Books

Can you believe it’s March already? I’m currently blissfully believing outdoor reading weather is right around the corner, even though it hailed for about an hour straight yesterday. Luckily, there’s no such thing as bad reading weather. I would love to hear from you in the comments: What is your favorite book you’ve read so

After your very first novel receives a Newbery Honor and you go on to win two Newbery Medals; after you become a two-time finalist for the National Book Award; after several of your books are adapted for the big screen (not to mention a stage musical and an opera); after you’re named the National Ambassador

This originally appeared in our Today in Books daily newsletter, where each day we round up the most interesting stories, news, essays, and other goings on in the world of books and reading. Sign up here if you want to get it. So far this week, Today in Books has been a one-story-a-day affair. And

Shortly after 9/11, Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe’s great-grandmother, troubled by the state of the world, commissioned a symphony. A Coast Salish elder and Indigenous language activist, Vi taqʷšəblu Hilbert had no prior connection to classical music. Yet her belief that our broken world desperately needed healing resulted in “The Healing Heart of the First People of

On the same day each August, Ana Magdalena Bach travels by ferry to a Caribbean island, in order to lay a gladiolus bouquet on her mother’s grave. Afterwards, she spends the night in the same hotel overlooking a lagoon inhabited by blue herons. Against an evocative backdrop of jungles and beaches, this pilgrimage remains unvarying

It’s been awhile since we got new Murakami, but we won’t have to wait much longer: Haruki Murakami’s first novel in six years will hit shelves this fall. The City and Its Uncertain Walls will be published this November by Harvill Secker, a novel billed as “an ode to books and to the libraries that

RuPaul, drag superstar and pop culture icon, has been busy on his lifelong way to stardom—a destiny, he reveals, foretold by a psychic before he was born. He has been an actor, producer, author, model, dancer, singer, songwriter, media host, business mogul and creator of the multi-Emmy-winning reality TV series, “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” He has

Since the advent of The Folk of the Air series in 2018, Holly Black has held legions of YA fantasy readers in thrall to the world of Faerie: its acorn cups and everapples, redcaps and ragwort steeds, mad revels and delicate, deadly riddles. Her latest novel, The Prisoner’s Throne, is another delicious descent into the

Few YA series have garnered the level of devotion and praise achieved by Holly Black’s Folk of the Air series (FOTA), which followed Jude Duarte and her battle for power in Faerie. It’s no surprise that Black’s massive fan base rejoiced when the author released a spinoff duology, the Novels of Elfhame. Picking up right

This originally appeared in our Today in Books daily newsletter, where each day we round up the most interesting stories, news, essays, and other goings on in the world of books and reading. Sign up here if you want to get it. Spotify’s Next Audiobook Offering is a Weird One I have heard that audiobooks are doing well

When their manager at big-box store Town Square announces that he’s leaving, the members of Team Movement see their opening. Chronically exhausted from shifts that start at 3:55 am and chronically under-scheduled because Corporate doesn’t want to pay for benefits, they vie to take over the management position and the increased pay and stability that

I can’t believe we’re at the end of month two of the 2024 Read Harder Challenge! Despite writing these updates every week, it still seems to be sneaking up on me. As always, this week I have my own reading updates, some recommendations from the comments section for one of the tasks (in this case,

Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside

This originally appeared in our Today in Books daily newsletter, where each day we round up the most interesting stories, news, essays, and other goings on in the world of books and reading. Sign up here if you want to get it. __________________________________ Saturday Night Live Skewers Truman Capote I haven’t been watching the confusingly

It’s common practice among many publishers to leave translators’ bylines off book covers—an act of erasure that reinforces the widely held belief that original texts are sacred and thus superior to any translation. Jennifer Croft, who is best known for her translations of Nobel Prize-winning Polish author Olga Tokarczuk’s books, is challenging readers and critics

For too long, the tyranny of standard page counts has kept published stories to a set length. There was one category for short stories and one for novels, with nary a middle ground in sight. But as ebooks became more popular, the humble novella took its rightful spot in the literary ecosystem. No more will