Books

Before March of 2018, I never intended to write a sequel to There There. When I first decided to do it, the mean voices inside immediately began judging me. Like it was lowbrow. Like it belonged in the Marvel universe of decision-making, like people would think it was a cash grab even though I made

Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her

A bookshop becomes an inspiration for transformation in this thought-provoking tale by author and essayist Hwang Bo-reum. After she burns out from her intense career and divorces her controlling husband, Yeongju decides to find emotional fulfillment by pursuing her childhood dream of owning a bookshop. Although she finds the business aspect of running a bookshop

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View

Despite her love for logic and science, 12-year-old Sahara Rashad longs for a trip from her home in Queens, New York, to Merlin’s Crossing, a wizard-themed amusement park. Alas, as Nedda Lewers’ magical coming-of-age adventure Daughters of the Lamp opens, Sahara realizes her dad didn’t find her “Ten Reasons the Rashad Family Should Go to

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. It Feels Like a Lot Because It Is a Lot If your latest scroll through the Netflix menu left you feeling like every other option was based on a book, you’re not super wrong. Nearly one-third

Graham Halstead serves up an atmospheric performance in the audiobook of The Glutton (11 hours), A.K. Blakemore’s mesmerizing novel about a peasant boy with a voracious appetite for just about anything. Tarare is a sickly man close to death, strapped to his hospital bed and watched over by a nun who is terrified by rumors

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. ALA Issues Résumés for Banned Books In just the latest reminder that not all heroes wear capes—and librarians are some of our greatest heroes now and always—the American Library Association’s Unite Against Book Bans coalition

Valerie Martin’s captivating new novel, Mrs. Gulliver, lies just beyond the horizon. The year is 1954. Verona Island floats a longish ferry ride away from the mainland. Lila Gulliver’s clients enter through a side door behind a hedge, unseen from the street, though prostitution is legal on the island. Lila, who tells this tale, is

An orphan and immigrant in the vast industrial city of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir has made a name for herself as the proprietor of Spindrift, an innovative teahouse situated at the intersection of the posh and working class sides of town. Alongside her adopted brother, Jin, Arthie is offering something unique at Spindrift—especially to the

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Suspense-thriller fans, take note! We’ve got an exclusive excerpt of The Guest by B.A. Paris today on Book Riot. And it’s Tuesday, so you know I’m picking the “it books” of the week. Keep a-scrolling! West Virginia House Passes

“What’s past is prologue,” Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest. Tommy Orange demonstrates the veracity of that line in Wandering Stars, his follow-up to There There, the 2018 debut novel for which he was a Pulitzer finalist. Few literary debuts are as chillingly of-the-moment as There There, which spanned a huge cast of Native American characters

Nimona by ND Stevenson is a bestselling graphic novel that came out in 2015. In 2023, the animated adaptation was released on Netflix, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. And now, the entire movie is available for free on YouTube! The movie is set in a medieval-inspired sci-fi world and

The shocking disappearance of four people infuses suburban Palmetto, Illinois, with confusion and fear in Melissa Albert’s gripping supernatural horror thriller, The Bad Ones. Among the missing is high school junior Nora Powell’s best friend, Becca Cross. As children, the duo established a creative partnership and spent hours in the woods together, with Nora writing

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View

It’s the Year of the Dragon! Fantasy books (and sometimes other genres, too) are filled with dragons, from classics like The Hobbit to genre-bending sci-fi like Phoenix Extravagant to swoon-worthy romantasy like Fourth Wing. We talk a lot about dragon books at Book Riot, both as their own lists and incorporated into other roundups. In