The Books of 2025

Posted on January 1, 2026 by lesliedinaberg

The Sandwich

So many books, so little time—part 19.

There’s something very satisfying about keeping a list of what you read, so when my son started keeping a book list in third grade, so did I. This is the 19th year I’ve done this. He still reads quite a lot, but I don’t think he catalogs it the way I do anymore. It’s been another really busy year, but I still managed to read a LOT, and listened to a number of audiobooks as well.

The Sandwich, Catherine Newman’s story about a woman dealing with aging parents and an empty nest who spends the summer with her family in a beach house was definitely one of my favorites this year. I thought it was so good, so real, and oh-so relatable. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger was another one I really liked.

Culpability

It’s a very contemporary novel about a family whose life is almost destroyed when the son gets into a car accident while at the wheel of an AI driving car. Turns out the wife’s semi-secret research is involved in the technology, there’s a mysterious billionaire in the mix and all kinds of twisty things happen. I really liked it and was inspired, as usually happens, to dip into his other books, including The Gifted School and The Displacements, both of which I liked, but not as much as Culpability.

Newman’s other novel I read, We All Want Impossible Things, was as engaging as The Sandwich. She’s such a good writer. This one is about the last days of a woman whose best friend is dying in hospice. Again it was so good and so relatable.

Another favorite this year was Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta. I’m not sure why it took me so long to get to this one, as I’ve enjoyed his previous novels (Election, The Abstinence Teacher, The Leftovers). This one is a very good story about a mother and son navigating the empty nest phase of life. And there’s porn. And it’s a plot point, so that’s an interesting addition.

Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding

Speaking of interesting additions, half of Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding by Lian Dolan is set in Montecito, which made an already engaging and very funny story about two moms who initially don’t trust each other but then band to together to get their children’s upcoming nuptials back on track even more fun. I’ll probably write more about this one for the Santa Barbara Independent, but it’s definitely one I recommend (in fact, I gave it to my sister for Christmas).

The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan was another favorite this year. It’s a really good page turner about a woman who leaves her childhood best friend thinking she’s dead and goes on to create a whole other life as a secret (think JD Salinger) writer. Lots of back and forth with lives and timelines, very well done.

I also loved My Friends by Fredrik Backman, an author who can do no wrong it seems.

Anyway, I could go on and on but I’ve got some reading to do. I’d love to hear what everyone else enjoyed. Here’s my 2025 list:

Nevermore Bookstore, Kerrigan Byrne & Cynthia St. Aubin
Wandering Stars, Tommy Orange
Family Family, Laurie Frankel
Everything We Never Said, Sloan Harlow
The Long Game, Elena Armas
Intermezzo Sally Rooney
Yours From the Tower Sally Nicholls
The Braid Girls Sherri Winston
The Answer is No Fredrik Backman
The Night We Lost Him Laura Dave
The Knockout Queen Rufi Thorpe
Small Things Like These Claire Keegan
One Perfect Couple Ruth Ware
The Life Impossible Matt Haig
Like Mother, Like Mother Susan Rieger
Roomies Christina Lauren
Mrs. Caitlin Macy
Foster Claire Keegan
Drop, Cover, and Hold On Jasmine Guillory
When Life Gives You Lululemons Lauren Weisberger
Is She Really Going Out with Him? Sophie Cousens
The Fall Risk Abby Jimenez
The High Season Judy Blundell
Hello Sunshine Laura Dave
City of Girls Elizabeth Gilbert
The Henna Artist Alka Joshi
You Didn’t Hear This From Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip Kelsey McKinney
Part of Your World Abby Jimenez
This Far Alison Holker
The Mother Load A Memoir Sarah Hoover
Throwback Maurene Goo
I Have Some Questions For You Rebecca Makkai
Maggie moves on Lucy Score
What the wife knew Darby Kane
Mina’s Matchbox Yoko Ogawa
Colored Television Danzy Senna
The Three Lives of Cate Kay Kate Fagan
Pretty Little Wife Darby Kane
Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style Paul Rudnick
The Replacement Wife Darby Kane
When the Going Was Good Graydon Carter
The Lying Woods Ashley Elston
Maybe Next Time Cesca Major
Vantage Point Sara Sligar
Life’s Too Short Abby Jimenez
One Death at a Time Abbi Waxman
Mrs. Fletcher Tom Perrotta
Tell Me Everything Elizabeth Strout
All That Life Can Afford Emily Everett
The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks Shauna Robinson
Hotter in the Hamptons Tinx
The Sentence Louise Erdrich
Earth to Moon Moon Unit Zappa
Into the Water Paula Hawkins
Pierced by the Sun Laura Esquivel
There’s Something About Mira Sonali Dev
Sick in the Head Judd Apatow
The Rules for Disappearing Ashley Elston
The Leftovers Tom Perrotta
Harder I Fight the More I Love You Neko Case
Grief is For People Sloane Crosley
The Abstinence Teacher Campbell Scott
The Griffn Sisters’ Greatest Hits Jennifer Weiner
Ghosting: A Love Story Tash Skilton
Long Island Compromise Taffy Brodesser-Akner
The Sandwich by Catherine Newman
The In-Between Bookstore Edward Underhill
Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes Jules Moulin
Fools Rush In: An April Fools Day Anthology Kennedy, Celia, Dineen, Whitney, Neville, Engy, Stephany, Connie, Jay, Suzie, Gettinger, Amy, Baxter, Laurie, Babin, S.E
The Other Woman Sandie Jones
Red Summer Frances Pettey Davis
Audre & Bash are Just Friends Tia Williams
The Unwedding Ally Condie
All Fours Miranda July
The Thrashers Julie Soto
We All Want Impossible Things Catherine Newman
Blood Sister Scribe Emma Torres
Good Material Dolly Alderton
The Fairley Brothers in Japan David Starkey
Salt Water Katy Hays
The Sweeney Sisters Lian Dolan
Get The Picture Bianca Bosker
The Third Gilmore Girl Kelly Bishop
Heiress Takes All Emily Wibberley
Sounds Like love Ashley Poston
Atmosphere Taylor Jenkins Reid
Geekerella Ashley Poston
Honey & Spice Bolu Babalola
Rose in Chains Julie Soto
L.A. Women Ella Berman
My Friends Fredrik Backman
The Island of Sea Women Lisa See
Stuck Up and Stupid Angourie Rice and Kate Rice
Great Big Beautiful Life Emily Henry
A Novel Love Story Ashley Poston
Done and Dusted Lyla Sage
Before We Were Innocent Ella Berman
El Dorado Drive Megan Abbott
James Percival Everett
All The Way to the River Elizabeth Gilbert
Loved One Aisha Muharrar
Fame, Fate and the First Kiss Kasie West
Consider Yourself Kissed Jessica Stanley
Swift and Saddled Lyla Sage
Hot Desk Laura Dickerman
The Sequel Jean Hanff Korelitz
Wild and Wrangled Lyla Sage
Culpability Bruce Holsinger
Lost and Lassoed Lyla Sage
Hear Her Howl Kim DeRose
The Academy Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham
The Satisfaction Cafe Kathy Wang
The Gifted School Bruce Holsinger
Joyride Susan Orlean
The Magic Fish Trung Le Nguyen
Gone Before Goodbye Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben
Once Upon a Time in Dollywood Ashley Jordan
The Displacements Bruce Holsinger
The Ministry of Time Kaliane Bradley
The Uncool by Cameron Crowe
Heart the Lover Lily King
Totally and Completely Fine Elissa Sussman
The Decagon House Murders Yukito Atatsuji
One of the Girls Lucy Clarke
Everyone is Lying to You Jo Piazza
Funny You Should Ask Elissa Sussman
Women Money Power: The Rise and Fall of Economic Equality Josie Cox
Clap When You Land Elizabeth Acevedo
That’s Not How it Happened Craig Thomas
Marlena Julie Buntin
Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding Lian Dolan
Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win Jo Piazza
Say You’ll Be Mine Naina Kumar
My Ex-Husband’s Ex-Husband Rachel Cohn & Melissa de la Cruz
The Doorman Chris Pavone
Girls They Write Songs About Carlene Bauer
The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science Kate McKinnon

