Books

“We have all seen where these far-left thinking groups are going and taking our country. It will continue to get worse if we ALL don’t support each other and take a stand against what we know is wrong, honor God, and take a stand for our children and future generations. I thank you for your

The four Singh sisters help their twice-widowed father run the Songbird Inn, a quaint but charming vacation spot on Orcas Island, Washington. In the year after the Songbird wins an award for most romantic inn in the country, each member of the family finds themselves on the edge of romance. As they navigate relationships old

I don’t read the cover copy because I like surprises. The author has spent months, maybe years, writing this story. Working out plot holes and tweaking dialogue. They’ve workshopped it with friends and colleagues. They reorganized, edited, and revised, spending more time with these words than I will during my first reading. All this hard

Christina lives in Grangeview, Texas, population 12,000, where she’s used to being one of the only Asian American students in her classes. She’s dealt with teachers who struggle to pronounce her last name and classmates who make fun of her lunch. When she explains that her dad is from Thailand, another student corrects her: “I

I am a chronic re-reader, but I wasn’t always. In fact it wasn’t until college that I started to get sick of reading that my love for rereads began. I, like a lot of students, had started to hate reading because the only reading I had set time aside for was reading for school. Some

Banneker Terrace “ain’t pretty, but it’s home,” says Mimi of apartment 14D. In the opening story of Sidik Fofana’s debut collection, Stories From the Tenants Downstairs (6 hours), Mimi describes the Harlem high-rise as “one long gray-ass building, twenty-five floors, three hundred suttin apartments.” The laundry machines don’t work, and the trash chute smells. But

Amazon has been quietly making a series of changes to their Kindle policies regarding ebook returns, lending between users, ebook formats, and more. What’s afoot at Amazon, and what’s the future of Kindle? While the ebook giant may not be forthcoming with details about these changes, here’s what we know so far. Changes to Kindle

Author Marina Budhos has previously explored the experiences of immigrants, particularly Muslim teens after 9/11, in two acclaimed YA novels, Ask Me No Questions and Watched. We Are All We Have is set in 2019, after the U.S. Department of Justice implemented a zero-tolerance policy toward illegal immigration. The novel follows 17-year-old Rania, whose late

Before you dump a perfectly good pumpkin spice latte on your head while listening to Fleetwood Mac, please remember that there are better ways to get into the autumnal witchy mood. Reading a deliciously magical witchy romance, for instance, will do the trick! Time to put a spell on your bookshelf with romances featuring witches,

Mac Barnett and Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen take on the classic Norwegian fairy tale of comeuppance in The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Their rendition spends a notable amount of time with the tale’s villain, a remarkably creepy troll with spindly legs and pointy, fanglike teeth that protrude from his lower jaw. A skull dangles from

There’s a twist in the air, can’t you feel it? Just a moment ago, you were picking up a loaf of French bread from the local patisserie and all was well with the world, but now? Is that a sinister sneer from the vicar across the lane?  You think that perhaps you should carry on

You only think you know the story of the three billy goats who wanted to cross the bridge and the troll who tried to stop them. In The Three Billy Goats Gruff, acclaimed author Mac Barnett and Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen create a wickedly funny retelling that breathes new life into the classic story. The

Gabrielle Blair is the author of Ejaculate Responsibly, a new book out this week described as “moving the abortion debate away from controlling and legislating women’s bodies and instead directs the focus on men’s lack of accountability in preventing unwanted pregnancies.” On October 13th, she tweeted about some “book drama” happening around this title: several

Appalachia is a place that’s often ignored, forgotten or written over. When the region does become the subject of a book, as rarely as that may be, it’s frequently misrepresented. Barbara Kingsolver brings a notably different energy from her previous work to Demon Copperhead, a novel that dwells in the challenges of impoverished southern Appalachian

What is gothic lit exactly? People are sometimes torn — but there are certain commonalities. The main character is usually isolated, either in a mansion or cottage or boarding school, or in a world of characters who have knowledge they can’t access, or both. There are secrets. There’s a creeping, a suspense. The big twists

