Bethanne Patrick
@thebookmaven.bsky.social
SUBSTACK:
The Book Maven Unbound
https://thebookmavenunbound.substack.com/
Critic @LATimesBooks
LIFE B memoir: https://bookshop.org/p/books/life-b-overcoming-double-depression-bethanne-patrick/1874245
https://linktr.ee/bookmaven
The Book Maven Unbound
https://thebookmavenunbound.substack.com/
Critic @LATimesBooks
LIFE B memoir: https://bookshop.org/p/books/life-b-overcoming-double-depression-bethanne-patrick/1874245
https://linktr.ee/bookmaven
LIT SIRENS ON 🚨🚨🚨
NEW ANN PATCHETT NOVEL JUNE 2026!
More deets TK
NEW ANN PATCHETT NOVEL JUNE 2026!
More deets TK
October 31, 2025 at 1:59 PM
LIT SIRENS ON 🚨🚨🚨
NEW ANN PATCHETT NOVEL JUNE 2026!
More deets TK
NEW ANN PATCHETT NOVEL JUNE 2026!
More deets TK
Please send help. Spouse has lost his keys (he went out for coffee and returned home, so they HAVE to be somewhere on our property) and movers arrive shortly to load the va.
UPDATE: He found them, in our other car, beneath a tarp.
It’s going to be a looooong day.
UPDATE: He found them, in our other car, beneath a tarp.
It’s going to be a looooong day.
October 29, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Please send help. Spouse has lost his keys (he went out for coffee and returned home, so they HAVE to be somewhere on our property) and movers arrive shortly to load the va.
UPDATE: He found them, in our other car, beneath a tarp.
It’s going to be a looooong day.
UPDATE: He found them, in our other car, beneath a tarp.
It’s going to be a looooong day.
I just sent out a huge change-of-snailmail-address email to my friends in #book PR. LMK if I missed YOU and we'll connect. By week's end my bookshelves and I will be living much closer to the ocean.
October 27, 2025 at 3:43 PM
I just sent out a huge change-of-snailmail-address email to my friends in #book PR. LMK if I missed YOU and we'll connect. By week's end my bookshelves and I will be living much closer to the ocean.
HUGE congrats to my dear friend Melanie Holcomb on today's NYT review of her new exhibit @metcloisters.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/a...
Looking at Sexuality With a Medieval Sensibility
www.nytimes.com
October 15, 2025 at 12:53 PM
HUGE congrats to my dear friend Melanie Holcomb on today's NYT review of her new exhibit @metcloisters.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/a...
Last night we had a party to help our adult daughters (and us) say goodbye to the house we've lived in for 12 years. 25 people, ages 25 to 75, laughing and singing and talking and eating and drinking to this playlist I made for a recent birthday:
open.spotify.com/playlist/7yl...
open.spotify.com/playlist/7yl...
Bethanne’s Big Birthday Playlist 2023
Playlist · Bethanne Patrick · 70 items · 7 saves
open.spotify.com
October 10, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Last night we had a party to help our adult daughters (and us) say goodbye to the house we've lived in for 12 years. 25 people, ages 25 to 75, laughing and singing and talking and eating and drinking to this playlist I made for a recent birthday:
open.spotify.com/playlist/7yl...
open.spotify.com/playlist/7yl...
The day after our younger daughter’s wedding, tired and happy and married for nearly 40 years.
October 8, 2025 at 10:41 PM
The day after our younger daughter’s wedding, tired and happy and married for nearly 40 years.
There are highs: An amazing wedding weekend filled with love and joy and reconnections.
There are lows: My huzz is now on furlough along with thousands of his civil-service colleagues.
There is the present moment: We maintain our health, continue to communicate, and remember to resist.
There are lows: My huzz is now on furlough along with thousands of his civil-service colleagues.
There is the present moment: We maintain our health, continue to communicate, and remember to resist.
October 1, 2025 at 1:07 PM
There are highs: An amazing wedding weekend filled with love and joy and reconnections.
