One of my favorite ways to read sci-fi is via audiobook. Narration lends a whole new aspect to books; narrators are often in on the jokes, and know how to pronounce the names of characters and planets. I can listen to the dulcet tones of my favorite narrators while I garden, commute, or do the dishes. For sci-fi, this is particularly great because while I’m doing boring 2022 human stuff, my brain is riding dragons on Pern or saving humans with a murderbot....

“The edge of the stories in Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s debut collection Friday Black is razor sharp, ready to cut deep. This book is dark and captivating and essential. This book is a call to arms and it is a condemnation. Adjei-Brenyah offers powerful prose as parable. The writing in this outstanding collection will make you hurt and demand your hope. Read this book. Marvel at the intelligence of each of these stories and what they reveal about racism, capitalism, complacency and their insidious reach....

via GIPHY Some people attempt a full-on book-buying ban. I am amazed and impressed by anyone with that kind of willpower. I don’t have it. I’ll make an attempt and then find a dozen excuses for why this purchase doesn’t count. Then I’ll feel guilty and buy myself another book to feel better. I told you, in the face of books I have no willpower. That said, I recently spent a LOT of money on books when I visited 19 bookstores in one day, after which I decided I needed to calm down a little....

The last year has raised the political consciousness of people across the United States — and the world — who for various reasons had previously not paid much attention to the material conditions that shape the lives of people on the margins of American society, particularly Black folks. Thanks to the visibility brought by a new generation of freedom fighters under the banner of “Black Lives Matter,” work which is itself rooted in organizing work that goes back decades, the brutality of 2020 was impossible to ignore....

Sometimes I may forget I am hungry if I am focused on a task, but you may be sure that even before I started the task I was worrying about breakfast, morning snack, lunch, dessert, afternoon snack, dinner, dessert, and supper. It is, therefore, not a surprise that one of the reasons I get excited about vacations is because of all the (new) food I get to eat without having to cook — and without feeling guilty about eating out for a whole week, since I usually count the meals in my vacation budget....

“I woke up to the spirit of the season. I heard the spirit in the air. I’ve been saving the spirit all year long.” —I Got the Christmas Spirit by Connie Schofield-Morrison “I love the holidays, with all their sparkling lights and delicious baked goods. And I really love helping people find the perfect present because it’s a wonderful feeling when you open up a gift and realize a loved one gets you....

If you’re anything like me, you know the struggle. There are so many amazing books and if you don’t preorder, or get on the waitlist at the library right away, it can be easy to let some slip past. So I’ve started planning not on a yearly reading timeline, but on a monthly one. So, now that it’s April, it’s time to look at the incredible books that are coming out this month....

K-pop stories among Korean YA fiction seem to be the most numerous at the moment, as an easy cultural access point for many western readers who are otherwise unfamiliar with Korean and Korean American culture. And with the ubiquity of K-pop, it’s no wonder. As publishers take on more Korean YA, however, the subjects expand. With options becoming more numerous, it can be hard to know where to start. So long as you’re in for some romance, these books will get you well on your way....

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 remember three field trips from elementary school. One was the time my class went to the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s home. We did not discuss how he was one of the most racist presidents in history. I learned that much later. The second was to the Tennessee State Museum to see a Ghenghis Khan exhibit....

In book three of the popular Jumbies series, Corinne must use her emerging supernatural powers to battle the angry god who would destroy her Caribbean island home. When a ferocious out-of-season hurricane wrecks Corinne’s seaside village, Corinne knows it’s not a typical storm. She discovers the storms weren’t caused by a jumbie, but by the angry god Huracan. Now Corinne, with the help of her friends and even some of her enemies, must race against time to find out what has angered Huracan and try to fix it before her island home is destroyed forever....

So I’ve taken it upon myself to put together this list of Japanese historical fiction, including both translated works and books originally published in English, but all by authors of Japanese descent. (Mostly I just want to make sure we have a good selection of books to go to that can replace those books by white dudes who I won’t even mention by name who have questionable fixations on Japanese culture....

Working in a school, you get to meet students from many different backgrounds and those who have many different experiences and challenges. Finding books for autistic tweens and teens that will reflect what they are feeling and experiencing is really, really tough because there is a wide spectrum of experiences and emotions when we are considering autism. Books that cover these types of topics are hugely important because it allows those who are neurotypical to attempt to step into the shoes of someone who is neurodiverse, at least for a little while....

We’ve compiled fifteen of the best dictionary apps so you can brush up on your vocabulary on the go. Whether you’re learning English as a foreign language or a native speaker looking to impress your friends with the latest jargon, we’ve got the perfect app for you. 1. Wordreference Dictionary Type: English, multilingual Devices: iOS | Android Price: Free Why you’ll love it: This is one of my favourite apps ever as a language student....

It’s not that I didn’t want to add more, nor that I was being lazy or anything, it’s that I would never stop adding to the list because nonfiction has been amazing lately. Amazing! There are so many fantastic stories, voices, interesting things to learn — it just doesn’t end. And because the nonfiction genre has seen an influx in voices that publishing traditionally kept out, I feel like a kid in a candy store getting to hear so many stories....

Also, please make me feel normal and back me up on this one: Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of bookmarks that I can’t choose one. You can’t just use a Six of Crows-themed bookmark for a historical fiction book, and it just takes too long to go through the entire box. Other times, I’m so entranced by the book I’m reading that I just want to read it all in one fell swoop....

Quotes on Reading and Writing The library was a little old shabby place. Francie thought it was beautiful. The feeling she had about it was as good as the feeling she had about church. She pushed open the door and went in. She liked the combined smell of worn leather bindings, library past and freshly inked stamping pads better than she liked the smell of burning incense at high mass. She read the words over aloud....

Nonfiction Islamic Books These easy-to-read books about Islamic history, religion, and sociology introduce different aspects of the faith and its many followers. 1. No God But God by Reza Aslan Aslan’s immensely readable introduction to Islam explains the religion’s origins and development through history. Yet it also discusses its future. Aslan considers what an Islamic Reformation might look like, given the widespread and heterogeneous nature of the religion today. By the same author: Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East....

Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez (January 7 from Page Street Kids) Ximena is proud to be the decoy for the last remaining Illustrian royal, and she doesn’t hesitate to do her duty when the usurper Atoc demands the true Condesa’s hand in marriage— or course, Ximena goes in her stead. Now she’ll be able to work as a spy from the inside. But even as she weaves secret messages back to the Condesa in her magical tapestries, she realizes that overthrowing the Atoc without starting another bloody war may be more complicated than she thinks....

I remember someone asking recently if books set in the 1990s should count as historical fiction. I don’t know the official designation for what constitutes historical fiction. But I do know that these novels from the 1990s, though written in a different era, are just as relevant today as they were when they were first published. They speak to all the joys and complications of being human. There are, of course more worthy novels from the 1990s than I could include here....

— Matt Johnson (@Matt_Johnson_UK) March 31, 2018 Kudos to the person who thought of this response immediately and not in the shower the next day. — Captain ACAB, BA* (@TheGrimRecapper) March 29, 2017 I can see how this would get heated. — MrsMills (@MrsMillsST) August 31, 2013 When asking for recommendations, specificity is key. — William Gerrard (@Bill_Gerrard) December 22, 2019 Like this would stop us… “Let’s go in and look around....