#Rosalie Knecht

[nedlittle]

[id in alt text]

vera kelly is not a mystery by rosalie knecht

[readingaccountability]

who is vera kelly? - rosalie knecht

finished mid nov 22

interesting take on the spy novel, making it feel much more honest to a lot of the accounts we have on cia action in latin america during this period. the wrap up especially was so characteristic yet in a surprising way that i was utterly delighted. though i can see how some might have found it anticlimactic, it really felt thematically and historically proper. i also really enjoyed the portions centering on her experiences with women and the tension rising from that where it related to the plot.

[qbdatabase]

Books with bisexual detectives please?

BISEXUAL DETECTIVES

Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood: bisexual female MC (scrappy sidekick to a female private detective in the 1920s)

Who Is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht: bisexual female MC (only pursues romantic relationships with women; CIA spy who later becomes a private detective)

Blood Thinners by Heather Novak: bisexual female MC x lesbian female LI (supernatural investigator, paranormal vampire romance)

The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach: South East Asian-coded bisexual female MC with a fantasy-drug addiction (ex-cop murdered and brought back to life)

Cut & Run by Madeleine Urban, Abigail Roux: bisexual male MC x bisexual male MC with a drug addiction (both FBI agents)

No Gods for Drowning by Hailey Piper: bisexual female MC (private detective); lesbian transgender female MC (serial killer)

The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka: bisexual female MC (police detective, almost forgot this one!!)

honorary mention:

Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger that has a lesbian detective x bisexual thief

full notes on representation and publishing info at qbdatabase.com

[lgbtqreads]

Can you recommend any wlw/nblw books that combine romance and murder mystery and in which one of the romantic leads is a dominant femme/ femme fatale of sorts? Thank you for your wonderful work!

OK so I do not have perfect answers to your ask but I have a number of imperfect ones that were all great IMO (and one I haven't read yet but I have loved everything else by this author) so I'm just gonna say those anyway, and they are:

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

Real Easy by Marie Rutkoski

Deadline by Stephanie Ahn

The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka

Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht

Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist

Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp

[singwhenyoucantspeak]

4, 12, 17, 18!

4. What is your favorite book? too hard!!! some books I have really loved recently instead: Among the Hollow - Roman Ankenbrandt, Where'd You Go Bernadette - Maria Semple (probably the one i've reread the most as an adult i have no idea why), Piranesi - Susanna Clarke, the Vera Kelly series - Rosalie Knecht, Nothing to See Here - Kevin Wilson. I really do not know how to choose a favorite book

12. Where is somewhere you'd like to visit? Italy

17. What is something you're really good at? music and writing i guess?

18. What is something you're really bad at? uh staying up past 10 pm LOL

Thank you!

Questions Game

[monkeyjaw]

The Year in Books and Graphic Novels 2022 and an analysis of 20 years of books and comics

January

1.      Temple Alley Summer – Kashiwaba Sachiko, illustrated by Miho Satake, translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa

2.      Dreams From My Father – Barack Obama, audiobook read by the author

3.      X-Men Grand Design Vol. 1 – Ed Piskor

4.      Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery – Rosalie Knecht

5.      All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team – Christina Soontornvat, illustrations by Karen Minot

