summer, and our first stop was Creamy Delight in Hadley, MA. If you know, you absolutely know. This was top tier. You look like you need a sweet treat. Seriously.

Listen, you all know that I’m not a huge men’s sports person, but the whole Cleated Rivalry phenomenon had me locked in to that Norway vs. England game.

And I’m not saying that I delighted in the US Men’s horrific loss to Belgium, but I’m never sad when we can all pause to remember that the women have simply always been doing it better.

Long story short, I’ve really been enjoying this little warm up to the real show in 2027.

I can take a detour into men’s sports now and then, but I’m ready to refocus on my true loves: the WNBA and the NWSL.

Oh, and the WPBL, too!! What a time to be a fan, I’m telling you.

Speaking of being a fan, I read three romance novels in a row, and I’m not sorry!

Reel by Kennedy Ryan is an absolute stunner. My good friend Grace, who of course serves as my romance fairy godmother, told me and told me that this book is major and, of course, she is correct. It is a compelling, lovely, spicy romance, and a love letter to Black artists and creators throughout history. You should read it.

Love and Sportsball by Meka James is exactly as advertised: it’s a spicy, sapphic romance about a WNBA star who falls for her team’s trainer. What more do you need?? We are allowed to have fun!!

Open Era by Edward Schmit is marketed as Heated Rivalry, but tennis and I fear that was a mistake. It is not Heated Rivalry. But what else is, really? This is more like a YA/New Adult novel about a young man navigating life as an out professional tennis player. I liked it, but I didn’t love it, and I wonder how much of that has to do with the marketing. I need to accept that Heated Rivalry is simply one of one. But, the more gay sports romance the better is what I always say.

Speaking of gay books (woah another smooth transition!), my favorite novel is now out in paperback and I’m quite pleased about it.

No, but really, I love a paperback. I love that they are cheaper. I love that you don’t have to be precious with them. A paperback invites underlining and marginalia and dogearing and general throwing around. I love the flop. I love the weight of it in my hand. There is a particular pleasure in seeing a book you love in it’s final form.

I’m celebrating by listening to the audiobook narrated by James Aaron Oh, and you won’t be surprised to hear that it rips. This book demands a lot from it’s narrator (so many characters with singular voices!) and Oh’s rendition is just right.

Okay, one more good thing. This weekend, Rebecca and I visited Two Ghosts Vinyl Cafe in nearby Turner’s Falls and it was so dreamy. Exactly what it sounds like, this little shop sells new and used vinyls, offering listening stations for sampling vinyls, and serves coffee and a delicious array of mocktails.

While Rebecca browsed the vinyls, I sipped my little virgin aperol spritz and listened to the Heated Rivalry soundtrack. Like hello?? Heaven. I love queer-owned businesses. I love Western Massachusetts. I love my gay hockey boyfriends.

If you’ve read this far, you deserve a treat. I can’t send you ice cream through the screen, but I can show you this picture Rebecca took of Christina.

Did something good happen to you this week? Tell me about it!!

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I love you.

I’m glad you’re here.

Love,

Rosamond

Believe it or not, we are halfway through the year. I know. Time is weird. But I’ll take any excuse to pause and think about my reading life, so join me in a little mid-year reading reflection if that’s your thing.

This post is entirely inspired by who wrote about her mid-year reading report here. Bless the internet for connecting me with other book nerds who get just as excited about this kind of thing as I do.

Before we get to the books, here are some stats from the first six months of my 2026 reading life:

I’ve read 33 books so far this year: 27 fiction, 4 non-fiction, and 2 poetry collections. Of those 27 works of fiction, 11 are romance novels. Finally, I’ve read 12 new releases and 21 backlist titles.

Nobody asked how I am doing on my reading goals (because I made them up!), but I’m going to tell you anyway.

Complete the mega challenge - with 25 prompts complete, I am just about halfway through the Stacks Mega Reading Challenge. As long as I stay consistent in the coming months, this is going pretty well!

Keep up with my book journal - Okay, this is not going well. I am struggling to take the time to pause and reflect on the book I just finished before I just run right into my next read. Anyone have any tips on this? I really want to stick to it, but it’s hard to build the habit.

Read 40% new releases - I am at 38% new releases right now, so I’m not mad about that at all!

Read 12 books before their release date - this goal is specific to my job as a bookseller, but I’m at 8 books so far, so that is looking good!

Read 12 romance novels - can you tell this is the most fun goal?? I am already at 11! And that’s only counting Heated Rivalry once even though I read it twice. Let’s go!

Okay, now here are some highlights from the last six months. This list is inspired by the mid-year book freakout tag on instagram. Again, I love the internet for bringing me so many friends who take reading as seriously as I do.

