Books

★ The Hostess Handbook According to Maria Zizka (The Newlywed Table), the three pillars of party planning are “the desire to host, some reliably excellent go-to recipes, and a bit of party know-how.” You’ll get a hefty dose of all three in The Hostess Handbook: A Modern Guide to Entertaining. It’s filled with a wide

The Giller Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in Canada, and it has the largest cash prize: $100,000 for the winner and $10,000 for shortlisted authors. It recognizes outstanding fiction by a Canadian author published in the previous year. The 2024 winner has been announced, and it’s Anne Michaels for her historical

I’ll be honest—it took me a moment to understand this book. We are immediately thrown into an opulent “year-turning” party: buffets of food, swirling gowns, a mysterious grandfather clock slowly ticking down the hours until the new year. Our protagonist, Kembral Thorne, is at the party while on maternity leave from her job as a

Katie Moench is a librarian, runner, and lover of baked goods. A school librarian in the Upper Midwest, Katie lives with her husband and dog and spends her free time drinking coffee, trying new recipes, and adding to her TBR. View All posts by Katie Moench These recently released novels in the sci-fi, fantasy, and

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World is the latest offering from botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer, an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, one of the great Anishinaabe peoples of the Great Lakes. This slim but powerful volume continues the work of her previous books, including Gathering Moss and the New York Times

Debutiful is a website and podcast focused on helping readers discover debut authors through interviews, excerpts, recommendations, and more. They’ve released a list of their top debuts of the year, including “debut-ish” authors who debuted in a new genre this year but may have published books previously. The full list includes 42 titles. Here are

A hotly anticipated debut novel, complete with a princely advance and a dreamy move to Los Angeles, equals lifelong success, right? Not quite. Books flop, money dries up and the city’s bright lights conceal both its dark underbelly and what those in the limelight will do to stay famous. Pip Drysdale’s marvel of a thriller,

Ann-Marie Cahill will read anything and everything. From novels to trading cards to the inside of CD covers (they’re still a thing, right?). A good day is when her kids bring notes home from school. A bad day is when she has to pry a book from her kids’ hands. And then realizes where they

This reviewer has to wonder why an author as brilliant as Niall Williams, whose latest book is the resplendent, suspenseful Time of the Child, isn’t at the top of every reader’s mind. Few contemporary novelists create worlds and characters so amazingly alive and specific. Williams knows every nook and cranny of his Irish town Faha,

Carolina Ciucci is a teacher, writer and reviewer based in the south of Argentina. She hoards books like they’re going out of style. In case of emergency, you can summon her by talking about Ireland, fictional witches, and the Brontë family. Twitter: @carolinabeci View All posts by Carolina Ciucci ThriftBooks The perfect gift is the

A couple weeks ago, I shared The Best Queer Books of 2024, According to Publishers Weekly: I looked through their overall Best Books of 2024 list and pulled out all the queer books I spotted to share with you. This week, I’m doing the same thing with the Amazon Books Editors’ Best Books of 2024.

Barnes and Noble has announced its winner for the 2024 Book of the Year, and it’s James by Percival Everett. The announcement page says, “We’ve bent your ear about James all year, and for good reason. […] You may think you know Huck Finn, but how well do you know Jim? Flip the script on an American

If you’ve ever been curious about how an idea turns into a piece of art, you’ll love The Work of Art: How Something Comes From Nothing. This visionary book’s first two pages lay out its thesis in surprisingly simple terms. First, there’s a sketch of a prescription pad with a physician’s signature at the bottom.

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Barnes & Noble’s Book of the Year is…. James is Barnes & Noble’s Book of the Year. I had a little fun with this announcement on Instagram, but this is the right selection. I will

Carolina Ciucci is a teacher, writer and reviewer based in the south of Argentina. She hoards books like they’re going out of style. In case of emergency, you can summon her by talking about Ireland, fictional witches, and the Brontë family. Twitter: @carolinabeci View All posts by Carolina Ciucci The Libby App & Kanopy Kids

Rejoice! For we have another best-of 2024 book list to fawn over, this time from TIME. The publication’s must-read list of 2024 is full of fiction (mostly of the literary variety) and nonfiction, with bestselling and debut authors alike. TIME describes the list as being full of “Gripping novels and short stories, eye-opening histories, moving

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. The 160-page Orbital by Samantha Harvey was announced last night as the winner of the 2024 Booker Prize. From the citation: “Harvey’s novel takes place over a single day in the life of six astronauts

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

My heart breaks for queer teens right now and all the other people facing a government that puts them in danger. The fight continues, but it’s also important to give yourself space to grieve, to take care of yourself and your community. I was particularly thinking of queer teens when I put together this list,

Fresh on the heels of his debut collection, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza (2022), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and won the American Book Award, the Palestine Book Award and the Derek Walcott Poetry Prize, the Palestinian poet and essayist Mosab Abu Toha’s