Previous Book Lists

Year in Review | My Top Stories of 2024 (Editor)

Posted on January 31, 2025 by lesliedinaberg

An Arts, Culture & Community Editor Reflects on Her Favorite Stories of the Year

From left: Leslie Dinaberg; SOhO Restaurant & Music Club; Keith Puccinelli exhibit; Cheese tasting event

I wear a few different hats at the Santa Barbara Independent, as both a writer and as the editor of the Arts & Entertainment, Living, and Food & Drink sections of the paper.

Putting on my editor’s hat, here are a few of my favorite stories from this year:

Arts & Entertainment

It’s hard to stay in business in this town, and I loved the way Joe Woodard told the tale of SOhO’s 30 years in business: SOhO Goes the Big 3-0

Few wordsmiths can string together 26 letters with as much originality and punch as Nick Welsh can, and though he doesn’t write arts stories often, when he does, he’s pretty much guaranteed to knock them out of the park. Case(s) in point: The Brasscals Bring Honk to Santa Barbara and SBIFF Gives Fiesta 5 a New Lease on Life.

The late artist Keith Puccinelli was such a talented individual and Joe Woodard captures his quirky personality exceptionally well in this cover story: Art About Life, Death, and Clowning.

Speaking of capturing personalities, Roger Durling’s cover profile of Baret Boisson — The Accidental Artist-Activist — was one of my favorite features of the year, with vibrant, insightful writing (I’ve known Baret for years and learned a lot from the story), and particularly beautiful shots captured by Ingrid Bostrom.

Food & Drink

Matt Kettmann’s recent cover story — Santa Barbara’s Hospitality Game-Changers — was exceptionally well-researched and although it had a zillion moving parts, he managed to put it together elegantly and informatively, as well as entertainingly. He also, of course, writes quite eloquently and knowledgably about wine on a regular basis, but I was particularly intrigued by this story of How a Documentary About an Armenian Winemaker Created Iran’s First Wine in Decades.

I love a good literary pun as much as anybody who plays with words for a living, and George Yatchisin did himself proud with this take on Poe-tent Potables | The Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy. I also really enjoyed his take on how The Black Sheep Santa Barbara Brasserie Raises the Baa — including the headline, for which George deserves all the credit. No surprise, he’s also a poet!

When Michael Delgado first pitched me the concept for Cheese the Day — an ambitious cover story bringing wine, cheese and culinary experts together to sip, savor, and share their expertise — I had some doubt that he could pull it off. But he did an incredible job on this one, and we got to enjoy the fruits, and the pairings, of his labor. We’ll be working with him again soon and I can’t wait. Keep an eye out for more information on an open-to-the-public Cheese the Day event you won’t want to miss out on.

Living

I’ve been reading John Zant’s sports reporting for as long as I can remember, and his story on Remembering OJ Simpson and the Dangers of “Godding Up Those Ball Players” was one of the standouts of the year.

I’m always happy to have Starshine Roshell in our pages, but her post-election column, And So It Begins … Misogynists Are Already Crawling Outta Their Hovels, struck a particular chord with me. When something needs saying OUT LOUD in a crowded space, I’m so grateful to have her as the one who is willing, and oh-so-very able, to say it!

Victor Bryant’s story The Urzua Family Athletic Legacy Shines On at Bishop Diego hit the perfect sweet spot between sports and community. I loved learning more about this family.

While I’m on the subject of sports and family, Jim Buckley’s cover story Going for Gold … Times Three: Isla Vista’s Neushul Family Rides a Chlorine-Scented Wave All the Way to the Olympics was another favorite of the year.

And finally, in what was probably my favorite story of the year in an “only in the Santa Barbara Independent would you read this way,” was Callie Fausey’s Down the Rabbit Hole first-person trip into the world of ketamine therapy. Gutsy, specific, original, and compelling from start to finish.

Click here to read my own writing picks for 2024 as well.

Year in Review | My Top Stories of 2024 (Writer)

Posted on January 31, 2025 by lesliedinaberg

From left: Leslie Dinaberg; RuPaul; Ty Warner tequila; Sofi Tukker

Here Are My Favorites Stories I Wrote This Year

I wear a few different hats at the Santa Barbara Independent, as both a writer and an editor. As for my own prose, I wrote more than 200 stories of various types over the last 12 months, which is similar to my 2023 tally. That sounds like a lot — and it is — but a good chunk of what I do is short and snappy, and a lot less time-consuming than the longer features my colleagues are able to devote themselves to.

That being said, some of my favorite stores are the ones I get to dig in more deeply on. Arts education is close to my heart and is something I’ve spent a lot of my volunteer time working on for many years. For a very long time, I have wanted to embed with a visiting artist and write about what it’s like not just to perform for UCSB Arts & Lectures, but to go all over town and teach and connect with people as part of their educational outreach. Hanging out for a few days with Lil Buck and Jon Boogz, and our fab photographer Ingrid Bostrom, was a dream come true. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer, more talented, and thoughtful group of artists to work with on this cover story.

Going behind the scenes to write about the AHA’s remarkable teen participants and their Sing It Out program was another cover story highlight for me, as was working with our team to organize the event and bring back the Annual Indy Awards for local theater in May (see story here). Working with Joe Woodard to put together our first full-blown Fall Arts Preview since the pre-COVID years was greatly satisfying as well.

Covering the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is always one of my favorite, immersive experiences, and one of my 2024 highlights was being just a few feet away from Brad Pitt as he sat in the audience waiting to present his pal Bradley Cooper with the Outstanding Performer of the Year Award. I also really enjoyed a Ken-tastic night with Ryan Gosling when he received the Kirk Douglas Award in January. Apparently I’m a bit of a sucker for a pretty face.

Arts Reviews

Delving into reviews remains both challenging and fun for me. I do a little bit of theater and a little bit of dance and a little bit of comedy, but mostly I write about music. Other than Sting and Pearl Jam at the Ohana Festival — both of which were bucket list level incredible but outside of the 805 — my favorite show of the year was probably Cage the Elephant and Young the Giant at the Bowl: Two Ginormous Bands Unleash a Great Evening of Rock and Roll, and a Rocket! Other favorite Santa Barbara Bowl shows for me this year were Sofi Tukker and John Fogerty.

A few of my other highlights include:

Toad the Wet Sprocket at the Lobero: Too Good to Take for Granted.

The Lobero Block Party with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Ozomatli Taking it to the Streets.

An evening at the Arlington where RuPaul Shows He Was Born to Entertain.

Meow Meow’s unique brand of postmodern cabaret was definitely Wow Wow at the Lobero.

Lyle Lovett was fabulous and I also got to interview him before his Lobero show and meet him afterward. He’s every bit as nice as he is talented.

Finally, the toughest reviews to write are when you have mixed feelings about a show. I struggled with this one a bit, but was happy with the final results and got some good feedback from fellow fans: Indigo Girls Still Have Much to Teach Us.

Experiences

It’s not every day you tour a greenhouse and then sit in someone’s backyard smoking pot and getting a private poolside concert with Iration, but that’s what happened here at the Iration x Autumn Brands Launch Party.

I don’t usually breathe the same air as Kanye West, and there are very few go-go dancers in my orbit, but this Lavish Santa Barbara Soirée Toasts Ty Warner’s New Reserve Tequila was quite the shindig.

Escaping reality with a night at the Rosewood Miramar Beach was definitely a lovely way to snuff out the post-election stress.

Click here to read my editor’s picks for 2024 as well.

The Books of 2024

Posted on January 4, 2025 by lesliedinaberg

French Braid

So many books, so little time—part 18.

My son started keeping a reading list in third grade, so I did too. This is the 18th year I’ve done this. He still reads quite a lot, but I don’t think he catalogs it the way I do anymore. It’s been another really busy year, but I still managed to read a LOT, and listened to a number of audiobooks as well.

I’m usually a completist when it comes to my reading — when I find an author I like I try to read everything they’ve ever written and have to really force myself to read other things in between each book so I can savor them a little longer. I did that with Anne Tyler’s early work many years ago, and I loved The Accidental Tourist, Celestial Navigation, Breathing Lessons, The Amateur Marriage, which are just a few of her many, many excellent titles. For some unexplainable reason she slipped off my radar in the past few years and I only recently picked up her 2022 title, French Braid. She’s 83 years old now but I’m happy to report that Anne Tyler hasn’t missed a beat.

The Winners

This novel — a multigenerational story set in Baltimore, which could describe every one of her books — is a beautifully written, slyly subversive character study in the hands of a master. It doesn’t really matter what happens. Plot is almost beside the point with characters so real and vivid. This was definitely one of my favorite books of the year.

I also really enjoyed two Fredrik Backman titles: The Winners, and Us Against You, which both are continuations of his excellent Beartown series. Set in rural Sweden in a hockey town with as much commitment to the sport as the Friday Night Lights of Texas, I thought this intensely gripping series was excellent. Fair warning it is pretty graphic and can be quite brutal at times (I gave it to my dad for Father’s Day and he hated it), but to me the violence was warranted and true to the characters. And the books are hard to put down.

The Rom-Commers

On the lighter side, also on my list for this year are three titles from Emily Henry: Happy Place, Book Lovers, and Funny Story all of which are romantic and funny.
A really good romantic comedy by Katherine Center was The Rom-Commers, about an aspiring screenwriter who is hired to help a big name writer write a romantic movie, even though he despises the genre. If you groan at that premise you might like the one for Alison Espach’s The Wedding People a

The Wedding People

little better: a newly divorced, suicidal woman decides to splurge on a ridiculously luxurious hotel as a place to commit suicide, only to find that she’s the only person there who’s not affiliated with a wedding party that’s bought out the place, and preventing her from ruining the picture perfect celebration becomes the bride’s mission.

Other favorites this year were Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason, about a woman who suffers from X (a non-specified mental illness), and how she learns to cope; an adult book called In the Unlikely Event, by my beloved Judy Blume of Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret fame; and Alice Sadie Celine by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright, a great story about a young woman who has an affair with her best friend’s mom.

Alice Sadie Celine

A few of my other most liked from this year’s list were books I read in order to prepare for speakers that came to town via UCSB Arts & Lectures. These included the wonderful The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (read my story about the lecture here, Oprah liked this book too), and two books by Xochitl Gonzalez, Olga Dies of Dreaming and Anita De Monte Laughs Last (read my interview with her here and report on her lecture here).

