Posts

In high school and college, Greek epics like Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were never among my favorites. This is partly my personal preference and partly a generational difference. My Baby Boomer mom read—and translated passages from—The Odyssey, The Iliad, and The Aeneid in their original Greek and Latin in high school. This was common in her generation but rare in mine—virtually unheard of among friends my age. So, I’m exactly the target audience for Madeline Miller’s retellings of Greek epics: a Millennial feminist sexual assault survivor who’d only read these classics in English translations....

The dinner, initially scheduled for June 23, has been postponed in light of coronavirus shutdowns. No substitute event has yet been planned. In the meantime, the five shortlisted authors and their stories. Here, in reverse alphabetical order: Irenosen Okojie Nigerian British writer Irenosen Okojie was born in Nigeria and moved to England when she was eight. She worked as a freelancer and arts project manager, and her first novel, Butterfly Fish, came out in 2016....

It was awesome. DasGupta is a great narrator for anyone interested in the audiobook and the story of Kiranmala, Neel, and their quest was delightful. The tone of the book is fun and quick, but DasGupta is really good at drawing depth and connection between her characters. I especially loved the discussions of family, that love, not blood, makes you family. And for an outsider to Hindu culture and mythology, this look at Hindu cosmology and mythology was exactly right to whet my appetite to learn more about Hinduism, both in fiction and non-fictional forms....

Netflix and author Ann M. Martin confirmed that season two will land Monday, October 11. Netflix also released a handful of photos to excited fans about the new episodes. Check those out below, starting with what is clearly a continuation of a show dedicated to friendship: Check out Claudia and her rocking style: Some out of office official duties: And finally, a look at the growing staff of babysitters: Fans have hailed this adaptation as one that’s inclusive, fun, and maybe even better than the books themselves....

First, Book Riot asked me to join the team. And second, I signed a ton of paperwork and became a homeowner. I always imagined that when I bought my own home I would make room for a library. Initially, this imaginary library was an entire room with built-in floor-to-ceiling shelves, ladders on wheels, antique globes, fancy stone bookends, and one large comfortable chair. When it looked like I’d be remaining a city dweller, I thought about putting those floor-to-ceiling shelves in every room although not on every wall....

For those of us who read, sometimes a good way to get the inside scoop about what things might look like is to read about them! Luckily for us all, there are many books about the therapy experience that can help us prepare, or even build up the courage, to make that call. Some come directly from therapists, so you can get an idea of what they’re thinking and the experience from the other side of the therapy relationship....

Sometimes the considerations were pricing (a hardcover picture book is priced around $18–20 while board books tend to be more like $8–12) but more often than not, it was a matter of durability. Adults were wary of shelling out almost twice as much on a book with paper pages when they couldn’t trust their exuberant young readers to treat books gently. I understand the frustration, and while I do wish that picture books offered a wider range of durability and price points, I think there’s valid reasoning why not every picture book needs to be a board book....

But first, let’s chat about what the Leonids meteor shower means for you. Each November, Earth passes through the meteoroids left in the trail of the Temple-Tuttle comet. The Leonids meteor shower will be most visible this year during November 17–18. Astrologically speaking, meteor showers represent elements of your past affecting your present, or the past coming back to haunt you. Meteor showers are made up of glass, ice, and dust particles left behind by comets and now left floating in space....

But how do you put together a book about cemeteries and monuments? I decided to talk to two historians who have recently published or will publish books about cemeteries and/or monuments. I talked with Tammy Gibson, entrepreneur, storyteller, travel historian, and author of Honoring The Legacy: A Guide of African-American Monuments and Statues (2020); and Adam Selzer, tour guide, speaker, and author of the forthcoming 2022 Graceland Cemetery: Chicago Stories, Symbols, and Secrets....

13 young adult authors… 13 heart-stopping tales… This collection will “delight longtime Poe fans just as much as readers who haven’t read the classics” (Beth Revis). I love Edgar Allan Poe. Ever since I was a tiny, moody, black-wearing preteen I have adored his macabre and melancholy works. Poe’s writing, not too well received during his lifetime, had an undeniable posthumous effect on modern gothic fiction. There are few, if any, gothic or horror writers today who can deny his influence on their work, and Anya Seton didn’t even try....

