I believe that the books someone holds on to can tell us more about that person than an hours-long conversation ever could. In books, we travel, we become shape-shifters, and we find our true nature. I recently have become more and more fascinated with private libraries, and what they can tell me about their owners. More specifically, the libraries of famous figures. This new fascination came about when I found a copy of A Book of Book Lists by Alex Johnson, in my local bookstore, which in turn made me want to re-read Jorge Luis Borges’s The Library of Babel....

State governments are packed with representatives who are being supported by these groups, as well as dark money, and by listening to these constituencies, many politicians are sponsoring bills with an anti–critical race theory (CRT) agenda. They’re also targeting school curriculum, demanding transparency over books purchased for libraries and those purchased for individual classrooms either as supplemental or required reading. Much of the discourse feels like the satanic panic but with the dark reality that by leading the efforts on censorship, these politicians feel they have a platform for which to seek reelection and support....

In general, my reading tastes are pretty broad, jumping from genre to genre, fiction to nonfiction. I love a mix of everything. So it’s not like I’ve gone from exclusively reading sci-fi to not reading any sci-fi. But SFF is usually a significant portion of what I read (and what I’m excited to read). Now, it is a minuscule portion of what I read. And it’s never, ever what I want to pick up....

Disclaimer: There are tons of mysteries, cozies or otherwise, written by authors of color; however, there is a noticeable dearth in ones which feature cats as part of the cast. As such this list unfortunately will not be as diverse as we would otherwise prefer them to be. Santa Clawed by Rita Mae Brown This series is cheekily touted as being co-written with her cat Sneaky Pie. It features ‘Harry’ Haristeen, her husband Fair, and their menagerie of four-legged creatures....

I have a goal, too. It is to be left alone to read. Reading is something I do, but if I commit to using reading affirmations I can convince both myself and maybe even others around me that reading is not just a hobby, but a necessary pursuit — a pursuit that must be respected and tended to with the dedication of a son out to avenge his father. Now, Inigo’s repeated sentence is not really an affirmation....

Unfortunately, season 3 has yet to be confirmed, but given the end-of-season cliffhanger as well as the series’ popularity, we’re sure to see Allison, Ben, Klaus, Luther, Number 5, Vanya, and Diego again at some point. Of course, in the age of COVID-19, nothing is a sure thing anymore… But there is good news! There are ways to get your Umbrella Academy fix immediately. Of course, there’s always the Umbrella Academy comics on which the show is based....

In fact, Thomas reveals in The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games, while the warning “there is no magic” is one most famously attributed to Vernon Dursley, it is something her own mother said to her starting when Thomas was very young. Her mother, Thomas continues, was informing her daughter that, as a young Black girl, magic was inaccessible to her; that there was enough trouble in the very real late ’70s Detroit to occupy her time and attention....

In the past, I had a brief romance with audiobooks. Mostly on Northern California’s roads, disc after disc of titles I borrowed from the library ushered me to and from work. With the volume on high and windows down (my air conditioning broke years prior), I returned to some favorites in a different format: Gabriel García Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera, translated by Edith Grossman and narrated by Armando Durán, and Janet Fitch’s White Oleander, narrated by Oprah Winfrey....

And some, apparently, get dressed in the dark. Here on Fashion Disasters, we’ll showcase those poor slobs who just can’t seem to get it right. Today: Starfire! Princess Koriand’r of Tamaran debuted in DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980), and yes, Marv Wolfman did name her after the spice. When she first showed up, she looked like this: Oh boy. This is just…This sure is something, isn’t it? Here’s the thing: this costume makes just absolutely no sense at all....

100 Fathoms Below by Steven L. Kent and Nicholas Kaufmann — A perfect Halloween horror novel read! Combining Tom Clancy’s eye for international intrigue with Stephen King’s sense of the macabre, 100 Fathoms Below takes readers into depths from which there is no escape. New York Times Bestselling author Jonathan Maberry had this to say: “Deliciously creepy and deeply unnerving…[A] killer of a book!”

