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The Deep Dive

It’s Lord Worldwide, Thank You Very Much: From the Editor’s Desk June 2024

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Vanessa Diaz

Managing Editor

Book Riot Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz is a writer and former bookseller from San Diego, CA whose Spanish is even faster than her English. When not reading or writing, she enjoys dreaming up travel itineraries and drinking entirely too much tea. She is a regular co-host on the All the Books podcast who especially loves mysteries, gothic lit, mythology/folklore, and all things witchy. Vanessa can be found on Instagram at @BuenosDiazSD or taking pictures of pretty trees in Portland, OR, where she now resides.

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Hello again, dear readers. I’m back with another peek over my shoulder at the bookish media I’m loving, excited about, or generally tickled by. Today, I have a hilarious TV recommendation with a book club storyline, some ancient history nerdery, a few podcasts, including one on an IRL Nancy Drew mystery, and how I’ll be referring to Pitbull going forward.

The Wrong Way to Book Club, Brought to You by Abbott Elementary

cover of She Memes Well by Quinta Brunson, showing the author, a Black woman with curly light brown hair, in a white tank top

If you aren’t yet watching Abbott Elementary, porque? It is one of the best shows on television. The writing is so good and the comedy does not miss! This is unsurprising since it’s created by, written by, and stars pocket-sized powerhouse Quinta Brunson, whose rise from Buzzfeed content creator and queen o’memes (“he got money!!!”) to award-winning actress, comedian, writer, and producer is nothing short of fascinating. If you don’t know much about Quinta, run and grab her book, She Memes Well.

Back to Abbott Elementary: in Season 3, Episode 11, “Double Date,” Ava (Janelle James) hosts her first book club and it goes just about the way you think it will if you watch the show. She calls it Ava And Her Reading Bitches (AARB), and picks Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower for their first read. It spirals into a whole thing with Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) and Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) and I’ve watched it at least four times.

All Access members: read on for the rest of this bonus send!

That’s it for me! I’ll catch you all in a few weeks for another roundup of random bookish media. What other pods, playlists, etc are y’all loving right now? Let’s chat in the comments!

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