6.      X-Men Grand Design Volume 2: Second Genesis – Ed Piskor

7.      Year of the Rabbit – Tian Veasna

February

1.      Deadly Class Volume 1: 1987 Reagan Youth – Chris Remender, Wes Craig

2.      The Eye of the World – Robert Jordan

3.      Pattern Master – Octavia E. Butler

4.      X-Men Grand Design Volume 3: X-Tinction – Ed Piskor

5.      The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History – Margalit Fox

6.      Deadly Class Volume 2: 1988 Kids of the Black Hole – Rick Remender, Wes Craig

March

1.      Once and Future Volume 1: The King is Undead – Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora

2.      Once and Future Volume 2: Old English – Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora

3.      Dragon Hoops – Gene Luen Yang

4.      Ringworld – Larry Niven

5.      Once and Future Volume 3: A Parliament of Magpies – Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora

6.      Princess Jellyfish Volume 8 – Akiko Higashimura

7.      Princess Jellyfish Volume 9 – Akiko Higashimura

8.      The Sheepfarmer’s Daughter – Elizabeth Moon

April

1.      Planetes Volume 1 – Makoto Yurimura

2.      The Library of the Unwritten – A.J. Hackwith

3.      Doom Patrol Volume 1: Crawling From the Wreckage – Grant Morrison, Richard Case

4.      ODY-C Volume 1: Off To Far Ithacaa – Matt Fraction, Christian Ward

5.      Conan of Cimmeria – Robert E Howard, Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter

6.      Doom Patrol Volume 2: The Painting That Ate Paris – Grant Morrison, Richard Case, John Nyberg

7.      Doom Patrol Volume 3: Down Paradise Way – Grant Morrison, Richard Case

May

1.      Doom Patrol Volume 4: Musclebound – Grant Morrison, Richard Case, Kelley Jones, Mark McKenna, John Nyberg

2.      Eragon – Christopher Paolini

3.      The Promised Neverland Vol 1 – Kaiu Shirai, Posaku Demizu

4.      Deadly Class Volume 3: 1988 Snake Pit – Rick Remender, Wes Craig

5.      Once and Future Volume 4: Monarchies in the U.K. – Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora

6.      The Dark is Rising – Susan Cooper

7.      The Forest – Thomas Ott

8.      The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K LeGuin

June

1.      Deadly Class Volume 4: 1988 Die For Me – Rick Remender, Wes Craig

2.      Arthurian Legends – Wace and Layamon

3.      Dune – Frank Herbert

4.      The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K LeGuin

5.      The Lost Years of Merlin – T.A. Barron

July

1.      The Secret To Super-Human Strength – Alison Bechdel

2.      The Promised Neverland Volume 2 – Kaiu Shirai, Posaku Demizu

3.      The New World – Ales Kot, Tradd Moore

4.      Super Sentai Himitsu Sentai Gorenger – Shotaro Ishinomori

5.      Spider-Gwen Volume 0: Most Wanted? – Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez

6.      The Deed of Paksenarrion: Divided Allegiance – Elizabeth Moon

7.      Ultimate Miles Morales Spider-Man Volume 1 – Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli, Chris Samnee

8.      Giant Days Volume 1 – John Allison, Lisa Treimann

9.      Giant Days Volume 2 – John Allison, Lisa Treimann, Max Sarin

August

1.      Lockwood & Co. Volume 1: The Screaming Staircase – Jonathan Stroud

2.      Ultimate Miles Morales Spider-Man Volume 2 – Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez, et al

3.      Ultimate Miles Morales Spider-Man Volume 3 – Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez, et al

4.      The Wheel of Time Book 2: The Great Hunt – Robert Jordan

5.      Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones

6.      A Study in Scarlet – Arthur Conan Doyle

7.      French Medieval Romances from the Lais of Marie of France – Translated by Eugene Mason

September

1.      Pyongyang – Guy Delisle

2.      Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold – Alisa Kwitney, Kent Williams, et al

3.      The Dead of Paksenarrion: Oath of Gold – Elizabeth Moon

4.      Brave Chef Brianna – Sam Sykes, Selina Espiritu

5.      Fledgling – Octavia E. Butler

6.      At Death’s Door – Jill Thompson

October

1.      We – Yevgeny Zamyatin, read by Toby Jones

2.      The Witch Boy – Molly Knox Ostertag

3.      20th Century Boys Vol. 7: The Truth  – Naoki Urasawa

4.      20th Century Boys Vol. 8: – Naoki Urasawa

5.      Isaac the Pirate Vol. 1: To Exotic Lands – Christophe Blaine

6.      Dungeon Zenith: Volume 4: Outside the Ramparts – Joann Sfar, Lewis Trondheim, Boulet

7.      The Wheel of Time Book 3: The Dragon Reborn – Robert Jordan

8.      20th Century Boys Volume 9: Rabbit Nabokov – Naoki Urasawa

9.      The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson

10.  Isaac the Pirate Volume 2: The Capital – Christophe Blaine

11.  20th Century Boys Volume 10: The Faceless Boy - Naoki Urasawa

November

1.      Gotham Central Book 1: In the Line of Duty – Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka

2.      Komi Can’t Communicate Vol. 1 – Tomohito Oda

3.      The Promised Neverland Volume 3 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu

4.      Sleepless Volume 1 – Sarah Vaughn, Leila Del Duch

5.      R.U.R. – Karel Capek, translated by David Wyllie

6.      20th Century Boys Volume 11: List of Ingredients – Naoki Urasawa

7.      20th Century Boys Volume 12: Friend’s Face – Naoki Urasawa

8.      20th Century Boys Volume 13: Beginning of the End – Naoki Urasawa

9.      20th Century Boys Volume 14: The Boy and the Dream – Naoki Urasawa

10.  The Sandman Volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes – Neil Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg, Sam Ketih, Malcolm Jones III

