Books

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,

MCD/Farrar, Strauss and Giroux have announced a surprise fourth book in Jeff VanderMeer’s hit Southern Reach series. The new book, titled Absolution, comes 10 years after the books from the award-winning series — Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance — were first published. It takes place in the familiar Area X, and is described by VanderMeer as

This originally appeared in our Today in Books daily newsletter, where each day we round up the most interesting stories, news, essays, and other goings on in the world of books and reading. Sign up here if you want to get it. ________________________ The Best Books of 2024 (So Far) I am linking to this

Margaret Kingsbury grew up in a house so crammed with books she couldn’t open a closet door without a book stack tumbling, and she’s brought that same decorative energy to her adult life. Margaret has an MA in English with a concentration in writing and has worked as a bookseller and adjunct English professor. She’s

Patricia Thang is an educator located in Los Angeles. Though a native Angeleno through and through, her heart also belongs to Tokyo, where much of her family is from. Besides books, she is an enthusiastic devourer of many things, including podcasts, television, and J-pop. She realizes there’s not enough time in the world to consume

Eileen’s primary literary love is comic books, but she’s always on the lookout for her next literary adventure no matter what form it takes. She has a Bachelor’s in media studies, a Master’s in digital communication, a smattering of published short stories, and a seriously cute dog. Follow her on Bluesky. View All posts by

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View

Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her

We’re a quarter of the way through the year, if you can believe it, which makes it a good time to look back at the state of books so far in 2024. Goodreads has just released a list of 51 Nonfiction Hits of 2024 (So Far), separated into Essays, Memoirs, History & Biography, Science, and

In his haunting debut, Death Row Welcomes You: Visiting Hours in the Shadow of the Execution Chamber, Tennessee journalist Steven Hale sheds light on a rarely seen part of American society: the places where more than 2,700 people await execution by the state. Hale’s reporting began when, after a decade-long lull, Tennessee began executing the

In his haunting debut, Death Row Welcomes You: Visiting Hours in the Shadow of the Execution Chamber, Tennessee journalist Steven Hale sheds light on a rarely seen part of American society: the places where more than 2,700 people await execution by the state. Hale’s reporting began when, after a decade-long lull, Tennessee began executing the

MacArthur fellow and National Book Award finalist Hanif Abdurraqib is a prolific poet and author, writing across genres of poetry, essay and cultural criticism to great acclaim. Abdurraqib turns his sensitive lens towards basketball in his newest work, There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension. With carefully constructed and imaginative prose, he immerses us

MacArthur fellow and National Book Award finalist Hanif Abdurraqib is a prolific poet and author, writing across genres of poetry, essay and cultural criticism to great acclaim. Abdurraqib turns his sensitive lens towards basketball in his newest work, There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension. With carefully constructed and imaginative prose, he immerses us

Early in the shattering true crime memoir Rabbit Heart: A Mother’s Murder, A Daughter’s Story, Kristine S. Ervin pauses mid-sentence to tackle a question of grammar. Which tense does one use when discussing a relationship in which one person has died? It is a question that seems to form the crux of this stunning debut: