Books

Pick your favorite period piece films and dramas to get a historical fiction recommendation! Whether your favorite thing about watching movies set in the past are the costumes, or the romance, or being immersed in a different time and culture, this quiz will give you a recommendation for a novel that appeals to your taste.

Barbara Chase-Riboud’s The Great Mrs. Elias is based on the life of Hannah Elias, a Black woman who made a name for herself in early 20th-century New York City real estate, accruing enormous wealth along the way. But in 1903, a murder takes place at Hannah’s opulent home, and her carefully constructed existence changes forever.

Honoring the finest works of translated fiction from around the world, the International Booker Prize has announced its 2023 shortlist. The prize is awarded every year to a single book translated into English and published in the UK and Ireland. It aims to encourage more publishing and reading of international fiction from all over the world

From the author of The Dutch Wife comes a riveting novel set during World War II about a woman who offers shelter to a Jewish baby, and her sister, who must choose between family loyalty and her own safety. Amsterdam, 1941. When the Nazis invade Amsterdam, singer Johanna Vos watches in horror as the vibrant music scene

First Nations have long since demanded, and advocated for, the return of Indigenous lands stolen by colonizers. The LANDBACK movement has been advanced by generations of Indigenous people, including the team behind the NDN Collective. Since its founding in 2018, the NDN Collective has established a three-part mission, each captured under a single word: Defend,

Have you ever known it was going to be a bad day from the moment you woke up? Crusty eyes, soggy cereal, itchy tags in your clothes—everything seems to go wrong. And that’s all before you even get to school! A line cutter in class! A missing pudding at lunch! A terrible case of the

There are a lot of great robots in science fiction. In fact, when you think of the science fiction genre, robots are on of the first things that comes to mind. But what makes a robot great? What makes for the best sci-fi robots from books? Is it their capability? Is it their personality? Or

When we think about how life will look in 10, 50 or 100 years, we might not consider the poetry that those societies will produce. But if we think about how those societies will look back at us, here in 2023, I would argue that these poetry collections are the perfect snapshots of our world.

I spend a significant portion of my day talking. Okay, the truth is I spend a significant portion of my day talking…to my cats. Spoiler: They don’t talk back. But wouldn’t it be great it they did?? I don’t think there’s any pet owner who hasn’t wished at one time or another that their pets

I’m Glad My Mom Died I’m Glad My Mom Died is a celebrity memoir, but even if you (like me) have never heard of actor Jennette McCurdy or seen a single second of “iCarly” on Nickelodeon, getting sucked into this frankly told and deeply nuanced story of a troubled mother-daughter relationship is almost inevitable. McCurdy’s

I requested to write this post because I have become a rabid fan of NBA basketball. My devotion to watching NBA games as an adult started during the second summer of the pandemic, when I watched the playoff finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns. There’s something so compelling about seeing people at

I like to think of myself as someone who will read anything and everything, as long as it interests me. Contemporary fiction? Sure. A good YA kick in the heart? Bring it on. Memoirs, essay collections, tell-alls, and cultural analysis? Start spilling all the tea. But one genre that I’ve always struggled with, pretty much

In the age of COVID-19, it is impossible not to appreciate how a virus can upend societies, reshape politics and divide populations. But what many of us do not know, and what Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues makes clear, is that viruses and bacteria have been integral to all of human

Roald Dahl’s books are being edited to make them less offensive. Joke is, nothing has really changed. No matter how many tweaks are made to try and push classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory into more politically correct territory, Dahl’s books are still harmful. There are a number of things that make defending Roald

People love an underdog story: A hero or scrappy gang of misfits prevailing against nearly insurmountable odds. But in Some Desperate Glory, author Emily Tesh takes this trope in a dark direction, illustrating how single-minded zealotry can spiral into overt fascism. Some Desperate Glory follows Kyr, a girl born into an extremist human sect living

Though we have been deep in the current wave of book bans for over two years, new groups and organizations continue organizing campaigns to raise awareness of the situation. There are so many big and small groups doing good work on the issue, and they have done tremendous work in not only ensuring that people

The subway train runs right past Nari’s lively New York City apartment building, and she imagines riding it to far-flung destinations that offer quiet spaces away from the bustling city and her boisterous family and neighbors. A beach, a forest, outer space—Nari envisions what it would be like to visit all these places and more.

