These love poems I’ve collected vary widely. Some are classic love poems. Some love poems were posted on social media this year. Some rhyme. Others don’t. Most are romantic. A few are sad or angry. All of them are beautiful. All of them are about love. 1. “Any Lit” by Harryette Mullen Excerpt: You are a ukulele beyond my microphone 2. “To the Girl Who Works at Starbucks” by Rudy Francisco 3....

These four modern classics use poetry as a central tool for addressing hard-hitting topics young readers face in their daily lives—grief, abuse, gun violence, racial justice and activism, and the heritage of a creative history. Together they illustrate how poetry can name the unspeakable, give voice to the unheard, and act as a record of history. The Nalanda Library In the 5th century CE, the Nalanda Monastery was a well-known seat of Buddhist learning and culture in northeastern India....

Fortunately, there’s been a slew of some of the best Indian cookbooks by edgy, interesting chefs, designed to get you cooking edgy, interesting food. Dosa Waffles? Curry Leaf Popcorn? Rainbow Root Raita? Roti Pizza? Read on! The best Indian cookbooks 1. The Juhu Beach Club Cookbook by Preeti Mistry with Sarah Henry Subtitled “Indian spice, Oakland soul,” this cookbook by Oakland, California, restaurateur Mistry juxtaposes innovative recipes with the story of the evolution of her identity as a queer brown chef in a predominantly white space....

Traveling seamlessly between the past and the present, and across the points of view of different characters, it explores the very human emotions of love and grief. The show does not shy away from difficult conversations, and the latest season even incorporates the pandemic and the recent political unrest in the USA into the storyline. There is so much heart in the story that even when I do not approve of some of the finer plot points in an episode, I would still be sniffling by the end of it — the stellar performances of the actors and the soulful music often turning this into a full-blown sob fest....

Maya Angelou It feels only right to begin a list about poets like Amanda Gorman with one of Gorman’s inspirations: the legendary, earth-shaking Maya Angelou. The poet and author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings also spoke as a U.S. inaugural poet at President Clinton’s inauguration in 1993. Through Angelou’s writing, which spans 36 titles and 45 years following the publication of her first book, she has unabashedly and eloquently brought to light the horrific realities of racism and sexism....

Want more murder around the world? Check out this list of 6 audiobooks that will take you around the world and these 9 British mysteries series to wet your whistle!

Note: Unfortunately, since Garland’s lifetime was not a particularly glamorous period for racial diversity or representation, none of these books were written by authors of color and may not represent the diverse literary atmosphere we strive for here at Book Riot. Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland by Gerald Clarke Considered to be the most definitive Garland biography, Gerald Clarke spent years working on this book after believing previous biographies did not paint a complete picture of who Judy was....

Whether you love or hate the holidays, enjoy buying books for others, or are just looking to hunker down with a few books to say goodbye/good riddance to 2022, I’ve got new releases for you. There’s a new Truly Devious book for a locked-room mystery, there’s the third book in a funny procedural series, a great Japanese translated detective mystery, a rerelease of S.A. Cosby’s debut crime novel, a new cozy mystery series, a YA heist novel, and a social thriller focused on climate change....

Thanks to graphic novels, children can fall in love with visual stories that explore themes common to middle grade (age range roughly 8–12 years old) fiction, like fitting in, family issues, bullying, and finding friendships. All of these topics and more are present in middle grade graphic novels for the kids in your life, reluctant readers or not. To that end, let’s check out some of the best new middle grade graphic novels to look forward to in winter of 2023....

Sheriff’s deputy Packard leads an investigation into two missing teens in idyllic Sandy Lake, Minnesota. What started as a simple burglary in search of prescription drugs turns into a nightmare for all involved. As clues dry up and time runs out to save them, Packard is forced to reveal his own secrets and dig deep to uncover the dark past of the place he now calls home. So are you excited about reading more stories where people go missing?...

