Jessica Day George's Blog

That’s right, it’s the start of the holidays! The Winter Holidays in Sleyne, that is! This year we’re starting the celebrations early, with the release of HOLIDAYS AT THE CASTLE, a companion story to the Castle Glower books, all about their holiday celebration. It’s got griffins! And unicorns! Delicious food! Magical Castle hijinks!

I’ll be doing some signings around Utah and Idaho in the coming weeks, so make sure that you keep checking the Events page for dates and times! If you can’t make it to one of these, but you still want a signed book, you can order it through the King’s English Bookshop’s website! http://kingsenglish.com

What’s that? You want more?

How about some knitwear? Fabulous, stylish knitwear!

ROLF’S HOLIDAY HAT

Materials:

Worsted weight yarn (I used Patons Canadiana)

US 8 16” circular needle

US 8 double point needles

blunt needle for sewing in ends

Instructions:

With circular needle, cast on 85 stitches for size small (pictured). For larger sizes, add on a multiple of 5. Join for working in the round, place marker, being careful not to twist, knit in 1x1 rib for 12 rows. Switch to 4x1 ribbing for the body of the hat- knit 4, purl 1 - until hat is desired depth. The small is 1.5” 1x1 ribbing, 5 inches 5x1 ribbing.

Begin decreases, switching to double point needles as soon as necessary. Row 1: K3, K2tog to end. Row 2: K2, K2tog to end, Row 3: K1, K2tog to end. Row 4: K2tog. Repeat row 4 until you have 8 stitches left, cut yarn leaving a long tail, pull yarn through remaining stitches and cinch tightly. Weave in ends. You can easily add a pompom to the top, but Rolf would never wear it like that! ;)

That’s right! There’s decorations in the stores! This week wasn’t as horrifyingly hot as last week, and some people’s children are inexplicably going back to school?! (What kind of schools start the first week of August? That is SO WEIRD.)

Anyway! These are all signs that it’s That Time Of Year . . . specifically, the time of year when I launch my new book, HOLIDAYS AT THE CASTLE! Wahooooooo! The book officially comes out on September 22nd, but the launch party at the King’s English will be on Saturday, September 26th, at 2 pm! Check out their website: Kingsenglish.com for information about ticketing and whatnot! (The Ticket is the price of the book: $10.99+tax, and guarantees you a signed copy, plus entry for one adult and one child. I’m also planning on demonstrating one of the crafts included in the book, and giving out craft packets, as well as having stickers, bookmarks, and . . . cookies?!

Also, the Castle Glower books are getting new matching covers by original cover artist David Hohn, and the new covers for the Twelve Dancing Princesses books should be available as well! It should be a good time!

That’s right, readers! Today is the launch of the UNBROKEN Kickstarter!

What’s UNBROKEN, you say?! Why, it’s an anthology of wonderful stories by some of the best fantasy writers around . . . AND ME. (Guys, I got to sign signature sheets that had my name next Matt Dinniman’s! And Kate Elliott! WHAT IS MY LIFE?!) This anthology is to help benefit the talented, the charming, the ineffable Peter Orullian and his lovely family, who are struggling with serious medical debt. It’s a good cause, and it’s going to be a fantastic book! And can I just say: this short story might be my favorite thing I’ve ever written? I cried! The editor cried! Peter was like, WOW.

So, the book is chock full of great stories by great authors, it’s beautifully illustrated, and it’s up on the Kickstarter . . . NOW: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

It’s time to talk about 2026.

First of all, it starts in two days. Get ready say “Rabbit rabbit!” and go back to having to be places on time and all that nonsense.

Second of all, I have a book coming out. (Three, actually.)

Third of all, Barnes & Noble is currently doing their 25% off pre-order sale.

I’m sorry, should I go back to the part where I have three books coming out?

Yeah, let’s talk about that for a minute.