11.  Dodger – Terry Pratchett

12.  The Promised Neverland Volume 4 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu

13.  20th Century Boys Volume 15: Expo Hurray – Naoki Urasawa

14.  20th Century Boys Volume 16: Beyond the Looking Glass – Naoki Urasawa

15.  20th Century Boys Volume 17: Cross-Counter – Naoki Urasawa

16.  20th Century Boys Volume 18: Everybody’s Song – Naoki Urasawa

17.  20th Century Boys Volume 19: The Man Who Came Back – Naoki Urasawa

18.  20th Century Boys Volume 20: Humanity in the Balance – Naoki Urasawa

19.  Thursday Next book 2: Lost in a Good Book – Jasper Fforde

20.  20th Century Boys Volume 21: Arrival of the Space Aliens – Naoki Urasawa

21.  20th Century Boys Volume 22: The Beginning of Justice

22.  The Promised Neverland Volume 5 – Kaiu Shira, Posuka Demizu

December

1.      Thrawn Ascension: Book 1: Chaos Rising – Timothy Zahn

2.      Crucial Conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high - Kerry Patterson,

 Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler

3.      Sandman Volume 2: The Doll’s House – Neil Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III

4.      My Favorite Thing Is Monsters – Emil Ferris

5.      Please Don’t Step On My JNCO Jeans – Noah Van Sciver

6.      The Sandman Volume 3: Dream Country – Neil Gaiman, Kelley Jones, Malcolm Jones III, Charles Vess

7.      Winterfair Gifts – Lois McMaster Bujold

8.      Sandman Book 4: Season of Mists – Neil Gaiman, Matt Wagner, George Pratt, Dick Giordano, Kelley Jones, P. Craig Russell

9.      Sandman Book 5: A Game of You – Neil Gaiman, Sean McManus, Bryan Talbot, Colleen Doran

 105 books and graphic novels in 2022! 34 novels (and 1 novella) and 70/71 graphic novels. I read one book twice for a book club. That’s 13 more than I read last year.

Now for totals from 2002 to 2022.

Totals:

2002 20

2003 86 – 7.16/month

2004 9

2005 84 – 7/month

2006 79 – 6.58/month

2007 58 – 4.83/month

2008 49 – 4.083/month

2009 51 – 4.25

2010 72 - 6

2011 60 - 5

2012 80 – 6.66

2013 50 – 4.16

2014 144 - 12

2015 92 – 7.66

2016 151 – 12.58

2017 138 – 11.5

2018 116 – 9.66

2019 96 - 8

2020 102 – 8.5

2021 92 – 7.66

2022 105 – 8.75

 Including the years that I have incomplete data for (2002 and 2004 I only have 3 months of data), I read 1734 books and graphic novels from 2002 to 2022, 86.7 per year. If we leave off 2002, and 2004, I read 85.25 per year and an average of 7.89 books per month. I’ll post the graphic novels and regular books break down shortly. 

[mayra-quijotescx]

Book Rec Tax for the last post: the book I am currently avoiding returning by not reconnecting my kobo to the internet is Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery by Rosalie Knecht! But it's book 2 in the series, so let me tell you about the first book (Who Is Vera Kelly?)

Vera Kelly is a queer woman whose efforts to survive her upbringing in a rigid and unforgiving society ultimately land her a very specific set of skills and a job with the CIA in Argentina (while heavily closeted, due to the era's widespread queerphobic discrimination.) It is kind of a rough read, both because of the two storylines flipping every chapter (between her estrangement from her mother and subsequent stays in institutions in the 1950s and her official business in Argentina in the 1960s) and because she at first takes the US government's word as gospel regarding geopolitical right and wrong, but the narrative smooths out two-thirds of the way in and she gets a crash course in things not being as simple as what she was told.

I'll freely admit that most of my knowledge of the spy genre comes from the Spy Family anime, so I'm not an expert, but I think this story would appeal to fans of spy fiction, although without spoiling too much, she ends up striking out as a private detective in the second book. Most of what I typically read is speculative fiction of some variety, but I saw a review for the third book on Autostraddle, and I'm glad I decided to branch out.