On to the books!

best book you’ve read so far

Etna by Paul Yoon

I know. This is not a surprise. Etna comes out August 4th, and I just can’t emphasize enough how moved I was by this small, powerful book. I can’t wait to talk about it with you.

favorite sequel

The Long Game by Rachel Reid

This counts as a sequel, right? Because, yeah, I think this goes without saying. Rachel Reid changed my life with these little hockey books.

book that made you cry

Small Rain by Garth Greenwell

Novels by poets! My dear friend, Laura, recommended this novel to me and, of course, she was right. The novel is told in the voice of poet who experiences a health crisis and spends a prolonged period in the hospital during the height of the COVID pandemic. What Greenwell does with this premise is unforgettable. The audiobook, read by Greenwell himself, is one of the most profound reading experiences in recent memory. I listened to end of this book on my couch, with Yaya, and cried the best kind of book tears.

new favorite character

Patrick, After Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian

I was so taken by this gay romance novel set in a used bookstore in the Greenwich Village in 1968 and a big part of its charm was Patrick, the large, grumpy, soft-hearted, Whitman-obsessed proprietor of the titular bookstore. I could have spent a hundred more pages with Patrick.

favorite new to you author

Dominion by Addie E. Citchens

Addie E. Citchens was new to me and new to many when her debut novel, Dominion, hit shelves last year. Dominon is a small-town drama set in a church community in rural Mississippi and, like so many readers, it caught me completely by surprise. Also great on audio!

favorite re-read

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

Again, I do think this goes without saying.

favorite debut

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

It’s pretty wild to think of The Warmth of Other Suns as a debut, since it is without a doubt a modern classic of narrative non-fiction. Isabel Wilkerson really came out swinging with this one, and I am so glad I finally made time for it this year.

biggest disappointment

For the Bride by Becca Grischow

I don’t know, guys, all I can say is Rachel Reid taught me to have standards in my romance reading and this book really let me down. I feel like publishers are phoning it in a little with some of these rom-coms. It felt like they needed some lesbians in their catalog and they tried to just fill in the blanks and I demand more, and better.

biggest surprise

Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg

I knew I would like this short story collection from Emma Copley Eisenberg, but I did not expect to be absolutely gripped by it. I read almost all of it on a plane and was completely consumed. Truly, all hits and no skips and that is almost never my experience with short story collections. I think this is the book of the summer and if it’s not on your summer reading tbr you are doing it wrong.

most anticipated new release for the second half of 2026

Music Against the Night by Yiyun Li

I’ve referenced this before, but Ann Patchett recently said Music Against the Night (out October 13th), “may be the best contemporary novel I’ve ever read in my life.” If there is one thing I am going to do, it is listen to Ann.

most beautiful book you acquired this year

Court Queens by Emma Baccellieri and Jordan Robinson

I don’t even have a coffee table, but you know I had to buy this coffee table book about women’s basketball. I haven’t read it yet, but I have flipped through and it is absolutely gorgeous, full of photographs and history, and I can’t wait to dig in. If you ask me, it’s about time women’s basketball got the coffee table book treatment.

Okay that’s all for me! Time to maybe go write in my book journal??

Before you go, tell me: how is your reading life going so far this year? what is one thing you are loving and one thing you want to change?

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I love books. I love you.

I’m glad you’re here.

Love,

Rosamond

Happy July!! I’m not a big summer girl, but this is my birthday month so I try to see the good in this hot, sticky month.

As we are on the cusp of a heat wave, the dream for me is hunkering down in my air conditioned cave with and reading my heart out with my two little dogs beside me. Oh, and soft serve ice cream. Your girl is on the hunt for some good soft serve this month. You know I will keep you posted.

June was a big month for our little family. Below are some of the books and glimmers that kept me afloat.

Don’t forget to tell me all your favorites in the comments.

Favorite Read

The Best Dog in the World edited by Alice Hoffman

June was very full, but my reading life took a bit of hit. Nothing was quite sticking for me and if you are a reader (hello you are!) then you know that can sometimes be cause for panic. I’m trying not to panic about a mini reading slump and just be normal about it, but you know, it’s me so we’ll see.

That said, a highlight of this month was this essay anthology of various writers on the dog loves of their lives. Is this so on brand for me that it borders on cringe?? Maybe, but here we are.

As with any anthology some of these essays hit harder than others. The opener by Alice Hoffman is an all-timer and had me crying as I listened to the audio on my walk home. Unsurprisingly, Roxane Gay’s essay was a delight, and I’ve never read her romance novels, but the Emily Henry essay knocked me out in the best way. Oh and my guy Paul Yoon? I picked up this collection mainly to read his essay about his dog Oscar and I was not disappointed. The man can write about dogs let me tell you…

I love when literature takes dogs seriously. I love when I see my own love for my dogs reflected in the words of our best writers.

One Bright Glimmer

what is a glimmer?

Christina is one wiggly, loving, ten pound glimmer. The joy and laughter she has brought into our home in the last few weeks is an impossible gift.

Have you ever had a little rescue dog start to trust you and climb into your lap so she can lick your face? I don’t know that it gets any better.

Book I’m Looking Forward To

The Devoted by Catherine Cho

Set in Hong Kong, The Devoted is a family drama about a young Korean woman who becomes entangled with an infamous crime organization. It is the debut novel by Catherine Cho, the author of one of my favorite memoirs of all-time. I’ve followed Catherine’s work ever since I first read Inferno and I am so excited to read her first work of fiction. In addition to being a memoirist and novelist, Catherine runs her own literary agency in the UK and I always think it is fascinating when writers move across both sides of the book production process.

Biggest Surprise

If you told me that in June we would be adopting a funny, long-legged Chihuahua named after Christina Aguilera, I would have smiled and nodded and backed away slowly.

Christina elbowed her way right into our family, and I can’t imagine it any other way. She is fierce and funny and very much in charge thank god. Dunkin is the best, most patient big brother you can imagine. I am constantly surprised by his gentleness and generosity.

These days it feels rare to be truly surprised by the goodness of this world. I am endlessly surprised by the work of Vintage Pet Rescue. Give them a follow, but warning you might end up with a tiny pop princess home invasion so proceed with caution.

