Pioneering NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who calculated the flight path for America’s first space mission and the first moon landing among other mathematical achievements, has died today, February 24, 2020, at 101. Her accomplishments, and those of the largely unrecognized other Black women mathematicians in the early days of NASA, were profiled in Margot Lee Shetterly’s bestselling book, Hidden Figures. The book went on to be adapted into a film with Taraji P....

Feminist historical mysteries is my new favorite subgenre of crime. Okay, so feminist historical mysteries isn’t really a subgenre, but historical mysteries is and I’m adding a subgenre to that subgenre by adding feminist—I have written myself a note giving myself permission to do this so it’s totally legit and publishing will have to abide. In a world, and genre, where women haven’t gotten fair treatment, there is something cathartic about these mysteries where the leading woman is not only solving crimes before modern technology existed but also battling society’s sexism and misogyny....

All bets are off as #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen introduces gambler Logan Tanner. He lives the exhilarating life of a professional gambler, but all the glitz and glamor hide a dark and violent past as an extractor—a world that comes rushing back to him when the beautiful and innocent Lara Balkon enters his life. Logan is drawn into a conflict between two Russian mafia bosses over Lara, her life hanging in the balance....

Award-winning author, Grady Hendrix and a committee of four librarians will be selecting three recommended fiction titles in each of three reading levels— Middle Grade, Teen, and Adult— for a total of nine Summer Scares selections. The goal of the program is to encourage a national conversation about the entire horror genre, across all age levels, at libraries all over the country and ultimately get more adults, teens, and children interested in reading....

Who Can Add a Book to Goodreads? A common misconception I see going around is that only Goodreads librarians are allowed to add a book to Goodreads. Or only the publisher will add a book to Goodreads. While both librarians and publishers can and do add books to Goodreads, they’re far from the only ones with the authority to do it. In fact, anyone with a Goodreads account has the ability to add a book....

“What are the editions I care about getting?” There are some authors who I love and will almost always love what they write. So when a new book comes out, I’m going to want a first edition hardcover. Or maybe there’s a specific edition of one of my favorite classics that I’m holding out for, I know that those are going to be a large chunk of my book money. However, there are also a lot of books where I don’t necessarily care if I get a mass-market paperback edition or some well-worn secondhand copy....

After decades of development, the film industry has developed quite an arsenal of jargon that can be alienating and intimidating. What’s a spec script? How does one make sense of all this text? And what is up with that font choice? Like with other genres, there are different approaches to reading a screenplay. Ask ten different professionals and they’ll likely give you ten different answers. But to get you started, here’s a quick guide to ease you into the magic that is screenplays....

Sometimes, a character’s bad behavior is written in purposely: it’s not much of a story if someone doesn’t do something wrong and have to face the consequences. But in other cases, the problem goes deeper. Maybe the comic was written decades ago when racism and sexism were normalized. Or maybe a specific creative team doesn’t understand or respect the characters, or the editors have a particular vision for the series and force the writers and artists to comply....

So where do these wackadoo titles come from? First off, let’s talk about titles in general. In Japanese popular culture, it’s fairly common practice for titles and names to be quite long, basically a full sentence in some cases. Not just limited to manga, you’ll see this for anything from movies and TV shows to song titles and even band names. You might be thinking, how does one remember any of this, then?...

But this winter, work was been extremely busy, and I’d been living on a tightrope of burnout. My irritation was growing, the weight in my chest was building, I felt exhausted and worn out. I was behind on reading and my body was hurting. So I took two days off of work, creating a four-day weekend for myself: an anti-burnout readathon vacation. And then, like any normal person looking to relax, I set up some rules....

Feel-Good Contemporary Romance Novels Playing House by Ruby Lang To save her from a pushy admirer, Oliver Huang agrees to play faux romance with longtime acquaintance Fay Liu. They’re both having fun doing it so they decide to tour pricey real estate across Upper Manhattan and be this fake couple named Darling and Olly. Oliver knows he has always had a little thing for Fay. And Fay is having so much fun for the first time after her divorce....

I also have a book from Argentina, one from South Korea, one from Spain, and one from Belgium. They explore everything from grief to political unrest to adolescent angst to rich people behaving badly. Five of the books featured below are in translation. Now seems like a particularly good time to read books from around the world and to read books published by small presses. Small presses don’t have huge publicity budgets, so it can be hard for them to get the word out about their books....

“In addition, the Oliver Room had Priore himself. His desk sat at a spot that commanded the room and the table where patrons worked. When a patron returned a book, he checked that it was still intact. Security for special collections simply does not get much better than that of the Oliver Room.In the spring of 2017, then, the library’s administration was surprised to find out that many of the room’s holdings were gone....

If you’ve been dreaming of a “StitchFix for Books,” today’s the day. Sign up to receive recommendations-only picked just for you by email, or hardcover books in the mail (delivered in partnership with Print: A Bookstore in Portland, Maine).

Well before the United States entered World War II, American superheroes enthusiastically defended America from foreign threats. In fact, a whole slew of new, patriot-themed heroes were created for just that purpose. Captain America was only one among many, and he wasn’t even the first: that would be the Shield, created a year earlier. So why did Captain America stick around so long while so many other, similar characters fell by the wayside?...

The author describes how strange it is to have his hometown try to ban his book, especially when he knows and even went to school with some of the people involved. He also calls the name of the group Farrant is representing, Moms for Liberty, “surreal” considering that they are trying to restrict the liberty of other families and students from being able to make their own choices about which books to read....

This Black History Month, I urge you to step away from the common and popular narratives about the great freedom fighters and read about them for yourselves. Leave behind the narrative of a people group destined to suffer and read about communities of Black people who thrived and were punished for it by those who believed it was their divine right to kill and destroy. If you’re searching for some challenging but informative books to read this Black History Month, here’s a collection of ten underrated books to add to your TBR:...

Children may grieve for lost loved ones in the form of family, beloved pets, community members lost to sickness or tragedy — there are so many ways that death creeps up and blindsides us. Our society has an unfortunate habit of downplaying or downright ignoring upsetting things, so frank conversations about loss and the long term effects of grief often go undiscussed. With or without an accompanying religious explanation, children need to hear that their painful emotions are valid....

Media covering the change call it “more accurate” and “less offensive,” and the American Library Association said it was not only praiseworthy but that it “better reflects common terminology and respects library users and library workers from all backgrounds. It also reflects the core value of social justice for ALA members.” While it certainly feels like progress to remove the term “alien,” the problem rests in the fact that people are still being referred to as “illegal....

If your resolution is to save more, we’ve got you covered. Our New Year, New You Sale is going on now. Save 25-50% on ebooks and audiobooks that make a positive impact on your patrons. Categories include financial planning, career growth, healthy lifestyle, self-improvement and more.Kick off the new year with HUGE savings. Sale ends January 31. A Curious Mind The foundation for many mystery stories is a non-detective main character whose natural curiosity leads them to investigate crimes....