[contracat25]

Part 2 of sequels that I am excited about in 2022! There continues to be so many amazing sounding books, with fantastic covers coming out this year. I can't wait!

Odder still by D. N. Bryn

Nona the Ninth by Tamsin Muir

The Hourglass Throne by K. D. Edwards

Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances by Aliette De Bodard

Vera Kelly Lost and Found by Rosalie Knecht

Deadbeat Druid by David R. Slayton

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

[biandlesbianliterature]

It’s a beautiful thing to see a strong female character collect the shards of a shattered life and build something stronger. Rosalie Knecht’s sophomore novel, Vera Kelly is Not a Mystery, expertly does just that by kicking off with an explosion that begins exactly where her first novel, Who is Vera Kelly?, ends. It’s Brooklyn, 1967, and in the course of one day Vera, an ex-CIA agent turned broadcaster, is fired from her job for being gay and dumped by her professor poet girlfriend. Vera is nothing if not resilient, though, and she recreates herself as a private investigator. Soon after hanging her own shingle, an older couple hires her to locate a missing boy in New York City. They claim he was sent to America while his parents were incarcerated in a Dominican Republic prison. What follows is a twisty adventurous ride through New York City’s foster care system and the Dominican Republic as Vera searches for the boy and works to return him safely to his parents.

Vera Kelly is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

[nedlittle]

[alt]

rosalie knecht - vera kelly lost and found

[obirains-archive]

me? just realising you're a literature hoe like me? iconic honestly ahsgajkhs i finished my english lit and creative writing degree last year and i never thought i'd miss it but damn i do. anyway... the bookshop near where i studied (it's called mr. b's in bath, uk) do a book subscription where you send them some ~vibes~ and they send you a book and mine this month was Who Is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht and i cannot wait to read it :) - [myonly-hope]

Fellow literature hoe!!!! I’m so happy to find you fdakfdajf (+ I don’t use the tag friday is for the sluts and also for book lovers for nothing ;) )

This seems like a really interesting book! I know you sent this in at least a few weeks ago, before changing  (I’ve been backed up on asks recently; I’m sorry). Have you started it yet? If so what do you think of it? It’s certainly absolutely nothing like I’ve ever read before and I’m intrigued 👀 Also I’m so curious as to which ~vibes~ you sent in and I love that Mr. B’s does that!!!

It's Literature Hours!

[papercraftalex7]

Who is Vera Kelly? A sapphic spy working for the CIA during the 1960s, sure, but deep down, who is she and how much does she want to survive? During the course of the novel, Vera is doing a mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but each chapter is intermingled with flashbacks showing how she got to where she is.

This book started slow, but it was well worth the read. Be aware, it's not a thriller, it's very much a combination of high literature and historical fiction. It's a good combination of sapphic and spy without feeling like James Bond. The story has a lot of twists I absolutely didn't see coming and Rosalie Knecht is an amazing wordsmith.

I give this book ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and absolutely recommend.

[lgbtqreads]

do you have queer books with assassins/spies? it could be any genre.

Sure! Here are some with assassins:

YA

Assassins: Discord by Erica Cameron

The Butterfly Assassin by Finn Longman – AA

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller – GF

Adult

The Perfect Assassin by K.A. Doore – A

Empire of Light by Alex Harrow

A Game of Hearts and Heists by Ruby Roe

And here are some spies:

YA:

Queen of Coin and Whispers by Helen Corcoran

The Spy With the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke

Adult

Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly

Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

[lithub]

Dear Book Therapist: How do I survive my C - marriage? See Rosalie Knecht’s advice, and literary prescription, here.

[acehotel]

INTERVIEW: Rosalie Knecht

It's been a busy month/year/life for Rosalie Knecht, whose much-anticipated novel Who Is Vera Kelly? (Tin House 2018) hit shelves this week. Already, the New York Times Book Review is calling it "gripping, subtle, magnificently written." ("Knecht is the real deal," the review goes on to note.) A social worker by day, Knecht is also Literary Hub's Book Therapist, the author of Relief Map (Tin House 2016), and the translator of César Airas' The Seamstress and the Wind (New Directions 2011).

This month, Knecht took 24 hours to catch her breath at Ace Hotel New York. As the latest author to participate in the Dear Reader series, she spent a night at Ace and penned a letter to an imagined audience. What she wrote has been a mystery until today, when it's being placed bedside in each room. We caught up with Rosalie to talk letters, the perfect reader and resisting the urge to map.