I’m Still Learning

The truth is we still don’t know how to live without Yaya. We miss her every single moment. There is no handbook for how to move on after pet loss, and the depth of the grief still catches me by surprise.

I’m still learning that a grieving heart can also be an open door. We miss Yaya endlessly, and we made room for Christina when she announced herself. Truly, she did announce herself.

Multiple things can be true at once and isn’t that beautiful and terrible? We hope that Yaya is proud of us. In so many ways, Yaya built this home, and she left the door open for Christina.

I promise I’ll write more about books one day soon. Maybe even some books that aren’t about dogs. Thank you for being here. Thank you for keep us company through these last months. Thank you for taking this little family seriously.

Oh and does it get much gayer or more millennial than adopting a tiny rescue dog named for a 2000s pop legend?? Happy pride, indeed.

Tell me your favorite reads and your glimmers in the comments! Christina demands to know and, as you can see, she will not be denied.

I’m glad you’re here.

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Love,

Rosamond

Back in early January, I wrote about some of the new releases I was most excited about in the first half of 2026. Is there anything better than a list of books you hope to read? There is something about the innate optimism of making a TBR that does it for me. It’s rough out here. There is so much I simply cannot predict, but I know these books are going to come out and I am going to read some of them (hopefully) and, right now, that’s enough for me.

So far, I’ve read 4 of the 12 books on my first most anticipated list and you know what? I am proud of that number. So don’t get it twisted and think this is just another to do list. No, this is a list of good things ahead - a bounty that we can partake in as we choose!

Speaking of bounty, I’m packing in a lot of goodness here and it may be too long to read in your inbox. Just make sure you click the tiny link at the bottom that says “view entire message” so you don’t miss a thing.

Good things are coming! Here are a few I have my eye on.

Etna by Paul Yoon // August 4th

You already know!! This is one of two books on this list that I’ve already read, and it just knocked me out. I don’t see how Etna isn’t the best book of the year. I will absolutely be reading this one again and I can’t wait to talk about it with you.

Take What You Can by Naima Coster // August 4th

Like I said in my summer reading guide, I mostly want to read this novel because of the cover. I mean just look at that cover. I love it so much. But also, that blurb by friend of Rosamond Reads, Catherine Newman? We trust her implicitly so we shall be reading this.

Sophie, Standing There by Meg Mason // September 29th

Meg Mason’s debut, Sorrow and Bliss, was the first advanced reader copy I ever read as a bookseller. You never forget your first, and I got lucky because Sorrow and Bliss remains one of my favorite debut novels of recent memory. I got to tell Meg Mason all of this at Winter Institute this year and she was so funny and warm, and we talked about our mutual crush on Ann Patchett. Long story short, I am a big Meg Mason fan, and I can’t wait to read this one.

The W: A History of the WNBA by Tamryn Spruill // September 22nd

Hello?? Nobody told me about this book!!?? I’ve been waiting for someone to write this!! I have high expectations, but I am hopeful.

American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee // September 29th

I got to read an early copy of this one, and I need you to know that it lives up to the hype and then some. I wrote about it a little here. Min Jin Lee is a writer like no other. Remember when I met her and she told me she liked my dimples?? Yeah, me too.

True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw // September 29th

Deesha Philyaw’s short story collection The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is another debut that took me out when I first read it. I was already excited to read her new novel, and when I saw that cover? Yes please, sign me up, I’m in.

All the Love You Can Use: The Letters of Carson McCullers edited by Carlos Dews // September 29th

Okay this one is even more niche and specific to me than the WNBA history, but yeah I am going to read my favorite twentieth century queer author’s letters. Give them to me!! Carson McCullers is endlessly fascinating to me and I just know these letters are going to be juicy. This one clocks in at 1136 pages and costs $65 so how about I get it with my bookseller discount, and you can come over and read it with me?

We Radiant Things by Franny Choi // October 6th

Franny Choi is a poet and writer who will constantly surprise and push her reader. I don’t know much about cyborgs, but if a queer writer I admire is writing about them you know I am going to learn. Franny is also a beloved Western Mass local author!

I’ll Believe in Anything: The Making of Heated Rivalry by Jacob Tierney // October 13th

Will I read this? Will I cry? Will I read it again? Will I cry some more?

Music Against the Night by Yiyun Li // October 13th

I read three books by Yiyun Li last year and I’m convinced she is one of our greatest writers. Her Pulitzer Prize winning memoir, Things in Nature Merely Grow, is a book so powerful I hardly know how to talk about it. Li has a new novel coming out this year and my girl Ann Patchett says it “may be the best contemporary novel I’ve ever read in my life.” I am sat. I am seated. I am ready.

Two Can Play at That Game by Zakiya N. Jamal // November 17th

More WNBA romance novels please!!! This one looks very promising, and that cover? I’m not the biggest fan of contemporary romance novel covers, but this one is telling me everything I need to know.

Wild Aster by Anna Hogeland // December 1st

Another local Western Mass author! I love the way Anna Hogeland writes about motherhood, family, and loss, and I am so intrigued by her new novel, a work of historical fiction that follows one remarkable woman through the twentieth century.

Okay, Christina says that’s just about enough out of me and maybe we should think about breakfast? She is always right.

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Before you go, tell me: what books are you looking forward to in the coming months?

Good things are coming.

I’m glad you are here.

