Katie Porter (l.) and Allison Hill

"Thank you for all of the work you do," said Representative Katie Porter (D.-Irvine) during a keynote conversation at the California Independent Booksellers Alliance Fall Fest in Sacramento, Calif., Saturday morning. She was in conversation with American Booksellers Association CEO Allison Hill to discuss her background, her experience being a congresswoman as well as a single mother of three, and her upcoming book, I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan (Crown).

"In my job I get to see a lot of what makes our communities vibrant, and I think during the pandemic we saw a lot of that go away," she continued. "So I just want to thank you all for being part of the fabric of your communities. For being small business owners as well as people who are sharing education and literacy and culture with the communities you work in."

Porter recalled her viral "whiteboard moment" with Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, when she used a whiteboard to illustrate the financial challenges facing a single mom working full-time as a bank teller at a Chase branch in Irvine, Calif. When she asked Dimon what the woman should do--take out pay-day loans or even skip meals--he answered that he didn’t know and he'd "have to think about it."

As frustrating as those answers were, she said, much more upsetting were the responses of her congressional colleagues, who all said the same thing: How did you ever think to ask that? "And I thought, do you not see the person who sweeps the floor? Do you not see the person who works in the bank when you walk in there?"

Expanding on her time in Congress, Porter noted that when people talk about members of Congress, the general sentiment seems to be that they only work when they're in Washington and are on vacation at all other times. She disputed that, saying that the "most important" parts of her job all happen when she is at home in her congressional district. Her time in Washington, meanwhile, entails fielding 15-20 appointments each day while trying to stay on top of upcoming votes, which can be a frustrating and bewildering process. "So if it seems to people like we don't always know what we're doing, it's truly because we don't," she remarked.

Porter has never accepted corporate donations or lobbyist money, and said she’s tried to "pull back the curtain" on fundraising. She pointed out that there's a strange double standard with fundraising, where a congressperson is supposed to talk about it with every potential donor they meet, but they're "never supposed to talk about it with anyone else."

She added that she "actually likes campaigning" and even fundraising, because "every conversation is with somebody who cares about our democracy." The only reason voters should give money to her, "is if you think you're investing in a better democracy."

Porter suggested that booksellers reach out to their congresspeople and ask them to visit the store and speak to staff and customers. Booksellers could also host town halls with congresspeople at their stores.

Discussing her reading life, Porter said she reads a lot to her kids and briefly did a "boy book blog," featuring books that reflected "what my boys really are like." When it comes to personal reading, she mostly turns to romance, particularly romantic comedies like Beach Read by Emily Henry and The Unhoneymooners Christina Lauren.

"I need to be inspired that my meet cute is out there somewhere," she said. “Probably not in the halls of Congress, but out there somewhere." --Alex Mutter

Rakuten Kobo has introduced the Kobo Clara 2E, which the company describes as "a more eco-conscious eReader with big upgrades. Taking an important step in our mission to make reading lives better, the Kobo Clara 2E is built with an exterior made with more than 85% recycled plastic--including 10% ocean-bound plastic--includes Bluetooth wireless technology and is Kobo's first 6" waterproof eReader." Kobo Clara 2E will retail for $129.99, with pre-orders available now and the devices to be available in stores and online beginning September 22. 

Kobo added that following its commitment "to transition to certified recycled materials wherever feasible while meeting technical product requirements," the company plans to divert more than 200,000 plastic bottles from oceans and more than a million CDs and DVDs from landfills over the course of the year. 

"Kobo Clara 2E is about living our values: providing a better reading experience while also taking an important step toward sustainability," said CEO Michael Tamblyn. "We believe that each small, thoughtful, and intentionally placed act can make a meaningful impact. So, we're starting by incorporating recycled materials into the device, accessories and packaging to complement our booklovers' favorite features."

The company also noted that the launch of Kobo Clara 2E follows its commitment "to offset 100% of the carbon emissions associated with direct shipments of its Kobo eReaders.... More details on Kobo's carbon offset initiatives can be found here."

Art Spiegelman

The National Book Foundation is presenting the 2022 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to Art Spiegelman. The medal will be presented to him by Neil Gaiman during the National Book Awards ceremony on November 16.

Spiegelman is the first comic artist to receive the DCAL medal and is best known for Maus, his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel that retells his parents' survival as Polish Jews during the Holocaust. His other work includes Breakdowns, The Wild Party, In the Shadow of No Towers, a collection of three of his sketchbooks entitled Be a Nose!, and MetaMaus, a companion to The Complete Maus.

Tasha Bushnell

Tasha Bushnell, longtime bookseller at Hyde Brothers, Booksellers, in Fort Wayne, Ind., died September 3 at age 46.

She began working at Hyde Brothers in 1999 and became manager after Sam Hyde died in 2019. Last December, she and her husband, Sean, bought the store. Her obituary noted, "She will be remembered as an avid reader and sports enthusiast and a champion for her home, her family and her community. She absolutely rocked the color red and will be dearly missed."

In a Facebook post, the store wrote in part that Bushnell was "dedicated to enriching the community and the Historic Wells Street Corridor. Despite this overwhelming loss, we want to be clear: we are steadfast in the vision of the bookstore and will remain open. Losing two fearless leaders in the span of three years is unfathomable but we are carrying on through our grief, just as Tasha and Sam would have wanted. Tasha's husband Sean and two children, KT and Madison, will continue to operate the bookstore with the rest of the staff, surrounded by the books and community that Tasha loved so dearly."

Cast members (above) and Chronicle Books executives attended the recent Hollywood premiere of three Ivy + Bean movies, which are now available on Netflix.

Posted on Instagram by Exile in Bookville, Chicago. Ill.: "So many great books out in the wild today! Good thing we are getting more shelves installed tomorrow!"

