Books

“I wake up very early,” says the unnamed protagonist of Nora Ericson and Elly MacKay’s picture book. Too early, the child’s father repeatedly echoes as he rouses himself from bed to make the coffee, wake the dogs but not the baby, and sit outside to watch the sun rise with his little morning companion.  Ericson’s

Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York is hosting Joan Didion’s estate sale from now until November 15. Included in the sale are all kinds of Didion’s possessions, including her iconic sunglasses, unused notebooks, decorations and artwork, portraits of the author, and more. Many of the lots are made up of her library, loosely divided by

A good old-fashioned yarn that spans generations and eras, A Generous Pour: Tall Tales From the Backroom of Jimmy Kelly’s traces the remarkable origins of a beloved Nashville, Tennessee, establishment: Jimmy Kelly’s Steakhouse. Mike Kelly, the restaurant’s current owner, tells the intriguing story of how his Irish immigrant family established a thriving restaurant business after

A Federal Court has blocked Penguin Random House’s acquisition of one of its main rivals, Simon & Schuster. The ruling by judge Florence Y. Pan was announced late in the day on October 31, but the full order is temporarily sealed to protect confidential information. The case has been watched closely by the publishing industry

These six outstanding volumes of verse will remind readers of the magic of language and the marvels to be found in everyday moments. A gift to celebrate growing older: Woman Without Shame by Sandra Cisneros Sandra Cisneros’ Woman Without Shame is an inspiring celebration of the self. The book’s 50-plus pieces are alive with wit

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist, is proud to announce the fifth annual Summer Scares Reading Program. Summer Scares is a reading program that provides libraries and schools with an annual list of recommended horror titles for adult, young adult (teen), and middle grade readers. It

The Shirley Jackson Awards recognize “outstanding achievement in the literature of horror, the dark fantastic, and psychological suspense.” Beginning in 2007, they award works in these genres according to format, including Novel, Novelette, Short Fiction, and Anthology. This year’s winners are all books published in 2021. Find more news and stories of interest from the

BookTok is a wonderful place to find all kinds of TikTok book recommendations, especially in the young adult and romance genres. There are always so many books to choose from and you can find just about any book you’re looking for. With everything from brand new releases to books that have been in circulation for

There’s a sentiment that I see travel around the internet quite a bit whenever something terrible happens to an area that is historically a conservative area, places that typically lean red when it comes to elections. These areas get hit by winter storms that they historically don’t get that takes out their electrical grid, or

I recently spent an entire month in Edinburgh, Scotland. I had the absolute pleasure of being cast in a gender-swapped, American folk musical retelling of Pride and Prejudice called Prejudice and Pride. I played Luke Charlton, a pastiche of Charlotte Lucas. After three weeks playing in Kansas City, the show went to play at the

The dangerous thing about this iteration of the book banning brigade is that they are using strategies and resources that weren’t around in decades earlier. While book banners in the 1990s and the 2020s both equate queer books/kids/teachers/etc. with pedophilia, they are finding this (mis)information and spreading it faster than they ever could in years

★ Berry Song A reverent and joyful celebration of berry picking, Berry Song is the stunning authorial debut of Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade, an enrolled member of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.  As a girl and her grandmother pick berries in the Tongass National Forest, located not far from the author-illustrator’s home

By now, you are most likely aware that her highness, Taylor Alison Swift, has bestowed a new album upon the people of Earth. Midnights is her tenth full-length album since the self-titled Taylor Swift was released in 2006, and while I’ve enjoyed her work since she shifted over from the country scene, I wasn’t really

I love subscription boxes. I consider it a person failing of mine that I will pay mightily to have a stranger send me things they have decided I want. But it’s like presents! I love presents! And I have to say, after spending an entire year reading only books from bookish subscription boxes, many of

When award-winning British journalist Simon Parkin (A Game of Birds and Wolves) dug through the National Archives in London looking for a story idea, he literally found one: A newspaper called The Camp was mistakenly folded between some pages. Produced by German and Austrian internees at a camp for “enemy aliens” during World War II,