A spellbinding reimagining of the story of Elektra, one of Greek mythology’s most infamous heroines, from Jennifer Saint, the author of the beloved international bestseller, Ariadne. If you’re needing some more Greek mythology reads, may I suggest our 50 book list of Greek mythology books, or if other mythology retellings are what you need, there’s our 100 book list of folklore retellings from around the world. You might also be interested in Books Like Circe By Madeline Miller....

Middle Grade International Adventure Books Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi Twelve-year-old Aru Shah starts this novel in Atlanta, but before it’s finished she’ll have traveled all over our world and a world of myth most of us will never see. A misfit among her classmates, Aru has a habit of fibbing in an effort to fit in. But it’s no lie when she lights a cursed lamp and frees the Sleeper who will awaken the Lord of Destruction....

A dark past. An impossible journey. The will to survive. For fans of Flight Behavior and Station Eleven, a novel set on the brink of catastrophe, as a young woman chases the world’s last birds―and her own final chance for redemption. Migrations has been named a “most anticipated” book by Entertainment Weekly, Vulture, Elle, and more. Emily St. John Mandel calls this powerful novel “extraordinary.” Start reading Migrations now. Now, at the rate humanity is going, the world is poised to be uninhabitable in a matter of decades....

Here are some short story collections that you won’t be able to put down. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer This was one of the first literary short story collections I can remember reading, and it knocked my socks off. Packer is adept at character and story building, and the stories in this collection center on people on the periphery, who don’t really fit in any one place. Race, class, ethnicity, and identity are threads running through these stories and the result is a collection of complex, layered examinations of what it means to be human today....

Depending on your interpretation, enemies-to-lovers has a very long history in romance novels, at least back to Pride and Prejudice. For heterosexual romances, enemies to lovers has always been a higher mountain to climb (in my interpretation) than friends to lovers. Sometimes, the simple miscommunication between friends isn’t enough to get me to root for the main pair. Since it’s such a common trope, writers focusing on LGBTQ romance have found interesting and fun ways to adapt the trope for queer romance....

The protagonist, Gifty, is working on her PhD in neuroscience, grappling with her relationship to faith, grieving the death of her brother to a drug overdose, and trying to untangle her uneasy relationship with her mother. I read it when it came out in 2020, and I still think about it often. It’s a book that gets under your skin. If you, too, are a major Yaa Gyasi fan and are looking for more books like Transcendent Kingdom to read while waiting for whatever she decides to publish next, these are a great place to start....

The fact of the matter is that a celebrity writing a book is most likely famous for something other than writing, which is where ghostwriters and writing partners come into play. But even then, sometimes a celebrity is in fact handed a book deal because they’re going to sell books as opposed to publishing something worthwhile. We can still love the celebrity for whatever they became famous for and what they excel at, but if their book made this list I gathered of the worst celebrity books, that probably means you can avoid hitting that “want to read” button....

Maybe. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s infamous consulting detective made his first literary appearance in 1887. He got his start in serialized escapades in which he was enigmatic, frustrating, and, eventually, always right. Since then, Holmes has been busy. So busy that the Guinness Book of World Records dubbed him the most portrayed literary character in film and television history. And that was eight years ago. So where do you start?...

What is the Disability Pride Flag and What Does It Symbolize? Designed by Ann Magill in 2019 and updated in 2021, the disability pride flag symbolizes the diversity of the disabled community. The black background represents the mourning and loss that disabled people have experienced throughout history. It also symbolizes the rebellion and protest of disabled people fighting for their human rights. The diagonal lines symbolizes the barriers disabled people experience in society and the ingenuity disabled people illustrate when navigating those barriers....

Cat book club, because cats: A post shared by CATS ONLY (@catbookclub) on Apr 29, 2017 at 11:37am PDT Pet Book Club, for fuzzy members of Book of the Month: A post shared by Pet Book Club (@petbookclub) on Aug 29, 2017 at 9:29am PDT Dog Book Club, which sadly hasn’t been updated for a year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t just scroll through the feed: A post shared by DOGBOOKCLUB (@dogbookclub) on Apr 21, 2016 at 7:31pm PDT Rioter Sharifah’s kitty, Tabitha:...