I’d love to hear what everyone else enjoyed. Here’s my 2024 list:

Turn of the Key	Ruth	Ware
It Starts With Us	Colleen	Hoover
The Lying Game	Ruth	Ware
Lost and Found in Paris	Lian	Dolan
How to be Perfect	Michael	Schur
In a Dark, Dark Wood	Ruth	Ware
It Ends With Us	Colleen	Hoover
Bright Young Women	Jessica	Knoll
Bad Summer People	Emma	Rosenblum
A Long Petal of the Sea	Isabel	Allende
The Covenant of Water	Abraham	Verghese
Fellowship Point	Alice Elliott	Dark
November 9	Colleen	Hoover
First Lie Wins	Ashley	Elston
Maybe Not	Colleen	Hoover
Poor Ghost	David	Starkey
Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone	Benjamin	Stevenson
Maybe Someday	Colleen	Hoover
Maybe Now	Colleen	Hoover
Without Merit	Colleen	Hoover
All Your Perfects	Colleen	Hoover
Float	Neal	Rabin
Confess	Colleen	Hoover
This Bird Has Flown	Susannah	Hoffs
Losing Hope	Colleen	Hoover
Happy Place	Emily	Henry
The American Roomate Experiment	Elena	Armas
Ugly Love	Colleen	Hoover
Slammed	Colleen	Hoover
Finding Cinderella	Colleen	Hoover
Big Swiss	Jen	Beagin
Anita De Monte Laughs Last	Xochitl	Gonzalez
Olga Dies Dreaming	Xochitl	Gonzalez
Book Lovers	Emily	Henry
Blue Skies	T.C.	Boyle
Spoiler Alert	Olivia	Dade
You, Again	Kate	Goldbeck
Love, Theoretically	Ali	Hazelwood
Beware the Woman	Megan	Abbott
Us Against You	Frederik	Backman
What Happened to Ruthy Ramiriez	Claire	Jimenez
The Boyfriend Candidate	Ashley	Winstead
Nothing Special	Nicole	Flattery
Moonglow	Michael	Chabon
Come and Get It	Kiley	Reid
Never Ever Getting Back Together	Sophie	Gonzales
With a Kiss We Die	L.R.	Dorn
Hypnotized by Love	Sariah	Wilson
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers	Jesse Q.	Sutanto
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water	Angie	Cruz
Everything Nothing Someone	Alice	Carriere
The True Love Experiment	Christina	Lauren
Mrs. Caliban	Rachel	Ingalls
Didn’t See That Coming	Jesse Q.	Sutanto
Dial A for Aunties	Jesse Q.	Sutanto
The Winners	Fredrik	Backman
Funny Story	Emily	Henry
The Graham Effect	Elle	Kennedy
The Rewind	Allison	Wiin Scotch
Pachinko	Min Jin	Lee
Point of Retreat	Colleen	Hoover
Practice Makes Perfect	Sarah	Adams
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store	James	McBride
The Lonely Hearts Book Club	Lucy	Gilmore
The Magician	Rebecca	Searle
Slow Dance	Rainbow	Rowell
Demon Copperhead	Barbara	Kingsolver
Fourteen Days	Margaret	Atwood
Expiration Dates	Rebecca	Searle
Margo’s Got Money Troubles	Rufi	Thorpe
Cancer Moon	Jenna	Tico
This Time Tomorrow	Emma	Straud
Reunion Beach	Elin	Hilderbrand, Adriana Trigiani, Patti Callahan, Mary Alice Monroe
Four Aunties and a Wedding	Jesse Q.	Sutanto
Husbands	Holly	Gramazio
The Five-Star Weekend	Elin	Hilderbrand
The Seven Year Slip	Ashley	Poston
The Love of my After Life	Kirsty	Greenwood
Housemoms	Jen	Lancaster
The Garden of Small Beginings	Abbi	Waxman
Head Over Heels	Hannah	Orenstein
Society of Lies	Lauren	Ling Brown
The Fake	Zoe	Whittall
The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties	Jesse Q.	Sutanto
The Turn of the Screw	Henry	James
One Italian Summer	Rebecca	Searle
French Braid	Anne	Tyler
Zero Days	Ruth	Ware
Always Only You	Chloe	Liese
Transcendent Kingdom	Yaa	Gyasi
Before the Coffee Gets Cold	Toshikazu	Kawaguchi
The Divorcees	Rowan	Beaird
The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise	Colleen	Oakley
How to End a Love Story	Yulin	Kuang
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife	Anna	Johnston
Just for the Summer	Abby	Jimenez
The Rom-Commers	Katherine	Center
Meet Me in the Margins	Melissa	Ferguson
Be Ready When the Luck Happens	Ina	Garten
None of This is True	Lisa	Jewell
Sorrow and Bliss	Meg	Mason
Here One Moment	Liane	Moriarty
Stuck with You	Ali	Hazelwood
Under One Roof	Ali	Hazelwood
You Have Arrived at Your Destination	Amor	Towles
Night Music	JoJo	Moyes
The Friend Zone	Abby	Jimenez
The Name of This Band is R.E.M.	Peter	Ames Carlin
Check & Mate	Ali	Hazelwood
From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir	Lisa Marie	Presley & Riley Keough
In the Unlikely Event	Judy	Blume
Yours Truly	Abby	Jimenez
The Wedding People	Alison	Espach
City of Night Birds	Juhea	Kim
Alice Sadie Celine	Sarah	Blakley-Cartwright
Our Beautiful Boys	Sameer	Pandya
Awake Forever in a Sweet Unrest	Chuck	Rosenthal
How to Age Dis-Grace-Fully	Clare

Previous Book Lists

The Books of 2023

Posted on January 2, 2024 by lesliedinaberg

So many books, so little time—part 17.

My son started keeping a reading list in third grade, so I did too. This is the 17th year we’ve done this.

Work and well, life in general kept me pretty busy, but I still managed to read a LOT, and listened to a number of audiobooks as well.

This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel

My favorite books this year were Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett (a beautiful story about a mother telling her daughters the story of a long ago summer romance), Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (a futuristic novel that brings in elements of AI and its possible role in our futures), Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (a moving story about the bonds of family), Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (a book club pick about a widow and an octopus that I was sure I’d hate, but ended up loving), Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage by Heather Havilresky (the only nonfiction pick on my list of favorites, this is a series of essays about, you guessed, marriage),

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

Yellowface. by R.F. Kuang (a really compelling novel about the world of literature and who gets to tell what stories in the age of cultural appropriation), The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (a page turner till the bitter end), Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson ( a very original story full of weirdly compelling characters, including a pair of twins who light on fire when they get angry), and This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel ( a really well done and eye opening story about a family with a transgender child).

