Books

The America Library Association reported 729 book challenges in 2021 that impacted nearly 1,600 titles, the highest number of challenges the organization has recorded in 20 years. Despite this increase in challenges, only 43% of the librarians who took the School Library Journal’s (SLJ) 2022 Controversial Books Survey reported facing a formal book challenge— which

Lizzie Blake knows that she’s a lot. A lot of energy and enthusiasm. A lot of creativity and vibrant warmth. But also a lot of mess and chaos. Her attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder can make things difficult, given that she lives in a world built for people whose brains don’t function like hers. After a lifetime of

Author Peter Straub died this past Sunday in Manhattan due to complications of a broken hip. Straub, born in Milwaukee on March 2, 1943, was a popular horror novelist with a somewhat unorthodox pedigree— before turning to writing about the fantastical, he had published short collections of poetry. Although he was reluctant to label his

Poet and author Ander Monson has seen the 1987 movie Predator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger on the run from an alien in a Guatemalan jungle, 146 times. To explain why, he wrote Predator: A Memoir. Through a scene-by-scene exploration of the film, which he describes as “satire wrapped in gun pornography,” Monson reckons with his lifelong

Barbara Ehrenreich was an author, journalist, and activist who published more than 20 books, including Nickel and Dimed, which documents several months she spent working the lowest-paying jobs in the U.S.A. and trying to survive on that income. She wrote articles and book reviews for a wide variety of publications, including The New York Times,

The much-awaited series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is premiering today at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET on Amazon Prime with two episodes. Fans of Tolkien’s Middle-earth—or curious newcomers—can sign up for a free 30 day Prime trial to watch the new series. The Rings of Power takes place

The story is performed in the Inverted Theater, which exists outside of time and can only be visited while one is dreaming. An unnamed spectator sits in the audience and is told that this story is a love story. It is summer, as it always is in the Old Country, and one fateful night, the

A new Missouri law has made it a misdemeanor for a school employee to provide “explicit sexual material” to minors, which could come with up to a year in jail and $2000 in fines. The law applies to images only, such as in graphic novels, and does not apply to material with “serious artistic significance,”

For the third year in a row, USDish.com is looking for a fan to watch 13 movies based on Stephen King novels. If selected, the fan will receive $1,300, a swag bag with a $350 value—which includes a FitBit—and tickets for the 2023 premier of Salem’s Lot. The only thing USDish.com asks in return is

On August 22nd, the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District (GCISD) voted on a lengthy set of guidelines that included prohibitions against so-called “Critical Race Theory” in schools as well as chosen pronouns and promotion of “Gender Fluidity.” It’s been dubbed the “Don’t Say Trans” policy by some opponents. BREAKING: the Grapevine-Colleyville school district board (GCISD), my

Fantasy and paranormal romance are booming, the rom-com revival shows no signs of stopping and a new wave of angsty love stories is about to hit. This autumn will boast an absolute bounty of love stories.  Aphrodite and the Duke by J.J. McAvoyDell | August 23 And lo, the “Bridgerton”-inspired romance novels have arrived. J.J.

If you’ve been seeing the chatter on Twitter about Barnes & Noble not stocking debut hardcovers, you’re not alone. Writers recently sounded the alarm after hearing from various sources (other writers, B&N reps, former B&N employees, other industry professionals, etc.) that the chain’s stores would only be stocking hardcovers that had proven sales records. When

Some of our most beloved, stalwart series return and a handful of promising sleuths make their debuts in the mysteries and thrillers we’re most excited to read this autumn. Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna RaybournBerkley | September 6 The author of the Veronica Speedwell series, which are easily some of the best historical

PEN America has analyzed the state of educational gag orders in the United States as of August 2022 and release a report sharing its findings. Educational gag orders are defined as efforts to legally restrict education on topics like race, American history, gender, and LGBTQ+ identities in K-12 and higher education. PEN America’s report outlines

Fantasy romance has gone fully mainstream, some of the brightest new voices are taking surprising new directions and vampires might be back? This fall’s science fiction and fantasy offerings are practically too good to be true. Babel by R.F. KuangHarper Voyager | August 23 R.F. Kuang’s standalone historical fantasy novel might be her most ambitious

