I’ve always said that my favorite way to fill the holes left behind by books is with bookish merch. Seriously, I love having a bookmark, mug, or sweatshirt that reminds me of my favorite books. So, knowing I would find more than one thing that would make me go “take my money!” — I decided to take a deeper dive into Etsy to find as many Ninth House gifts as I could find....
HOLIDAYS ARE HAPPIER WITH AUDIOBOOKS. Make your holiday travels, errands, cooking sessions, and all the rest more enjoyable by listening to an audiobook. From bestsellers, to thrillers, to self-care, you can find the perfect listen for any moment. Give yourself the gift of audio this holiday season. Setting out to write about audiobooks to help with New Year’s resolutions is a little intimidating—people can have so many different goals, how can one list of books possibly help with all of them?...
This year’s project focused on the young adult fiction of Norma Klein, and the seven books I read became the basis for Hey YA: Extra Credit, a(n admittedly not so) short form podcast that dug into each of the books. Klein wrote books similar to the work of Judy Blume, pushing boundaries and digging into topics that were so often not approached with honesty and forthrightness for young readers in the 1970s and 1980s....
Andrea Hairston’s award-winning alternate history adventure transports readers to turn-of-the-20th-century America, where diverse audiences hunker together in dark theatres to marvel at flickering images. Redwood, an African American woman, and Aidan, a Seminole Irish man, journey from haunted Georgia swampland to a “city-of-the-future” Chicago. They’re gifted performers and hoodoo conjurors, struggling to call up the wondrous world they imagine, on stage and screen, and in wounded hearts. The power of hoodoo is the power of the community that believes in its capacities to heal....
Why on earth would anyone pay that when they can get a basic Kindle for $79 or a Paperwhite for $119? Heck, for $200, you can buy a tablet that does a lot more than an ereader. Personally, I want an ereader that does one thing and does it well. As much as I love reading, I can get easily distracted by email or Twitter when I use my tablet, and my phone is just too darn small....
For instance, I was, once upon a time, a very big fan of Welcome to Night Vale (WTNV). Just about everyone my age was at one time or another. And even if they were not a fan, you knew about it. It was there for me through a lot, from just riding the bus to school in the mornings during high school to graduating, diploma in hand, and having absolutely no idea what comes next or who I wanted to be....
“You know, I think authors deserve a pass from time to time, especially if they’re your favorites. I mean do you automatically abandon a relationship for one minor bump in the road? If you do you’re badly damaged and I can understand, but bad books don’t equal ended relationships for me.” By Rob Kristofferson on Friday Forum: When Good Authors Go Bad? “For a while, I had a dream job as an assistant to radio show host Lynne Rossetto Kasper....
This installment of Our Reading Lives is by Paul Montgomery. Paul writes about comics and what they can do on iFanboy.com. With David Accampo, he co-hosts Fuzzy Typewriter , a podcast dedicated to story, storytellers, art and artists. I’ll generally opt to solve a crossword puzzle in ink, and not just because I’m the kind of clod who walks away from every encounter with a pencil looking like a retired chimney sweep....
It is also very haunted, and Oakland’s spooky stories may be some of the best ones I’ve found yet grace the pages of graphic novels. Mills College (5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland) Mills College, located in the East Hills, is 165 years old and has a reputation for hosting students in perpetuity; at least five different buildings on campus have are said to be haunted. Don’t blink if you see a woman in a lovely Victorian dress on the steps of Orchard-Meadow Hall; she won’t be there if you take a second look....
I’ve tended to shy away from getting emotionally involved in Syfy shows the last bunch of years for several reasons: first, a good half of them were…shows I could live just fine without. Those I enjoyed either went on too long and declined in quality or ended up cut off too soon, depriving myself, and other fans, of the payoff we both needed and deserved. As I discovered at Emerald City Comic Con 2019, however, Vault Comics is putting out some excellent books by some really fantastic authors, Vagrant Queen among them....