There are lows: My huzz is now on furlough along with thousands of his civil-service colleagues.
There is the present moment: We maintain our health, continue to communicate, and remember to resist.
There are lows: My huzz is now on furlough along with thousands of his civil-service colleagues.
There is the present moment: We maintain our health, continue to communicate, and remember to resist.
I thoughtlessly shared something misogynistic; my bad.
The mother of the son in question & I are lifelong/staunch feminists. We were raised in a time that didn’t always support our beliefs. I apologize.
My daughter is kind, loving, and compassionate. That’s what matters.
The mother of the son in question & I are lifelong/staunch feminists. We were raised in a time that didn’t always support our beliefs. I apologize.
My daughter is kind, loving, and compassionate. That’s what matters.
A decade or so ago, a friend’s son said of our younger daughter: “Most girls are either pretty, or nice, but E. is pretty AND nice.” Now she’s also a married woman! What an amazing celebration our family just shared.
September 30, 2025 at 10:45 PM
I thoughtlessly shared something misogynistic; my bad.
The mother of the son in question & I are lifelong/staunch feminists. We were raised in a time that didn’t always support our beliefs. I apologize.
My daughter is kind, loving, and compassionate. That’s what matters.
The mother of the son in question & I are lifelong/staunch feminists. We were raised in a time that didn’t always support our beliefs. I apologize.
My daughter is kind, loving, and compassionate. That’s what matters.
A decade or so ago, a friend’s son said of our younger daughter: “Most girls are either pretty, or nice, but E. is pretty AND nice.” Now she’s also a married woman! What an amazing celebration our family just shared.
September 30, 2025 at 1:34 PM
A decade or so ago, a friend’s son said of our younger daughter: “Most girls are either pretty, or nice, but E. is pretty AND nice.” Now she’s also a married woman! What an amazing celebration our family just shared.
HAPPY MOUNTAIN DAY, SMITH ALUMS!
September 30, 2025 at 1:28 PM
HAPPY MOUNTAIN DAY, SMITH ALUMS!
Dancing shoes for our younger daughter's Friday wedding:
September 23, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Dancing shoes for our younger daughter's Friday wedding:
A sweet New Year to everyone celebrating Rosh Hashanah today.
a sticker that says shana tova with a pomegranate holding a jar
ALT: a sticker that says shana tova with a pomegranate holding a jar
media.tenor.com
September 23, 2025 at 12:03 PM
A sweet New Year to everyone celebrating Rosh Hashanah today.
Daughter’s wedding is a week from tomorrow. Other daughter arrives home on Saturday. I have 1,000 errands (give or take) to run tomorrow.
But at moment? Bride-to-be is at gym, huzz is at work, house is clean and quiet, AND I AM READING FOR PLEASURE.
Oh, also? Fuck fascism.
But at moment? Bride-to-be is at gym, huzz is at work, house is clean and quiet, AND I AM READING FOR PLEASURE.
Oh, also? Fuck fascism.
September 18, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Daughter’s wedding is a week from tomorrow. Other daughter arrives home on Saturday. I have 1,000 errands (give or take) to run tomorrow.
But at moment? Bride-to-be is at gym, huzz is at work, house is clean and quiet, AND I AM READING FOR PLEASURE.
Oh, also? Fuck fascism.
But at moment? Bride-to-be is at gym, huzz is at work, house is clean and quiet, AND I AM READING FOR PLEASURE.
Oh, also? Fuck fascism.
Amid all of this chaos and fascism, our family is experiencing the joy of a daughter's wedding in a little over a week. I've seen other friends' accounts of weddings, births, celebrations. I see you all. We are holding up love and hope even as we witness evil and repression.
September 17, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Amid all of this chaos and fascism, our family is experiencing the joy of a daughter's wedding in a little over a week. I've seen other friends' accounts of weddings, births, celebrations. I see you all. We are holding up love and hope even as we witness evil and repression.