I love you.

Love,

Rosamond

This is going to be a short one this week because we are taking Christina in for her first vet appointment early this morning.

Speaking of Christina, we went on our first long car ride with her this weekend and she was a champ.

I spent the whole ride turned around in my seat whisper screaming play by play to Rebecca who was driving - DUNKIN’S FALLING ASLEEP, CHRISTINA’S FALLING ASLEEP, OH MY GOD THEY ARE HOLDING PAWS. Basically, Christina was much calmer about her first car ride than I was.

Then when we got home they fell asleep like this and I had to do some more whisper screaming. Dunkin has been the most gentle, welcoming big brother as evidenced by the fact that Christina voluntarily sleeps with her face in his butt.

For obvious reasons, it’s been a little tricky to focus on reading this week. The couch is currently a giant repository for dog toys and Christina is confused by this one.

That said, I did manage to finish Land by Maggie O’Farrell. If you are in the market for beautifully written, lush, long historical fiction this is exactly that. It is a brutal read, and by the end I felt beat down by it more than anything. The writing and the setting are deeply compelling, but I was ultimately unsatisfied with the plot. As was Christina…

Yesterday, on my walk home I started listening to the audiobook of The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love edited by Alice Hoffman.

Before we lost Yaya, I took one look at this book and said nope no don’t think I can read that. Now, all I want is to hear people tell stories about dogs they’ve loved. I listened to the first essay by Alice Hoffman about her dog, Houdini, and wept as I walked down the bike path. Dogs are magic. We don’t deserve dogs, but we somehow get them, and I want to read books that take them seriously.

This is Dunkin’s face when I start crying about the impossible brevity of a dog’s life.

I saw a post on instagram this week about how the only way to survive macro-griefs is through micro-joys. That’s really it isn’t it? Tell me about some micro-joys in your life this week. I want to know.

I love you.

I’m glad you’re here.

Love,

Rosamond

Do you have a minute? There is someone I want you to meet.

This is Christina.

Can I tell you about her?

We knew we could never replace Yaya. That goes without saying, but still I must say it. Yaya taught us how to love, and she would want us to put that love to use.

We told ourselves we would know when it was time.

Then we saw this video, and we just knew.

Vintage Pet Rescue is a shelter in Rhode Island that specializes in senior and special needs dogs. Early in May they took in three chihuahuas with neurological abnormalities rescued from a truly horrific hoarding situation. They gave the girls much needed medical care, love, and attention, and named them for three queens of pop: Avril, Britney, and Christina.

Like I said, we just knew.

We made the calls, we filled out an application, we hoped and hoped and hoped.

I figured it was reasonable to buy just one new dog toy (as you can imagine, we have many), so Christina would feel special.

We prepared a dog bed in the back seat and drove to Rhode Island to meet Dunkin’s new sister.

Turns out Christina loves butt scritches and she climbed right into my lap to show me how it’s done.

Rebecca took this in the back seat as we drove home from the shelter. Christina was ready to be home.

Now here’s the part that really gets me. We weren’t sure how long it would take Dunkin to accept a new sister into his home. He and Yaya had something special, and we wanted him to have a companion, but we knew the transition would take time.

This is where our Dunkin, our neurotic, scared, nervous little Dunkin surprised us. He immediately knew what to do. He greeted Christina gently. He gave her a little sniff and then went about his business. I don’t know that anyone has ever cried over a butt sniff, but let me tell you I sure did.

Listen, I am no expert in dog psychology. The urge to project my emotions on to these little beings is strong. That said, it is so clear to me that Dunkin is giving Christina the grace and patience that Yaya gave him.

I can’t help but feel Yaya in all of it.

Plus, Dunkin just likes to get bossed around by a small, powerful lady.

Christina is somewhere between 1 and 2 years old.She is tiny, but mighty. A puppy who has been through hell. Somehow, she is trusting and open and ready to see what else the world has to offer. She is tiny, but mighty. We are grateful to be her family.

Thank you for caring for our little family through these last hard weeks. I’ve said it before, but the way you held Yaya, and held us, is something I will never forget.

This world is unbearable, and yet.

There is more to the story.

I promise I’ll talk about books next week. When I’m not staring into Dunkin and Christina’s eyes, I’m reading the new Maggie O’Farrell!

More on all of it soon.

I’m glad you’re here.

Love,

Rosamond

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My name is Rosamond and I read a great book.

This is a running joke in my family because it’s how my sister and I always started our book reports in 4th and 5th grade. Obviously, these book reports were a very big deal so that phrase was heard in our house A LOT.

I’ve been reading good books one after the other ever since 4th grade book reports and I just read a real stunner. If I were in 4th grade I would pull out the poster board and make an absolute banger presentation.

Instead, I am just going to tell you about it!!

The book: Etna by Paul Yoon

What you need to know: This book doesn’t come out until August 4th. I am a real b for mooning about this book that you can’t get your hands on for another two months…. but don’t forget that pre-orders really do matter! They make a difference for authors and indicate to bookstores that we should order more stock of a particular title. Plus remember that you can put books on hold at your local library before they come out. I used to do this all the time before I worked in a bookstore and it was such a dopamine hit to be the first on the hold list of a hot new release. All of that is to say that if this book sounds up your alley, go ahead and put your name on the list at your bookstore or local library! It’s a win win I promise.

