Books

In a fantastic collaboration between two top-notch institutions working against censorship and book bans, high school students across the country are invited to apply to and take part in the Freedom to Read Advocacy Institute. Brooklyn Public Library–named Librarians of the Year from Library Journal for their Books Unbanned program–and PEN America–a leader in tracking

The official trailer for Lionsgate’s Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret adaptation has been released. The new movie is based on Judy Blume’s iconic coming-of-age novel with the same name that follows preteen Margaret Simon as she contends with a new school and longings to fit in. The trailer shows Margaret (played by Abby

Flatiron Books publisher of Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell in this sequel to Ninth House, the smash bestseller by Leigh Bardugo. Thick with history and packed with Bardugo’s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world

In addition to a list of the Most Anticipated 2023 horror releases, Goodreads has also released a Most Anticipated list for Science Fiction and Fantasy. They note that 2023 will be a great year for speculative reading, with a mix of releases of very buzzy books and those by popular authors, like Salmon Rushdie, Chloe

While Merriam-Webster declared 2022 the year of “gaslighting,” hundreds of linguistic scholars from the American Dialect Society voted in the suffix “-ussy” as their word of the year. First, there was “bussy,” a portmanteau of “boy” and “pussy”. It was added to Urban Dictionary in 2007, and that entry claims it’s been around in LGBTQ

In 2015, Alex Gino published George, the story of a transgender 4th grade girl learning to accept herself and to come out to her loved ones. In 2021, to remedy their mistake of deadnaming the main character, Gino re-released the book as Melissa. Regardless of title, Melissa has made the American Librarian Association’s top ten

Self-help has been a booming genre for adults for decades, with books available that can teach us everything from how to boost our self-esteem, overcome addiction, and deal with mental illness to how to actualise our wildest dreams. Adults often buy self-help when we reach a turning point in our lives, or find ourselves in

Known for his novels exploring the wintry, rural lands of the Northeast including Sweet Hereafter and Affliction, as well as his award-winning work Cloudsplitter, which followed the life of abolitionist John Brown, author Russell Banks was considered by many to follow in the footsteps of other American authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman.

Anytime I’m having trouble focusing on reading, I love to pick up a cozy fantasy book to reset. They’re just pure joy in book form. If you’re not familiar with the genre, welcome to your new favorite fantasy sub-genre. The concept was relatively new to me as well, though I quickly realized these sorts of

It’s 2023, horror fans! Which means we have a whole new year of horror books to look forward to reading. January is starting off with a bang with a bunch of great new horror novels to choose from. Seriously, these books are a great way to start off a whole year of horror. Will you

Book censorship in school libraries continues to rise. A Texas school district pulled 41 titles from the shelves, including the Bible, to put them under further review. Missouri passed a bill that makes any text with “visual depictions” of “graphic material” illegal to have available in schools. This has caused the removal of many graphic

At the start of a new year, I’m always hopeful — nay, overzealous and unhinged — about how many books I can actually read in the whole year. But it’s so much fun to flip the page, start brand-new, and dive right into the challenge! And when I get behind on my reading goals, reading

Paperbacks are the ideal book format for me. There’s no screen glare. There’s no figuring out how or where to store a dust jacket. There’s simply a flexible binding and cover that allow for folding and curling pages. I know — many of you likely flinched at the idea, and that’s fine. You can keep

For a while, I thought I was an expert at recognising by the cover alone if a book was a young adult novel or a novel for adults. Then, one day, I picked up an audiobook I was absolutely convinced was YA, but got to such steamy scenes, that I had to stop in my

On the two year anniversary of the day when right-wing terrorist radicals attempted to overthrow American democracy, it seems fitting to talk a little bit about the groups across the country working to ensure democracy remains a fundamental right for every single person in this country. We’re deep into the second year of seeing books

Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting — who both starred in 1968’s Romeo and Juliet when they were 15 and 16, respectively — have sued Paramount Pictures for more than $500 million. The suit, filed Tuesday in the L.A. County Superior Court, alleges sexual abuse, harassment, and fraud. It comes as a result of the circumstances

These past few years have been good for fans of crime fiction and nonfiction. Lots of new names and voices are being published in the murder mystery world and podcast world, with television and movies following suit. However, as a mystery reader, I’ve shied away from a lot of the true crime. Initially, it was

In an email sent to victims on Tuesday, the office of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said that Filippo Bernardini, the Italian citizen who was arrested last year on suspicion of stealing unpublished books, is expected to plead guilty to wire fraud on Friday. For years, Bernardini used his insider

Have you seen Glass Onion yet?? It is a delightfully fun, weird, and silly mystery film, in which Daniel Craig reprises his Knives Out role as the genteel Southern detective Benoit Blanc. If you were comparing him to famous detectives, I’d say he’s a more humble and colorful Sherlock Holmes. A little bit Columbo, a

It’s January, which means it’s out with the Best Books of 2022 lists and in with the Most Anticipated Books of 2023 lists! Goodreads has gathered up the new releases already getting the most buzz in a variety of genres, including horror. They note that horror has increased in popularity in recent years, and that

It might be blustery out, and it might be cold and darker out than you’d prefer, but there is something to be celebrated about January. In addition to feeling the refreshment of a new year of possibility, there is excitement to be had with a whole slate of new books hitting selves. This winter 2023

Because New Year’s was on a Sunday this year, we’re taking today off to recover. But don’t worry, we’ll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, we wish you luck in your 2023 reading goals, and we hope your year is filled with a fireworks display worth of five-star reads.

Brandon Sanderson’s vast worlds, surprising plots, and wonderful characters have taken the sci-fi fantasy world by storm. However, even more authors like Brandon Sanderson are out there waiting for you to pick them up and read without delay. As a decade-long Sanderson fan, I have been recommending his books in the Cosmere, the Cytoverse, and

I am a huge fan of entertainment, so I don’t like to play the game of pretending that books are better than television or vice versa. Stories can be told in many different ways and formats and personally I think the more the merrier — although all the streamers are really starting to test this

As a huge fantasy fan, I always love when authors mix fantasy stories with other genres. Particularly when you get what I call magical mystery books! This sub-genre offers some of the most delightful and escapist stories you’ll read. Plus, they’re just plain fun with their mix of suspense, adventure, and magic. We’ve covered some

Back at the end of October, I attended an event called The RRAW Experience — in which the RRAW stood for Romance Readers And Writers (I love a good double entendre!). It was a day-and-a-half affair including author panels, workshops, fun and games, and a closing gala awarding some of the legends of romance. It

As readers, it can be a constant struggle to find space to store our book collections. And if you’re in a smaller space (or your books are housed in a smaller room) it can be difficult to make the best use of the space, or to find book storage solutions for small spaces that actually

Whether or not you believe in the power of a new year to change your life or your habits, there’s something to be said about the flipping of a calendar year to help you take stock in what is important to you and where and how you wish to grow in the coming year. As

I just finished a YA novel that I really enjoyed, and I went over to Goodreads to leave a rating. One of the top reviews said it was unreadable because of the amount of pop culture references in it, something I hadn’t noticed at all. Who do authors keep doing this, the review said; don’t

December is just about over and we’re in the final week of the year, and for many, that means curling up inside under the covers with as many books as you can get your hands on. And if you really want to escape the snow and cold weather, transporting yourself to whole new worlds can