Reposted by Bethanne Patrick
Pub day, and @thebookmaven.bsky.social profiled me for the Los Angeles Times. (It's behind a paywall, but yahoo news and aol news have it.)
tinyurl.com/ykph8xs7
tinyurl.com/ykph8xs7
On the run from her abusive ex for decades, she's now at home — in L.A. and with herself
Karen Palmer's memoir, 'She's Under Here,' details forgery, a child's kidnapping, a mental breakdown, struggles to stay afloat — and joy.
tinyurl.com
September 16, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Pub day, and @thebookmaven.bsky.social profiled me for the Los Angeles Times. (It's behind a paywall, but yahoo news and aol news have it.)
tinyurl.com/ykph8xs7
tinyurl.com/ykph8xs7
Moving to a new state requires a lot of things, including health maintenance. Have had general checkup/blood panel, mammo/pap, dental cleaning, derm check, eye exam. . . hugely grateful for my overall good health and spouse's excellent health insurance. Want those things for everyone.
September 15, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Moving to a new state requires a lot of things, including health maintenance. Have had general checkup/blood panel, mammo/pap, dental cleaning, derm check, eye exam. . . hugely grateful for my overall good health and spouse's excellent health insurance. Want those things for everyone.
Chuck speaks truth
Everything is bad, but books are good. Get a book. Read the book. Cherish the book. Finish the book. Tell your friends about the book, and leave a review of the book. Hold the book close. Listen to what it tells you. Do as it commands. Place it on the dread altar and let it guide your every choice.
September 15, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Chuck speaks truth
My Discover and my Following sections on this site seem to be flipped around and have been for a while. Anyone else experiencing this?
September 15, 2025 at 12:21 PM
My Discover and my Following sections on this site seem to be flipped around and have been for a while. Anyone else experiencing this?
The British royals are showing what they’re really made of. . . Not surprising, but very sad.
September 15, 2025 at 1:03 AM
The British royals are showing what they’re really made of. . . Not surprising, but very sad.
It's a good thing my unplanned/unfunded personal sabbatical coincides with my younger daughter's wedding in 2 1/2 weeks because today: ATTENDANTS' GOWNS EMERGENCY. Who ya gonna call? "Moooooommmmmmm. . . "
September 10, 2025 at 1:10 PM
It's a good thing my unplanned/unfunded personal sabbatical coincides with my younger daughter's wedding in 2 1/2 weeks because today: ATTENDANTS' GOWNS EMERGENCY. Who ya gonna call? "Moooooommmmmmm. . . "
Reposted by Bethanne Patrick
The only reason to hire a critic, instead of giving a megaphone to the crowd, is that creative work—books most of all—isn’t processed as a collective. People make sense of art as individuals, and their experiences of the work differ individually, too. @nathanheller.bsky.social, @newyorker.com, 2017
September 9, 2025 at 8:38 PM
The only reason to hire a critic, instead of giving a megaphone to the crowd, is that creative work—books most of all—isn’t processed as a collective. People make sense of art as individuals, and their experiences of the work differ individually, too. @nathanheller.bsky.social, @newyorker.com, 2017
I just did something that scares me, a little.
Now YOU.
Now YOU.
September 9, 2025 at 12:42 PM
I just did something that scares me, a little.
Now YOU.
Now YOU.
We live in a police state and, as a writer friend posted recently, it's getting a bit tougher to judge the Germans of the 1930s, hmmmm? What are we willing to risk to effect change?
I'm mostly asking this of myself, TBH. How can best I use my time, energy, and resources to push back?
I'm mostly asking this of myself, TBH. How can best I use my time, energy, and resources to push back?
September 7, 2025 at 10:01 PM
We live in a police state and, as a writer friend posted recently, it's getting a bit tougher to judge the Germans of the 1930s, hmmmm? What are we willing to risk to effect change?
I'm mostly asking this of myself, TBH. How can best I use my time, energy, and resources to push back?
I'm mostly asking this of myself, TBH. How can best I use my time, energy, and resources to push back?