Ross Gay, one of today’s most dynamic literary voices, spent a year writing daily essays about things that delighted him. With enthusiasm and thoughtfulness, these essays record the small joys that occurred in one tumultuous year, the small joys we often overlook in our busy lives. He finds wonder in the mundane, celebrates beauty in the natural world, and takes a clear-eyed view of the complexities in his life, including living in America as a black man....

A stunning thriller from New York Times bestselling author, Jane Harper. Brothers Nathan and Bub meet for the first time in months at the remote fence line separating their cattle ranches in the outback. Their third brother, Cameron, lies dead at their feet. They return to Cameron’s ranch and to those left behind by his passing: his wife, his daughters, and his mother. Suspicion starts to take hold and Nathan is forced to examine secrets the family would rather leave in the past....

Hang on, sorry, wrong iconic opening sentence. “Little Women won’t be Little Women without hating Amy,” grumbled Jo fans, pressing play on the movie. Okay, okay, I will stop trying to be cute. One of my more popular tweets (in its time) was this one, which Nicole Cliffe retweeted so you can imagine how chaotic — but lovely! — my mentions were for a while. I am a bonafide, dyed in the wool, OG Amy hater....

Most of us can only aspire to be as self-assured and independent as Wednesday, who said, “Sometimes I act like I don’t care if people like me. Deep down, I secretly enjoy it.” Iconic. But even Wednesday eventually learns that having friends–and family–to support you can only make you stronger. And whether that’s taking an arrow for Xavier or trusting Enid to take on the Hyde, Wednesday proves that caring doesn’t have to take away from your stoic, goth aesthetic....

Romance. I read all kinds of books, but romance is my bookish home. I love finding great new romances online, but there’s nothing quite like wandering the shelves of a bookstore and finding your new favorite. There are romance-friendly bookstores, of course, but there still aren’t very many romance-specific bookstores, where everywhere I turn I see something I might want to read. There are two or three across the U....

Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz Melissa de la Cruz’s, Something in Between, is a powerful and moving novel about the struggles that immigrants in America face when they are undocumented. Jasmine de los Santos, a Filipino high school student is offered the scholarship of a lifetime. Her path towards success is set until her parents tell her that they are living in America as undocumented citizens. Something in Between is a timely novel that highlighting what it’s like to live in a country you love while being undocumented....

To help your kids broaden their knowledge even further, check out our list of 25 of the Best Children’s Books About Health and Safety. If building up your children’s booklist has piqued your own interest in medicine, we have plenty of options for adults, too.

House of the Dragon is set hundreds of years before Game of Thrones, and follows the civl war the dragon-riding Targaryen family destroyed itself and Westeros with. The trailer opens with Princess Rhaenrya Targaryen looking out as Corlys Velaryon, known as “The Sea Snake,” ponders “What is this brief, mortal life?… if not the pursuit of legacy?” Leaders of the Houses Stark, Velaryon, and Baratheon are seen pledging their allegiance to Targaryen King Viserys and his named heir....

I don’t know if I’ll ever win a Hugo; my ego can hope. With that said, I’m proud that one of my friends online received a nomination: Charles Payseur of Quick Sip Reviews. He has been nominated for Best Fan Writer, and his review website QSR received a nomination for Best Fanzine! Even better, Archive of Our Own also received a nomination! This is a huge win for fandom, for reasons I’ll explain below....

The pets we bump into in Asian literature are never ordinary, much like their non-literary renditions. They come in many shapes and sizes, bringing unconditional love into the lives of our protagonists and changing their lives for the better. Sometimes they invite laughter riots and sometimes they are sincere caregivers. Whichever form they choose, they always fill the lives of their human friends with hope. The readers meet Jiji, a wise black cat and also Kiki’s familiar, in Kiki’s Delivery Service....

Again and again, pop culture centers love stories and adventures amongst ancient tomes. Entire personalities and relationships come into being because of reading choices. Somehow — perhaps simply by osmosis — these moments began to make an impact on me some years ago. And so entered my completely and wholly inadvertent attempts to channel my own main character energy by carefully curating what I read in public. Here are three situations in which I have bashfully beckoned the spotlight to alight upon me....

I was working on a show with a group of teens that were passionate and obsessive about this music (more specifically the group BTS). As research for the show I started looking into the band and quickly fell down this YouTube rabbit hole of music videos and interviews. Suddenly it was hours later and I recognized that feeling of newly found passion that I love so much. A few weeks later a bookish friend shared a similar love of K-Pop and we started messaging back and forth about it....

When I had told him to keep the door open, casually hoping he would change his mind and ask me to “fuck it, dude, forget it,” I felt bitter by the sudden turn of events. The nostalgic memories of a past long gone and the sweet might-have-beens threatened to resurface. It felt hard to let go and move forward with my life, and there were days I couldn’t get out of bed....

In January, I finally watched Veronica Mars, start to finish. Years behind the rest of the world, its fatal conclusion — the death of Logan Echolls — genuinely knocked the wind out of me. And yes, it’s always hard to lose a beloved character unexpectedly, but this one felt different. This time, I wasn’t riding the ups and downs of the story — readers and fans do understand that stories have to come with challenges and pain for their heroes, or there’s no story to be had....

It’s the beginning of the year. Your intentions are pure, but maybe you’ve tried to set similar goals in the past and failed. Not in 2020, my friend. Here are some concrete methods you can use to keep up with your reading goals this year and finish off your year as strong as you started. Step One: Setting Your Goals I’m going to own this. In 2019, I took on too many reading goals, and by the end of last year, I’d read fewer books than I had in 2018 or 2017....

It’s important to note that a specific “nook” is not always attainable depending on the living situation. It’s easy to gaze longingly at those perfect Pinterest pictures of closets turned into reading nooks, or those wondrous shelves built in the shape of trees, and feel a sense of parent guilt. I’m more likely break an IKEA shelf by looking at it before creating a DIY shelf in the shape of a tree....

Knowing that the BSC has lasted and come back to reach a whole new generation of readers makes me happy. What better way to share the BSC love than to throw a BSC-themed party? Whether it’s a birthday, random sleepover, or just a fun get-together, a party celebrating the Baby-Sitters Club might be easier than you think. The most important thing, as the Baby-Sitters Club knew, is friends and friendship....

What Is Fables? Fables tells the story of a community of fairy tale characters living in exile in New York City and an upstate farm. Centuries ago, an initially unnamed Adversary conquered the Fables’ homelands, forcing them to take refuge in the non-magical mundane world (called “the Mundy”). The cast is massive, drawn primarily from European and American fairytales and folk tales, with some also drawn from more recent public domain works (notably Baum’s Oz series and Kipling’s The Jungle Book); later, Fables drawn from The Arabian Nights make an appearance....

There are a bunch of answers. Winter is always when I read the most. This year, COVID meant less outings and more afternoons spent reading. I also have more time to read, generally, than a lot of people. I don’t have kids or a partner, I live alone, I’m an introvert anyway. But the real answer is that I chose reading over everything else in my life. I became a reading monster....

The stories My favorite of the six stories is the one where the tech is the least relevant. “Here I Am,” Shaun Tan’s contribution, is an achingly beautiful story of belonging (and a kind of fable about immigration). The delicate pencilling and vivid colours create a mysterious yet recognizable world, which feels fully developed. Here, a little girl faces a difficult choice after an alien tells her she has a real home elsewhere....