BookStack Directory: Part 1
A is for Authors
Not gonna lie, I’ve always adored a good compendium. You’ll find an ecclectic assortment of collected works and unabridged journals on my shelves—Shakespeare, Borges, Plath, and Leonardo da Vinci come to mind. I was trained on the Illustrated Wildlife Treasury—a green plastic box of collect-them-all animal cards in the 1980s. After reading, alphabetizing my collection probably occupied the next highest number of hours of my no-cable TV childhood. No surprise I nominated myself to create an annotated directory of newsletters about books, hosted on Substack.
I’m not the first to have a similar idea—for example,
, and have highlighted favorite bookstackers in their own newsletters. They’re how I discovered several of those included in this guide. They have been writing about books on the internet much longer than I and lead the who’s-who of book review newsletter writers on Substack, while always encouraging those of us who rolled up more recently too. If you read their newsletters, which I suggest you try, you’ll see why their recommendations hold sway.
And yet they agreed: an up-to-date and more complete list would be nice. The searchability of the platform’s Literature category seems to favor newsletters focused on writing tips or those primarily self-publishing works of fiction, among all the other flavors of Bookish Delight included in the category. This can make us hard for readers (and writers) new to Substack to discover us. Thus my attempt to create a From Absinthe to Zest, a Yellowpages, an Illustrated Treasury if you will, of Bookstacks.
This directory goes beyond my personal favorites to include all the recommended newsletters tagged by bookstackers I’m connected with, and those who self-tagged in response to the Note I posted when I crowdsourced the list as well. If a quick perusal of the newsletter reveals consistent posts about books by authors other than the newsletter writer AND I didn’t stumble on anything I believe would make the people I know in real life question my human decency for including it— you’re in! Mil gracias to those who completed the survey to help me keep this list straight.
Use it to find the people who can help you choose your next read or, let’s be honest, to read about books we won’t have time for so we can still feel smart about them. There’s not time to read them all. This way, we can have impossible things.
Feel free to drop a ❤️ and a comment to help others find this or share with your reader friends.
If you write a newsletter and your subscribers deserve to know about this series: please Crosspost and/or Restack.
Part 1 of this guide includes 15 newsletters by Authors who regularly discuss books they didn’t write. Let’s goooooo!
A is for Authors, who write these Bookstacks…
The newsletters on this list are written by authors whose books you might discover on the shelves of your local bookstore or library. It’d be nice if you’d buy/read them. But mostly: they’re casual about it. If they’re on this list, they’re also readers and post regularly about books written by other people. If you’ve ever lightly internet stalked a writer you enjoy, you’ll understand the exquisite parasocial pleasure in the peek into their reading preferences these creators afford their newsletter subscribers.
- ’s Books and Bits is a weekly newsletter and podcast. She published What Writers Read: 35 Writers on Their Favorite Book and a collection of essays called How Do We Know We’re Doing It Right?
- ’s eponymous newsletter by one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists 2023 recommends books and some films, too. Her books include Doll’s Alphabet and Children of Paradise. Read her for her diligence in discovering writers lost to obscurity and for a reality check if you’re thinking of pursuring a full-time writing career without family money or another career to back you up.
- ’s offers essays to help you make the most of your reading time plus a Shakespeare book club that meets every 5-6 weeks for paid subscribers. His book Second Act: What Late Bloomers Can Tell You About Reinventing Your Life is available for pre-order in the U.S. and the U.K.
The Creative Edge by NYT bestselling author of more than 30 thrillers,
offers a deep dive into literature and fiction, popular books, creative writing, and more. Free and paid content. Amid giveaways of her books and galleys and lots of writing advice, including play-by-play as she writes her latest novel, she posts a regular Friday reads thread for subscribers.
- author of several books including Streaming Now: Postcards from the Thing That Is Happening writes . Her About page states “In a sense, all the writing here is fiction because it produces its effects entirely through language.” Unique associative forays uniquely characterize her offerings; the piece linked below connects the stories in a book she’s discussing to a conversation with her husband (real or autoficitonalized?), her musing about what might have turned Sylvia Plath on, and Gwenyth Paltrow’s vagina candle. She also offers subscribers opportunities to meet live to discuss the craft of writing.