One thing I’ve learned as I’ve spent more and more time getting to know contemporary illustrators and authors is that my favorite genre of picture book is nonfiction, and in particular, I like learning about science through picture books more than through any other medium. I’m not talking about the type of book you find in a classroom so you can write reports on an animal, but rather a well-researched and literary codex that can engage me on intellectual and aesthetic levels....
The request is for $276.8 million, an increase from what is usually less than $250 million and a welcome reprieve from threats to eliminate the IMLS altogether that had been coming from the previous presidential administration. With this increase in funding, the IMLS will be able to continue providing vital sponsorship for programs that support Native American and Native Hawaiian Library Services, African American history and Latine American history programs, services for youth on the Autism Spectrum, safe havens for children, free literacy programs nationwide, and much more....
In addition to being a writer, I also work full-time, work part-time, play sports, and have an active social life—so, for the sake of time, most of my reading these days is done via audiobooks. I’ve only recently started listening to audiobooks about writing and wanted to share some of my recent favorites. Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody I’ve long been a huge fan of the Save the Cat beat sheet and have adopted it for use in writing my own fiction, so I was excited to see this new book....
Despite having worked in bookstores for about ten years, I’ve always been more of a library user than a book buyer. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a solid collection of unread books at home, but the majority of my reading has usually come from the library. Wherever I’ve lived or worked, I have never been more than a block away from my nearest library, so it couldn’t be more convenient....
Obviously, I could only include so many comics in this quiz, so first I had to establish some ground rules for what I would and would not include. First, I decided to stick with nonfiction comics. There are plenty of great historical fiction comics out there — books like Salt Magic or Superman Smashes the Klan — but this quiz is for nonfiction recs only. Second, I tried to avoid the really famous titles....
Stephen King’s #1 bestseller The Institute is now in paperback! Young Luke Ellis has woken up in a faraway room that looks just like his own. But he soon finds that this mysterious place houses several other kids who all possess very special abilities…and the ruthless staff here is dedicated to extracting the force of their extranormal gifts. As each new victim disappears, Luke becomes desperate to somehow find a way out and get help—even though no one here has ever escaped....
Garfield Logan has spent his life being overlooked. Even in his small town, the 17-year-old with green streaks in his hair can’t find a way to stand out—and the clock is ticking. Then Gar accepts a wild dare, and his social status soars. Overnight, Gar grows six inches, his voice drops, and he’s stronger and faster. He’s getting everything he wanted, but his popularity has a price. When Gar realizes the extent of his physical changes, he has to dig deep and face the truth about himself—and those who truly matter—before his life spirals out of control....
When the world ends, the villains shall inherit it! Superstar writer Tom Taylor (Injustice: Gods Among Us) and brilliant artist Karl Mostert dive back into comics’ darkest timeline in DCeased: Unkillables. The Anti-Life virus has ravaged the Earth, turning its population—and most of its greatest heroes—into mindless, ravenous zombies. The Justice League has fallen. The survivors are clinging to life. And in these dark times, only the world’s most evil metahumans will survive!...
TBR is Book Riot’s subscription service offering Tailored Book Recommendations for readers of all stripes. Been dreaming of a “Stitch Fix for books?” Now it’s here! Tell TBR about your reading preferences and what you’re looking for, and sit back while your Bibliologist handpicks recommendations just for you. TBR offers plans to receive hardcover books in the mail or recommendations by email, so there’s an option for every budget. TBR is also available as a gift to give to the readers in your life!...
TBR is Book Riot’s subscription service offering Tailored Book Recommendations for readers of all stripes. Been dreaming of a “Stitch Fix for books?” Now it’s here! Tell TBR about your reading preferences and what you’re looking for, and sit back while your Bibliologist handpicks recommendations just for you. TBR offers plans to receive hardcover books in the mail or recommendations by email, so there’s an option for every budget. TBR is also available as a gift to give to the readers in your life!...
