Books

In 2020 and 2021, news articles speculated that the few dozen remaining lesbian bars in the U.S. might soon be gone. This concerned Rachel Karp, who had made memories in several of these bars and recognized them as repositories of queer knowledge and records of queer lives. As she puts it, “For centuries, queerness was

Last week’s Literary Activism post spoke at length about the importance of speaking up and out about legislation that directly impacts libraries–whether or not your library will be the target. Specifically, it was surprising that, despite hours of research and outreach to dozens of library professionals nationwide, there were no examples of public library boards,

Walter Mosley appears on our video call in a room bathed in sunshine. Small rectangular abstract prints on the wall behind him glow, and glass and plastic bottles on shelving near the window shimmer. When I ask where he’s calling from, Mosley says “Santa Monica”—which also happens to be the setting for the opening pages

Today’s Featured Book Deals $2.99 The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs Get This Deal $1.99 I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan Get This Deal $1.99 The Woman Destroyed by Simone De Beauvoir, translated by Patrick O’Brian

Wild animals and even wilder times greet the corporate crew of Cartwright Media’s annual retreat in Rachel Moore’s Safari Murder Party. On a private island off the coast of Madagascar, an aspiring photojournalist discovers that lions, cheetahs and spotted hyenas aren’t the most feral beasts. Fletcher Spence has been biding her time as Dyer Cartwright’s

My DNA journey began long before I decided to invest in more intensive genealogical research, and I told myself it was imperative to writing fiction. I celebrated the championing of OwnVoices when it became a subject of much discussion in September 2015; I subscribed to Ancestry.com in October 2015. For the first time, the gloomy

Fans of the cult-classic film Jennifer’s Body, lovers of modern gothic fiction and those who studied abroad in Paris take note: Leslie Baird’s debut novel, Salomé, may be your next favorite book. Salomé is a feminist retelling of the biblical tale of the daughter of Herodias who danced for Herod in exchange for the head

June is packed full of exciting new releases, and graphic novels are no exception. If you’re looking for a way to keep track of new and upcoming graphic novels, you need to know about the New Release Index. The New Release Index is a database of upcoming books, curated by Book Riot. It’s organized by

Some memoirs swagger with the author’s self-importance. Not historian Ada Ferrer’s magnificent, aptly titled Keeper of My Kin: Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter. Ferrer, a habitué of musty, fragile archives and a brilliant writer, won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Cuba: An American History. In this memoir, she writes “as the strange daughter who loves

Libraries can and should be advocating on their own behalf. Libraries are not neutral, and it is not partisan to be unabashedly pro-library. No matter which party puts forth a pro-library bill, libraries should seek to have it passed. It’s something they should educate their community about and encourage their community to act upon, too.

Emma Mills takes readers to 2008 Los Angeles, where tabloid journalism and internet gossip sites are on the rise, in Rachel West and the Fallen Starlet. Rachel West is working as a copy editor for a celebrity-focused tabloid when she befriends actress Molly Byrne, a former child star who’s just as likely to make headlines

Seemingly out of nowhere, a bill drafted last January–House Resolution 2616 (HR 2616)–has not only been revived, but it’s also swiftly made its way to the United States House floor and passed in a vote of 217 to 198, with 15 abstentions. Eight Democrats crossed the aisle to align with their Republican colleagues, supporting a

Since the death of their adopted aunt at the hands of a gang called the Lucky Crows, the three Kawakami siblings have rebuilt their lives with an eye toward revenge. But just when their target is within reach, Toshiko Kawakami blows her cover. In a moment of panic, she steals a magical pearl from one

Students aren’t taking it quietly, either. Like their peers in Central York High School–a 40 minute drive south of Elizabethtown–students have been protesting the board’s censorship agenda. The protests began in the dead of winter, the weather far from amenable for being outside. But students showed up, their voices and beliefs in an education free

By the time she was 40, Jesmyn Ward had won two National Book Awards for her novels Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing—the first woman, and first Black American, to do so. Ward grew up poor in the poorest part of Mississippi, and as a young writer, she was determined to tell the stories