I’d love to hear what everyone else enjoyed. Here’s my 2023 list:

Love on the Brain	Ali	Hazelwood
Less	Andrew Sean	Greer
The Vibrant Years	Sonali	Dev
The Lincoln Highway	Amor	Towles
Rules of Civility	Amor	Towles
The Half Known Life	Pico	Iyer
Amanda Wakes Up	Alisyn	Camerota
When in Rome	Sarah	Adams
Like a Rolling Stone	Jann S.	Wenner
Incense and Sensibility	Sonali	Dev
Perfect Tunes	Emily	Gould
The Second Season	Emily	Adrian
The Matzah Ball	Jean	Meltzer
When Sparks Fly	Helena	Hunting
A Holly Jolly Diwali	Sonya	Lalli
Black Girls Must BE Magic	Jayne	Allen
Remarkably Bright Creatures	Shelby	Van Pelt
The Sound of Gravel	Ruth	Wariner
Look Alive Out There	Sloane	Crosley
The Unspeakable	Meghan	Daum
Have I Told You This Already?	Lauren	Graham
Keya Das’s Second Act	Sopan	Deb
Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors	Sonali	Dev
Yours Cheerfully	A.J.	Pearce
The Invitation	Lucy	Foley
The Candid Life of Meena Dave	Namrata	Patel
The Power	Naomi	Alderman
Dear Mrs. Bird	AJ	Pearce
The Flatshare	Beth	O’Leary
Klara and the Sun	Kazuo	Ishiguro
The People We Keep	Alison	Larkin
This is How it Always Is	Laurie	Frankel
What’s the Matter with Mary Jane?	Candas Jane	Dorsey
Cult Classic	Sloane	Crosley
Crying in H Mart	Michelle	Zaunder
Something She’s Not Telling Us	Darcey	Bell
Spare	Prince Harry
Forget Me Not	Ellie	Terry
Nothing to See Here	Kevin	Wilson
Big Magic	Elizabeth	Gilbert
Unmarriageable	Soniah	Kamal
The Four Winds	Kristin	Hannah
Serena Singh Flips the Script	Sonya	Lalli
The Last Bookshop in London	Madeline	Martin
Mika in Real Life	Emiko	Jean
The Ex Hex	Erin	Sterling
Little Lovely Things	Maureen Joyce	Connolly
The Younger Wife	Sally	Hepworth
The Good Girl Complex	Elle	Kennedy
Tokyo Ever After	Emiko	Jean
Commitment	Mona	Simpson
The Suite Spot	Trish	Doller
Dear Edward	Ann	Napolitano
I’ll Be You	Janelle	Brown
Romantic Comedy	Curtis	Sittenfeld
The Book of the Most Precious Substance	Sara	Gran
Really Good, Actually	Monica	Heisey
The Golden Couple	Greer Hendricks and Sarah	Pekkanen
Cassandra in Reverse	Holly	Smale
The Storyteller	Dave	Grohl
Yellowface	R.F.	Kuang
Fathers and Sons	Ivan	Turgenev
Where you See Yourself	Claire	Forrest
The Off Limits Rule	Sarah	Adams
For Her Consideration	Amy	Spalding
If He Had Been With Me	Laura	Nowlin
The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle	Matt	Cain
This Story Will Change	Elizabeth	Crane
The Birthday Girls	Pauline	Lawless
Hot to Trot	M.C.	Beaton
After I Do	Taylor	Jenkins Reid
Bookish People	Susan	Coll
On the Rooftop	Margaret	Wilkerson Sexton
The Swimmers	Julie	Otsuka
Wahala	Nikki	May
Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage	Heather	Havilresky
More Than You’ll Ever Know	Katie	Gutierrez
Unfortunately Yours	Tessa	Bailey
For Girls Who Walk Through Fire	Kim	DeRose
The Diamond Eye	Kate	Quinn
Early Morning Riser	Katherine	Heiny
Tom Lake	Ann	Patchett
The Princess Trap	Talia	Hibbert
The Incendiaries	R.O.	Kwon
Hello Beautiful	Ann	Napolitano
Year of the Monkey	Patti	Smith
I Have Lost My Way	Gayle	Forman
The It Girl	Ruth	Ware
Lucy by the Sea	Elizabeth	Strout
The Death of Mrs. Westaway	Ruth	Ware
A Killer App	Linda	Lovely
The Littlest Library	Poppy	Alexander
Someone Else’s Shoes	JoJo	Moyes
Any Other Family	Eleanor	Brown
High Strung: A Humorous Cozy Mystery (Glass Bead Mystery Series Book 1)	Janice	Peacock
Pest	Elizabeth	Foscue
The Wedding Setup	Sonali	Dev
The Rachel Incident	Caroline	O’Donoghue
The Woman in Cabin 10	Ruth	Ware
I Could Live Here Forever	Hanna	Halperin
The Arc	Tory	Henwood Hoen
One by One	Ruth	Ware
Sadie on a Plate	Amanda	Ellliot
Maybe Next Time	Cesca	Major
A Very Inconvenient Scandal	Jacquelyn	Mitchard

Previous Book Lists

A Memoriam for Andrea

Posted on July 22, 2023 by lesliedinaberg

When words are the currency you live by, there’s a lot of pressure to find the right ones — and I’ve been trying to string these particular vowels and consonants into just the right order for two and half weeks. In some ways it feels like forever.

I still don’t really have the right words to say how much this loss has crushed my heart, but I’m committing them to the page anyway, in the hopes it might make me — or one of her other loved ones — feel a tiny bit better.

Andrea Lofthus Peterson

What can I say about Andrea Lofthus Peterson?

I think Andrea and I were 10 or 11 when we met. Our moms set us up to play tennis. I had just taken my first few lessons and Andrea was already a demon on the court. Even though she wiped the floor with me, we still became fast friends. We were both tall for our age (for any age, really), and immediately bonded over what it was like to grow up as the coach’s daughter (a mixed bag of older boys knowing who you were and being told to act like they didn’t). We both had very strong mothers with high expectations and younger sisters who unknowingly put additional pressure on us to be the mature ones.

A lifetime of memories with Andrea

We bonded over a lot of things over the years, from Big Gulps at the mini-mart and listening to her parents’ record (yep, it was vinyl) of The Joy of Sex, to crushes on boys (so many boys), managing high school girl dynamics, with an amazing graduation trip to Hawaii that I’ll never forget. Then the years of balancing college classes with sorority life and boyfriends, first jobs, second jobs, real jobs … falling in love, falling in real love, young married life, being boy moms, balancing work and our families, finding our first gray hairs, dealing with aging bodies, aging parents, aging children, aging husbands, not to mention both of our moms (and sister in her case) surviving breast cancer, and worrying about them and what that meant for ourselves.

Leslie & Andrea

There have a been a lot of people sharing a lot of memories about Andrea in the past couple of weeks — I’ve been pouring over all of them obsessively, with each and every one bringing me a laugh or a tear, or often both — but the Andrea that I knew, the one who was one of my closest friends for almost 50 years, doesn’t quite match up with the Andrea that everyone else is talking about.

