Books

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. The New York Times Best Books of the 21st Century is Moving Units I have gotten emails from booksellers and librarians (and regular book buyers and borrowers too) that The New York Times Best Books

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, author of the National Book Award finalist The Undocumented Americans, has a lot in common with the titular protagonist of her debut novel, Catalina. Like Villavicencio did, Catalina attends Harvard as an undocumented student, and her broad ambitions could easily be imagined as the precursor to Villavicencio’s success. With the recent prevalence

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

New York City’s East Side at the turn of the 20th century comes vibrantly alive in The Incorruptibles: A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld. In the late 1800s, Eastern European Jews began fleeing Germany’s pogroms and Russia’s Pale of Settlement, the largest ghetto in history. The East

A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you the spreadsheet I keep of the queer books that have come out so far in 2024 — more than 600 of them, in fact. I’ll let you in on a little secret, though: that’s an edited list. In my personal spreadsheet, I have a column for

We are inundated by media updates about global warming, from statistical warnings and satellite images to news and weather reports on the latest storms, fires and floods. These ever-present alerts often focus on what’s happening to the land, but what about threats to the unique ecosystems of our oceans? This vast water world is the

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. On the Life-Changing Joy of Re-Reading Books I hardly ever re-read books. It’s not that I am against it of course. It is only that there are so many books that I have not yet

Who doesn’t love a friendly little ghost? Readers will fall in love with the delightful hero of Wolfgang in the Meadow, who yearns to be a master of causing fright, but whose happy place is basking in the wonders of a nearby meadow. When he’s not casting spells and “twirling in the air,” Wolfgang loves

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century: The Readers Make Their List The content bonanza that is The New York Times’ List of the Best Books of the 21st Century continues with the most

R. Eric Thomas reflects on the experience of returning home in his funny, forthright Congratulations, The Best Is Over!. Accompanied by his partner, David, a Presbyterian minister, Thomas leaves Philadelphia and goes back to Baltimore, Maryland, where he grew up, only to find a once-familiar landscape very much altered. In this inspired collection, he showcases

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Free George R. R. Martin from The Winds of Winter As part of “Spicy Takes Week” at Polygon, Maddy Myers takes a new angle on the unprecedented situation George R.R. Martin finds himself in. Rather

How do you like your horror? Perhaps you’re a fan of creeping dread, or gory goings-on are more your speed? The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power, editor Terry J. Benton-Walker’s anthology featuring authors of color, explores a variety of tropes for readers who enjoy disturbing, thought-provoking fare. Despite their

Amazon Prime Days are happening July 16th and 17th, and they include a whole lot of book deals. Check out our guide to the best Amazon Prime hardcover and paperback deals as well as our ebook deals of the day for sales in all genres. If you’d rather skip to just the horror books, we’ve

Newbery Medalist Erin Entrada Kelly is having a big year. Following the March publication of her eighth middle grade novel, The First State of Being, she’s releasing a new illustrated chapter book, Felix Powell, Boy Dog. Fans of Kelly’s previous chapter book series featuring Marisol Rainey will instantly recognize Marisol’s friend, Felix Powell, and both

Here’s what’s going on today on Book Riot: 8 Page-Turning Books With Short Chapters To Keep You Hooked Short chapters come in really handy as I can quickly maneuver through them. I end up starting multiple new chapters and feel the reward circuit in my brain smiling triumphantly. If you’re looking for books with short

Alisa Alering’s debut, Smothermoss, is a novel of violence, trust and the landscape of Appalachia. The mountains and hollows, the moss, quartz, water and trees are all painted in their full aliveness. In the 1980s, Sheila, Angie and their mother are trying to figure out how to survive. Working long shifts at the asylum, their

The publishing industry definitely did not get the message that the dog days of summer are here. It was a busy week! Here are the most-clicked stories from this week’s Today in Books coverage. NYT Names the 100 Best Books of the Century (So Far) The New York Times polled more than 500 “literary luminaries”—including Roxane

Next week, I’ll be sharing the results of the Our Queerest Shelves Halfway Check-In Survey, but today, I wanted to chat with you about my answers to the questions about my favourite new and backlist queer books I’ve read in 2024. And while we’re at it, I’ll also answer some questions from the Halfway Check

On the first morning of preschool, Ravi comes downstairs wearing ladybug wings and antennae. When he refuses cornflakes for breakfast, his mother tells him that it’s actually a bowl full of “aphids,” leading him to slurp it down. Later, when she suggests that Ravi brush his teeth, he replies, “Ladybugs don’t have teeth . .

Katie’s parents never told her “no” when she asked for a book, which was the start of most of her problems. She has a BA in Creative Writing from Lake Forest College and is working towards a master’s degree in library science at U of I. She works full time at a public library reference

Drew Beckmeyer’s The First Week of School is a game changer, an exceptionally creative back-to-school book that practically turns the genre on its head. It’s full of droll humor that will appeal to readers young and old. As the title suggests, it chronicles a first week inside an elementary school classroom, offering a bird’s-eye view

January 7, 2025 would have been Zora Neale Hurston’s 134th birthday, and now it will be the publication date of The Life of Herod the Great, a novel Hurston was still working on when she died in 1960. Per a release, the novel “brings first-century BC Judea to vivid life, and portrays Herod the Great

With Bibsy Cross and the Bad Apple, award-winning author Liz Garton Scanlon launches a new chapter book series starring a lovable protagonist “with a whole lot to say.” Eight-year-old Bibsy loves school and learning (especially about science), and she has adored all of her teachers—that is, until third grade, when her teacher is stern Mrs.

With the first half of the year firmly in our rear view — and all the subsequent “best of the year, so far” lists published — it’s time for the Book World to turn our eyes to the rest of the year. LitHub is among the first to toss their hat in the ring with

Once upon a time, we didn’t have cell phones. Emergency Quarters, written by Carlos Matias and illustrated by Gracey Zhang, takes us back to those days, while coming with a perfectly worded note for those young enough to not remember technology-free days. Emergency Quarters follows Ernesto through his first week of going to and from

Katie’s parents never told her “no” when she asked for a book, which was the start of most of her problems. She has a BA in Creative Writing from Lake Forest College and is working towards a master’s degree in library science at U of I. She works full time at a public library reference

July is Disability Pride Month! It celebrates the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. Roughly one in four U.S. Americans have a disability, “representing all abilities, ages, races, ethnicities, religions and socio-economic backgrounds.” Despite how common disability is, disabled people are still underrepresented in all kinds of media,

Joseph Nightingale, nicknamed Fearless after a moment of heroism during the Bosnian conflict, is a British war photographer who was in Nairobi during the August 1998 attack on the U.S. Embassy. While he was away, his pregnant girlfriend, an award-winning investigative journalist, was killed in an automobile accident. As Praveen Herat’s gripping debut political thriller,

We cover a lot of news here at Book Riot. These are the stories readers found most interesting this week, accompanied by my commentary. The Most-Anticipated Most Anticipated Summer Reading List The Millions‘s seasonal preview lists have been a staple of the bookish internet since well before BuzzFeed popularized the idea of the listicle, and

Every week for the Tuesday edition of Our Queerest Shelves, I put together a list of the most exciting new LGBTQ books out that week. Since I first started keeping track of upcoming LGBTQ new releases, this list has grown and grown. I follow a ton of different queer book blogs as well as Bookstagram,