If you want a peek into the workroom, the real T on the untucked lounge, and perspectives on what’s next in drag, check out these books by RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants and winners. These drag queens bring humor, heart, and plenty of originality from the main stage to the book page. Some of them even

If you are a fan of jaw-droppingly beautiful things, you have to check out Patchwork: A World Tour by textile designer and collector Catherine Legrand. I had never before thought about the similarities between, say, sampler quilts in the U.S. and kantha in India (cloth created out of stitched-together old garments); now I wonder how

A new volunteer group of library workers and advocates wants to help you get more involved in your community library. Libraries For the People aims to reach progressives by providing information about how to engage with their public library, advocate on its behalf, and help to ensure these public institutions remain viable amid ongoing interest

Have you ever wanted to visit space? Reading public astronomer Philip Plait’s Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer’s Guide to the Universe is the next best thing. Beginning with that closest rock, the moon, Plait describes at length what it would feel like to land on the lunar surface, from the bizarre sensation of shuffle-walking because

Mystery writer Anne Perry has died at 84. The author, born Juliet Marion Hulme, passed away in a Los Angeles hospital months after having a heart attack. A prolific mystery and crime writer, Perry published more than 100 books that collectively sold more than 26 million worldwide. But crime wasn’t only in Perry’s books —

Maude hasn’t spoken to Odette, her childhood best friend, in four years—ever since Maude’s magic “dried up.” But when Odette disappears and everyone assumes that she’s dead, Maude feels a mysterious pull toward Sicklehurst, an abandoned power plant that no one seems to be able to remember. As Maude enters Sicklehurst in search of Odette,

Montana’s House Bill 234 proposes changing the Montana Code Annotated to allow public school employees, public library employees, and museum employees to be charged up to $500 and six month’s of jail time if convicted of providing obscene material to children, as defined by Montana’s obscenity law. Where the law stands now, these employees can’t be

Maybe it’s the gaslight, maybe it’s the ever-present fog, maybe it’s the shadow of Sherlock Holmes looming over it all, but there’s something so very satisfying about a mystery set in the Victorian era. Here are 14 of our favorites—including some spectacular modern takes on Holmes himself.

Brittney Griner’s memoir is slated for a spring 2024 release. In it, the basketball star will detail her experiences being arrested and imprisoned in Russia. In February 2022, the WNBA All-Star flew to Moscow to play for the Russian women’s team UMMC Ekaterinburg, a common offseason activity for WNBA athletes that sometimes earns them almost

In Home Away From Home, Newbery Honor author Cynthia Lord returns to some of her signature storytelling themes: displacement, friendship, families, animals and summer. Fans of Rules, A Touch of Blue and Because of the Rabbit will enjoy learning about the intriguing animal at the novel’s center, a white gyrfalcon typically seen in the Arctic.

If you’ve been following book banning news, you recognize the name Llano County, Texas. They come up frequently in our Censorship News Roundup, including for banning In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak, barring community members from observing what should be public library board meetings, firing the library director, and more. Llano County library users also

In a society that elevates white people and heteronormative relationships, the word family has come to suggest a white dad, a white mom and their two white children living in the suburbs. In Choosing Family: A Memoir of Queer Motherhood and Black Resistance, however, DePaul University professor Francesca Royster provides a look at what family

Sometime in the early morning of April 7, an anti-book ban billboard in Abita Springs, Louisiana, was set on fire. The billboard was created by a woman involved with the St Tammany Library Alliance and designed by her trans child. It was meant to raise awareness of book bans in the Parish and it was