As some of you might be aware, there’s the fancy new covers for The Princesses of Westfalin/Twelve Dancing Princesses trilogy! Princess of the Midnight Ball is already out with its beautiful new purple cover, and Princess of Glass will be out soon as well. Princess of the Silver Woods will be out in the spring with its shiny new cover, and it technically counts as a pre-order, because it had fallen out of print the last couple of years, and so has a new ISBN number (publishing is WILD, ya’ll).

I am also involved in the Kickstarter for the Unbroken anthology, which is in support of my dear friend Peter Orullian. I have a short story in that called “It Was Never Angels,” and I am fiercely proud of it! (Nothing is so pleasing as an author as having both another author and an editor send you notes saying, “Your story gave me goosebumps!” “I just teared up!” Crushed it.) That anthology will be full to the brim with wonderful stories by amazing authors; keep your eyes peeled for it, and I will try to keep things posted here as well!

And now that other book. The last, but certainly not the least, which I teased in the title of this post.

THAT’S RIGHT, GRIFFIN RIDERS. WE’RE GOING BACK TO THE CASTLE FOR CHRISTMAS.

Some of you longtime Castle Glower fans might remember a short story entitled “Holidays at the Castle,” which was briefly available online, and was set between Tuesdays at the Castle and Wednesdays in the Tower. It’s still got an entry on Goodreads and probably other websites, and it’s very confusing for people I’m sure! It was cute, it was about four pages long, and I wrote it sitting in bed with a baby sprawled over my legs- actually pretty much all my books up to and including Thursdays were written that way, which is why when you start questions with, “In chapter 7 of Dragon Spear . . .” I’m like, “Not a clue. Maybe a wizard did it?” Anyway! I freaking love Christmas, and New Years, and wintertime, and getting presents, and eating food, and having beautiful decorations on every surface, so I’ve sort of always regretted that I couldn’t work the plot of any of the Castle Glower books around the winter holidays, which are very elaborate and which I put way too much effort into for that four page short story in 2012! So a few months ago some lovely people at Bloomsbury called and were like, “Hey, girl . . . Do you realize that fall 2026 is the 15th anniversary of Tuesdays at the Castle?” And I was like, “Don’t remind me, because that means my BABY will also turn 15!” And they were like, “But what if . . . refreshed covers for all the books? By David Hohn? And how do you feel about a physical book about Christmas at the Castle?” And I was like, “Um, I feel pretty darn good about a physical book about Christmas at the Castle! And you know I love David’s art to pieces!” David Hohn did the original covers for Tuesdays through Fridays, and also did the most recent covers for Dragon Slippers, and is also a delightful human being!

So suddenly, in the middle of reading roughly 9,000 books for the World Fantasy Award this summer, I also found myself writing a slim little holiday book called Holidays at the Castle! It’s about half the length of the other Castle Glower books, because it is meant to be a little treat. A holiday bauble. A Christmas cookie. But while “Christmas at the Castle” is a fun title, and “Holidays at the Castle” already existed in short story form, I just didn’t feel up to the challenge of introducing Christianity to Sleyne and the surrounding nations. Celie and Co. have been to three different worlds in their adventures, but none of them were ours, so they wouldn’t have Christmas, or New Years a week later. However, they do live on a round planet just like ours, that orbits around a sun, just like ours, so they do have a winter solstice, and other fun events around that time to celebrate! The Stargazing! The Ladies’ Feast! The Longest Night!

They also have griffins, unicorns, and a magical Castle, and you know what that means: HIJINKS! Tiny dogs! Delicious food! Lulath and Lilah in fabulous matching gowns! Rufus being threatened with Flat Squirrel for being naughty! Queen Celina being concerned that people aren’t wearing warm enough clothes and knitting an endless supply of hats, scarves, and mittens! (Actually that’s new, but she does knit! And now as I type this I’ve already decided to try and invent a hat pattern based on Bran’s knitted wizard hat . . .)

SO. ANYWAY.

HOLIDAYS AT THE CASTLE! Coming to a bookstore near you in fall of 2026! Available for pre-order on BN.com right now as we SPEAK!