In an interview with Vanity Fair, George R.R. Martin spoke about the new Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, but he also commented on how he and his work is discussed online. Martin said he has “given up on any hope of predicting the end” of the Song of Ice and Fire

Inspired by true events, The Half Life of Valery K takes readers to 1963 Soviet Russia, where a secret project threatens nuclear disaster. Scientist Valery Kolkhanov has spent years in a Siberian gulag focused only on his own day-to-day survival. When he is summoned for a special assignment, he assumes it will be his execution,

One of the biggest Barnes & Noble sales of the year has started and is offering 50% off hundreds of books, board games, planners, and more. Among the books offered are fiction, nonfiction, new releases, audiobooks, YA, and kids’ books. Below are some of the most popular titles offered. The prices listed factor in the

After the publication of her landmark 2018 book Dopesick, which featured six years of reporting about how the opioid crisis affected families in her adopted hometown of Roanoke, Virginia, Beth Macy vowed to herself, “I’m not writing about this again.” Her physician feared Macy might have PTSD after bearing witness to so many tragic deaths,

I really wish folks would get the whole story before they go running around spreading inaccurate information. People are just so eager to create a villian or miscarriage of justice or something to make them feel better — Larry White, Executive Director* An anonymous source reached out to me the morning of July 15, stating

Alexis Hall leaps from the world of contemporary romantic comedies to the realm of Regency romance with A Lady for a Duke (15.5 hours). Justin de Vere, the Duke of Gracewood, has been moping around his family’s country estate ever since his closest friend died at the Battle of Waterloo. What Gracewood doesn’t realize is

Narrator, author, and popular historian David McCullough died this past Sunday at his home in Hingham, Massachusetts. Before passing away at 89, millions knew McCullough as an award-winning author and TV host. McCullough’s writings were greatly celebrated, winning him Pulitzer Prizes for his biographies of two U.S. presidents— for Truman in 1992 and for John

★ Invisible A fresh and cleverly conceived take on the beloved 1985 film The Breakfast Club, Invisible is a colorful and engaging tale written by first-time graphic novel author Christina Diaz Gonzalez and illustrated by Gabriela Epstein (Claudia and the New Girl).  Diaz writes in both English and Spanish, the languages spoken by her archetypal

Jamestown Conservatives, a right-wing group in Jamestown Township, Michigan, is responsible for helping defund their public library. After a year-long battle with the Patmos Library, which has included the departure of the Library Director Amber McLain after a harassment campaign by the group, the library did not win its primary ballot measure to renew its

In Craigslist’s “Missed Connections” section, you can almost always find a titillating headline or two, something like “Goth Woman in Piggly Wiggly Produce Section” or “Saw You at Six Flags’ Drop of Doom, May 17.” We all have a story about the one that got away, but not everyone takes that obsession to the lengths

The San Lorenzo Library in California held a Drag Queen Story Hour event in June for Pride Month with Panda Dulce. The event was disrupted when the Proud Boys — a white supremacists group that is designated as a terrorist group in Canada and New Zealand — marched into the library and began shouting slurs and

Many of us feel trapped in a grind of constant change: rolling news cycles, the chatter of social media, our families split along partisan lines. We feel fearful and tired, on edge in our bodies, not quite knowing what has us perpetually depleted. For Katherine May, this low hum of fatigue and anxiety made her

When you’re a spy, regime change is tricky. Even positive shifts can make for treacherous times. Two novels uncover the messy, uncertain lives of intelligence operatives in times of tectonic political change: Allison Montclair’s The Unkept Woman explores English life after World War II, at the dawn of the Cold War, while Dan Fesperman’s Winter

I am the absolute last person who needs this information so please, let me pass it on it on to you: The Center for Fiction has announced its longlist for the 2022 First Novel Prize. The longlist is twenty-four books long, narrowed down from more than 140 titles that have been or will be published

In The Half-Life of Valery K, the titular Soviet scientist is released from a Siberian prison and transported to a town called City 40, which seems to be absolutely suffused with unhealthy levels of radiation. The most frightening thing? As Natasha Pulley reveals, towns like City 40 really did exist. In the 1960s, across the