What else you need to know: This is a book about war. It is also a book about a dog. It is not an easy read in any sense. It is about the realities of combat and is violent and harrowing in parts. I think it is worth your time, but of course you must take care of yourself first.

Okay. I am just going to give you the little publisher one-liner on this to start because I think it gets to the heart of it.

Beloved author and winner of The Story Prize, Paul Yoon, is back with the unforgettable story of a working dog, Etna, who, after a devastating war, embarks on an odyssey in the hopes of returning home.

What this blurb doesn’t tell you, though, is that this novel is told Etna’s voice. Here’s my little blurb that I wrote to submit this title to be an Indie Next pick:

Written in the voice of a dog returning home from war, Etna is an instant classic that employs spare, piercing prose to devastating effect. Paul Yoon draws on classic tales of war and homecoming to tell a story of survival that is wholly new, truly surprising, and impossibly lovely.

How did I do?? (Compliments only, please)

For each of this slim novel’s 208 pages the reader is in Etna’s head as he makes his unlikely journey home. I don’t know that I have read a novel with an Animal narrator since I read Animal Farm in High School, and I was not entirely sure this would be for me.

First of all, I just lost my first dog, the dog of my heart, the dog that taught me what loving a dog is like.

Was I really going to pick up a book told in the voice of a dog? We all know what happens to dogs in books…. I am not telling you what happens in this book, but I think we can agree that dogs don’t always fare well in literature, and us dog lovers have trust issues for a reason. There is a reason that doesthedogdie.com exists and let’s just say I have availed myself of that resource. We stopped watching the new season of Beef for obvious reasons….

All of that is to say, it was a little mad for me to pick up this book at this time in my life.

But, I want to spend time with art that takes dogs seriously. I want to read books that treat dogs as the center of the story, not a plot device for suspense or pathos.

So against all good sense, I picked up a dog novel, and I am so, so glad I did.

Not since The Swimmers, has a slim novel caught me so entirely in its net. You could read Etna in a single sitting and, if at all possible, this is what I would recommend. I’ll never know how he did it, but Paul Yoon uses the exact right number of words. There is space on each page. There is room for the reader to sit with the horror and beauty that Etna encounters.

A novel in the voice of a trained military dog could easily be either trite or gratuitously violent and overwrought. Instead, Paul Yoon feeds the reader deceptively simple prose that exposes the inhumanity of war and the impossible goodness of dogs.

But this is not a novel with a simple or pedantic agenda - humans are bad, dogs are good - rather it is a novel that tells a story of one good dog in an aching world. Paul Yoon moves Etna (and the reader) through terror and devastation. Each carefully chosen word is a testament to Yoon’s care for Etna and for his reader.

I crave books that tell the truth about grief, about love, about dogs, and, of course, about us humans. This is that book.

I don’t want to say any more because I want you to have as pure a reading experience as possible. I want you to let this books surprise you the way it surprised me.

In the end, this book left me in tears. Tears of sadness, yes, at our unending capacity for destruction and the inevitability of loss. And, yes, tears of gratitude to live in a world that is as lovely as it is horrible.

In the end, I thought this book was lovely.

How Paul Yoon wrote a novel of war that is also undeniably lovely I will never know.

But then again, what is more lovely than a dog?

Etna made me feel that winning the trust of a dog is like winning the lottery a hundred times over.

I hope you read Etna if you’re up for it. If you do, I hope you talk about it with me.

If you’ve read this far thank you for listening to my book report. I know we’re not in 4th grade anymore, but I would get an A, right? right??

TELL ME: What is your favorite dog in literature? I used to think I couldn’t read books about dogs, but I think I may have been wrong. What I need is to read books that take dogs seriously. Tell me what I should read next!

Leave a comment

I love you.

I’m glad you’re here.

Love,

Rosamond

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Come on in, sit down, can I get you anything? A potato, perhaps?

May has been a cruel month for our little family. And yet, and yet, and yet, we never felt alone for one moment. We felt loved and cared for every step of the way, and that, of course, is thanks to so many of you. Thank you doesn’t feel like enough. Thank you for loving Yaya, thank you for loving us.

May was impossible, and yet here we are. Here are a few of the books and glimmers that got me through.

Favorite Reads(s)

The world must have known I needed a win, because despite it all I read some real winners this month. Whistler by Ann Patchett? As good as I hoped if not better. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson? An out and out masterpiece that’s intellectually rigorous and full of heart.

And if you thought I took a break from romance for the month… think again!! I am pleased to report that I read my favorite romance in recent memory not written by Rachel Reid. My in-person book club selected After Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian to read in May, and what a blessing.

Set in a dusty, chaotic used and rare bookshop in Greenwich Village in the 1960s, this novel had everything I’m looking for in a romance. It’s a celebration of queer history and resistance. It’s cozy. The stakes were high, but not too high. The writing is gorgeous. I ate it all up with a spoon at a time when I was desperate for pleasure and distraction, and I am so grateful.

One Bright Glimmer

what is a glimmer?

If glimmers are small moments when our biology is in a place of connection or regulation, which cues our nervous system to feel safe or calm, then the most surefire glimmer in my life lately is sitting on the couch, re-watching Heated Rivalry with Dunkin snuggled next to me. Regulation, indeed.

We miss our girl, though.

Book I’m Looking Forward To

June is a huge month for new books and, of course, new gay books. Around here we believe in reading queer lit all year long, but I’m always curious to see what titles publishers will spotlight during pride month.