Sleepy Dog Books, Mt. Pleasant, Mich., shared a photo of the shop's bookish carpe diem sidewalk chalkboard message: "Life is short... read for fun!"

Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber by Andy Borowitz (Avid Reader Press/S&S).

Today:
CBS Mornings: David M. Rubenstein, author of How to Invest: Masters on the Craft (Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781982190309).

Also on CBS Mornings: Jann S. Wenner, author of Like a Rolling Stone: A Memoir (Little, Brown, $35, 9780316415194).

Also on CBS Mornings: Cynt Marshall, author of You've Been Chosen: Thriving Through the Unexpected (Ballantine, $28, 9780593359419). She will also be on NPR's Morning Edition.

Good Morning America: Geoffrey Berman, author of Holding the Line: Inside the Nation's Preeminent U.S. Attorney's Office and Its Battle with the Trump Justice Department (Penguin Press, $30, 9780593300299).

Tamron Hall: Edward Enninful, author of A Visible Man: A Memoir (Penguin Press, $30, 9780593299487).

The View: Jennette McCurdy, author of I'm Glad My Mom Died (Simon & Schuster, $27.99, 9781982185824).

Tomorrow:
CBS Mornings: Mo Willems, author of The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster! (Union Square Kids, $17.99, 9781454946861).

Good Morning America: Suzy Karadsheh, author of The Mediterranean Dish: 120 Bold and Healthy Recipes You'll Make on Repeat: A Mediterranean Cookbook (Clarkson Potter, $32.50, 9780593234273).

Today Show: Dylan Dreyer, author of Misty the Cloud: Friends Through Rain or Shine (Random House Books for Young Readers, $19.99, 9780593180426).

Also on Today: Becky Kennedy, author of Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be (Harper Wave, $28.99, 9780063159488).

Tamron Hall: Justin Sutherland, author of Northern Soul: Southern-Inspired Home Cooking from a Northern Kitchen (Harvard Common Press, $30, 9780760375327).

Live with Kelly and Ryan: Jenny Mollen, author of Dictator Lunches: Inspired Meals That Will Compel Even the Toughest of (Tyrants) Children (Harvest, $27.99, 9780063242647).

Late Night with Seth Meyers: Megan Giddings, author of The Women Could Fly: A Novel (Amistad, $26.99, 9780063116993).

Tonight Show: Serena Williams, author of The Adventures of Qai Qai (Feiwel & Friends, $18.99, 9781250831408).

Christina Ochoa (Animal Kingdom, Promised Land) is developing the TV series Empty Earth, based on the Rick McManus book series, with Freedom Studios. Deadline reported that the trilogy is "a post-apocalyptic adventure series, with an empowered female protagonist, wrapped in an epic of love, family and survival with science at the forefront."

Executive producers include Julia Carias-Linares, Meiling Macias-Toro, and Johanna Salazar from Freedom Studios and Christina Ochoa, Jessica Heath, and Karen Goro from QE Productions.

Ochoa said: "I would partner with Freedom on pretty much anything... but the fact that they brought us such an epic, sci-fi, adventure show made it a project we not only want as filmmakers--but one we need as audiences." 

Kirkus Reviews has announced finalists for the 2022 Kirkus Prize in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, and Young Readers' Literature. Winners, each of whom receives $50,000, will be named at a ceremony at the Austin Central Library on October 27. To see the six finalists in each category, click here.

E.M. Tran's author's note about the provenance of her absorbing debut novel begins with her mother's beauty pageant trophy, which always graced the top of the family piano. "How did it get there, through the chaos and danger of Saigon's collapse?" Tran asks. For refugees navigating escape from civil war, such an "imposing silver cup" seems to be an impossible memento to have survived. In response to her mother's "vague, circuitous answers," Tran invented possibilities for herself, in effect "participating in the erasure of my own family." She notes that the "shame" of concocting "some convenient and innocuous lie... was at the center of writing Daughters of the New Year."

The novel opens on the eve of 2016's Lunar New Year in New Orleans, with Xuan preparing to call her three daughters--as she does every year--to give them their carefully curated horoscopes. As much as she insists on knowing all the characteristics and nuances of their animal and element signs, Xuan barely seems aware of her children as independent adults. Still unmarried (but why?), Trac is a Columbia-trained corporate lawyer, one of the few women at a prestigious firm. Nhi dropped out of UCLA to become an actor and is currently filming Eligible Bachelor, "that horrible reality show about American women fighting over a mediocre American man." Trieu has returned to her childhood bedroom, so "good at a lot of things" that she "had little interest in any one thing more than the other."

Before she was their mother, Xuan, too, was a daughter. Before she was a new immigrant, she had a privileged life in Saigon, where she and her best friend competed in a makeshift, U.S. military-sponsored beauty pageant. Xuan's mother, Tiên, fearlessly orchestrated their harrowing escape from Vietnam. Tiên was once a daughter, too: her mother, Quỳnh, who never knew her own mother, Thảo, was raped by a wealthy colonial French predator.

Tran divides her novel into two parts, using 1975--the fall of Saigon--as the dividing year. Part I happens in the U.S.; Part II in Saigon. As Tran moves further back in time, the women's lives become more elliptical, reminiscent of fading echoes. Despite a growing distance--of geography, time, generations--Tran's matriarchal epic gives voice to the "many silences in [her] family" by insisting "the Trung women had a record of their existence.... Whatever else they maybe have sacrificed in marriage--dignity, autonomy, freedom--they insisted upon preserving their name." Tran adroitly claims their enduring stories. --Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon

Shelf Talker: In this debut novel, five generations of Vietnamese mothers and daughters claim the stories of their lives in reverse, from immigration to war to colonial predation, from New Orleans back to Saigon.