This deceptively simple picture book explores the emotions we feel when friendships end. Deborah Underwood’s story focuses on Walter, a rodent-ish fellow with white fur, round ears and a long pink tail. Walter’s best friend is Xavier, a yellow duck-like creature whose feet and flat beak are green. The two friends do everything together. They

This is the sort of list that’s basically impossible to make because: where do we start? The world of contemporary poetry is truly blessed when it comes to Black poets, who are out here praising and critiquing and messing with language in continually astounding ways. The 10 poets here are just some of the many

Patrick Radden Keefe is an expert in long-form journalism, and his particular specialty is the so-called “write around,” in which a journalist constructs a profile of an individual, even if that person can’t or doesn’t want to be interviewed. In Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks (15.5 hours), Keefe compiles 12 such

The only recipe I’ve ever known by heart is my mother’s recipe for breaded chicken cutlets with special sauce. This is how it goes: I crack an egg into a small bowl, pour in a splash of milk, and tap in salt and pepper. The milk spirals out in trumpet-like hibiscus blooms before I beat

Little Echo lives her life hidden away in the shadows of a cave. The bright yellow creature longs to join the cave’s other inhabitants as they frolic and play, but her terrible timidity keeps her silent and watchful. When someone loud, bold and adventurous stumbles into her cave on a quest for treasure, Little Echo

Many years ago as a teen, I heard a quote that really resonated with me: “The reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy.” Sam Levenson, an American humorist, said it, and I instantly understood it. My grandmother was so fun, but my mom was a drag. But

Light Skin Gone to Waste, Toni Ann Johnson’s sharply observed linked story collection, follows the lives of psychologist Phil Arrington, his second wife, Velma, and their young daughter, Maddie, as they move from the Bronx to suburban Monroe, New York, in the early 1960s. Educated, sophisticated and striving for something different, the Arringtons are also

Celtic mythology has been a source of inspiration for writers, artists, and historians for centuries. The tales of King Arthur and his knights are perhaps the most famous from the broad collection of stories that fall under the ‘Celtic mythology’ umbrella, but there are many other tales and characters that are just as fascinating, including

Marlene dreads Sundays, when she and her mom, Paola, spend most of the day at the salon undergoing the excruciating (and excruciatingly boring) ritual of getting their hair straightened. Marlene, who is Dominican American, has an imagination as vivid and untameable as her naturally curly hair, so she survives each week’s torture session by imagining

Superheroes have been around a long time, and most of the characters and genre conventions are pretty well established. But did every character always look and act the way we expect them to today? In this series, I’ll be looking at the first appearances of iconic superheroes to see what’s familiar, what’s fallen by the

As World War II recedes further into the past, Jonathan Freedland has revived one story from the Holocaust that’s both historically significant and a riveting read. Freedland, the author of several thrillers and a correspondent for The Guardian, writes with a novelist’s verve to tell the story of Rudolf Vrba, the first Jewish person to

If “book sanctuary” is a new phrase to you, it’s likely because it is a new phrase more broadly. Book sanctuaries are institutions committed to upholding the First Amendment Rights of all citizens, wherein book bans and challenges must follow through a specific procedure to be considered. They are places where books and the right

Author Elaine Castillo proposes an open-minded and inclusive approach to literature and film in her radical, refreshing book on critical thinking, How to Read Now (9 hours). Castillo urges writers and readers to understand that nonwhite characters don’t exist for the sole purpose of teaching empathy to white people, and that the excuse “it was

Barnes & Noble is currently holding a huge Buy One, Get One 50% Off sale applied to hundreds of titles, both in store and online. It includes classics like Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, bestsellers of the past few years like Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, and new releases like The Sacrifice by Rin

Magic! Murder! Shipboard romance! The second entry in Freya Marske’s beloved The Last Binding trilogy, the queer historical fantasy series that began with A Marvellous Light, is here. The most interesting things in Maud Blyth’s life have happened to her brother Robin, but she’s ready to join any cause, especially if it involves magical secrets