So today’s question is pretty simple: what e-reader do you have and how do you like it? Answers can be as detailed as you like, but at the very least include your model and a 1-10 rating (10 being the highest). I’m particularly interested in features you use a great deal and things you wish your particular reader could do that it doesn’t. (My reader/score is in the comments) Happy Friday!...

A trait I share in common with many an amateur bibliophile, literature aficionado and yes, I’ll say it, nerds, is my appreciation of books about books. I guess that after coming to terms with the crushing fact that I’ll never get a chance to read everything, I’ve subconsciously settled for the next best thing, and instead of reading all of the classics, I’ve settled for reading about them. So, after happily devouring the usual culprits from Nicholas Basbanes, Harold Bloom, and Thomas C....

A few years ago, I took a diversity in children’s lit course. When we got to the section of queer books, a fellow in the class actually said, “It’s not that I have anything against gay people, I just think these books aren’t as well written as the others.” After my eyes rolled into the back of my head from the “I’m not a racist, but–” likeness of that comment, a small part of my non-defiant brain meekly replied, “Well, but he’s sort of right....

Whether it’s the overlapping narratives of Cloud Atlas, the intricate puzzle of a Calvino novella, or the cheap thrills of The Matrix, I am a sucker for mind-bending entertainment—particularly stories from that curious subset called metafiction. Describe a book as labyrinthine and I’m a goner. Tell me that a story resembles Russian nesting dolls and I’m putty in your hands. Break down the fourth wall and I’ll be on the other side waiting for you with open arms and a cup of coffee....

But really, 1870-1920 is the most interesting time period, in my humble opinion. And the writers of the time capitalized on that. Trust me, these novels that are all about opera are some of the funkiest and most fascinating you’ll ever pick up. So look, I’m gonna give you a list of some of ’em (if you reeeeally want more, though, just hit me up). This one goes out to all my opera homies and anyone interested in cool, old, crazy novels....

Across Instagram, it seems people are getting in the mood to curl up with a book this winter, too. https://www.instagram.com/p/B55oBJqIxoc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link What books are you hoping to find under the tree this December? A post shared by ErinJo | Bookstagram (@erinjoreads) on Dec 10, 2019 at 6:31am PST I love this picture, which subtly celebrates the season. A post shared by @ bookandespresso on Dec 5, 2019 at 10:52pm PST What’s better than a book at Christmas?...

What is Nordic Noir? At its most basic description, Nordic Noir (also known as Scandi Noir or Scandinavian Noir) is crime fiction, usually from a police procedural point of view, set in a Scandinavian country. One of the major characteristics of Nordic Noir is the troubled protagonist. Often, the reader gets a deeper look into the inner turmoil, past secrets, or life-long regrets than you’d typically see in a mystery or thriller....

They’re not the point of this essay, though. I want to talk about illustrated books. There’s a difference between picture books and illustrated books, though I didn’t really understand or appreciate that difference until I took a graduate class in picture books. You’re probably familiar with picture books — large trim size, great for reading on a lap or sharing with a group on a rug, art on every page....

After her parents die, Camille must find a way to provide for her sister by transforming scraps of metal into money. But soon she begins to pursue a more dangerous mark: the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Camille transforms herself into a baroness and is swept up into life at Versailles. She meets a handsome young inventor, and begins to believe that love and liberty may both be possible....

In 1947, Dorothy B. Hughes turned the noir genre on its head with her thrillingly intense novel In a Lonely Place. With empathy, elegance, and psychological precision, Hughes tells the story of former fighter pilot Dix Steele who, dissatisfied with postwar life in Los Angeles, seeks the exhilaration and power he felt during the war…and finds it by homicidal means. After reuniting with a buddy who’s now an LAPD detective, Dix takes great interest in the murder case his pal is working on....