My Andrea, far more than any of the other qualities that people have ascribed to her, was fierce. She did everything, and I mean everything, with an iron will, her eyes straight ahead, focused on the prize, putting her whole heart into life in a way that made you love and admire her. Whether it was making the perfect “Sunday sauce,” cheering her kids’ teams on, running Sunshine Sales with Sandy, or laughing with the people she loved, Andrea put her whole self into it. There was no holding back with Andrea, like it or not, she told you and she showed you how she felt.

Easter with the kids

From the moment I met her on that tennis court, she was a force to be reckoned with. For me, as someone who has always felt the unavoidable need to look at everything from every possible angle, and is constantly in danger of woulda coulda shoulda-ing my life away, Andrea’s ability to quickly decide exactly what she wanted and go for it without a moment’s hesitation or doubt was a pure thing of beauty. It was one of the reasons why we stayed friends for all of these years (and why she continued to easily kick my ass on the tennis court for decades).

Janelle’s birthday

It was also why — still, to this day — anytime I feel shy or nervous about something, part of my pep talk mantra is always to “channel my inner Andrea,” and then proceed confidently and full speed ahead the way she always did.

Not to say she didn’t work hard or wasn’t prepared. Quite the opposite. She was always prepared, the ultimate team mom: snacks, drinks, sunscreen, advice, toys, floss sticks, recipes, playlists, more advice, oh so much advice, extra sweatshirts, socks, hats, Carmex lip stuff, every possible type of sports equipment you could want — whatever you could possibly need, she had it in her magic Mary Poppins trunk and was ready to share it without being asked.

Like I said, she was always prepared, even for her own death. Much more so than the rest of us.

My mom’s 80th

Almost a year ago, she already had me helping her write letters to be given to her sons on special days. Meanwhile, over the past couple of weeks (and really ever since I learned of her fatal diagnosis) I’ve been trying and miserably failing to come up with the right words to say how much Andrea has meant to me, how much she still means to me. How much she’ll always mean to me.

She was a mama bear way before she was a mama, taking charge and mothering all us right to the very end. As I watched my beautiful fierce friend work so hard to stay strong for all of the people she loved so forcefully and so well, and to ultimately see her lose her battle against the horrible monster of a disease that is ALS, I know that if there is any possible way that she can be watching us down from on high, she’ll find it. And she’ll be smiling down on us and wanting us to remember all the good times we had together. So many good times.

Whether she’s literally up there watching, as some believe, or whether she’s simply, deeply, profoundly and forever embedded in our hearts, as seems more likely to me, I know my inner Andrea will be with me, and deeply loved forever.

Video I made for Andrea’s 60th birthday: https://youtu.be/q0YTFcTFUN4

Video Andrea made for my mom’s 80th birthday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5JUsjIp2To

BottleRock Music Festival 2023

Posted on June 4, 2023 by lesliedinaberg

Napa Valley’s Three-Day Event Sets the Stage Ablaze with Great Music

To paraphrase Smashing Pumpkins’ frontman Billy Corrigan, BottleRock is most definitely a top-shelf music festival. Yes, the crowds at this annual Memorial Day weekend extravaganza are massive — more than 40,000 people per day invaded the Napa Valley Expo May 26-28 (that’s close to half the population of Santa Barbara to give you some scale) — but the talent on stage is equally massive.

Here’s a recap.

Lizzo | Photo: Nicolita Bradley for BottleRock Napa Valley

Day 1

The first day’s headliners included the aforementioned Corrigan and the Smashing Pumpkins, who gave a full throttle, pedal-to-the-metal, balls-to-the-wall, pulse-quickening performance that most 50-somethings can only dream of pulling off, featuring a playlist of mostly old favorites like “1979,” “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” and “Silverfuck,” as well as newer songs like “Empires,” from the 2022 album ATUM-Act I & II. One of many highlights: an amusing cover of the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” that sounded nothing like David Byrne.

Also on the bill that same night (and unfortunately at the same time) was Post Malone, who my friend Misty (and many others) ranked as one of the top shows of the weekend. Sadly I missed out on Posty, but the Pumpkins were worth it in my book.

Smashing Pumpkins | Quinn Tucker for BottleRock Napa Valley

Another highlight from day one was Bastille, an indie British band whose strong lead vocalist Dan Smith added the beautiful voice of backing vocalist Bim Amoako to the mix for extra oomph. They made an excellent pair, and she even took on lead vocal duties on a cheeky cover of TLC’s “No Scrubs” — quite a departure from Bastille’s sad/happy songs like “Good Grief,” Pompeii,” and “Things We Lost in the Fire.”

BottleRock 2016 | Credit: Wikipedia Commons

I also really enjoyed a set by Jean Dawson, who brought a super random juxtaposition of sweetness and scary to the stage. He looked like a full gangsta-rapper-style dude with a grill, bandana, etc., and then played in front of videos of Teletubbies. He even pulled a little girl (maybe 12 years old) up on stage with him to sing along and play the maracas for a while. This is the kind of thing you (or at I) only get at festivals, and it’s so much fun to see what surprises are in store from stage to stage.

There were 22 bands in all that day, including S.B. Bowl favorite Billy Strings, Thievery Corporation, Peter Cat Recording Co., The Airborne Toxic Event, Phantogram, Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, War, and The Stone Foxes, among others.

Day 2

As I wrote earlier, they had me at Lizzo. She’s an incredible performer and her show was the absolute highlight of BottleRock for me. She owned that crowd from the moment she strutted on stage in her black leather catsuit with the curve-emphasizing green lace-up accents — joined by a fabulous five-piece, all-female band, three backup vocalists, and nine backup dancers she calls the Big Grrrls — she performed her long list of hits, including “About Damn Time,” “Juice,” and “Truth Hurts,” along with a terrific cover of Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman.” I heard she played Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” a couple days before in Phoenix, so I was hoping she would do a repeat of the song in honor of the late performer, but sadly she didn’t, which was probably my only disappointment in a truly stellar evening.

Lizzo | Michael Drummond for BottleRock Napa Valley

Lizzo is such a natural born superstar — she oozes so much charisma and talent, but is also so authentically herself — not to mention her unapologetic self love and sex positivity, that her joyful performance was something that truly transcended her show into a completely different realm than a typical concert. I got a little teary watching a trans teenager and their two moms dancing it out to Lizzo’s show together. She’s just that kind of an amazing performer, and it was just that kind of a night.