Oh, and do you want to see the cover?! DO YOU?! (Of course you do!) And as a bonus: the new cover for Saturdays at Sea!

Princess Celie, with blond curly hair, looking around in delight at the decorations in the Heart of the Castle, with snow visible outside the windows, and notes from her brother Bran’s wizardly research tacked to the walls. She is wearing a beautiful new gown in shades of blue, with gauzy white ruffles at the sleeves and neck!

Princess Celie has climbed partway up the shrouds of the magical Ship, the Golden Griffin, to look out over the tossing sea. She is wearing sturdy boots and a leather waistcoat over her red skirt and white blouse, and has a long red scarf around her neck. Her griffin, Rufus, flies above her, keeping watch for land and looking intense.

In other words, ‘Sup?

I realize that I haven’t blogged in 6 months or so, but I’ve been busy, okay? I was a judge for this year’s World Fantasy Award, and I also, you know, am working on my own books! Being a judge was really interesting, and it introduced me to a lot of authors I had never heard of, some that I had heard of but hadn’t tried yet, and also greatly tested my speed reading skills! Amazing stuff! Little off the cuff recommendation: THE SILVERBLOOD PROMISE. Adventure, fantasy, lil’ bit of humor, but also: a murder mystery! I feel like Sanderson fans will really go for it!

Here’s some other stuff I’m doing: I will be at CrossingsCon in Philadelphia next week (August 15-17) if you’re in the area. I’m really looking forward to it! The last time I was involved it was 2020, and so, virtual! Check crossingscon.com for more info.

But also, I’m very excited to announce that I am in an upcoming Kickstarter anthology called UNBROKEN, edited by Peter Orullian and Shawn Speakman. Peter is just one of the most talented, but also just all around great guys that I have had the pleasure to meet through my love of fantasy books, and I was honored to be asked to contribute. This anthology is to raise money to help him and his family pay down medical costs incurred from his wife’s cancer treatment. I wish our country’s healthcare system wasn’t this horrible, but it is, and so we’re doing this for them! The Kickstarter will go live on September 23rd, but I wanted to give everybody a head’s up. The lineup is fantabulous, I’ll post pics so you can see how fantabulous!

Also, keep an eye on the events page, I’ve got CrossingsCon and World Fantasy (in Brighton, UK) on there, as well as something local in a couple of weeks at Barnes & Noble Jordan Landing. But as we get into the autumn, there’s always booksignings that crop up! And of course, if you need something signed and personalized, you can always call in an order at The King’s English in Salt Lake City.

Also, if you’re on the Instagram, I’ll soon be posting some pictures that aren’t just badly framed pics of books I’ve read recently. And of course, on YouTube, I’ve got my JessicaRecommends videos!

Hello there!

I’m at Life, the Universe, and Everything 43 this weekend, and in addition to yakking way too much on panels about everything from clothing production to the Best Kind of Dragon (cough all dragons are best cough), I’ve also given two presentation. One on the history/evolution of children’s books, and the other on reading diverse fantasy and sci fi, the benefits thereof, and my person recommendations! And I promised that I would post my recommendations here on the ol’ blog, and so I am! The evolution of kid lit really just needs a couple of titles, because it’s mostly about how’d we get from Improving Tales for Young Ladies to Too Young To Die!, so I’ll just recommend the books ABOUT writing for children/teens.

So here’s that:

The Magic Words - Cheryl B. Klein

Paperback Crush - Gabrielle Moss

The Way to Write for Children - Joan Aiken

And now for the books by not white authors that I personally recommend:

Elatsoe - Darcie Little Badger

Where the Mountains Meet the Moon – Grace Lin

Shadows Over Sherwood, The Lost Library - Kekla Magoon

The First State of Being – Erin Entrada Kelly

A Wish in the Dark – Christina Soontornvat

The City of Fire, The City of Ice, Dragonwings – Laurence Yep

Daydreamer- Rob Cameron

Rick Riordan Presents:

All of them, but especially:

Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting- Roseanne Brown

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky - Kwame Mbalia

Dragon Pearl - Yoon Ha Lee

Sal & Gabi Break the Universe - Carlos Hernandez

Young Adult

Flight – Sherman Alexie

I Was a Teenage Slasher! – Stephen Graham Jones

Legendborn/Bloodmarked/Oathbound – Tracy Deonn

Blood at the Root – LaDarrion Williams

A Tempest of Tea – Hafsah Faizal

The Gilded Wolves- Roshani Chokshi

Kingdom of Souls – Rena Barron

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin – Roseanne A. Brown

Six Crimson Cranes – Elizabeth Lim

Dread Nation – Justina Ireland

The Vampire’s Beautiful Daughter – S. P. Somtow

Lunar New Year Love Story – Gene Luen Yang/LeUyen Pham

American Born Chinese – Gene Luen Yang

Artie and the Wolf Moon – Olivia Stephens

Werewolf by Night: New Wolf Rising – Taboo

Vampires of El Norte – Isabel Cañas

Vampires Never Get Old – ed. Zoraida Cordova

Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno Garcia

Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel

Yellowface, The Poppy War, Babel - R. F. Kuang

The Grace of Kings, the Paper Menagerie – Ken Liu

Black Sun, Tread of Angels - Rebecca Roanhorse

My Heart is a Chainsaw/Don’t Fear the Reaper/The Angel of Indian Lake

The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones

Star Wars: The High Republic – Justina Ireland, Lydia Kang, Zoraida Cordova, Daniel Jose Older

The Fox Wife - Yangsze Choo

The Monstrous Misses Mai - Van Hoang

Dead Cat Tail Assassins - P. Djélì Clarke

Read them. Do it for ME.

Please be good, 2025!

Because 2024 . . . it was not. I was excited that it was a Dragon Year, because I was born in the year of the Dragon, and so was Baby Roo. Of course, that year, 2012, was terrible. Roo and I nearly died after he was born, and then in October, my little Pippin dog died. This year our dog had already died (RIP, my dear Elder Dog Sunny), and under the advisement of a friend that your zodiac year can cause “uneven luck” I took to wearing two red string bracelets: one with the blue evil eye charm on it and another with jade beads and a dragon.

My dad died in November. And the election was a couple of days later.

I hate you, 2024.

But I did read some good books, so there’s that. I guess. I’ve also run through these on my BookTube, but here is the list if you need to study it with your peepers.