Charity & Sylvia is the story of a real life openly lesbian couple who survived and thrived in 19th century Vermont told in the form a graphic novel by the brilliant Tillie Walden.

I love gorgeous graphic novels. I love lesbians. I love Vermont. I’m in!!

Biggest Surprise

Yaya was our whole world. In her final days, our world became small enough to fit inside her tiny body. Imagine our surprise, then, to lift our heads above that fog and see that Yaya was loved and seen beyond anything we could have expected.

Above is a tribute to Yaya made by local author, Broadside customer turned friend who is, as you can see, a generous and talented artist. Another deeply gifted and creative friend created a cento poem and little book for Yaya made from my own words and photos. Oh and she’s already appearing in fiction!

To see our girl, and our wild love for her, reflected back to us, well it’s something I will never ever forget.

Thank you for your words of love and support, for checking in on Dunkin, for reminding us that there is more to the story.

I’m Still Learning

It’s so tempting to say “we are okay.” It’s so, so tempting to try to reassure the world and therefore myself that we are, in fact, okay. The truth is we aren’t okay. Yaya was our family and our grief is bigger than the sky. We aren’t okay and that’s okay. We will miss Yaya forever. She was a gift and our sadness is a gift. Thank you for making room for it.

I’m glad you’re here.

I love you.

Love,

Rosamond

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Just a Dunkin butt to kick things off.

We’re doing okay. Some days are easier than others, but we’re moving through them all as best we can. We miss Yaya everyday, of course. We miss her and we’re noticing all the things we still love about this world.

You know what I love? Reading. You know what I really love? Summer reading.

I’m not a big summer girl, but I love the concept of a summer reading plan. Call it nostalgia for the days of the summer reading challenge at my local public library or the thrill of three open months to read whatever I want, but it runs deep.

I especially love Summer Reading season on the bookish internet. I love seeing how my favorite readers tap into all the nostalgia and pleasure of the summer reading season. Two readers I admire and love to follow, and , are dropping their reading guides this Friday. I am ready and waiting. These guides are a highlight of the season for me, and this year especially I am grateful for the opportunity to nerd out.

In the spirit of nerding out and clinging to books I love and books I hope to read, I made a little summer reading guide of my own.

Below you will find 18 total book recommendations: 6 new releases I am excited about, 6 backlist titles I stand by, and 6 books on my own personal TBR for summer.

I hope this inspires you to make your own summer reading challenge, whatever that looks like for you. Even if three months of uninterrupted reading time is not realistic anymore (ha!) I hope we can each tap into that particular kind of pleasure reading that comes on long summer afternoons. And you know what? Buy yourself a personal pan pizza. You earned it!

Summer Reading: Six New Releases

Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg // I was lucky enough to read this one before it came out and I am obsessed. I have such a crush on this book. Sometimes I find short stories intimidating or unreachable, but these stories are fascinating and accessible. Summer is a season that makes it hard to ignore your body, and this collection is all about the beauty and pain of living in a body. Plus, is just rad.

Whistler by Ann Patchett (out June 2nd) // Ann doesn’t need my help, but too bad she’s gonna get it. You should read this book. Whether you are an Ann Stan (we should make merch) or brand new to her work, you should read this book. She knows what the heck she is doing.

The Emilys by Heather Abel (out June 16th) // This novel by a local-to-me western mass author is about a mysterious ailment that strikes women in a small New England town making them unable to leave their homes. Get it?? The Emilys?? Like the poet?? I am compelled.

Long Island Girls by Gabrielle Korn (out June 23rd) // I mostly know Gabrielle Korn because of her dog, Norma (Thank you for bringing Norma to my attention!). That said, I am very interested in this queer, coming-of-age novel set against the indie music scene of the early 2000s.

Etna by Paul Yoon (out August 4th) // Yes, this is a novel about a dog. Yes, that makes me nervous. But also I think dogs are worthy of great literature so I might be brave and read this book.

Take What You Can by Naima Coster (out August 4th) // I’ll be so honest that I mostly want to read this novel because of the cover. I mean just look at that cover. I love it so much. But also, that blurb by friend of Rosamond Reads, ? We trust her implicitly so we shall be reading this.

Summer Reading: Six Backlist Books I Recommend

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson // This middle grade novel in verse is a modern classic if you ask me. Want to tap into the joy of summer reading as a young reader? Read a truly excellent middle grade novel. There is a new audio version narrated by a full cast and I cannot wait to listen and revisit this wonder.

I’ll Have What He’s Having by Adib Khorram // I think you should read romance this summer! This one features two impossibly loveable main characters, lots of spice, good wine, Iranian food, and a midwest setting. I’m smiling just thinking about it.

An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera // Lesbian historical romance! I don’t think you need to know anything else, but please know that the writing, plotting, and spice in this book is truly top tier. Yes, I want to read lesbian historical romance, but really I want to read good lesbian historical romance, and this is it.

Indigo by Beverly Jenkins // Remember when I said you should read romance this summer? I was not kidding! This is a classic of the genre for a reason. We read it for The Stacks Book Club this year and you know what’s really fun? Reading romance with community. Read this book with a friend and then giggle and/or swoon together. You will have fun, I promise.

Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Milay by Nancy Mitford // I will admit that it’s been years since I read this book, but I love a chunky biography of a writer and this is one of the best. I think summer is for fast paced fiction and big biographies. A big biography of a complicated artist? I’m getting excited just thinking about it. Another one I love? Carson McCullers: A Life by Mary Dearborn. A biography I have my eye on because it comes out in paperback this summer? Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs.

