Hi Hello and Welcome to the Lost Friends Literary Club newsletter!
Happy summer! How’s your week been? Good? Glad to hear it. Still feel like the world is ending? Eh, let’s not think about that. This is a very special Saturday edition of the dispatch, because I’m testing out what days are best to send this newsletter out. Please let me know if you have thoughts or opinions on that.
I thought I’d take this opportunity, during dispatch #5, to officially introduce myself...
So, hi. I’m Olivia, you can also call me Liv, because no one really calls me Olivia anymore. Nice to meet you. Thanks for being here. A few random facts about me, glean from them what you will:
I am a diehard Elton John fan. I had tickets to his farewell tour when events were still a possibility (thanks, COVID) and his autobiography was one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to.
I’ve recently bought my first ever pair of running shoes. Previously anytime I needed tennis shoes I’ve just taken my little sister’s hand-me-downs. They’re very comfortable, and I am not planning to actually run in them.
I went to art school for creative writing, and then culinary school, and I didn’t finish either. Now I just write and cook for fun and I’m still paying off my student loan debt.
I have a small collection of weird/mysterious books from the 40s/50s/60s: vintage Edgar Allen Poe books, old Nancy Drews, and one spooky book titled "London Mystery and Mythology." The first edition Agatha Christie I mentioned above is the first real rare addition and I'm very excited about it.
Okay! Moving on.
Here’s what I’m reading next (otherwise titled: books I bought for optimal beach vacation reading):
A Deadly Inside Scoop and The Worst Best Man, which were my purchases for #BlackOutBestsellerList, which aimed to fill the best seller lists with Black voices. I bought both of these from Semicolon, through bookshop.org.
I also bought a book that is literally titled Beach Read which I’m hoping will indeed be a good read for the beach. Only time will tell.
And here’s what I read this week:
all four books in the Divergent series, in a mad dash to catch up to my reading goal… I’m still 9 books behind schedule so that goal is probably about to get amended.
"What 17 People Are Reading Right Now in New York City." I love creeping on people’s reading lists and bookstore purchases so this was a fun read.
The definitions of epidemic vs pandemic which I had stubbornly refused to lookup until two days ago for reasons unknown even to me.
And that’s all I have for you this week. If you enjoyed this dispatch, please share it with every single friend you have, even the ones who hate reading. Or follow us on social media at the buttons below. Every book I recommend can be found on this Goodreads shelf. If you want to chat, ask for book recommendations, or correct my punctuation, you can reply directly to this dispatch or leave a comment on substack, where you can also find an archive of every dispatch I release. Thank you for reading!