That day wasn’t too shabby either. While we missed Duran Duran playing on a competing stage (there were 27 bands playing that day), I was able to catch Leon Bridges, Lupe Fiasco, and Carly Rae Jepson on Saturday. I also saw Dogstar, Keanu Reeves and his band of buddies who were adorable and sounded like, well, Keanu Reeves and his band of buddies.

Paris Jackson | Mila Birtcher for BottleRock Napa Valley

Among my other highlights of Saturday was an opportunity to hang out at the JaMPad, a special club-like venue from JaM Cellars, the winery who is the main sponsor of the event. I sat about six feet away from singer Paris Jackson (daughter of Michael Jackson), who did a short, angsty, coffeehouse-girl-and-her-guitar set, and then was completely blown away by Mac Saturn, a Detroit-based band with some 70s Rolling Stones meets Greta Van Fleet vibes. They are currently opening on tour for the Struts (who had a fun mainstage set on Sunday) but I wouldn’t be surprised if we start hearing about Mac Saturn headlining shows on their own soon. I was tempted to text Moss Jacobs myself, but I figured they’re probably already on his radar.

Day 3

Keanu Reeves in Dogstar | Photo: Priscilla Rodriguez for BottleRock Napa Valley

Another embarrassment of riches. In terms of the headliners, I recently saw Los Lobos at the Lobero, so although I love the wolves, I decided to check out the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and damned if they aren’t still smoking! I’m always a little worried they won’t live up to their past glory when I see my old favorite bands from my younger days, but the Chili Peppers are still one of the most exciting live bands that I’ve ever seen, running and bouncing all over the stage like guys half their age.

Anthony Kiedis looked a little like Spock with short black hair and a day-glow green tunic top, but his voice, enthusiasm and pure star quality were just as sexy and appealing as ever. And Flea, on bass, is still an acrobatic wildman up there, backed by Chad Smith on drums and John Frusciante as fabulous as ever on the guitar. They did an awesome set that included “Around the World,” “Snow (Hey Oh),” “Black Summer,” “Californication,” “Give it Away,” and my personal favorite, “Under the Bridge.”

Welcome to BottleRock | Photo: Zak Klobucher

Because of the time conflict with the Chili Peppers, I was only able to catch a few Lil’ Nas X songs, but boy does he make a sassy, spicy, show-stopping first impression. Between the sexy, scantily clad costumes and dancers, and the fun meshing of hip-hop, pop, and country music, he’s definitely a performer I want to see again.

Other day three highlights for me were Sheryl Crow, whose well-earned Wonder Woman t-shirt got a workout as the tiny dynamo with the big pipes sang and strummed her way through almost all of her classics, including “Strong Enough,” “All I Wanna Do,” “My Favorite Mistake,” and “Soak Up the Sun.”

With 74 bands in total to choose from over the three-day weekend, I could have easily created a completely different and still enjoyable playlist, as I’m sure many others did. There were so many aura delights to be found that despite listening to music from noon until after 10 p.m. each day, I still barely scratched the surface.

The Spa at BottleRock | Photo: Zak Klobucher

The Rest of the Fest

That being said, I would be remiss in not reporting at least a little about the bounty of food and drink at BottleRock. We were in Napa Valley after all, and the many fabulous wineries pouring included title sponsor JaM Cellars, as well as Caymus Vineyards, The Duckhorn Portfolio, Miner Family Winery, Emmolo Wines, Schramsberg Vineyards, Silverado Vineyards, Mumm Napa, Robledo Family Winery, ACUMEN, Anarchist Wine Co., Oberon Wines and Art House Wines. There were also more than 40 different beers on tap, and loads of artisanal cocktails made with top-shelf spirits including Ketel One Vodka, Don Julio Tequila, Hendrick’s Gin, Aperol, Monkey Shoulder Scotch Whisky, Bulleit Bourbon, Captain Morgan, and Baileys Irish Cream — all of whom had cleverly themed and sometimes quite elaborate booths to visit. On the non-alcoholic side, Liquid Death (a hip canned water brand) had its own club, complete with a D.J. and dance floor, Tarot Card readings, tattoos, and other fun accouterments.

Soaking up the sun with Sheryl Crow at BottleRock Napa | Photo: Zak Klobucher

The food itself was also really good, with big name restaurants like Morimoto Asia, La Toque, Goose & Gander, Nash & Proper, and about 40 more serving up incredible fare.

Another highlight for me was the Williams Sonoma Culinary stage, which brought out celebrity chefs and celebrities together to cook on the spot. Cooking bigwigs like José Andrés, Giada De Laurentiis, Aarón Sánchez, and the Voltaggio Brothers were joined by musicians Lil Nas X, John Taylor & Roger Taylor of Duran Duran, Wu-Tang Clan, Sammy Hagar, Bastille, Tré Cool of Green Day, Dogstar featuring Bret Domrose, Robert Mailhouse & Keanu Reeves, and Dancer Derek Hough, among others. If the music itself wasn’t so tasty, I definitely would have spent a lot more time at the culinary stage.

The Wrap

BottleRock music festival was a sensory feast of sights and sounds, fun and festivities. It’s truly an adrenaline-fueled rush of entertainment of the highest order. The crowds were friendly and mostly very well behaved — there was grass all over the place rather than the dusty fields of many festivals — and the food and the wine were top notch. It really is a first class festival experience. That being said, the whole event was still tempered by the unavoidable inconveniences of being surrounded by so much humanity.

Keanu Reeves in Dogstar | Photo: Nicolita Bradley for BottleRock Napa Valley

Am I too old for this stuff was a question I asked both before, during, and after the festival. My conclusion: not quite. Being able to watch so many incredible artists in one place in just a few days is worth all of the inconveniences — but I definitely had to hang up my tiara in order to really enjoy it all to the fullest!

Tickets are now on pre-sale for next year’s BottleRock, which takes place May 24-26, 2024. Click here to access the information.

This story originally appeared in the Santa Barbara Independent on June 3, 2023.

The Books of 2022

Posted on January 1, 2023 by lesliedinaberg

The Plot

So many books, so little time—part 16.

My son started keeping a reading list in third grade, so I did too. This is the 16th year we’ve done this.

Even though I was pretty busy this year, I read a LOT and audiobooks are definitely a big part of my routine these days as well.

Lessons in Chemistry

My favorite books this year were The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz (a twisty tale about the dark side of being a writer), Beartown by Fredrik Backman (one of those books that tons of people recommended to me for years, with sports parents as one of the scariest and realistic elements of a complex story), and Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (a funny, feminist tale that made me laugh out loud several times). I also really liked Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister, which is one of Reese Witherspoon’s recent picks; The Candy House by Jennifer Egan; Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin; Apeirogon by

The Heart’s Invisible Furies

Colum McCann; and The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne.