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward // This is an all-timer for me. A great American novel if there ever was one. In case you haven’t read it, now is the time. This is a deep summer novel. Jesmyn Ward has a new essay collection out and it would pair beautifully with a re-read of her best novel.

Summer Reading: My TBR!

Nothing makes me more hopeful than a list of books I want to read, so here are six books on my personal TBR this summer. Some are new releases that I have access to early (brag brag brag!). Fear and Fury is clearly evidence of the influence. And if there’s one thing I want to read more of it’s lesbian basketball romance.

Sophie Standing There by Meg Mason (out September 8th)

Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage by Heather Ann Thompson

The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw (out September 29th)

Land by Maggie O’Farrell (out June 2nd)

A Gentleman’s Gentleman by TJ Alexander

Love and Sportsball by Meka James

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Tell me: what is at the top of your summer reading list? I want to know!

May this season bring you exactly what you need especially if that’s just a little quiet time to read.

I love you.

I’m glad you’re here.

Love,

Rosamond

First, thank you so much for your generous and kind response to last week’s news about our dear Yaya. We loved her beyond measure and it’s really something to see how many others loved her too, even from afar. She was a little star, but of course you knew this.

Life without Yaya still doesn’t feel real, but we are carrying on as best we can. Dunkin is being as brave as anyone and is carrying us all on his little back.

Somehow, we are still here. We’re drinking our coffee and noticing the birds. We’re watching basketball and going for walks. We’re crying in those transition moments where the empty dog bed on the couch hits us anew. We’re kissing the top of Dunkin’s heavy little head. We’re trying.

Somehow, too, I am reading. The world must have known I needed some reading wins because I finished two absolutely remarkable books. Can I tell you about them?

Remember when I wrote about the books I’m embarrassed I haven’t read yet? I read one! The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson is a modern classic for a reason and I’m so glad I finally made the time to read it. My Mom and I read it together and it’s been a highlight of my year. If you are like me and thick non-fiction is intimidating to you, you have nothing to fear in this masterful work of narrative nonfiction. Somehow Wilkerson gives the reader a rich, detailed history of the Great Migration woven into the stories of three different individuals who migrated to the north between 1937 and 1953. I was gripped from beginning to end and finished in awe of what Wilkerson accomplishes in these 640 pages. I listened to much of the book on audio and the narration by Robin Miles is excellent. Just an unforgettable reading experience.

Remember when I wrote about my most highly anticipated reads of 2026? I read one! It’s been a tough few days around here and getting lost in Ann Patchett’s new novel, Whistler (out June 2nd), was a solace and a gift. I went in knowing basically nothing beyond the name of the author on the front and Ann did not let me down.

Actually, before I cracked that spine I checked with a dear bookselling friend who had already read it to ask my one pressing question: does anything bad happen to that horse? The answer was no so I went in ready to be swept away, and I was not disappointed.

Ann Patchett is just a master of her craft. This is a small book about family, memory, and storytelling. I love a little book with little characters trying to figure out how to live a good life and this is just the best of the best. You really don’t need to know much else. There is a website where booksellers can leave reviews of upcoming releases and, as you can imagine, there are dozens and dozens of eloquent, smart reviews explaining why this book is so masterful. My addition? “Goddamn she is good.”

For me, this was absolutely a case of the right book in the right time. I needed to get lost in a good story. I needed to think a little about grief and death and love. I needed to be reminded that there is still some good out there. This book did all of that. I won’t tell you anything more but please know that there is a cameo from Ann Patchett’s beloved dog Sparky. Ann gets it.

We’re still here. We’re doing the best we possibly can. We miss Yaya endlessly.

We feel held and loved and seen by so many who loved her too.

Thank you for being here.

I love you.

Love,

Rosamond

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Saying goodbye to Yaya is without a doubt the hardest thing we’ve ever had to to do. Her health declined rapidly in her final days. Every part of us wanted to do everything we could to keep her here, but she told us it was time to go, and we listened.

An impossibly kind and gentle vet came to our home so Yaya could cross the rainbow bridge from the comfort of her couch throne. We kissed her tiny head and whispered in her ear. It was agony. It was exactly the death she deserved.

My Mom came to be with us and keep Dunkin company. She gave him the chance to say goodbye to his sister, too. My tears will blur my vision if I say any more about that, but just know he was her brave, devoted brother to the very end.

It’s the one thing we knew for certain would happen some day and yet it is absolutely unfathomable. I am shocked by it. I know it makes no sense, but I am shocked she is gone.

If I could I would write plays and sonnets and epic novels for Yaya. She deserves a whole canon.

For now, all I can say is she was our anchor, our morning, noon, and night, our family.

I wrote this for Yaya back in October 2023, and I’m so glad I did because I can’t find the words now, but here they are.

Can you do me a favor? For Yaya, today, can you love the world? Maybe take a nap, that would be ideal. Eat some cheese for sure. Whatever the human equivalent is of barking furiously at your neighbor’s cat make sure you do that. Love your body. Love your people. Go at your own pace. Pursue pleasure. Be right here, right now, in this day if you possibly can.

The greatest surprise, though I don’t think Yaya was surprised at all, is how many people Yaya touched through this newsletter and through my instagram. It’s hard to explain what it means to have the wonder of our girl reflected back to us in the words of love and comfort from Yaya’s many fans all across the country.

