Edited by The Bronx Is Reading founder Saraciea J. Fennell and featuring an all-star cast of Latinx contributors, Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed is an essential celebration of the rich and diverse Latinx community. The 15 groundbreaking original pieces by bestselling and award-winning contributors including Elizabeth Acevedo, Mark Oshiro, Ibi Zoboi will not only spark important dialogue, but also inspire hope. Want more 3 on a YA Theme? We’ve got you covered!...
Last month, Celestial Bodies became the first Arabic book to win the coveted Man Booker International Prize. Let’s hope this promising development means the influx of more writers from diverse backgrounds in global publishing. Here are three outstanding and singularly inventive books by writers from Middle Eastern origins that have come out this year. Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi Winner of this year’s Man Booker International Prize, this book from an Omani novelist features characters that will stay with you long after you have finished it....
Experience the Grishaverse like never before. . . Out of the pages of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, from the hands of Alina Starkov to yours, soon to be part of a Netflix original series—immerse yourself in the epic world of international bestselling author Leigh Bardugo with this beautifully illustrated replica of The Lives of Saints, the Istorii Sankt’ya. These tales include stunning full-color illustrations of miracles and martyrdoms from familiar saints plus strange and obscure stories drawn from the novels and beyond....
Escape is just the beginning. Twin sisters Becca and Cassie barely got out of the Crazy House alive. Now they’re trained, skilled fighters who fear nothing–not even the all-powerful United regime. Together, the sisters hold the key to defeating the despotic government and freeing the people of the former United States. But to win this war, will the girls have to become the very thing they hate? In this gripping follow-up to James Patterson’s YA blockbuster Crazy House, the world is about to get even crazier....
Here are three short stories that would make excellent graphic novels: “Stone Animals” by Kelly Link, from Magic for Beginners Not only do I think this would be a perfect horror film, it’d make a kickass graphic novel. Don’t get me wrong, it’d be tricky, but someone’s got to give it a go. “Stone Animals” is story about husband, his pregnant wife, and two kids moving into a new home....
“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” “Do what you need to and enjoy life as it happens.” —John Scalzi “There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” —Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland “Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it yet....
Ancient History Pharaoh’s Daughter by Julius Lester The story of Moses, a Jewish boy born into slavery and eventually adopted by an Egyptian princess, is well-known. His sister Almah’s journey is less familiar. As she sacrifices again and again to protect her baby brother, Almah begins to feel more connected to the Egyptian gods than her own Hebrew religion. Told in alternating perspectives, this middle grade novel brings Ancient Egypt to life....
The Best New Beginnings Quotes ‘Every day I feel is a blessing from God. And I consider it a new beginning. Yeah, everything is beautiful.’ ‘No matter how hard the past is, you can always begin again.’ ― Jack Kornfield (by touchofbeautydesgins on Etsy) ‘All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else.’ ‘If the future is to remain open and free, we need people who can tolerate the unknown, who will not need the support of completely worked out systems or traditional blueprints from the past....
Bonus Round Happy magic season everyone! Hope you find something to make it spectacular! As they get to know one another, however, it turns out Effie, Selimene, and Carlota have a lot more in common than they initially thought. Mostly sass. Oh, also, they’re all witches. Wait until you see what happens when Effie’s favorite celebrity comes to town in need of the trio’s supernatural assistance… This graphic novel is absolutely delightful from start to finish and perfect for anyone awaiting the next installment of Witch Hat Atelier or the The Weirn Books....
But I can tell you the exact moment I read that same situation, happily ever after included: It was February of 2017, and I had picked up Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon. The book, published by Bold Strokes Books (the most prominent publisher of WLW romance at the moment), is almost criminally short, but Rebekah has a way with novellas. Treasure was everything I didn’t know I was looking for: a sex-positive, happy representation of two young women who were in school and getting shit done....
A lot more than they used to be, certainly. Books like Children of Blood and Bone have received much-deserved acclaim for their portrayal of fictional realities which are not, for once, based on Eurocentric worlds with Eurocentric characters. But there are still a bunch of novels out there which deserve a lot more recognition for the diversity of their casts and settings. All of the following have significantly less than 1000 ratings on Goodreads, which definitely makes them under-appreciated gems....
These books, all hitting shelves in the first half of 2020, provide candid glimpses into what it’s like to struggle with mental illness and how its impact can extend into the various corners of your life. Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies: And Other Rituals to Fix Your Life, from Someone Who’s Been There by Tara Schuster Tara Schuster is a professional success by any definition. After helping to launch Key & Peele to superstardom, she now serves as Comedy Central’s Vice President of Talent and Development....
Women’s heroes are everyone’s heroes! In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote, we read books that are by, for, and about powerful women of all ages. A pre-teen who helped discover the world’s first dinosaur bone, a young women in the early 20th century who braved the illness and death of the radium factories and fought a groundbreaking battle for workers’ rights, or teens—one black, one white—who rely on each other to survive a night of violent race riots in their city—these are the stories of remarkable women of history and resourceful everyday girls....
The very first of its type for me, this book holds a special place in my heart. Lahiri is a gifted writer and she perfectly creates a portrait of the Ganguli family as they immigrate from Calcutta to Massachusetts. We see this journey through the eyes of the parents and then their son, Gogol. Gogol stumbles along (as do many first-gen kids), straddling that line between two very different cultures, never quite assimilating seamlessly into either side....
In a way, it was like an identity crisis. I didn’t have my own mother to turn to when I needed help—and honestly, I didn’t want the term “mother” to smother my identity. There had to be more to me than that. I wasn’t “just” a mother. What I didn’t realize was that I was internalizing the disdain for women and motherhood that our society consistently holds over us. Stay at home with your kids, and you’re smothering them....
A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Harkup It fills me with never-ending glee to know that the Queen of Crime was such a committed creep. In A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie, science writer and crime buff Kathryn Harkup takes us through some of Agatha Christie’s favourite poisons. The books includes details of Christie’s stint as a chemist, where she picked up most of her encyclopedic knowledge of poison....
As an author myself, I absolutely love reading books about other writers! There are so many fabulous ones out there; here are just a handful of my favorites:
It is a strange fall that we are working through this year. Dealing with COVID-19 isn’t easy for anyone of any age (maybe babies, actually—they probably aren’t aware of what is happening), and parents have the added worry about how best to help their children through online education. So, as many of us struggle to find a way to exist safely while returning to a version of working life, many children are learning virtually for the first time....
Here are five overlooked (less than 1,000 Goodreads ratings) nonfiction titles from the NYRB Classics’s catalog. For a lengthier list of great nonfiction, check out Rebecca Hussey’s from last October. The World I Live In by Helen Keller Helen Keller’s The Story of My Life is firmly lodged in the autobiographical canon, and even people who haven’t read it or seen its adaptations, usually under the title The Miracle Worker, are familiar with the details of Keller’s childhood....
N.K. Jemisin The Pin Honestly, if you’re a fan of Octavia Butler and you haven’t read N.K. Jemisin yet, where have you been? Since the publication of her debut novel The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms in 2010, Jemisin’s ground-breaking, unique fantasy novels have only been getting better. To date she has three series to check out: the Inheritance trilogy, the Dreamblood series, and the Broken Earth series, the third novel of which, The Stone Sky, is due out this August....
