Books

Haunted by the death of her sister, Finola Shanahan has resolved that she’s not worthy of a family of her own and commits to spending her days caring for immigrants in the slums. Unwilling to consider marriage, Finola has perfected the ability to sabotage the relationships her parents arrange for her. At wit’s end, her

We’ve gotten Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2023 as well as Oxford’s, and now we have Dictionary.com’s pick! Perhaps unsurprisingly for a dictionary at home on the internet, it has more of a focus on technology than the other dictionaries’ picks. Dictionary.com’s 2023 Word of the Year is “hallucinate.” While “hallucinate” has multiple meanings,

Time to finish the year of 2023 (good riddance!) with one final round of book clubs this December. Every month, I try to find the most interesting, popular, and unique book clubs out there and round up for you what they’re reading. The beauty of this is you can join as much or as little

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

Tom Straw—the writer behind the bestselling real-life versions of TV character Richard Castle’s mystery novels—is kicking off a thrilling new espionage series with The Accidental Joe. Rockstar chef Sebastian Pike’s cooking travel show is the perfect cover for a covert CIA mission, even if Sebastian himself is less than thrilled with the idea. At least

The Atlantic has released its list of the 10 best books of 2023. The list, titled “The Atlantic 10,” is a roundup of books that not only made The Atlantic editors think, but were also compulsively readable. In an introduction to the list, the editors said, “This year’s selections include a narratively ingenious novel about the human

Danger, intrigue and a hell of a lot of blood are splashed across the pages of Carissa Broadbent’s gripping fantasy romance, The Serpent & the Wings of the Night. The first entry in Broadbent’s Crowns of Nyaxia duology, The Serpent & the Wings of the Night grants more nuance than usual to vampires, casting them

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

After decades of being a largely underserved area of scientific study, fungi are finally having their moment. The phenomenon feels not unlike the overnight appearance of a mushroom; all it took were the right conditions for the right fruiting body. The conditions: a reading public amid COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020, aching for connection. The

A couple of weeks ago, we covered the bestselling audiobooks of 2023. Now, the 30-plus-year-old bimonthly magazine AudioFile has released its annual list for the best audiobooks of 2023. This year’s list includes 53 titles spread out over nine categories: Fiction, Nonfiction & History, Biography & Memoir, Mystery & Suspense, Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror, Children

Author Ying Chang Compestine mixes a smart, clever heroine into her own take on the Rapunzel story, inspired by Chinese culture and food as well as Compestine’s own childhood. In a world of myriad fairy-tale retellings, Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu stands out as delightful, energetic and unique: a fairy tale you will

Last week, the New York Times released its 100 Notable Books of 2023. That wasn’t their only contribution to this year’s Best Books of Year list landscape, though: today, they posted their 10 Best Books of 2023. These are the five fiction and five nonfiction books that the staff of the New York Times agree

Happy Singh Soni is not, well, happy: He is longing for more. And, given his condition at the outset of Celina Baljeet Basra’s debut novel, why wouldn’t he be? His home, a Punjabi farming village that is being steadily encroached upon by an expanding theme park, is no place for a young man with ambition—of

It’s Black Friday, which means there are a lot of deals to sort through! We’ve gathered up some of the best Black Friday deals on Amazon for readers, including sales on ereaders, reading lights, bookish games, reading chairs, bookshelves, headphones for audiobook listeners, and even a KitchenAid mixer to pair with a good cookbook.

