Books

When the truth is stranger than fiction, stories that use fiction to explore the truth can get pretty weird. In Weird Black Girls, Elwin Cotman delivers seven short stories that go long on fantasy and supernatural phenomena to delve into the very real dangers and anxieties of contemporary Black life. We’ve got a town ruled

A violent crime threatens the stability of the middle-class wife and mother at the center of Ethel Rohan’s Sing, I, a thoughtful novel about self-discovery and new beginnings. Ester Prynn’s mother chose her name in the hopes of making her unforgettable. Ester lives with her husband, Simon, and their two teenage boys in coastal Northern

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. It’s been a quiet start to the week news-wise, and TBH, I don’t hate it. Let’s hit a few highlights and get to the “it” books of the week.  p.s. Don’t know what to get

Names often play a pivotal role in stories—and like many aspects of fiction, their importance is reflected in the real world. The novels of award-winning young adult author Darcie Little Badger draw on the power of names: In Elatsoe, Little Badger’s 2020 debut, the titular character carries the name of a legendary ancestor. Little Badger’s

Tomorrow is the release date for Knife by Salman Rushdie, a memoir about his attempted murder by stabbing. We haven’t heard much about this book in the lead-up: it appears that release copies weren’t offered even to the biggest publications. Today, though, reviews are starting to come in from media outlets, mostly with praise for

Celebrated Deaf poet Raymond Antrobus originally resisted the idea of writing children’s books because of what he called “snobbery” in a 2021 interview with The Guardian. Thankfully, Antrobus came to see the immense importance of these stories, and released a tremendous debut picture book, Can Bears Ski? Readers will delight at his latest offering, Terrible

April is Autism Acceptance Month! You can learn more about it, as well as find a lot of great resources about autism, at the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, including their Autism Acceptance Month website. It’s important when seeking out representation or educational material about autism to research depictions by autistic people themselves. Today, I wanted to

Caoilinn Hughes’ third novel, The Alternatives, follows four sisters, all doctors of various sorts. When one of the four goes missing, the others set out across the Irish countryside to find her. With the COVID-19 pandemic and general global instability in the background, the Flattery sisters have a lot to navigate. Haunted by their childhood

Susie (she/her) is a queer writer originally from Little Rock, now living in Washington, DC. She is the author of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You can find her on Instagram @susiedoom. View All posts by Susie Dumond Brought to you by Amazon Publishing In a city

Some writers have a gift for making ordinary lives as compelling as anything you’d find in an epic adventure. This ability to chart the human condition goes beyond technical proficiency or what we’d generally consider literary merit. Sunjeev Sahota has this gift, and his latest novel, The Spoiled Heart, wrings maximum emotional impact out of

This week, Kelly Jensen is on a well-deserved break, so we’re doing a more condensed version of her inimitable weekly censorship round-up: fellow editors Danika Ellis and Erica Ezeifedi have each picked a few of the censorship stories of the last week to highlight. Book Censorship News will be back to its regular programming with

The inimitable Nikki DeMarco is as well-traveled as she is well-read. Being an enneagram 3, Aries, high school librarian, makes her love for efficiency is unmatched. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, and is passionate about helping teens connect to books. Nikki has an MFA in creative writing, is a TBR bibliologist, and writes for Harlequin,

Often, cookbooks languish on our kitchen shelves, only to be referenced once in a blue moon—but the exuberant illustrations of Noodles, Rice, and Everything Spice: A Thai Comic Book Cookbook will have you turning to its recipes for years to come. In 2020, Thai Belgian cartoonist Christina de Witte sought to further connect with her

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. It’s Friday, the pollen count is out of control, and the vibes are all over the place. Here we go. CoHo, ACOTAR, Orwell? The last time 1984 popped up on bestseller lists, it was because a fascist