- is a books and culture newsletter by , author of Homebodies. Her regular posts include Book Dates where she dishes with other extremely cool New Yorkers while shopping together for books. Read her newsletter for fashion tips and in-depth reviews of books that create new ways of thinking about the world and the self.
- a joint effort of and have published five books between them with three more on the way. Weekly podcast episodes and newsletters gently steer subscribers through becoming better readers and writers— in snatched moments while unloading the dishwasher, etc. Mostly paid content, as they source professional illustrations and other components that add to the quality of their project.
- takes a highly researched approach to exploring the stylistic traits of particular writers, mostly British and mostly women. The author of a biographies of Agatha Christie and the Mitford Sisters knows her way around an archive. Read for the high quality of the literary gossip— you know it’s true!
- writes , offering nitty-gritty process-nerd notes on writing, reading, teaching, & cooking. She’s the author of The Silk Moths Ignore, winner of the Hillary Gravendyk Prize. Read to feel seen and understood if you too write and read in little bits of time between teaching and parenting and baking delicious treats.
- by , author of Casualties examines life's questions through the lens of what we are reading and writing. You'll find essays, stories, book recs, interviews, and resources. Her recent post which discusses relationships between adult children and their parents before providing a few related book recommendations; it touched a nerve among readers on Substack in a way that seems characteristic of Marro’s empathetic approach to connecting life and reading to spark engagement.
Becky Varley-Winter, author of poetry collection Dangerous Enough and Bloom, a collection of love stories like a mix tape, writes
. The newsletter is named for a shared Instagram account created with a friend back in 2020, which was unrestricted to any particular subject other than things that lifted their mood. At one point, they reviewed a croissant. Now the newsletter features reviews of literature and culture every other week. Read it if you want academic-level commentary in a conversational style, or to find literary relief amidst life as a new parent.
by author of The Late Americans, Real Life (shortlisted for the Booker Prize) and Filthy Animals offers cultural and literary criticism connecting toxic masculinity podcasts, the algorithmic cadance of modern life, and Drake collecting Birkin bags to House of Mirth. Yes, please.
Award winning Australian YA author
, writes for readers with an interest in children’s and young adult literature. Take a trip down memory lane to revisit some of your old favorites, discover new books for the young people in your life, or get some writing advice for your own forays into YA literature, or find a new bedtime story for yourself among Writers on Reading series or in her monthly “nutshell” reviews.
Dutch author of five novels including an historical YA novel A Whale in Paris written with her husband,
’s mixes book reviews into her dispatches from a nomadic life and philosophical considerations of topics like grief, consumerism and changing one’s mind.
- writes a newsletter called Wrong Kind of Woman which is also the title of her novel about women forging new paths in the rapid changes of the early 1970s— yes, you’re in the right place if you see a different title below. Substack quirk, she tells me! (Yes, this throws off my alphabetization strategy. I’m doing ok, thanks for asking.) She’s rounded out what used to be her author newsletter with every-other-week posts about her favorite reads and a series of mid-life author interviews.
Keep reading for Part 2: Book Industry Pros: the publishers and editors and booksellers writing book newsletters.
I’ve got a list of the Cool Kids (i.e. the major influencers), the Defectors who’ve left other platforms, the Enthusiasts (for newsletters that are very niche), the Faculty… and so on, half a dozen categories I think. Of course there’s overlap as these folks are a multi-talented bunch. This strategy won’t be perfect.
In other words, I’ve gone a bit extra and I’m making it up as we go along.
If you have other ideas for categories, I’d love to hear them! If I’ve tagged you and I’ve gotten something wrong, please let me know right away. And if it feels good to you, if you would also hold any other concerns about inclusion until I pull the thread all the way through I would greatly appreciate it. I’ve received over 100 responses and the survey is still open. I’ll do my best to keep up with responses and reach out to those who were tagged but might not have seen it.
Cheers!
Love this! Also can't wait for the categories! I'm a book industry pro and enthusiast writing about under-the-radar books that need more hype :) Happy to be here and connect with others!
Thank you for this!