Literature

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
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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
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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
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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 . .
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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,
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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,
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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
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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,
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Hello, mystery fans! Welcome to another edition of the Unusual Suspects newsletter! While I am not the biggest fan of rehashing old properties—*points at all the incredible new writers waiting for a shot*—I did grow up a huge fan of the everything-goes-boom action comedy films and a big Eddie Murphy fan, so I am absolutely
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Rosena Fung’s latest graphic novel, Age 16, explores the complicated relationships between three generations, jumping in time between the experiences of three 16-year-old girls: Roz in Toronto in 2000; her mother, Lydia, in Hong Kong in 1972; and Roz’s grandmother, Mei Laan, in Guangdong in 1954. How did you come up with the narrative structure
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