Hello, fellow bookworms!<\/p>\n
In Santa Barbara literary news, our current Poet Laureate, George Yatchisin, is putting out a call to all poets living in Santa Barbara, Ventura, or S.L.O. counties to submit their work to be included in a collection of poetry celebrating our local food, drinks, restaurants and agriculture! For more information and to submit your work,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Today, we\u2019re double booked: Nathan Vived brings us a review of the first book in a duology by Santa Barbara author Simon Tolkien (yes, grandson of\u00a0that\u00a0Tolkien!), and Richelle Boyd brings us two short story collections, one by area author Max Talley.<\/p>\n Happy reading!<\/p>\n \u2014Tessa,\u00a0allbooked@independent.com<\/a><\/p>\n The Palace at the End of the Sea\u00a0by Simon Tolkien<\/a> Recently, I was asked to read and give my thoughts on the new duology from Simon Tolkien, starting with\u00a0The Palace at the End of the Sea. The novel follows Theo Sterling from his childhood in New York City to being a young man in the U.K. and Spain, set against the turbulent backdrop of the early 1900s. Young Theo is perennially trapped between seemingly mutually exclusive identities; he\u2019s the son of persecuted parents, with his father, a Jewish immigrant desperately trying to forget his background, and his Catholic Mexican mother fleeing religious persecution who is perpetually haunted by the horrors she endured. Theo is solidly middle-class thanks to his father, but the Great Depression sunk all into abject poverty.<\/p>\n He simultaneously benefits from the powers that be and economic success and wishes for an end to the exploitation of the poor and meagre for the avarice of the few. He sees the good and ill in conflicting ideologies; yet, in an era of radical politics and a rise in violence, where not choosing a side is tantamount to treason to both extremes, Theo struggles to find his True North while sparks edge ever closer to a growing powder keg.<\/p>\n Palace\u00a0is an engaging, vibrant, personal look into life in an era when life was being pulled towards the two extremes of right and left, where the desire for things to stay the same conflicted with the want to help people, escalation was a mutual bedfellow, and gray was often overpainted with red. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n I\u2019m greatly looking forward to reading its sequel,\u00a0The Room of Lost Steps, out September 16.<\/p>\n \u2014Nathan Vived<\/p>\n Destroy Me Gently, Please\u00a0by Max Talley<\/a> Though we all love to travel, it\u2019s hard to snag up some vacation time or plan out an inexpensive getaway these days. What I enjoyed most about\u00a0Destroy Me Gently, Please\u00a0was the way Max Talley takes the reader on a journey across the U.S. more personal and real than any planned trek could take you. Each story focuses on characters who are facing a boiling point in their lives \u2014 whether the character\u2019s marriage is ending, or they are clinging to their music career, or a teenager desperate to leave their small town.<\/p>\n Talley, who currently resides in Santa Barbara, really dives into the nooks and crannies of everyday people all over the country, each story switching pacing and narrative to match the style of the main character. From brutal endings to hopeful ones, each story by Talley was an intriguing adventure alongside someone in a place I had never been to before, or one that was all too familiar (having grown up in the Inland Empire, I felt transported back to Hesperia once again upon meeting Ruby). Between heartbreaks and new beginnings, Talley brought a thought-provoking and intriguing read with these pieces.<\/p>\n Exhalation\u00a0by Ted Chiang<\/a> I was first introduced to this collection during my time at UC Santa Barbara taking a class on \u2014\u00a0you guessed it\u00a0\u2014 short stories. Though I had only read the main story from this collection, which it is named for, in that class, I fell in love with Chiang\u2019s writing and bought the book to read the entire thing before he visited in 2022. Mind-expanding and thought-provoking,\u00a0Exhalation\u00a0will have you rethinking the way you interact with technology or think about the future of our planet. Each story is built in a sci-fi dystopia that\u2019s easy to dip your toes into if that\u2019s not your typical genre. On top of all of this, Chiang is truly a master of the short story form with novella-sized ideas expressed perfectly in limited pages.