Literature

Playwright and director Mai Sennaar’s debut novel, They Dream in Gold, crackles. Her prose is elemental, flowing like a river at times, then burning like fire, heightening the reader’s senses until all five mingle into one. Over the course of 400 pages, Sennaar moves swiftly back and forth across continents and generations to tell a

Welcome to Today in Books, our round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Here are the biggest stories from the last week. 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)

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. The 2024 TikTok Award Winners Since the biggest TikTok books sell hundreds of thousands of copies, one could argue that the cash is the prize of being a BookTok favorite. But apparently you can get

Sony is adapting Liz Moore’s novels The Unseen World and The God of the Woods, which we just wrote about as being Thee Book of the Summer. The plan is for both adaptations to be developed as series, with the same executive producers as Sony’s adaptation of Liz Moore’s Long Bright River: Neal H. Moritz

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. The Reading Revolution: How the Literary Sphere Took Over I have been trying to figure out why book sales have been on a tear over the last few months, to the point of even asking

One evening in 2020, I happened across a Twitter thread miles long. The original post had been yet another news item about the far-right conspiracy theory known as QAnon, and the replies were flooded with grieving users telling stories of loved ones who had all become so entrenched in the theory’s dark fever dreams that

Harris books are moving, Hugo culls fraudulent votes, N.K. Jemisin on the literature of survival, and more. Kamala Harris Book Sales Soaring A 60,000% increase in book sales means (at least) two things are true: enormous surge in interest and a low starting point. If Harris were selling 1000 copies a week, say, before Biden

For weeks, Phoebe Mendel has woken up, eaten pancakes with her mom, played Scrabble with her dad and gone to bed hoping the next day will come. It never does. Phoebe’s stuck in a time loop—one that keeps her trapped in the same dry summer day, alone in the repetitions. That is, until her old

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