Books

The Middle East as a geopolitical region is generally defined as the countries on the Arabian Peninsula, as well as countries in northern Africa and parts of west Asia. As a center point for the convergence of Africa, Asia, and Europe and the cradle of some of the earliest recorded civilizations, the region has a

James Wilson was the most democratic of all the Founding Fathers and fervently promoted the philosophy that all power rests with the people. He wrote the first draft of the Constitution and was one of only six men who signed both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence; he coined the phrase ‘‘We the people”;

Sometimes I think, “UGH. There are so many books in the world, and I’ll never get to them all.” And other times I think, “WOW. There are so many books in the world, and it’s fun to try and read as many as I can.” Today, I am feeling the latter, which is why I

Some nights, I dream that my dad comes back from the dead and everything goes back to normal. That is, until we both remember that this can’t be happening, and he must leave again. I’ve had that dream a few dozen times over the past 20 years, and not one of those goodbyes has been

In the world of mystery and thriller news, we continue to have a constant stream of adaptation news, which I love to see. I’ve also got some book lists for you, a release date for Lupin Part 4 (finally!), and a Netflix teaser of Scooby-Doo as a puppy to cleanse all the timeline feeds. Procedural

Ten years after she was last there, 32-year-old horticulturist Sophie Drear returns to Lilymoor House to restore the gardens for its owner, Eula Beck. Sophie was last at the aging estate with Harriet, her best friend, and tending the deteriorating grounds now unearths painful memories of Harriet’s death. Although Sophie had not understood Harriet’s belief

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Northern Maine fingerprint analyst Shaw Connolly is back in Restless Bones, the excellent follow-up to Gillian French’s adult debut, Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell. Fans may enjoy this novel even more than the first—it’s like catching up with an old friend who lives a hectically unsettled, yet completely absorbing life.  Thanks to Shaw’s die-hard efforts

Every month, there’s a flood of new books coming out clamoring for a spot on your TBR. But with so many competing for your attention, it’s easy to lose track of the ones you’re most excited about. And often, you just end up hearing about the titles with the biggest marketing budgets. So, how do

Curious about what all creatures great, small and microscopic are getting up to? These two far-ranging and eye-opening books take an in-depth, often irreverent look at animal sex and reproduction with an eye toward evolution, biodiversity and the vitality of life on Earth. ★ Poking the Squid Fans of Perrin Roosevelt Ireland’s “Thirsty Science” short-form

As the American Library Association (ALA) reported in its April 2026 State of Libraries Report, the movement to censor materials in American schools and public libraries has shifted. The number of titles targeted in 2025 that were reported to ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom has grown (nearly 2,000 more titles than 2024), but the vast

Bright music and an ode to love stories from author Katherine Center set the tone for the audiobook of The Shippers (11 hours), a delightful romance narrated by Patti Murin. Life is anything but smooth sailing for JoJo Burton, who has found her plans repeatedly thrown into chaos by Cooper, her childhood best friend. Cooper

Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet sparked a global phenomenon, and in 2024, the New York Times named My Brilliant Friend—the first book in the series—the best book of the century so far. That’s a big deal! So what does it take to be #1, and what does the selection reveal about modern reading habits and values?

In the audiobook of Mikki Brammer’s Good Joy, Bad Joy (11 hours), Joy Bridport is a woman who has always chosen stability and respectability, steering clear of the chaotic way of being practiced by her outgoing lifelong best friend, Hazel. At 89, Joy is content with her careful life—until Hazel delivers devastating news that forces

Every Pride Month, I try to stack my reading list with as many LGBTQ+ books as possible. It’s not like I don’t read plenty of queer books the rest of the year, too, but I always love an excuse to do some themed reading. There are countless LGBTQ+ historical fiction books I could recommend—and have

The lacunae in our family histories are often sites of deep pain. When our elders refuse to tell us their stories, we are left not only with large gaps in our understandings of the contexts of our lives but also with the echoes of the hurt they surely felt. While we might not want to

Sometimes the year’s buzziest book takes a while to show up, but the buzziest 2026 book made waves from the jump, landing a well-deserved Oprah Book Club pick. Collecting praise from critics and the general reader alike, Kin by Tayari Jones is one of few books I expect to see on every Best Books of

With a title that sounds like a mean girl turning down a nerd in a ’90s sitcom, Isabel Waidner’s third novel signals a similar rejecting attitude toward the reader’s expectations. Following 2023’s gloriously madcap Corey Fah Does Social Mobility, As If, brings captivating absurdity to the question of whether people are really more like actors

It’s Pride Month, and you know what that means: it’s the perfect excuse to buy a bunch of new queer books. To get you started, I’ve highlighted seven queer books that check off 2026 Read Harder Challenge tasks, including a nonfiction book about resistance, a recent gothic novel, a fabulist book, a book about a

From an early age, Gary Paul Nabhan would fall into what ecologist E.O. Wilson called “the naturalist’s trance.” Intensely absorbed by the sand dunes and wildlife of the shores of Lake Michigan, young Nabhan was called the “Dune Detective” by his loving Lebanese American family. He was much less comfortable in school, where his preference

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Hot summer sun, charming flights of fancy and a juicy red watermelon add up to superb summer fun in Bonsoir Lune’s Watermelon Pool, translated from Korean by Frances Cha.   In this lushly illustrated fantastical tale of “opening day at the watermelon pool” (rumor has it that “the coconut pool in the next town is

Today’s Featured Book Deals $1.99 Be Mine Forever by Kennedy Ryan Get This Deal $1.99 I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erica L. Sanchez Get This Deal $0.99 The Baby Dragon Cafe by A.T. Qureshi Get This Deal $2.99 Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross Get This Deal $2.99 How to Age Disgracefully by

Ethel Just, a fluent German speaker, earned degrees from Ohio and Boston universities, then taught languages at Howard University and Washington, D.C., public schools for many years before ultimately becoming a college administrator. But when she was laid off at 59 during an economic downturn, the U.S. government only grudgingly hired her into a job

A fundamental right for U.S. public library users is that of privacy. This means no one is monitoring what a patron is perusing, what they’re borrowing, or their library use history. It means that authorities cannot walk into a library and demand another user’s records; in many cases, library borrowing records are purged upon the

In her vivacious Chain Reaction: How Chemistry Shapes Us and Our World, research chemist Ijeoma Uchegbu celebrates the chemical bonds that dance—sometimes harmoniously, sometimes discordantly—among us and the world we live in.  From the moment we raise our heads from pillows filled with down or latex, walk across a ceramic floor or polyester carpet and

I sat down to make a list of new and recent queer Latine books to read for Pride. But here’s the thing: I’ve been talking about most of the books that came to mind all year long. That’s a good thing, of course: celebration months should, after all, be gentle reminders to read lit by

New editions of previously published cookbooks are a perfect example of how food and tastes evolve over time, providing a look into the past while connecting the dots to what still resonates today. First published in 1976, The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis is the primer for the recipes and foods that define

There’s something special about the way a dual-timeline historical fiction novel connects people and stories throughout the past and present. From multi-generational tales that cover the lives of an entire family tree to novels that feature characters connected through the ages, dual- and multi-timeline novels are able to depict history in a way single timeline

Plus, a sleepwalking murder mystery installment of Seishi Yokomizo’s beloved Japanese detective series. View Original Source Here