Posts

Technology has always shaped literature. One of the most interesting aspects of Dracula is the way it segues from the more traditional framework of Jonathan Harker’s diary entries and the letters between Lucy and Mina, to developing the story via the medium of Dr Sewell’s wax cylinder recordings. With the 20th and 21st centuries bringing a boom in technological advances, literature has adapted to feature, and often exploit, new tech as it becomes available....

For years, I thought I just didn’t like long books. I consistently avoided them. Every time I picked one up, I’d become immediately anxious. I’d look at that dauntingly high page number and all I could see were the upcoming days, weeks — even months — that I’d have to devote to that book and only that book. I had no idea how to commit to a long book and actually enjoy it....

Even as this trembly, fearful kid, I devoured the stories with tragic endings in Chicken Soup for the Grieving Soul. I was both traumatized and fascinated with the whole idea of dying. I haven’t changed much, I guess, because even though I’m still terrified of dying—mostly because I don’t want to leave my son behind—I recently read Caitlin Doughty’s 2014 book, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory....

Now I know what you’re thinking; horror can’t be good for someone with mental health issues. It’s just page after page of triggers. The knee-jerk reaction for most is to say, “Hey, they’re screaming and there’s blood and fear and all sorts of otherwise no-goodness. You should watch things with flowers, and rainbows.” It’s just going to be page after page of triggers, and sadism, and misery. But go with me....

Those who grew up homeschooled might remember the oddness of school melting into the summer, while your friends who went to public school were absolutely finished on the last day of school. The homeschool never stops. There might have been a certain number of math lessons to complete before the summer was over. My assigned summer reading list was long. There were historical field trips to museums or science projects to complete....

A lot has changed during my transition from childhood to adulthood. I’m out of school. I’m living in an apartment rather than my parent’s house or student housing. I’m navigating life in a new city, where I am solely responsible for all my own decisions. At times, this fills me with both an exhilarating sense of freedom and abject terror. Listening to audiobooks has helped me chill out a bit as I navigate this new life terrain....

What is a grazing board? It’s a lot like charcuterie or a cheese board, but often cheese and meat aren’t the star of the show. It’s a board (or plate, platter, baking sheet, cutting board) loaded up with small bites. Grazing boards are great to pair with reading because it’s not food that necessarily takes your whole attention. Easy to grab and snack on while turning the pages. Select Your Snacks Decide what kind of board you want to make....

Online Follow Your Indie’s Book Buyer If you poke around a bit in your indie’s social media, you might find features like book recommendations in their Instagram Story Highlights, or a series by the store’s book buyer, or even a regular “Staff Picks” update on their feed. Don’t have an indie near you? Borrow mine. They even have a separate section for YA if that’s your jam. Since these feeds are curated by humans who love books and want you to read awesome books, you’re likely to find some inspiration there....

Yeah. It hurts me too. Top of My List: Brazen Comics Festival 2020 (Sydney, Australia) One of the conventions I was really looking forward to this year was the Brazen Comics Festival. Created by two amazing women from my monthly comic book meet-up (Siobhan Coombs and Meagan Date), Brazen Comics Festival is a brand new comics convention, originally scheduled for May 2020 in Sydney, Australia. Due to COVID-19 and lockdown laws on social distancing and big events, the Brazen Comics Festival has currently been suspended until later in the year....

If you want to keep reading about BookTok, take a dive into our TikTok archive! There you’ll find some of the most popular books on the site as well as the best accounts to follow. When I first loaded the app, I got a ton of recommendations by genre or trope that featured 10 or more books in a single video without telling you more about them. I quickly realized that this wasn’t great for my experiment....

Before the world got turned so far upside down that I couldn’t even stand to watch a comedy news show (let alone the real news), I started every morning with a coffee and The Daily Show. And do you know how many book recommendations I got from watching The Daily Show? A lot. I could do a whole exhaustive list of all the books I discovered from watching The Daily Show, but some highlights include Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottam, Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall, Surviving the White Gaze by Rebecca Carroll, Know My Name by Chanel Miller, and many others....

This got me thinking. I love crime fiction, and within this umbrella there are many sub-genres, and many many wonderful authors and books. If I were to compare my favourite crime authors and novels to food, what would the menu look like? This is what I came up with. Dublin Murder Squad series (first book: In the Woods) By Tana French I just finished my fourth Tana French novel yesterday, Broken Harbour (I’m reading her books in publication order)....

What is a funny romance book? For me, funny romance books, or romcoms, need to be on the lighthearted side of the balance. Sure, they can have hard topics in their stories, but overall, when I’m reading a romcom, I want more laughs than tears. I’m a big cry baby so I usually cry especially if something happy happens, like a love confession. But those can be categorized as happy tears....

Maybe it says something about our age differences. I just turned 40 on Thanksgiving, so I was certainly a bit later in life to be finishing up my MFA, and the question came from a twentysomething. I think the question said more about the internet and the vast trove of recipes that live there. And yet, my collection of cookbooks persists. So why do I stand in defense of cookbooks?...

In Never-Contented Things, a reader may not know if the foster care system or the fairies are scarier. Fairies may not be real, but aloof red tape certainly is. Foster siblings Ksenia and Josh prepare for when Ksenia will age out of the system and have to leave their home, since their guardians see Ksenia as the bad influence and Josh as the golden child. Nothing can be further from the truth, but Ksenia’s low self-esteem and doubts allow her to believe that she is the bad influence and that leaving Josh would be for the best....

In early May, Politico leaked an initial draft of a U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito that would overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Decision, which guarantees a constitutional right to abortion. Although the opinion isn’t final and abortion is still legal in the U.S., abortion rights activists are preparing for sweeping limits to reproductive freedom across the country. If Roe is overturned, 26 states are certain or likely to ban abortions according to the Guttmacher Institute....

“It’s just horse racing?” I replied, spluttering, apoplectic, how could these possibly be my children? “Progeny,” said I, “it is the sport of kings.” And they said, “Whatever. Can we have more of this pie? But don’t tell us anything more about pecans, okay?” “Or the history of the mint julep.” In preparation for making Derby Pie which, like pecan pie, consists of a pecans, corn syrup, sugar, and eggs, but adds the crucial additional revelatory elements of Kentucky bourbon and chocolate chips, I have been reading The Pecan: A History of America’s Native Nut by James McWilliams....

After the roommate and I talked about mutual book loves for a while, she suggested I try this writer named Haruki Murakami and handed me a copy of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. She didn’t usually loan out her books but said she could tell I understood their importance. She knew I would return it. Dear Rioters, I did not. First, I’d like to offer an excuse: Months went by before I had time to read it....

Unless you live under a rock or are avoiding the internet for very healthy self-care reasons, you have heard of music artist, and author of children’s book C is for Country, Lil Nas X. On March 26, 2021, Lil Nas X released the song “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” (and accompanying video). Additionally, the singer-rapper shared a touching letter to his 14-year-old self on social media. Lil Nas X is the queer hero we need and deserve....

SuperSummary used the Bechdel Test as a jumping off point for their research. This handy tool, named after Alison Bechdel’s 1985 comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For,” is a simplified means of determining sexism in literature. Though it’s overly simplified, the Bechdel Test has three requirements: (1) there are two named female characters (2) who talk with each other (3) about something other than a man. The research began by compiling a list of 200 bestselling fiction books....