Hopepunk Featuring Creative Solutions To The Climate Crisis

From the author of the beloved national bestseller Migrations, a pulse-pounding new novel set in the wild Scottish Highlands. “So damn good. A page-turner that makes you think and has a huge emotional impact.” -Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times bestselling author of Annihilation (via Twitter) Yet these premonitions of humanity’s future are typically tinged with cynicism and forebodings about where our future is headed, from societal elements to the environmental....

January 10, 2023 · 4 min · 694 words · Trudy Kennedy

Hot Summer 2019 Reads By Women In Translation

Summer 2019 Reads by Women in Translation The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder I’m in awe of Yoko Ogawa and always excited to see her newest project—her range is incredible, from books like her touching novel The Housekeeper and the Professor to her terrifying collection of stories Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales, and now The Memory Police. On an unnamed island, objects are disappearing. First it’s small things that go missing and many of the people on the island are unaware of the changes....

January 10, 2023 · 6 min · 1258 words · Bradley Foster

How Avatar The Last Airbender Can Acknowledge Its Inuit Roots

Fans rejoiced! But they were also a little cautious; the previous version of the show and the 2010 movie do not have a great history of showcasing diversity. This time around, the showrunners say it will have “a culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed cast,” which is a good start. But as one Alaska Native, Ruth Dan, recently pointed out on Twitter, significant parts of Avatar’s world are based upon Inuit culture. Adapting the show to live action could have certain pitfalls and missteps....

January 10, 2023 · 5 min · 1048 words · Cynthia Bonnette

How Drawing Makes Me A Better Reader

Physical character descriptions have always eluded me. For however many times I’ve seen the phrase “almond-shaped” in reference to eyes — on the occasions I do pick up on physical descriptions — I still don’t know exactly what that means. (To be fair, I’ve also Googled it and there doesn’t actually seem to be a consensus on that particular image. At least not as far as you can trust a Google Image search to represent a concept....

January 10, 2023 · 4 min · 776 words · Paula Washington

How I Fell In Love With Ya Fantasy

But all that changed in about 2008. I still remember to this day how one of my close friends tossed me a copy of Twilight when I was a newsroom editor and reporter at The Miami Herald. While this story is more of a romantic paranormal fantasy without things like intense world building, it still had some fantasy elements, such as powerful vampires and superpowered characters, with out of this world attitudes and abilities....

January 10, 2023 · 6 min · 1173 words · Scott Erickson

How Male Dominated Children S Books Reinforce Stereotypes

With millions of titles, ThriftBooks has an endless selection of children’s books at the best prices to fill your child’s imagination…. and their library. From childhood classics to new undiscovered worlds of adventures, there is something for everyone and every budget. And with the ThriftBooks ReadingRewards program, every purchase gets you a step closer to your next free book. Shop ThriftBooks.com today to unleash the pure imagination a world of children’s books has to offer....

January 10, 2023 · 5 min · 1057 words · Victor Monteleone

How The Little Prince Has Helped Me Through This Pandemic

That is, until until I read it for the first time nearly two years ago when I went to Seoul, South Korea. What does that have to do with The Little Prince? Well, I’ll tell you. Back in 2018, I moved to Korea to teach English to a group of adorable 6-year-olds. While I was there, I enjoyed a plethora of art museums, shopping areas, and delicious treats. Interestingly enough, as I happily shopped, I came across several notebooks and wallets decorated with images from Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince....

January 10, 2023 · 5 min · 992 words · Bennie Smith

How To Find The Right Books For You

También de este lado hay sueños. On this side too, there are dreams. Lydia Quixano Pérez runs a bookstore in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She has a son, Luca, and by and large, they live a fairly comfortable life. But when Lydia’s wonderful journalist husband publishes a tell-all profile of Javier, the jefe of the newest drug cartel, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca are forced to flee. None of their lives will ever be the same as they join the countless people trying to reach el norte....

January 10, 2023 · 4 min · 788 words · Gladys Spader

How To Start Reading Fiction When You Only Read Nonfiction

See, at their core, all books are stories. They’re all rooted in narrative — and they all have some basis in our real world, whether it be bits and pieces or the full tale. Writers bring their own viewpoints, loves, heartbreaks into their writing every day. The binary between fiction and nonfiction isn’t as rigid as we tend to think — in reality, there are so many genres in between, and so many places where they cross over....

January 10, 2023 · 6 min · 1160 words · Samuel Wadsworth

How Will Public Libraries Adapt To New School Year Norms

This year is anything but typical. With so many unknowns about schooling broadly—will local schools be all online? all in-person? a hybrid model? for how long?—and many parents electing to home school, the demand for other community public institutions to step up is already growing. Libraries across the United States have been reopening at varying rates, with varying staff levels to match both what’s acceptable by their state’s reopening guidelines and what the reality of their struggling budgets decides....

