Books

A couple of weeks back, I shared a roundup of pending legislation across several states and at the national level which would ensure the right to read. There is another bill worth highlighting during this legislative session that is making positive progress in Connecticut. Senate Bill 2, called the Act Concerning the Mental, Physical, and

The Killers of the Flower Moon trailer was released today. Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated new movie is based on the book by the same name that shows how the Osage Nation — who were the richest people per capita in the world in the ’20s — were slowly killed off. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart,

In Archives of Joy: Reflections on Animals and the Nature of Being, French Canadian author Jean-François Beauchemin looks back, around and into the mystic, to great effect. His brief and often breathtaking reflections on creatures he has encountered throughout his life meld into a salve for the troubled, weary or distracted mind and will appeal

A recent poll asked 10,000 US and Canadian TikTok users between the ages of 18 and 45 if they are reading more because of BookTok, the bookish community on the social media platform. BookTok is widely believed to have driven a big bump in book sales and increased the popularity of reading in general. The

T.C. Boyle has never been afraid to torment his characters or draw from real life, and he does both in Blue Skies, putting his cast through just about every climate-related calamity to make the contours of the crisis so prominent that no one could miss them. He begins this bicoastal adventure—the action toggles between Florida

Researching and reading books for this piece has been an unexpectedly needed experience for me. I may be speaking for myself, but when I think of “Asian horror” my first thoughts are of works in translation and their movie adaptations that make me want to pour bleach on my eyeballs. And I say that as

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not immediately bring World War II to an end. Bestselling author Evan Thomas (Ike’s Bluff) explains why in his superbly crafted military and diplomatic history Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II. “This book is a narrative of how the

With Pride just a few weeks away, it’s time for library workers to start thinking about the where, how, when, and what of their book displays. We know that queer books remain among the most targeted in the current book ban ~curation~ wave and we also know that Pride displays have historically been among the

Geniuses seem to inhabit a world apart from mere mortals like us. But they don’t, as the irreverent and entertaining Edison’s Ghosts makes clear. Debut author and science writer Katie Spalding has mined history, biography and psychology to turn the cult of genius on its head, shining a sassy light on the idiosyncrasies of some

On Saturday, Twitter user bigolas dickolas wolfwood (@maskofbun) tweeted: read this. DO NOT look up anything about it. just read it. it’s only like 200 pages u can download it on audible it’s only like four hours. do it right now i’m very extremely serious. pic.twitter.com/Pzb2FWvFlg — bigolas dickolas woIfwood (@maskofbun) May 7, 2023 The

In 1881, Jacci Reed is only five years old when a man attempts to kidnap her from the steamboat her mother, Irena, works on. Badly wounded during the confrontation, Irena takes Jacci aboard the Kingston Floating Palace, a showboat tied up beside them. There, Jacci’s actor grandfather tends to her mother and Jacci gets a

Since its founding in 1917, the Pulitzer Prize has recognized excellence in journalism, arts, and literature. You can see the winners in all categories, including 15 Journalism categories, at the Pulitzer website. You can also watch the ceremony in full on YouTube below. [embedded content][embedded content] Here are the 2023 Pulitzer Prize winners in the

“When I love a song, there is almost always a moment that sounds like how I imagine truth to sound,” writes poet Amy Key in Arrangements in Blue: Notes on Loving and Living Alone. “It’s the moment in the song that touches the bruise you didn’t know you had, the aching, denied part of you.