Book lovers with kids in their lives can’t help but be choosy about what books to place into the hands of young readers. We linger over fuzzy first memories of books, how they shaped our imaginations, how we thumbed through them time and time again, and how we lovingly and literally made our mark on

When Donna Barba Higuera and her husband, the children’s author Mark Maciejewski, moved from their city to their country home in Washington state, they added a turret to gain additional views of the adjacent fjord and Olympic National Forest across the water. They anticipated getting lots of writing done amid such beauty and peace. “I

Marcus Kliewer is the bestselling author of the horror novel We Used to Live Here. His second book, The Caretaker, is out now from 12:01 Books. Below, he discusses how writing horror led to his OCD diagnosis. I rediscovered my love for writing horror in the middle of the pandemic. It was oddly comforting to

Nick Cutter has built a ravenous fan base thanks to his knack for portraying the visceral elements of horror. From his breakout novel, The Troop, all the way through more recent releases like The Queen, to pick up a Cutter book means finding new ways to make your skin crawl. The Dorians is no exception. A

Today’s Featured Book Deals $1.99 The Marriage Narrative by Claire Kann Get This Deal $0.99 The Perfect Match by Adiba Jaigirdar Get This Deal $1.99 Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan Get This Deal $1.99 The Cuban Heiress by Chanel Cleeton Get This Deal $1.99 The Marriage Method by Mimi Mathews Get This Deal $2.99

Katherine Center’s The Shippers is bursting with festive wedding celebrations and a meddling, good-hearted cast of characters. Her newest rom-com follows the reunion of childhood best friends, Josephine “JoJo” Burton and Cooper Watts, and the hijinks that ensue when Cooper returns home from London. Moments before walking down the aisle, anxious JoJo is shocked to

Today’s Featured Book Deals $0.99 Midnight at Malabar House by Vaseem Khan Get This Deal $2.99 His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie Get This Deal $1.99 The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen Get This Deal $2.99 A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko Get This Deal $2.99 The True Love Experiment by Christina

Mortedants can talk to the dead. Sort of. What they can actually do is sift through the bitter miasma of a soul’s confused and terrified last moments, and that’s only if they’re actually good at their job. Mortedant Hasp is good at his job. He is also a misanthropic prick who needs to pay his

This spring marks five years of escalating attacks on books and libraries in America. Throughout 2026, organizations across the spectrum will be marking this anniversary, both to emphasize how long and complex this battle has been and to champion and celebrate the work being done to protect equitable access to books and libraries. Let’s begin,

Meticulously researched and vividly written, Yale historian Alan Mikhail’s Newcomers: The Story of Anthony and Grietje and the Founding of New York is the story of a poor, newly married couple who left Amsterdam behind and played an important role in the establishment of what became New York City. When Anthony and Grietje Jansen van

I’m beginning to think there’s a Bad Take Troll out there somewhere with regular reminders in his calendar to start desmadre, and one of his favorite pots to stir is the one about audiobooks counting as reading. Why he decided to send the psychologist from Law & Order SVU as his messenger this time around

“All children understand what the first glimpse of the white night-blooming lily means,” declares Xiong Liang’s mythical and inventive series starter Lost in Peach Blossom Paradise). It’s a sign of summer’s end. As a return to school draws near, Little Yu spends one last day by the river, where she follows a trail of peach

Historical fiction is a site of postmodernism. In whatever historical period a book takes place, we all bring associations and images to that time period. The recent past is obviously easier to conjure and reference with the visual support of film and photography. The 1970s were an especially important time in cultural history in the

Running parallel to the events in Kennedy Ryan’s first installment of her Hollywood Renaissance series, Reel, second-chance romance Score is a powerful companion piece that shines on its own. Like Reel, most of Score’s narrative centers on the making of a biopic about the (fictional) Harlem Renaissance singer Dessi Blue, retelling the story behind the

Beloved Disciples by Mario Elías (Queer Guy Fiction) This Is Why I Need You by Alecsandra Kakon (Sapphic Fiction) Love Beyond Reasonable Doubt by Swati Hegde (Bisexual M/F Romance) It’s Never Going to Happen by Sarah G. Levine (F/F Romance) Vile Lady Villains by Danai Christopoulou (F/F Fantasy) The Lost Book of Lancelot by John