January 10, 2023 · 12 min · 2365 words · Teresa Dabney

If You Liked This Tiktok Favorite Read This Book Next

Sometimes, however, TikTok falls into the same trap as many other social media platforms: it recommends the same set of books to the point where others get overlooked. This can make it hard to find more recs that fit what you personally look for in a story once you have found a book you really click with. The TikTok algorithm limits this to some extent, but especially if you are new to BookTok, it can be hard to find recommendations that really fit what you like to read....

January 10, 2023 · 2 min · 280 words · Robert Schroeder

In Defense Of Harley Quinn

Today, I am still a pop culture enthusiast, and a huge comic book lover. While my husband and I sometimes battle it out between Marvel and DC (I am more of a DC gal, but still adore my Marvel), he knows for a fact that one of my favorites is the ever so controversial — and yet loved by many — Harley Quinn. Harley Quinn has recently been in pop culture quite a bit, with actress Margot Robbie representing the character and bringing her to life....

January 10, 2023 · 4 min · 852 words · Stephen East

In Library Renovations When Do Discussions Of Accessibility Arise

When I spoke with Sandy Ho, a Research Associate from the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University, about this half-hearted solution, she wished to remind decision makers that spaces often forget to consider that people with disabilities could be patrons, but also they could be consumers, leaders, and/or employees in that public space as well. “Our society has been by and large constructed on an ableist premise and ableism prioritizes and values non-disabled people....

January 10, 2023 · 8 min · 1562 words · Jeffrey Baughman

January 2023 Horoscopes And Book Recommendations

Retrograde: It’s not just for Mercury! All planets go into retrograde from time to time, and it’s not always a bad thing. Retrogrades are more of a time to slow down and reflect on the area of your life that planet represents. That’s going to be important in January, as we’re entering the new year with three planets in retrograde. The dreaded Mercury retrograde started on December 29 and will continue through January 18....

January 10, 2023 · 1 min · 207 words · Douglas Rester

John Green S Lifework Reviewed On A 5 Star Scale

—The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green I don’t subscribe to their channel, though. There is no need to. The Vlogbrothers are always on the trending page, constantly recommended to me. I watch their videos often, but not religiously. I especially enjoy John Green’s philosophical videos, which go on to become the Thoughts From Places series. His internal process feels like mine: a little over-analytical, maybe, and definitely influenced by anxiety — but empathetic, concerned with how to live a good life and how to best treat each other....

January 10, 2023 · 13 min · 2612 words · Amy Mccafferty

Jonathan Van Ness S Getting Curious Is A Podcast For Readers

Van Ness chooses a topic each week and invites a guest expert to help educate and enlighten listeners on whatever the topic at hand is. The topics are both heavy and light, allowing a real wide range of interests to be explored. What I especially love is the range of guests—some are well-known names, while others are newer names or speaking on something unexpected. It’s only a natural fit for book lovers and readers....

January 10, 2023 · 5 min · 992 words · Annette Vela

Kid Friendly Halloween Comics And Graphic Novels

So how about it? Keep the little ones reading and in the holiday spirit this fall with these ghouly reads. Just make sure you keep the nightlight on for them. Sheets by Brenna Thummler Marjorie Glatt might as well be a ghost. She’s stuck running her family’s failing laundry business. Wendell actually is a ghost, but feels alienated from all the other ghosts in the afterlife. But when he returns to the mortal plane and accidentally makes things even worse for Marjorie and the family business, he knows he has to make things right....

January 10, 2023 · 6 min · 1103 words · Anthony Brady

Lafayette Library Board Grants Itself Power To Ban Books

Several books have been challenged in Lafayette public library in recent months, including This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson. In previous challenges, a subcommittee was formed to review the material being challenged and vote on whether it should remain on shelves. This Reconsideration Committee consisted of two librarians and one board member. In the past two reviews, librarians have voted to keep the book on the shelf, while the board member has sided with the challenger....

January 10, 2023 · 7 min · 1365 words · James Friend

Larry Mcmurtry Author Of The American West Dies At 84

Spanning a career of over five decades, McMurtry wrote more than 30 novels including memoirs, short stories, and essays. He was also a prolific screenplay writer, including the acclaimed screenplay based on the Annie Proulx short story Brokeback Mountain. The film, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, won him an Academy Award in 2006 for Best Adapted Screenplay. Larry McMurtry used his acceptance speech at the Academy Awards to thank booksellers everywhere....

January 10, 2023 · 4 min · 730 words · Jackie Adler

Lessons From My Mother Sharing Love Through Books

My older sister Gina taught me to read, but my mom taught me to love reading. A voracious reader herself, my mom always made sure that we had access to books and stories. I loved sitting in my parents’ waterbed (yes, it was the ’90s) while my mom read picture book after picture book to me. There was no one who could make those stories come alive quite like my mom....

January 10, 2023 · 5 min · 932 words · Elvis Flores