Picture Books

Stickler Loves the World – Lane Smith

A Stickler Christmas – Lane Smith

Santa’s First Christmas – Mac Barnett, Sydney Smith

Just Like Beverly- Vicki Conrad, David Hohn

Pretty Ugly- David Sedaris, Ian Falconer

The Longest Letsgoboy- Derick Wilder, Cátia

My Big Dumb Invisible Dragon- Angie Lucas, Birgitta Sif

Drawn Together- Dan Santat, Minh Lé

Knight Owl and the Early Bird- Christopher Denise

Christmas Comes to Moominvalley – Tove Janssen

Middle Grade

Everything Sad is Untrue – Daniel Nayeri

Impossible Creatures – Katherine Rundell

The Reel Wish – Yamile Saied Mendez

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows – Alan Bradley

Not Quite a Ghost- Anne Ursu

Let It Glow – Marissa Meyer, Joanne Levy

Tree. Table. Book. – Lois Lowry

The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels – Beth Lincoln

Majestica – Sarah Tolcser

Wrecker- Carl Hiaasen

The Eyes & the Impossible – Dave Eggers

Graphic Novels

The Mighty Bite/The Mighty Bite: Walrus Brawl at the Mall – Nathan Hale

Squire & Knight: Wayward Travelers – Scott Chantler

Lunar New Year Love Story – Gene Luen Yang, LeUyen Pham

Taxi Ghost- Sophie Escobasse

Illegal – Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin

Lore Olympus Vols. 5-7 – Rachel Smythe

Klaus, the Origin of Santa Claus – Grant Morrison

Young Adult

Accountable- Dashka Slater

Children of Ragnarok- Cinda Williams Chima

The Chalice of the Gods- Rick Riordan

The Merciful Crow- Margaret Owens

The Prisoner’s Throne- Holly Black

Royal Scandal- Aimee Carter

The Thirteenth Child – Erin A. Craig

I Was a Teenage Slasher – Stephen Graham Jones

The Forest Grimm – Katherine Purdie

Fate Be Changed – Farrah Rochon

Nonfiction

The Small and the Mighty – Sharon McMahon

If You Can’t Take the Heat – Geraldine de Ruiter

What in the World? – Leanne Morgan

The Danish Secret to Happy Kids – Helen Russell

Write Fearless. Edit Smart. Get Published – Lisa Mangum

A Fever in the Heartland – Timothy Egan

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs – Steve Brusatte

Made in America – Bill Bryson

The Pioneers – David McCullough

The Wager – David Grann

Cookbooks

Does This Taste Funny? – Stephen Colbert, Evie Colbert

A Few of My Favorite Things – Veeda Bybee

Kneaders Bakery & Café – Colleen Worthington

Baking Yesteryear – Dylan Hollis

Adult Literature - Serious

I Cheerfully Refuse – Leif Enger

The Berry Pickers- Amanda Peters

The End of Drum Time- Anna Pylvainen

The Lincoln Highway – Amor Towles

The Marriage Portrait- Maggie O’Farrell

Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books – Kirsten Miller

Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown – Heather B. Moore

The Book of Lost Friends – Lisa Wingate

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek – Kim Michele Richardson

Adult Literature – Light

Laughing Gas – P. G. Wodehouse

Yours Cheerfully – A. J. Pearce

The Luck of the Bodkins – P. G. Wodehouse

Bath Tangle – Georgette Heyer

The Christmas Wish – Lindsey Kelk

April Lady – Georgette Heyer

Funny Story – Emily Henry

Lies and Weddings – Kevin Kwan

The 12 Days of Christmas – Poppy Alexander

A Redbird Christmas – Fannie Flagg

Mysteries

We Solve Murders – Richard Osman

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year- Ally Carter

Murder Your Employer – Rupert Holmes

The Heiress – Rachel Hawkins

The Unwedding – Ally Condie

Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries

Magpie Murders – Anthony Horowitz

Killing Moon – Jo Nesbø

The Blonde Identity – Ally Carter

Razor Girl – Carl Hiaasen

Science Fiction

Sea of Tranquility – Emily St. John Mandel

Polostan – Neal Stephenson

The Murderbot Diaries – Martha Wells

The Ministry of Time- Kaliane Bradley

Crimston Climb – E. K. Johnston

Fantasy

The Navigator’s Children – Tad Williams

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries/Map of the Otherlands – Heather Fawcett

The Spellshop- Sarah Beth Durst

A Sorceress Comes to Call – T. Kingfisher

I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons – Peter S. Beagle

The Warm Hands of Ghosts – Katherine Arden

The Angel of Indian Lake – Stephen Graham Jones

In the Labyrinth of Drakes/Within the Sanctuary of Wings – Marie Brennan

The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch – Melinda Taub

Empire of the Damned – Jay Kristoff

Special Mentions –

The Wood at Midwinter, a novella – Susanna Clarke

The Frame Up – Gwenda Bond (romcom with magic)

A Novel Love Story – Ashley Poston (romcom with magic)

A Sudden Wild Magic – Diana Wynne Jones (science fiction AND fantasy AND romcom)

I’m mostly over on the YouTube these days, telling you in glorious Technicolor (TM) what I think you need to read on my Jessica Recommends channel. But I thought I’d better stop back at the ol’ blog to let you know about some upcoming events.

