Hello Reader,
La Playa Books currently offers two virtual book clubs, moderated and organized by our new book buyer, Mimi Hannan. One meets the first Monday of the month, in the evening (Wine & Conversation Book Club). The other meets the first Wednesday of the month in the mid-morning (New & Noteworthy Book Club). To find out more and join our bookclub mailing list, plase email Mimi directly at mimi at laplayabooks dot com (or click on the link)
Our Wine & Conversation Book Club meets the first Monday of the month on Zoom.
Our February meeting will be held Monday, February 6th at 6pm. We will be discussing Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa, Translated by Adrian Nathan West.
Please see your book club email before the meeting date for details on how to join in via Zoom.
Our New & Noteworthy Book Club meets the first Wednesday of the month on Zoom.
Our February meeting will be held Wednesday, February 8th at 11am. We will be discussing Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor.
Please see your book club email before the meeting date for details on how to join in via Zoom.
If you're interested in titles our book clubs have read over the past few years, please visit our special Book Club Reading List for a list of titles. For more information, please email us at info@laplayabooks.com
The true story of Guatemala’s political turmoil of the 1950s as only a master of fiction can tell it
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
“Dazzling...Finally free from the book’s grip, now all I want to do is get others hooked.”— The Washington Post
“Cinematic…A luxe thriller…As a storyteller, Kapoor is a natural.”-- The New York Times
Editors’ Choice, The New York Times Book Review
“The immigrant child longs to be understood and unload her truths, while simultaneously being tasked with preserving her parents’ humanity. . . Qu. . . honor[s] these complexities.” —Chanel Miller, The New York Times Book Review
A NEW YORK TIMES "TEN BEST BOOKS OF 2022"
An Oprah’s Book Club Selection • An Instant New York Times Bestseller • An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller • A #1 Washington Post Bestseller
"Hafner's taut and utterly delightful debut is a novel of multitudes.... What a wonder of storytelling."--Weike Wang, New York Times
New York Times Editor's Choice Good Morning America Reading Pick LitHub Most Anticipated Book Christian Science Monitor Summer Reading Pick
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Named a Best Book of 2021 by Newsweek, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times
“A glorious book—an assured novel that’s gorgeously told.” —The New York Times Book Review
“An incredibly moving epic about an unforgettable fa
Glamour, danger, liberation: in a Mad Men era of commercial flight, Pan Am World Airways attracted the kind of young woman who wanted out, and wanted up
Required to have a college degree, speak two languages, and possess the political savvy of a Foreign Service officer, a jet-age stewardess serving on iconic Pan Am between 1966 and 1975 also had to be between 5&p
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK
Not available at this time
“Brooks’ chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Horse isn’t just an animal story—it’s a moving narrative about race and art.” —TIME
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOKS OF 2022
ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST TOP TEN BOOKS OF 2022
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE 2022 KIRKUS PRIZE
One of The Millions' Most Anticipated Books of the Month
A mesmerizing breakthrough novel of family myths and inheritances by the award-winning author of Crescent.
Not available at this time
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE WINNER • From the award-winning author of The Buddha in the Attic and When the Emperor Was Divine comes a novel that "starts as a catalogue of spoken and unspoken rules for swimmers at an aquatic center but unfolds into a powerful story of a mother’s dementia and her daughter’s love" (The Wa
"An electric story filled with gripping personalities, compelling backstage histories, and a clear message for the divided America of today: the forces that fear change can win for a time, but in America the future always gets the last word. A lyrical recreation of a magical moment.”—Jake Tapper
Not available at this time
“Suspenseful…emotionally compelling. I found myself eagerly following in a way I hadn’t remembered for a long time, impatient for the next twist and turn of the story."—NPR
“A beautifully rendered and cinematic portrait of a place and its evolution through time . . .
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK! • Ray McMillian is a Black classical musician on the rise—undeterred by the pressure and prejudice of the classical music world—when a shocking theft sends him on a desperate quest to recover his great-great-grandfather’s heirloom violin on the eve of the most prestigious musical competition in the world.
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Riveting and unconventional, The Last Story of Mina Lee traces the far-reaching consequences of secrets in the lives of a Korean immigrant mother and her daughter
One of Vanity Fair's Books That Will Get You Through This Winter
"One of the most uniquely fun and campily gory books in my recent memory... A Certain Hunger has the voice of a hard-boiled detective novel, as if metaphor-happy Raymond Chandler handed the reins over to the sexed-up femme fatale and really let her fly. --The New York Times
"Move over, Scout Finch! There’s a new contender for feistiest girl in fiction, and her name is Swiv." -USA Today, "Best Books of the Year"
"Toews is a master of dialogue." -New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
"A revelation." -Richard Russo
One of President Obama's Favorite Books of the Year | A New York Times Notable Book | One of the Wall Street Journal Ten Best Books of the Year
"Missionaries is a courageous book: It doesn’t shy away, as so much fiction does, from the real world.” —Juan Gabriel Vásquez, The New York Times Book Review
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, this gloriously entertaining novel is “fast-paced, keen-eyed and very funny ... about race, power and the history of Harlem all disguised as a thrill-ride crime novel" (San Francisco Chronicle).
“One of the most captivating novels of the year.” – Washington Post
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A Library Reads Pick • An Indie Next Pick
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Yaa Gyasi's stunning follow-up to her acclaimed novel Homegoing is "a book of blazing brilliance" (The Washington Post)—a powerful, raw, intimate, deeply layered novel about a Ghanaian family in Alabama.
A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! • Finalist for the WOMEN'S PRIZE
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman, Isabel Allende, and Sarah Addison Allen, a family searches for the truth hidden in their past in this “expertly woven tale of family power, threaded with as much mystery as magic” (V.E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author).
The Montoyas are used to a life without explanations.
*Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography*
*Winner of the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award*
*Winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography*
A “captivating” (The Washington Post) work of history that explores the life of an unconventional woman during the first half of the 19th century in Edo—the city that w
FINALIST FOR THE 2023 PEN/FAULKNER AWARD. NOMINATED FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION, THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE JOHN LEONARD PRIZE, THE 2023 PEN/JEAN STEIN OPEN BOOK AWARD, THE 2023 PEN/BINGHAM PRIZE, THE 2022 STORY PRIZE, THE 2023 CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION, AND THE 2023 ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE
**INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**
In the vein of Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yes and Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's The Nest, Tracey Lange’s We Are the Brennans explores the staying power of shame—and the redemptive power of love—in an Irish Catholic family torn apart by secrets.