Happy Friday, book lovers. A particularly good line-up for you today on Book Riot:
I still can’t resist a good bookshop-based novel. Traveling to distant lands, magical or otherwise, is all well and good. But for me, nothing beats the magic that can be found in a brick-and-mortar shop just bursting with books.
They’ve since compiled that list and released it, and while there is, of course, some overlap between the initial round-up they released and the readers’ list, they’ve allowed for the newer list to be sorted to exclude duplicates. Looking at this latest round-up, there does seem to be a bit of recency bias, but there are also more YA books included compared to the first list, which only had one (Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi). There still aren’t any books categorized for readers younger than that, though.
I feel like I say this all the time, so if you’ve ever listened to me talk, you might have heard me say this before. But I’m going to say it anyway. I’m so enamored with author Akwaeke Emezi’s range. Every book I’ve read of theirs has been so different in terms of genre, themes, and subject matter. Still, no matter what direction Emezi goes with, they absolutely nail it every time. The Death of Vivek Oji, however, will always be my favorite, and it’s also one of my favorite books of the 21st century. This story was so heartbreaking and so compelling. Back in 2020 (phew, that was ages ago), I named this my favorite book of the year. Now here we are in 2024, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
It’s important to point out that what makes a good fantasy book does not always make a good fantasy audiobook. So, I took into account how the narrator or narrators sounded at regular speed as well as 2x, 3x, etc. Sometimes a narrator sounds excellent, and then you want to get through the chapters a bit faster and realize you cannot understand them at all in 2x. I also took accessibility into account so all the fantasy audiobooks for adults included in this list can be found on Spotify Premium, Libro.fm, Audible, and Audiobooks.com.
This week’s list of the most-read books on Goodreads has shifted dramatically from last week! Get ready for a whole new batch of titles you’ve never heard of! I’m kidding. It’s identical, except two books have swapped spots. But which two?? You’ll have to read on to find out!
“While threats and harassment were not an increased issue for me this year, the “soft censorship” of Pride from libraries, schools, and other institutions has negatively impacted every LGBTQ+ author I know,” said author Sarah Prager, author of four books, including Queer, There, and Everywhere: 27 People Who Changed the World. Authors saw fewer opportunities to take part in library events, in person or virtually, and performers like those who offer Drag-themed events were extended fewer invitations. In places where there were targeted attacks on Pride-themed displays or events, those stories rarely made the media. Part of that may be attributed to libraries wanting to avoid further harassment, and part of that may be the fault of the media, which has not only buried many of these democracy-forward stories under paywalls but also given up coverage of such stories for a variety of reasons.