Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Let’s Get Critical In advance of the National Book Critics Circle Awards coming up this Thursday, members of the NBCC board have been sharing short reviews of the 30 finalists, and the good folks at LitHub
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Forgiveness, memory, loss and the vicissitudes of love are among the recurring themes of A Year of Last Things, Michael Ondaatje’s exceptional new collection of poetry. More than a decade has passed since Ondaatje, who shared the 1992 Booker Prize for his novel The English Patient, published a book of poems. The return is welcome,
Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over
In Root Fractures, Diana Khoi Nguyen’s second collection of poems, the speaker is haunted by echoes of the past that reverberate into the present, and by generational, individual and collective traumas. In deft and surprising ways, the forms of the poems interact with their content, both shaping and breaking it. The poems center on the
During Thursday, March 14, 2024’s Autauga-Prattville Public Library board meeting, library director Andrew Foster, alongside other employees, were fired from their jobs. It was yet another move by the board to not only impose power over the institution, but to also ensure that the library will fail to serve its role as an institution of
If reading is a way to get whisked away to a whole new world, reading via audiobook allows you to dive even deeper into an author’s imagination. With advances in recording technology, audiobooks can incorporate music, sound effects, and talented voice actors to build an atmosphere of total immersion for the reader. Frequent readers of
Recently I’ve been reminded how much I adore historical romance novels. From the yearning to the stolen glances across ballrooms, historical romances always seem to deliver when you need them the most. If you are a romantic at heart and crave a good happily ever after, best believe a historical romance book will provide this
An astonishing 30-40% of food goes to waste in the U.S. “As well as being financially foolish, wasting food damages the planet because it accelerates climate change,” notes food writer and cookbook author Sue Quinn in her latest cookbook, Second Helpings: Delicious Dishes to Transform Your Leftovers, which aims to keep food from our own
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her
Home is where the heart is—but what makes that heart want to live in that home forever? As someone who’s moved 10 times in his adult life and is “fascinated by the kind of people whose grandchildren visit the home that they raised their children in,” interior designer Jeremiah Brent found himself wondering what makes
It’s been a newsy week in the world of books and reading, and I’ve got a smorgasbord of stories that didn’t make the cut for the full Today in Books treatment. Let’s catch up! 💸 Publishing models that rely on gig workers are bad for everyone. 🪐 The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association has announced the finalists
As more state legislative sessions come to a close for the season, let’s catch up on where the host of anti-book ban bills across the country currently stand. This is not a comprehensive list, as sometimes good legislation — like its not-good counterparts — gets buried in other bills. Those bills proposed to encourage book
Hello again, Read Harder readers! Hmm, there has to be a better collective name for us. Any suggestions? Today, I wanted to give you a heads up for a couple of upcoming online author events, if you’re looking for one to complete Task #14: Read a book by an author with an upcoming event (virtual
CJ Connor is a cozy mystery and romance writer whose main goal in life is to make their dog proud. They are a Pitch Wars alumnus and an Author Mentor Match R9 mentor. Their debut mystery novel BOARD TO DEATH is forthcoming from Kensington Books. Twitter: @cjconnorwrites | cjconnorwrites.com View All posts by CJ Connor
Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. This week saw the publication of Until August by Gabriel García Márquez, a work that was incomplete at the time of his death in 2014 and which he expressly stated should not just be kept private but completely destroyed. The
Patricia Elzie-Tuttle is a writer, podcaster, librarian, and information fanatic who appreciates potatoes in every single one of their beautiful iterations. Patricia earned a B.A. in Creative Writing and Musical Theatre from the University of Southern California and an MLIS from San Jose State University. Her weekly newsletter, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice offers self-improvement
Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. I go away for a week and we get both a new online bookstore from RuPaul (didn’t have that one on my publishing bingo card) and a new publishing startup from some industry heavy hitters! If you’re in catch-up
The title of Laura Bontje’s playful picture book is a palindrome sentence that can be read forward or backward. Palindromes are something that Hannah, protagonist of the delightful Was It a Cat I Saw?, loves: As Bontje tells us, “Anything Hannah could do forwards, she could do backwards too.” Hannah likes palindromes so much that
Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside
A successful fantasy plunges readers into a world that feels removed from the ordinary, while still maintaining a familiarity or unexpected resonance. National Book Award finalist Traci Chee’s Kindling does exactly that as it takes readers into an unknown world ravaged by a war in which “kindlings”—teenage warriors trained since childhood to wield a dangerous
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