Books

Libby, a free app through which patrons can check out books from their local public libraries, has joined the book award game. This year, on March 12th at 7 pm EST to be exact, the Libby Book Awards — also called the “Libbys” — will be presented. The award-winners will be out of 17 categories

Valerie Martin’s captivating new novel, Mrs. Gulliver, lies just beyond the horizon. The year is 1954. Verona Island floats a longish ferry ride away from the mainland. Lila Gulliver’s clients enter through a side door behind a hedge, unseen from the street, though prostitution is legal on the island. Lila, who tells this tale, is

The adaptation of Shakespeare’s lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers story Much Ado About Nothing, titled Anyone But You, has grossed $189 million globally, making it the second highest-grossing live-action Shakespeare adaptation ever. The only other live-action adaptation of the Bard’s to beat it — if we aren’t counting 2019’s Lion King, since it is CGI — is Baz Luhrmann’s

An orphan and immigrant in the vast industrial city of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir has made a name for herself as the proprietor of Spindrift, an innovative teahouse situated at the intersection of the posh and working class sides of town. Alongside her adopted brother, Jin, Arthie is offering something unique at Spindrift—especially to the

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Suspense-thriller fans, take note! We’ve got an exclusive excerpt of The Guest by B.A. Paris today on Book Riot. And it’s Tuesday, so you know I’m picking the “it books” of the week. Keep a-scrolling! West Virginia House Passes

“What’s past is prologue,” Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest. Tommy Orange demonstrates the veracity of that line in Wandering Stars, his follow-up to There There, the 2018 debut novel for which he was a Pulitzer finalist. Few literary debuts are as chillingly of-the-moment as There There, which spanned a huge cast of Native American characters

Nimona by ND Stevenson is a bestselling graphic novel that came out in 2015. In 2023, the animated adaptation was released on Netflix, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. And now, the entire movie is available for free on YouTube! The movie is set in a medieval-inspired sci-fi world and

The shocking disappearance of four people infuses suburban Palmetto, Illinois, with confusion and fear in Melissa Albert’s gripping supernatural horror thriller, The Bad Ones. Among the missing is high school junior Nora Powell’s best friend, Becca Cross. As children, the duo established a creative partnership and spent hours in the woods together, with Nora writing

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View

It’s the Year of the Dragon! Fantasy books (and sometimes other genres, too) are filled with dragons, from classics like The Hobbit to genre-bending sci-fi like Phoenix Extravagant to swoon-worthy romantasy like Fourth Wing. We talk a lot about dragon books at Book Riot, both as their own lists and incorporated into other roundups. In

This originally appeared in our Today in Books daily newsletter, where each day we round up the most interesting stories, news, essays, and other goings on in the world of books and reading. Sign up here if you want to get it. ____________________________ LeVar Burton Signs Deal with Pantheon for Two Books One is going

This originally appeared in our Today in Books daily newsletter, where each day we round up the most interesting stories, news, essays, and other goings on in the world of books and reading. Sign up here if you want to get it. _____________________________________________________ Can You Name Sequels to These Best-Selling Novels? I count myself a

This originally appeared in our Today in Books daily newsletter, where each day we round up the most interesting stories, news, essays, and other goings on in the world of books and reading. Sign up here if you want to get it. ___________________________________ Cormac McCarthy’s Valentine Day Candy Hearts “Everywhere the dying groan and the

Anita Kelly dedicates their latest rom-com, How You Get the Girl, to “every queer and trans person in Tennessee. Your joy will outlive the cruelty of your government.” A teen librarian by day, Kelly knows intimately how remarkable educators can make all the difference in the world. Julie Parker is enjoying her first season as

Dictionary.com has released their updates for winter 2024 and reported that their lexicographers are updating their dictionary “more frequently than ever.” The latest update incorporates words, phrases, and meanings as they are used in the modern lexicon, rather than how some may think they should be used. There are 1,228 revised definitions, 173 new definitions,

In Olivia Dade’s witty and warm new romance, At First Spite, the incredibly named town of Harlot’s Bay in coastal Maryland is the perfect place to start over. That’s good because jilted, 37-year-old Athena Greydon has two graduate degrees, no job and nowhere else to go. Even before her broken engagement to man-child Dr. Johnny

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. WICKED Trailer Airs During Super Bowl I like musicals. And I like Wicked. But I have to admit that there as been this part of me that a) felt like the long-time-coming adaptation might never

In 1911, 12 Black men were delivered to the forest in rural Maryland and began building their new residence, the State Hospital for the Negro Insane. During its near century of existence, the hospital (re-named Crownsville) held patients in prisonlike conditions without offering them adequate medical attention, food, space or safety. In Madness: Race and

Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. And the Nominees Are… Award season rolls on with the recently revealed longlist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The ten nominees range from commercial hits (Emma Cline’s The Guest) to critical darlings (Catherine Lacey’s Biography of X)

Tia Williams’ bestselling Seven Days in June is to be made into a series for Prime Video with Felicia Pride as the showrunner and writer. Other recent projects of Pride’s include Bel-Air, Grey’s Anatomy, and Queen Sugar. The Seven Days in June series will also be produced by Honey Child, Pride’s production company. The story

Some parents have expressed concern about the new practice of asking for parental consent for Black History Month activities at South Florida school IPrep Academy. The permission form being sent out to parents ahead of Black History Month events asks them to sign off on their child participating in “…class and school wide presentations showcasing

The Clinic Celebrities in rehab: Newsworthy, if not especially surprising. Celebrities dying in rehab: front page, above the fold for at least a day, maybe even a week. But what about celebrities murdered in rehab? That’s the “what if” at the center of Cate Quinn’s deft new thriller, The Clinic. Let’s start with The Clinic

While we primarily focus on stateside bookish news, we thought some recent news on France’s reading habits was pretty interesting. According to the data from market research company GfK, 1 in 4 books sold in the country are comics. France’s affection for comics isn’t a recent thing — it is the home of immensely popular

If you asked romance author Tia Williams what her favorite genre is, you might be surprised to learn it is horror. In fact, she once took a yearlong class on Dracula, taking an interest in the mythology of immortality and the fearsome, seductive title character. Williams chuckles as she says, “I’d love to write [a

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Librarians Hold the Front Line “Punk-ass book jockeys” was intended to be an insult when Aziz Ansari’s Tom Haverford uttered it on a memorable episode of Parks & Recreation, but I can think of no

Kacen Callender dedicates their first foray into young adult fantasy, Infinity Alchemist, to “the younger me who always wanted to write a YA fantasy.” While this might make one imagine a teenage Callender dreaming of a future as an author, Callender explains it is actually in reference to their early days of their career, when

Margaret Kingsbury grew up in a house so crammed with books she couldn’t open a closet door without a book stack tumbling, and she’s brought that same decorative energy to her adult life. Margaret has an MA in English with a concentration in writing and has worked as a bookseller and adjunct English professor. She’s

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View