Rakuten Kobo has announced that it will be releasing its first color ereaders, the the Kobo Libra Colour and the Kobo Clara Colour. These ereaders will both Kaledio color screen technology, the latest in e-ink innovation. There will be a bit of a drawback that comes with th new subtle pastel color palette: the resolution

There’s nothing quite like scrolling the Am I the Asshole? (AITA) subreddit when you want a taste of gossip and a reminder that your life could be worse. It’s an eye-catching format, which is why it also makes for a great way to pitch a book. Recently on X/Twitter, romance novelists with books coming out

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. 🎶 Looks Like We Made It 🎶 Despite concerns that its sale to private equity firm KKR was “the beginning of the end”and a harbinger of billion-dollar-debt doom, Simon & Schuster has survived to see its 100th birthday. And S

It’s April, and you know what that means: the weather is all over the place. It feels like we switch seasons several times every day. Immediately after I turned off all the heaters, it began to get frosty. The best solution to this rapidly changing weather environment is layers…and might I suggest including some Book

Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside

Bestseller lists only tell one part of the story. They’re the old guard of book sales reporting, condensing down a week of sales from many different outlets into one ranking. But that’s not the only way to look at the popular books of the moment. in the digital era, we can see interest in a

A couple of times a year I fly to New York and make the rounds with Book Riot advertising clients. I ask them what’s going on with them, tell them about what’s going on with Book Riot, and in general keep in touch about how what we do can help them do what they want

Beyoncé’s new album, Cowboy Carter, has sparked a sometimes contentious debate about the nature and identity of country music. It’s an invigorating topic that has long been explored by writers and scholars. A number of excellent books, such as Charles L. Hughes’ Country Soul, Francesca Royster’s Black Country Music and Daphne Brooks’ Liner Notes for

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Simon and Schuster and…Zuckerberg?  There is a lot to digest in this deeply reported piece about the shortcuts Meta, OpenAI, and Google have taken to access data for training their models, but the nugget that really raised

What’s the difference between witchcraft and a miracle? According to The Familiar, beloved fantasy author Leigh Bardugo’s latest novel, the answer is simple: politics. This distinction is of life-and-death importance for Luzia Cotado, a scullery maid in a less-than-fashionable Madrid household whose milagritos, or little miracles, can lighten a heavy load or make flowers bloom

Welcome to Monday! If you’re celebrating the eclipse today, thanks for spending a little time with us here at Today in Books, too.  The Most Targeted Books of 2023 No real surprises here, and the consistency is part of the point. The ALA has released its report about the 10 most challenged books of 2023, and

In S.A. Barnes’ slow-simmering creepfest Ghost Station, the stress of deep space travel can do things to a person. If longtime spacers develop the condition called ERS, they’ll start to see things that aren’t there, hear voices that no one else hears. They sometimes turn irritable, even violent.  The story begins with Dr. Ophelia Bray,

Task #8 of the 2024 Read Harder Challenge is “Read a book in translation from a country you’ve never visited.” If you haven’t traveled much in your life, this will be easy! There are so many excellent books in translation from around the world. If you’re a seasoned traveler, you might find this one a

For many years, Icarus Gallagher has slipped into the dangerous Mr. Black’s mansion on opportune nights to steal priceless artworks and replace them with perfect forgeries created by Icarus’ father, Angus. Their strange mission is one of revenge: Mr. Black hurt Angus’ family, and so Angus has spent almost two decades trying to hurt Mr.

In some ways, Grant Snider’s Poetry Comics is exactly what you’d expect—a series of short narratives that combine lyrical words with cartoons. But in almost every other way, this collection manages to surprise readers at each turn of the page. Poetry Comics is loosely structured around seasons of the year, beginning in spring with tadpoles

The 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction has been announced. Out of the 445 eligible novels, this year’s judges, Xochitl Gonzalez, Alan Michael Parker, and Lynn Steger Strong, named What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez as the book that is a “first among equals.” In addition to the award, Ramirez will be granted $15,000,