AIDS was something I couldn’t get, or so I once believed, so it wasn’t anything I needed to worry about. As a teen, what I learned about it largely came from gossip and if I happened upon it in any of my books (unlikely). I knew it as a “gay disease”—something that is wildly inaccurate and offensive, but the stigma surrounding AIDS and HIV is so pervasive to this day, and discrimination against people living with HIV is unfortunately still a common occurrence, so discussing it head-on is the best approach to understanding and empathizing....

The best action manga knows how to balance a great storyline with relatable yet overpowered main characters (“OP MC”). It also needs to have stunning graphics you want to immerse yourself with. There is plenty of great action manga and action manwha out there but then again…there’s always room for reading more manga while you search for The Chosen One / The Ultimate / The Only One That Can Be The Best Of The Best....

cue the banjo music If you need an intense read to cap off your August, this is it. It’s about a camping trip in the Sierra Nevada that goes horribly, horribly wrong. A group of hikers, each with their own reasons for wanting to get away for a while, decide to traverse a trail that hasn’t been used for many years. But what they find instead of adventure is someone who didn’t want to be found....

Crabapple is one of the most outstanding artists working today, and this inspiring memoir is a fascinating look at how she perseveres through rejection, sexism, and self-doubt to get her art out to the world. From her times traveling the world and sketching everything she sees, to protesting on the streets for causes she feels passionate about, Crabapple tells amazing stories about her life, her trials and tribulations, all gorgeously illustrated in her unique style....

William Faulkner is widely recognized as one of Morrison’s most important literary influences, both thematically and stylistically. But just how close are they? See if you can correctly identify the author of the below passages. Each is either Morrison or Faulkner, and the answers are at the bottom of the post in inviso-text (just highlight it). Good luck! 1. You cant beat women anyhow and that if you are wise or dislike trouble and uproar you dont even try to....

Unfortunately, pseudonyms have also used manipulatively. In 2015, a poem was included in an anthology of the best poetry of the year under the name Yi-Fen Chou — only it turned out that the poet’s real name was Michael Derrick Hudson, a white man who used a former classmate’s name in the hopes that it would give his poetry a better chance of being published. A few years later, Marvel came under fire for having a white comics writer that used the pen name Akira Yoshida, including while writing stories set in Japan....

“Travel?” the customers ask me. “900s,” I tell them. They follow the direction of my pointing finger and head off to the corner where we keep our travel books. And within such a fleeting moment, our interaction is through. Of course, it’s worth noting that while the Dewey Decimal System has contributed a significant amount to libraries, it’s far from perfect and so was its creator. Now, it’s your turn....

Lately, I’ve been doing books-as-objects deep dives and learning about the history of books and publishing. It started with Why are Books That Shape?, then a history of deckle edges, and now a history of the dust jacket. Each time I do this, I learn more about how books have evolved to be the objects they are today. Did you know that in England, books were originally published and sold unbound, with the expectation that the buyer would then get a bespoke binding to match the other books in their collection?...

Pack your wagons, find your ride-or-(literally) die friends, and roll up to Matt’s General Store with a sack of cash—it’s time to hit the Oregon Trail, twenty-first-century style! …And Then You Die of Dysentery is the perfect send-up to the sometimes frustrating, always entertaining, and universally beloved Oregon Trail computer game. Featuring a four-color design in the game’s iconic 8-bit format, alongside pop culture references galore, the book offers 50 humorous, snarky life lessons gleaned from the game’s most iconic moments—it’s the ultimate trip down memory lane ....

If you or your kids have read The Magic Tree House series, which has sold more than 143 million copies and been translated into 34 languages, you’re in luck. On Monday, April 27, Random House Children’s Books, together with Mary Pope Osborne, will be launching Magic Tree House Home Adventures. There are crafts, activities, games, and more, all related to weekly themes. Families can share their activities on Instagram using the hashtag #MTHAdventures for a chance to be highlighted on the Random House Children’s Books IG at @RandomHouseKids....