First of all: This Friday (November 21st) I will be signing at the brand new Barnes & Noble Fashion Place (just south of Fashion Place Mall) and this PLEASES ME GREATLY. Why, you ask? Well, because when we first moved to Utah from New Jersey I worked in this EXACT SAME LOCATION, but it was a Borders Books! That’s right: I’m going home! So happy! I’ll be there from 5-7 pm, please come and wave and look around at the fabulous new store! These new Barnes & Noble stores are uh-MAZE-ing, if you haven’t seen one, you have to stop by! They’re so HUGE and they have the coolest bookish stuff!

Then, the very next day (November 22nd) I’m going to be at the new Park City Barnes & Noble! The first one they’ve ever had! WHAT?! So cool! I’ll be there at 10 am!

Also, I’m very aware that I have some orders to sign at my beloved King’s English in Salt Lake, so if you want to hurry and call in an order there to get personalized and signed, I’ll be stopping by in the next few days. They ship anywhere in the US.

That’s all for now! Happy Thanksgiving!

Yee Haw! Time to talk about what I read between Memorial Day and Labor Day, in this here year of 2024!

I had a lot of fun this summer, went some fun places, ate some great ice cream, and read some amazing books. I even got to do one of my favorite things: reading a good book on a beautiful beach! The beach was in the Bahamas, and the book was Children of Ragnarok, by Cinda Williams Chima. I have also talked about it on my recent BookTube. By the way, if you haven’t checked out my YouTube channel, please do! I’m having so much fun there! I’ve posted a video every week, usually on Wednesday, and covered all kinds of great topics: Favorite Dragon Books, Fifteen Books to Get to Know Me, soon we shall be seeing some seasonal posts, like Best Halloween Books, and my favorite: Best Christmas Books!

But I wasn’t able to do a list of all the books I read this summer in the video, so I said I would do it here! I read 48 books this summer, counting audiobooks, read alouds to the kids, and physical books read to myself. Not an all time best, but not too shabby!

Here they are, in alphabetical order:

The Angel of Indian Lake - Stephen Graham Jones

As Old As Time - Liz Braswell

The Book of Lost Friends - Lisa Wingate

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek- Kim Michele Richardson

The Children of Ragnarok - Cinda Williams Chima

The Clicking of Cuthbert - P. G. Wodehouse

The Danish Secret to Happy Kids - Helen Russell

Daughter of the Pirate King - Tricia Levenseller

Dear Mr. Henshaw - Beverly Cleary

Death of a Spy - M. C. Beaton

The End of Drum-Time - Hannah Pylväinen

Funny Story - Emily Henry

The Grey King - Susan Cooper

Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell

I Cheerfully Refuse - Leif Enger

In the Labyrinth of Drakes - Marie Brennen

Klaus - Grand Morrison

Klaus: The Life and Times of Santa Claus - Grant Morrison

Klaus: The New Adventures of Santa Claus - Grant Morrison

Laughing Gas - P. G. Wodehouse

Lies and Weddings - Kevin Kwan

Lore Olympus: Volume Six - Rachel Smythe

The Luck of the Bodkins - P. G. Wodehouse

Made in America - Bill Bryson

The Magic Order: Volume One - Mark Millar

Majestica - Sarah Tolcser

The Merciful Crow - Margaret Owen

The Mighty Bite - Nathan Hale

The Might Bite: Walrus Brawl at the Mall - Nathan Hale

Murder Your Employer - Rupert Holmes

My Lord John - Georgette Heyer

Network Effect - Martha Wells

A Novel Love Story - Ashley Poston

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown - Heather B. Moore

The Prisoner’s Throne - Holly Black

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs - Steve Brusatte

School Trip - Jerry Craft

Silver on the Tree - Susan Cooper

The Spellshop - Sarah Beth Durst

Strider - Beverly Cleary

A Sudden Wild Magic - Diana Wynne Jones

The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels - Beth Lincoln

Tree. Table. Book. - Lois Lowry

Tristan Strong Destroys the World - Kwame Mbalia

Tristan Strong Keeps Punching - Kwame Mbalia

Vampires of El Norte - Isabela Cañas

The Warm Hands of Ghosts - Katherine Arden

Within the Sanctuary of Wings - Marie Brennen

The audiobooks of Dear Mr. Henshaw and Strider are delightfully narrated by Pedro Pascal, and I always ADORE audiobooks of Wodehouse. Laughing Gas was fantastic!