There are dozens of censorship bills under consideration across the country. You can keep tabs on them and their status over at EveryLibrary, who have been diligently tracking them and getting people to write and show up to put an end to them. It will shock absolutely no one to see how many of those

In her first memoir, Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir From an Atomic Town, Kelly McMasters chronicled her happy childhood in a small blue-collar seaside community—and her horrified realization that nearby nuclear reactor leaks were causing cancer in numerous residents. McMasters again explores the notion of something dark and poisonous lurking beneath a bright, beautiful surface

The Illinois Senate has passed HB 2789, a bill whose terms dictate that state funding from public or school libraries that remove books from circulation will be withheld. As per the bill, the $62 million of funding that goes to the state’s libraries will only be eligible for said funding if they “adopt the American Library

Exercise—the simple act of moving our bodies and giving our cardiovascular systems a bit of a challenge—is fraught territory in American life. This is largely because we have a fitness industry, as we have industries for everything, and industry tends to cause as many problems as it solves. “The fitness industry is filled with life-hacks

A group of University of California at Berkeley (UCB) students are entering the second full week of occupying the school’s Anthropology Library, slated for closure. The silent protest organized by students has had them setting up makeshift beds among the library collections, and they plan to remain inside until the school agrees to keep the

People often ask, “When did you know you were going to be a writer? When did you decide?” I have many answers to this question, because being a writer is a way of moving through the world, a way of seeing, of hearing and, I’ve learned, believing. When I was last asked this question, in

In 1894, a group of women banded together to honor their history and legacy. These women, all white, established themselves as the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) in Nashville and set to work venerating the history of the Confederacy. UDC established both a national chapter and chapters throughout member states in the south, their

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do,” Eleanor Roosevelt once wrote. In journalist Shannon McKenna Schmidt’s detail-rich and revealing account, The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back, it is abundantly clear that the four-term first lady lived her words. Beginning as a Red

ThriftBooks, where teachers get FREE BOOKS! Buy 4 used books, get a 5th one free with ThriftBooks teacher-only promo code! Teachers, faculty, and staff members at accredited K-12 schools and universities, as well as homeschool instructors, childcare workers, and library staff can qualify for our educator program, ThriftBooks 4 Teachers™. Get more for less with

Like the garden at its center, poet Camille T. Dungy’s Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden blossoms in vivid hues, radiating love and illuminating the tangled roots of nature and ecology. Six years after she arrived in Fort Collins, Colorado, Dungy set out to reclaim a portion of her yard and convert it

Barnes & Noble is taking 25% off certain pre-order books, ebooks, and audiobooks with the code PREORDER25. The list of eligible books and audiobooks include popular series and books by bestselling authors. You can pick up the Bridgerton prequel Queen Charlotte by Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhines, the cozy fantasy sequel to Legends & Lattess

In Happy Place, New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry returns with a tender contemporary romance full of vulnerability, growth and love. Every year for the last decade, college sweethearts-turned-engaged couple Harriet and Wyn have joined their friends at a cottage in Maine for a weeklong getaway. It’s something they’ve always looked forward to—but not

The American Library Association has released their list of the top 13 most challenged books in 2022. This is usually a top 10 list, but several books tied for their spots this year, so it’s been expanded to the top 13. According to the ALA, “A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based

Angeline Boulley burst onto the YA scene with her bestselling, Michael L. Printz Award-winning debut, Firekeeper’s Daughter. Now the author returns to Sugar Island, Michigan, with Warrior Girl Unearthed. In this riveting companion thriller, Boulley places the niece of the protagonist of Firekeeper’s Daughter at center stage. Sixteen-year-old Perry Firekeeper-Birch has really been looking forward

Vashti Harrison, creator of Little Leaders, the bestselling illustrated nonfiction series, makes her fiction debut with Big, a simple yet immensely significant picture book. Harrison marshals her considerable talents for a story that celebrates a young Black girl’s aspirations and highlights how words have the ability to empower or to cause suffering. The book opens

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” as the saying goes. This expression celebrates acceptance, affirming that the appearance of a person or object doesn’t have to align with beauty norms to be lovely. It’s a refreshing theme that runs throughout The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption by art,

The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyers will be adapted for television by Lionsgate Television. The new Twilight show comes years after the film adaptation of the bestselling book series earned more than $3.4 billion internationally. Though the production is still in its earliest stages, what is known so far is that Sinead Daly (The Walking