Thank you for loving Yaya. When she had surgery at the end of last year, we were buoyed by the love and good wishes and support of her friends near and far. I’ll never forget it.

Thank you for keeping us company through this grief. Thank you for taking our little family seriously. We aren’t okay right now, but I know we will be. Your words of love and support have meant everything to us.

I’m glad you’re here.

I love you.

Love,

Rosamond (& Yaya)

We are going through it over here. Our girl, Yaya, is doing poorly, and it feels like our world world is collapsed into her tiny eight-pound body.

There aren’t any words that make it better, but Mary Oliver still knows what to say. Today, all I have to offer is this little poem from Dog Songs.

Little Dog’s Rhapsody in the Night

by Mary Oliver

He puts his cheek against mine
and makes small, expressive sounds. 
And when I'm awake or awake enough 

he turns upside down, his four paws 
      in the air 
and his eyes, dark and fervent. 

"Tell me you love me," he says. 

"Tell me again." 

Could there be a sweeter arrangement? Over and over 
he gets to ask.
I get to tell. 

There is no sweeter arrangement.

We love you.

Be good to yourself today, and give a dog a treat if you can.

Love,

Rosamond

First things first, here’s Yaya:

Now that you’ve paid the Yaya tax, let’s talk books. I’m back with more book recommendations because there’s always room for more books, right? right???

Below are two more of the recommendation requests I received through my instagram and my suggestions. Got a suggestion for these readers in need? Leave them in the comments! Share the love!

“Poetry that makes me love the world again”

I feel this so deeply. When the world feels hard to love poetry so often offers a window into something more. Not to be like, have you read Mary Oliver, but, have you read Mary Oliver??

Really, though, if you know and love the poetry of Mary Oliver, may I recommend the audiobook, Wild & Precious: A Celebration of Mary Oliver? It’s an audiobook original that features Mary Oliver reading her own work and various artists and writers from Ross Gay to Samin Nosrat to Carmen Maria Machado reflecting on Mary Oliver’s impact on their own lives and work. I’m a pretty serious Mary Oliver fan (ha!) and I learned so much from this audiobook. More than anything, it’s a portrait of an artist who taught herself to love the world.

If you’ve only engaged with Mary Oliver’s work through singular poems here and there I do recommend reading a collection cover to cover. My favorite? Dream Work.

Speaking of Mary, did you see the trailer for the upcoming PBS documentary about her? As the kids say, I am sat. I am seated. I am ready. I am listening.

Here are two more quick poetry recs for you:

You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson - If you’re not familiar with the work of the late poet Andrea Gibson, there is no better time to engage with their remarkable body of work. I had the privilege of seeing them perform live about ten years ago in Boston and it changed my understanding of poetry can be and do. Read these poems then listen to Andrea read them alongside you.

Come See Me in the Good Light, the documentary about the end of Andrea Gibson’s helped me love this world.

Falling Back in Love with Being Human by Kai Cheng Thom - It’s right there in the title! This collection of letters and missives and poems is a a guide for drawing your own map to follow through the harsh realities of this world. It’s small enough to tuck in your tote bag and just knowing it’s there makes me feel more equipped to face whatever is ahead.

“A page-turner that’s joyful, but not naive”

I love the specificity of this request! I’m like damn that’s what I want to read too…

My first answer is going to be really annoying because it’s not out for many months, but I promise it’s worth the wait.

Yes, I am talking about American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee (out September 29th). If you followed along with me to the annual Booksellers’ Conference this year then you might remember that all of us booksellers went absolutely feral to get our hands on the advanced copies of Min Jin Lee’s first novel in nine years.

I am so pleased to tell you that the hype is absolutely real and this book is worth all of it and more. Can a 656 page novel really be a page turner? Normally, no. In Min Jin Lee’s hands? Yes. Unequivocally yes. I don’t know how she did it, but she had me ripping through these pages like there was no tomorrow.

The characters in this novel face deep hardship, betrayal, and grief, but there is an undercurrent throughout the novel that is undeniably joyful. Min Jin Lee has something to say about education and family and money and, quite simply, what makes a good life The skill and love with which she tells this story is always joyful and never naive. It’s a marvel. I can’t wait for you to read it.

While you wait for September, there’s another buzzy 2026 release that I think falls right in that “joyful, but not naive” sweet spot: Kin by Tayari Jones.

I know this book has been everywhere and doesn’t need me to hype it up, but I promise this novel is worth your time. Like American Hagwon, when I say that Kin is joyful, I do not mean that there is not hardship, but that there is great joy in reading a work of fiction so masterful in its storytelling and clear in its purpose. Both Tayari Jones and Min Jin Lee write with great care for their characters and, I think, for their readers. This makes for an unforgettable reading experience.

And one more joyful-but-not-naive rec for the road: have you tried Woodworking by Emily St. James?

This 2025 debut about a closeted trans teacher and her trans student in contemporary South Dakota is funnier and more joyful than it has any right to be. Yes, there are moments of deep pain in which the reality of the dangers trans folks face in rural, middle America is laid bare. And yet, Emily St. James writes these flawed, deeply human characters with such heart and humor, the reader is buoyed the whole way through.

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for you. Thank you for playing and letting me hone my bookselling skills! Don’t forget to leave your suggestions for these readers in the comments.

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Remember: you do not have to be good.

I love you.

I’m glad you’re here.

Love,

Rosamond