If you could correspond with any fictional character or literary figure via letters, who would it be? And why?

ROSALIE KNECHT: I would have loved to get Raymond Chandler's letters. He was hilarious, and much easier to take through the mail than in person.

Do you map out your writing, or do you discover your path as you go? How often does your work go in directions you never expected?

A few times I've gotten all excited and mapped out a book all the way through, or half of the way through, and it feels amazing and productive and is much easier than just spending that time on writing scenes, but in the end, I've never written a project the way it was outlined. If an outline is too detailed, or it extends too far ahead of where I am in the writing, it completely deadens the work. I just lose interest in writing it. So I've learned that I can only sketch out the general shape of things, or it will take all of the fun out of it.

Dear Reader tasks you with writing for an imagined audience of strangers. How much do you think about your audience when you write? Have you ever been surprised by who is drawn to your work?

I don't really think about audience. I think about an abstract, single reader, who enjoys exactly the things I enjoy and hates exactly the things I hate. I look forward to being surprised by people being drawn to my work in the future.

What's a book that you wish more people knew about?

I Served the King of England, by Bohumil Hrabal. A picaresque about a boy working in hotels, while the twentieth century happens around him. It's just really beautiful and funny, and brutal at the end.

Do you have any rituals, ceremonies or requirements that accompany your writing process?

Just that it has to be the first thing I do that day. All right, that's a lie. I can maybe wash a few dishes, straighten the kitchen, look at Twitter for fifteen minutes, but if I get really absorbed in anything else before writing, it's a thousand times harder to get started. Ideally I get up, the kitchen is clean, the cats have already been fed, and all I have to do is make coffee and sit down at my desk.

*

Dear Reader is a collaboration of Tin House and Ace Hotel New York. You can find this interview and other delights at Tin House’s website. 

Photos by Seze Devres for Ace Hotel New York. 

[wwnortonlibrary]

PLA 2018 Conference Schedule

We are looking forward to the Public Library Association Conference in March! Norton will be in booth # 1627.  We will have a lot of ARCs to give away and a great mix of recently published Adult and Children’s books for you to peruse from Norton, Liveright, Tin House, Pegasus, Overlook, New Directions, Fantagraphics, Thames & Hudson, Tilbury House and our other distribution client publishers.

The AAP Trade Library Marketing committee has also put together a wonderful slate of author events and book buzzes - see the full list here.

Here’s our daily schedule.

Wednesday, 3/21

9:30am - 10:30am: Booklist Book Buzz in Ballroom A. Hear about new titles from Norton, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House and Macmillan. Includes a totebag giveaway!

3:30pm - 6:30pm: Exhibits grand opening.

4:00pm - 4:45pm: Tom McAllister, author of How to Be Safe, will sign copies of this “brilliant, tragically timely” novel in our booth (Kirkus, starred review).  

5:15pm - 6:00pm: Rosalie Knecht will be in our booth to sign ARCs of Who is Vera Kelly?, the "twisty, literary, woman-driven spy novel you've always wanted to read. Dazzling." —Amy Stewart, New York Times bestselling author of Girl Waits With Gun  

Thursday, 3/22

9:30am - 5:00pm: Exhibits open 

10:00am - 11:30am: AAP/PLA Children’s Book Buzz on the Book Buzz Stage. This morning’s slate of publisher title previews will feature Random House Children’s Books, Disney Book Group, Ingram, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins Children’s Books, Workman, Norton, Quirk Books, Sourcebooks, and Bloomsbury.

3:00pm - 4:30pm: AAP/PLA Adult Book Buzz on the Book Buzz Stage. This afternoon’s slate of publishers’ adult title previews will feature HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Norton, Quirk Books, Ingram, Workman, and Sourcebooks.

Friday, 3/23

9:30am - 2:00pm: Exhibits open

11:30am: Display Book giveaway in the Norton booth

Want more from Norton? 

Click here to sign up for my monthly e-newsletter for librarians (there’s a giveaway every month). 

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LibraryReads

Ever since it started a few years ago, LibraryReads has really helped raise awareness for books and authors! Anyone who works in a public library is eligible to nominate titles for this nationwide Staff Picks list.  You can read either print or digital ARCs, but all votes must be submitted through Netgalley or Edelweiss.  You don't even have to write a review if you don't have time.  Click here for more information.

Nominations for May titles are due 3/20 (my suggestions) and nominations for June titles are due 4/20 (my suggestions).