<\/p>\n He explores everything from the way language shapes our thinking to expanding on scientific theories in alternate universes.\u00a0Exhalation\u00a0will have you thinking about the weight of time, the enormity of the universe, and questioning what free will really is. And, if you\u2019re like me, \u201cThe Lifecycle of Software Objects\u201d will have you missing your Nano Pet from back in the day.<\/p>\n \u2014Richelle Boyd<\/p>\n FROM OUR PAGES<\/p>\n We\u2019ve had some great author visits and interviews recently, so don\u2019t miss out. Here is some of our book-related coverage from the last two weeks! Read all this and more at\u00a0Independent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Todd Purdum and Steve Oney to Come to Montecito on Saturday by Alice Dehghanzadeh<\/a><\/p>\n Chaucer\u2019s Hosts Artists of the Moving Novel\u00a0Deep Dive\u00a0by Madeline Slogoff<\/a><\/p>\n UPCOMING BOOK EVENTS<\/p>\n Below, you will find a few bookish events coming up in Santa Barbara. If you are hosting a bookish event in Santa Barbara, be sure to submit the event to our online\u00a0events calendar<\/a>.<\/p>\n Book Talk and Signing: Carrie KC West Grace Fisher Book Club:\u00a0The Diving Bell and the Butterfly\u00a0by Dominique Bauby Chaucer\u2019s Book Talk & Signing: Jane Asher Reaney and Barbara Urbonas Godmothers Storytime:\u00a0Ballet Brown\u00a0by Bellen Woodard Godmothers on the Stage:\u00a0My Train Leaves at Three\u00a0by Natalie Guerrero Free On-Site Community Seminar Series: The Poetry of Rumi Montecito Book Club:\u00a0Calypso\u00a0by David Sedaris Shiver Me Timbers! Pirate Storytime Godmothers in Conversation: Scott Clark & Cheyenne Ellis Chaucer\u2019s Book Talk & Signing: Michael C. Higgins S.B. SPOTLIGHT<\/p>\n We at the\u00a0Independent\u00a0get many books sent to us by area authors, sometimes too many! It\u2019s practically impossible for us to read and review them all, but just because we are busy bees does not mean that they aren\u2019t worth the attention. In an attempt to not completely drop the ball, we have compiled a list of books here that are either written by a Santa Barbara author, feature someone in our community, or have another tie to Santa Barbara. I urge you to look through this list. Perhaps you will find your new favorite read!<\/p>\n The following are the most recent titles that have been sent to us.<\/p>\n Fraud, Murder, & Mayhem\u00a0by Ed Shiffman<\/a><\/p>\n Unfaithful: A Translator\u2019s Memoir\u00a0by Suzanne Jill Levine<\/a><\/p>\n If you are a local author and would like us to feature your book in this section, please email\u00a0allbooked@independent.com<\/a>\u00a0with the subject line \u201cS.B. Spotlight.\u201d<\/p>\n Book Reviews Courtesy of CALIFORNIA REVIEW OF BOOKS*<\/p>\n Thanks to the generous contributions of David Starkey, Brian Tanguay and their team of reviewers at California Review of Books, we are able to provide a steady stream of book reviews via our content partnership. Recent reviews at Independent.com include:<\/p>\n One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This\u00a0by Omar El Akkad; review by Brian Tanguay<\/a><\/p>\n Golden State: The Making of California\u00a0by Michael Hiltzik; review by David Starkey<\/a><\/p>\n *At the present time, all of the\u00a0Independent\u2019s\u00a0book reviews are provided in collaboration with California Review of Books (calirb.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/unnamed_494fa0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/unnamed-1_dacbb9.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/unnamed-2_9af3c1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
<\/a>Saturday, July 19, 3 p.m.| Tecolote Book Shop<\/p>\n
<\/a>Thursday, July 17, 1 p.m. | Grace Fisher Foundation<\/p>\n
<\/a>Thursday, July 17, 6 p.m. | Chaucer\u2019s Books<\/p>\n
<\/a>Saturday, July 19, 11 a.m. | Godmothers<\/p>\n
<\/a>Saturday, July 19, 6 p.m. | Godmothers<\/p>\n
<\/a>Tuesday, July 22, noon. | Ojai Mountain Estate<\/p>\n
<\/a>Tuesday, July\u00a0 22, 2 p.m. | Montecito Library<\/p>\n
<\/a>Wednesday, July 23, noon. | S.B. Central Library<\/p>\n
<\/a>Thursday, July 24, 6 p.m. | Godmothers<\/p>\n
<\/a>Sunday, July 27, 4 p.m. | Chaucer\u2019s Books<\/p>\n
![\"Children](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-4.36.11\u202fPM.png\")