With the publication of exquisite literary gems like Foster and Small Things Like These, Irish writer Claire Keegan’s reputation among American readers is slowly, but steadily, growing. The three elegantly-crafted stories collected in So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men will only enhance that increasing regard. In the title story, Cathal, a

A line from Jessica Johns’ haunting, atmospheric and beautiful debut novel, Bad Cree, has been tumbling around in my head since I set the book down. “That’s the thing about the [prairie]. . . . It’ll tell you exactly what it’s doing and when, you just have to listen.” Johns’ protagonist, a young Cree woman

It’s Best Books of Year season, and the New York Times has just put out their contribution: 100 Notable Books of 2023. These are the books selected by the staff of The New York Times Book Review as the standouts among thousands of new books that they received this year. The list is split into

As long as piracy has existed, it has been shrouded in myth, legend and rumor, which compromises the reliability of primary texts describing its major figures. Author Katherine Howe tackles this historical pitfall in her newest novel, A True Account. Hannah Masury, nicknamed “Hannah Misery” by the clientele at the waterfront inn where she works

A Toni Morrison Treasury caters to preschoolers and young readers with a collection of eight children’s books that the late Nobel Prize-winning writer wrote with her son, Slade Morrison. Each one is illustrated by an artist chosen by Toni herself; they include Joe Cepeda, Pascal Lemaitre, Giselle Potter, Sean Qualls and Shadra Strickland. As Oprah

Having a group of friends means getting up to hijinks. Even hiding the dead body of a friend and pretending he’s still alive, and therefore eligible to win a Nobel prize, can be a fun group activity, as Noa Yedlin proves in her latest novel—though results may vary. Stockholm begins in Israel, where Avishay has

Michael Cunningham has used three timelines to great effect in his novels Specimen Days and The Hours, his acclaimed homage to Mrs. Dalloway. He does so once again in Day, which follows a Brooklyn family on the same April day over three years: 2019, 2020 and 2021. As Day opens, Isabel and Dan, in early

Addison Rizer is a writer and reader of anything that can be described as weird, sad, or scary. She has an MA in Professional Writing and a BA in English. She writes for Book Riot and Publishers Weekly and is always looking for more ways to gush about the books she loves. Find her published

After five unsuccessful Seasons on the marriage mart, Miss Adelaide Duveen has resigned herself to the notion that she’s destined to remain a spinster forever—a rather dismal prospect, but one that will allow her to concentrate on her darling cats and books. However, when she inadvertently stumbles upon Mr. Gideon Abbott engaged in a clandestine

Time has just posted their 100 Must-Read Books of 2023, which they describe as “fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that entertained and enlightened us.” It includes big books of the year like The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride, which won the National Book Award, as well as less well known titles, like The

Gardening Can Be Murder   Horticultural expert Marta McDowell has explored the links between writers and gardens in previous books about Beatrix Potter, Frances Hodgson Burnett and U.S. presidents. It’s only natural that she’s turned her attention to the ways in which gardens have played a role in mysteries. After all, she says, “In gardens, the

What is a man? And, still more important, what is love? These are the questions posed by Salar Abdoh’s latest novel, A Nearby Country Called Love. Manhood and the search for love bedevil Abdoh’s dispirited protagonist, Issa. Deported from the United States after years working a deadening hotel job, Issa has returned to his childhood

In Lynn Steger Strong’s stirring Flight, siblings Kate, Henry and Martin struggle to make it through the holidays after the death of their mother. Assembling at Henry’s home with their respective families for Christmas, they try to be cheerful while sorting out big issues like whether to keep their mother’s house. When the daughter of

Isabelle Popp has written all sorts of things, ranging from astrophysics research articles and math tests to crossword puzzles and poetry. These days she’s writing romance. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s probably knitting or scouring used book stores for vintage gothic romance paperbacks. Originally from New York, she’s as surprised as anyone that

Ivy Nichols O’Reilly has grown up in a wealthy family full of magic, fantastical creatures, and emotional abuse—but when her narcissistic mother arranges an unwanted marriage for her, the young witch reaches her breaking point. She drops out of college, changes her name to Georgette, and fees across the country with her best friend, a Wood

It’s November, and according to the retail calendar, that means it’s practically Christmas. There are some other winter holidays that are coming up sooner — Diwali is in just a few days, and Hannukah starts December 7th. In any case, like shopping malls, publishing likes to start celebrating early. You need those books on the