I’d love to hear what else people loved.

Here’s the 2022 list:

The Wife Stalker	Liv	Constantine
The Startup Wife	Tahmima	Aham
The Cavendon Women	Barbara	Taylor Bradford
The Plot	Jean	Hanff Korelitz
The Fever	Megan	Abbott
One Day in December	Josie	Silver
Anxious People	Fredrik	Backman
The Book of Two Ways	Jodi	Picoult
Three Last First Dates: A Sweet Romantic Comedy of Love, Friendship and Even More Cake	Kate	O’Keefe
The Unhoneymooners	Christina	Lauren
The Guilt Trip	Sandie	Jones
Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography	Laurie	Woolever
State of Terror	Hillary Rodham Clinton & Louise	Penny
The Starless Sea	Erin	Morgenstern
Cavendon Hall	Barbara	Taylor Bradford
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler	Kelly	Harms
The Cavendon Luck	Barbara	Taylor Bradford
Tell the Wolves I’m Home	Carol	Rifka Brunt
The Two Lives of Lydia Bird	Josie	Silver
If the Fates Allow	Rainbow	Rowell
You Can Thank Me Later	Kelly	Harms
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?	Lorrie	Moore
The Night She Disappeared	Lisa	Jewell
That’s What Frenemies Are For	Sophie	Littlefield and Lauren Gershell
99 Percent Mine	Sally	Thorne
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told	Megan	Mullally and Nick Offerman
Five Tuesdays in Winter	Lily	King
Tweet Cute	Emma	Lord
Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life	Sutton	Foster
Only Mostly Devastated	Sophie	Gonzales
A Sweet Mess	Jayci	Lee
Evvie Drake Starts Over	Linda	Holmes
The Book of Form and Emptiness	Ruth	Ozeki
We are Inevitable	Gayle	Forman
The Playground	Jane	Shemilt
I Was Here	Gayle	Forman
Where She Went	Gayle	Forman
The Reading List	Sara Nisha	Adams
The Story of the Lost Child	Elena	Ferrante
Music is History	Questlove
My Name is Lucy Barton	Elizabeth	Strout
Lessons in Chemistry	Bonnie	Garmus
High Stakes	Danielle	Steel
Going There	Katie	Couric
The Unsinkable Greta James	Jennifer E.	Smith
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care	Ashley	Herring Blake
Vivian Rising	Daniella J.	Brodsky
The Summer Place	Jennifer	Weiner
Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead	Elle	Cosimano
Oh William!	Elizabeth	Strout
Honey Girl	Morgan	Rogers
Love Her or Lose Her	Tessa	Bailey
A Man Called Ove	Fredrik	Backman
Lorna Mott Comes Home	Diane	Johnson
Meant to Be	Emily	Giffin
No Words	Meg	Cabot
Ulysses	James	Joyce
Good Rich People	Eliza Jane	Brazier
Beartown	Fredrik	Backman
Old Filth	Jane	Gardam
Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting	Clare	Pooley
Tracy Flick Can’t Win	Tom	Perotta
The Messy Lives of Book People	Phaedra	Patrick
Carry On	Rainbow	Rowell
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry	Gabrielle	Zevin
Wayward Son	Rainbow	Rowell
No One Asked For This	Cazzie	David
Any Way the Wind Blows	Rainbow	Rowell
I Kissed Shara Wheeler	Casey	McQuiston
Apeirogon	Colum	McCann
Nora Goes Off Script	Annabel	Monaghan
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow	Gabrielle	Zevin
When No One Is Watching	Alyssa	Cole
Fix Her Up	Tessa	Bailey
Heartstopper	Alice	Oseman
By the Book	Jasmine	Guillory
It Happened One Summer	Tessa	Bailey
The Roughest Draft	Austin	Siegemund-Broka
You’ll Grow Out of It	Jessi	Klein
Cover Story	Susan	Rigetti
Kiss Me Now	Melanie	Jacobson
Counterfeit	Kristen	Chen
Second First Impressions	Sally	Thorne
Hook, Line and Sinker	Tessa	Bailey
About Grace	Anthony	Doerr
Love, Chai, and Other Four-Letter Words	Annika	Sharma
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches	Sangu	Mandanna
Yes & I Love You	Roni	Loren
Marrying the Ketchups	Jennifer	Close
Carrie Soto is Back	Taylor	Jenkins Reid
The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Bit Swings, and a Hit	Ron	Shelton
The Heart’s Invisible Furies	John	Boyne
The Nickel Boys	Colson	Whitehead
The Candy House	Jennifer	Egan
Heard it in a Love Song	Tracy	Garvis Graves
Anna K	Jenny	Lee
Luster	Raven	Leilani
Dava Shastri’s Last Day	Kirthana	Ramisetti
Uncharted Waters	Sally	Hepworth
Dear Reader	Mary	O’Connell
Dating Dr. Dil	Nisha	Sharma
The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard	Robert	Bryndza
When You Get the Chance	Emma	Lord
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing	Matthew	Perry
Southern Lady Code	Helen	Ellis
Solitaire	Alice	Oseman
Our Missing Hearts	Celeste	Ng
The Emma Project	Sonali	Dev
As It Turns Out: Thinking About Edie and Andy	Alice	Sedgwick Wohl
Something Wilder	Christina	Lauren
The Last Chance Library	Freya	Sampson
Mid Night	Victoria	Shorr
Wrong Place, Wrong Time	Gillian	McAllister
Drunk on Love	Jasmine	Guillory
The One True Me and You	Remi K.	England
The Heartbreak Bakery	A.R.	Capetta
Recipe for Persuasion	Sonali	Dev
When You Were Mine	Rebecca	Searle

Previous Book Lists

Schools of Thought: Our Annual Education Guide 2022

Posted on November 10, 2022 by lesliedinaberg

I had the pleasure of writing the Santa Barbara Independent special “Schools of Thought Issue once again in fall of 2022. To read the entire issue online, click here. I

2022 Best of Santa Barbara

Posted on October 31, 2022 by lesliedinaberg

From Santa Barbara Independent, Best of issue cover, October 20, 2022

I had the honor of writing the Santa Barbara Independent‘s Best of Santa Barbara winners once again in 2022. It’s always a fun project and it’s always a huge amount of work — but a little every time I do it. People are always so excited to hear they won, so that part is definitely fun. You can read the whole thing by clicking here, or on the images below.

Introduction