Banned Books week is coming up at the end of September, and in addition to doing a video highlighting some of my favorite books that have been banned or challenged, and why I am strongly against banning books, I encourage you to join Let Utah Read! if you’re in Utah, and to write to your local legislators to let them know that everyone, especially children, should have access to libraries and books.

Welp. I decided to become a BookTuber . . . ? Wait. Is that . . . a potato with words printed on it? That can’t be a thing? Is that what they’re called? I mean, there are lots of people out there on these here internets who are recording videos of themselves talking about books, and I would like to be one of them! But on the YouTube, because the Tiktoks alarm me. So I will be. Starting . . . tomorrow.

I love to see reading lists, I love to see BookToks and YouTube videos about books, especially if they’re just nice little lists like, Five Books to Get to Know Me, Best Books of 2024 So Far, I Read That Book Everyone’s Talking About. But I have a couple of pet peeves. Maybe three. One: Booktoks that cut off before they even tell you all the titles, so that you’ll try and find Part Two. Two: YouTube videos that are over 30 minutes long. ESPECIALLY when they only talk about like, 5 books. There is a very sweet young man whose BookTubes I watch, but I have never watched one without skipping ahead because GOOD NIGHT but they are always so long! Like an hour! And in the end he has only ever talked about five books! FIVE BOOKS AN HOUR?! My goodman, I can talk about five books in thirty seconds! What are you DOING?! Also, and I say this with love but also as my Pet Peeve Number Three: Talk. About. Other. Books. The last three videos from that sweet young man have featured the same books, despite the different categories! And I literally can’t tell most Booktoks apart, because they’re all the same books! All. The. Same.

Also, I used to love doing my newsletter, Jessica Recommends . . . But it was more like I loved the IDEA of my newsletter. I hated writing it. I always felt like I needed to write some totally introspective thing, and lead in for several paragraphs about, “here’s why I need to give you a list of favorite dragon books.” And I tried to make it a Top Ten List in every category (picture books, middle grade, YA, adult) and for every theme. It was exhausting. But I would go into it all bright eyed. I’d have a handful of my favorite dragon/witch/Christmas books right there at hand. But then it would just sort of balloon when I sat down to write the darn thing! And I hated plugging it in to the template for the newsletter. Most of the time I made my husband do it, and he hated it as much as I did.

So I thought, What if I just . . . talked about a handful of books I wanted to talk about? What if I just turned a camera on record and just talked for a few minutes? More than five, less than thirty? Held up my top titles, no matter how many, in a category? I don’t want fancy title cards. I don’t want to edit. I don’t want to dress up . . . I mean, yeah, I’ll wear make up because I do every day. I’m not a monster. But most of the time, in my office, I’m wearing my office clothes, which consist almost entirely of book themed t-shirts. So why not? Why not let y’all see my many Out of Print tees?

So here we are. I’ve had a YouTube channel for years. Did you even know?! I posted some videos of Pandemic Q&As I did. I posted clips from times I was on the news. And now I’m going to be posting videos of my talking about books! I’m going to bring back some favorite topics from the newsletters of yore. I’m going to talk about What I’m Reading Right Now at the beginning. And I solemnly swear that I will always keep it short. Fairly. My first one is ready to go, and it’s about 26 minutes long. But I do also explain what I’m doing, and sort of get a little distracted there at the beginning. It’s fun! It’s unscripted! It’s off the cuff! I might show off my office a bit, talk about what books I keep around me while I work! Endless possibilities!

So that’s the haps, peeps! Please Like and Subscribe and all those things! I’m pretty sure you can find me if you just look for Jessica Day George, but my handle is officially Jessicadaygeorge1668

Come and find me on YouTube! We’ll have fun! I’ll take topic suggestions! I’ll take book recommendations! I’ll answer questions!