There are a lot of reasons to increase one’s information literacy and as we age, it may become even more important that we review how to evaluate useful information from information meant to mislead. For some, we may also work with older populations and may want to consider how to help them improve their information

In 2010, oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Emperor of All Maladies provided a stunning history of cancer and medical scientists’ ongoing research into ways to overcome it. In 2016, he delivered a similarly breathtaking treatment of genetic biology in The Gene. Now, in The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the

Publishers in the U.K. say that books prices will likely rise. The increase is due to a rise in paper and energy costs, as well as the influences of Brexit. Founder of Jacaranda Books Arts Music, Valerie Branded, said that the cost of all formats of books were likely to rise 10-20%. This rise in

In 1778, when future U.S. president John Adams arrived in Paris to solicit aid for America’s revolutionary cause, most Frenchmen were disappointed that they wouldn’t be meeting with John’s older cousin Samuel, the renowned theorist and provocateur of American revolution. In spite of this past fame, the man some have called the most essential Founding

My friends get a glint in their eye every time they talk about a celebrity whose show they are really into or someone who did something despicable. And while I cheer and gasp in all the right places, I do feel a sense of not-caring creeping up my spine. I barely have time to stay

In her debut novel, Sign Here, author Claudia Lux presents a modern vision of hell as a capitalist bureaucracy of the most inane, obnoxious variety. Souls arrive in Hell on different levels, depending on how badly they sinned in their former lives. The worst of the worst head to what is known as Downstairs. Some

Kindred, written by MacArthur Fellow and award-winning author Octavia Butler, has been adapted into a drama series that will premiere exclusively on Hulu Tuesday, December 13. Kindred was first published in 1979 and later adapted into a graphic novel in 2017. It follows Dana, a Black woman living in California in 1976. After celebrating her

Quinta has spent the seven years since her mother died searching for a curiosity shop called the Vermilion Emporium. With her last breath, Quinta’s mother gave her a vial of moonshadow and told Quinta that she would find its purpose there. When she finally finds the magical shop, it’s down an alley and around a

I didn’t used to read manga — or romance, or fanfiction. Despite happily consuming YA contemporary and other book that are often judged by literary snobs, I had my own genre hangups. I wasn’t a romance person — until I read Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert and I realized how good it

Peyote Trip is an office drone on the Fifth Floor of Hell, which resembles a particularly soul-crushing corporation. But a promotion is within Peyote’s grasp, and all he has to do is snag a fifth soul from the wealthy Harrison family. Peyote sets out with Calamity, his potential new workplace bestie, to snare his final

The Young Adult Library Services Association has announced their Teens’ Top Ten winners of 2022. These books were nominated and voted on by teenagers (ages 12-18) in book groups in 16 schools and libraries, and all the titles were published in 2021. YALSA also has an annotated version of the list available for download, making

Kevin Chen’s dark and eerie novel opens with a question: “Where are you from?” This seemingly simple question reverberates throughout Ghost Town, and though its many characters are all desperate for an answer, satisfaction eludes them. Watching them try—as they tumble through their lives and wrestle with their complicated relationships to both home and family—makes

October is witchy season, of course, but that doesn’t just mean fantasy novels or paranormal romance — it also extends to real-life witches. Presumably, that’s why a ton of witch nonfiction is on sale right now on Amazon, from history books to witchy interior design to spell books. There’s no indication of how long this

When the sun sets in the forests of Hemlock Falls, a heavy mist rises, bringing with it a host of horrifying creatures. From banshees to were-beasts, these living nightmares exist to wreak terror and destruction and must be killed or contained within the boundaries of the forest. If they were to escape, they would destroy

Don’t check that calendar: it is only October, not the end of the year. Regardless, many outlets seem to be racing to see who can release their best of the year lists fastest. Barnes and Noble already posted their Best Books of the Year list earlier this month, but they have just posted a separate