Aretha Franklin has died. In her lifetime, the musical giant inspired a trove of books about or inspired by her outsized legacy. In tribute, we offer this bibliography of recommended titles linked to their excerpted Booklist reviews—a small fraction of the books in which Franklin appears as a key figure in Black history, Civil […]
When the amazing cover for the new story collection from Kevin Wilson (of Family Fang fame) popped up in my Twitter feed, I did a double take: as arresting as it is, I could have sworn I’d seen something like it before. Then it occurred to me: Hanif Abdurraqib’s They Can’t Kill Us until They Kill […]
Last month, Paramount announced a feature-length adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” a famously chilling short story that featured a sacrificial lottery, children-on-children violence, and a cruel, opaque government 60 years before the The Hunger Games. This marks the fourth time the tale has been made into a movie; the penultimate time, NBC cast Keri Russell […]
Cindy: We recently discovered two stunning picture books, both from small presses, featuring jungle animals and stories that read like modern folktales. One is Lantana Press’ You’re Safe With Me (2018), by Chitra Soundar & Poonam Mistry. Thank you, Lerner, for distributing this gorgeous picture book in the U. S. and Canada. I was drawn […]
Every weekday we feature a different review on Booklist Online. These reviews are notable for different reasons—they may be starred, or high-demand, or especially relevant to the current issue’s spotlight. We’ve collected the reviews from August 6–10 below. Monday, August 6 The Witch Elm, by Tana French French, author of the award-winning Dublin Murder Squad series, delivers a spellbinding […]
Every weekday we feature a different review on Booklist Online. These reviews are notable for different reasons—they may be starred, or high-demand, or especially relevant to the current issue’s spotlight. We’ve collected the reviews from August 13-17 below. Monday, August 13 The Storm Runner, by J. C. Cervantes Zane Obispo is content exploring the volcano in his backyard with his […]
Much like each successive season of The Bachelor, this summer has shaped up to be one of the dramatic ones on record. We’re blaming this on the five planets currently in retrograde—astrologically, planets in retrograde appear to be moving backwards across the sky, which means disruption and slowdowns in our daily lives. In the future, […]
Aretha Franklin has died. In her lifetime, the musical giant inspired a trove of books about or inspired by her outsized legacy. In tribute, we offer this bibliography of recommended titles linked to their excerpted Booklist reviews—a small fraction of the books in which Franklin appears as a key figure in Black history, Civil […]
Is your book group in a rut? Are folks sick of reading World War II-era historical fiction? Is your attendance dwindling? Maybe it’s time to go rogue. We hosted a live event (sponsored by NoveList) where we gathered some book-group experts to talk about what makes a good selection, how to pick something unexpected for […]
I am an eternal optimist. This tendency to think things will work out for the best is sometimes at odds with my inner curmudgeon, but what can you do? I like to think this conflict keeps my also-inner Pollyanna in check, but sometimes, that Pollyanna is strong. Take, for example, the time my book group […]
Donna Seaman, Booklist Adult Books Editor and co-chair of the SJP Picks selection committee, interviewed Nigerian writer Ayobami Adebayo about her debut novel, Stay with Me, a complex and suspenseful portrait of a besieged marriage—and Sarah Jessica Parker’s third selection for SJP Picks. For more information, visit Book Club Central. DONNA SEAMAN: Stay with Me is […]
Cindy: We recently discovered two stunning picture books, both from small presses, featuring jungle animals and stories that read like modern folktales. One is Lantana Press’ You’re Safe With Me (2018), by Chitra Soundar & Poonam Mistry. Thank you, Lerner, for distributing this gorgeous picture book in the U. S. and Canada. I was drawn […]
Lynn: Veera Hiranandani puts the well-loved structure of the fictional diary to exquisite use in her latest novel. InThe Night Diary (2018), 12-year-old Nisha receives a diary as a birthday gift from Kazi, the family servant who has raised and cared for Nisha and her twin brother after their mother died giving birth to them. Nisha […]
Lynn: Kids love dinosaurs and they love books about dinosaurs. So all I really have to say is that we have a fun and very different book for your dinosaur-loving readers This inventive adventure story is set in an alternate America. It is 1863, and in this world, while the Civil War rages, dinosaurs not […]
This year’s Audie Award winners were just announced at the 2018 Audies Gala, hosted by Award-winning narrator Simon Vance, at the New York Historical Society in New York City. Lincoln in the Bardo—a production that involved a record 166 narrators—took home the award for Audiobook of the Year. You can read our interview with author George Saunders […]
Y’all know My Favorite Murder, right? The super-popular podcast that, through some alchemical magic, blends true crime and comedy as told by two women who do the bare minimum of research and spend as much time detailing personal anecdotes as they do the murders they’re ostensibly covering? MFM has a huge and devoted following—search Etsy […]
Hold the phone, audiophiles: we just received a very exciting press release! The Audio Publishers Association (APA) has announced Audie Award® finalists for Audiobook of the Year and for Excellence in Design, Excellence in Marketing, and Excellence in Production. The winners of the Excellence Awards will be announced at the Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC) […]
Without getting too meta, sometimes the juiciest bits of the news are the stories behind the story. With this mix of novels, non-fiction, and wherever Hunter S. Thompson falls between the two, use the buzz from Oscar-nominated film The Post to draw attention to your other journalist-forward titles. All the President’s Men, by Carl Bernstein and Bob […]
“More than half of U.S. women have experienced unwanted and inappropriate sexual advances from men, three in 10 have put up with unwanted advances from male co-workers, and a quarter have endured them from men who had influence over their work situation,” says a new ABC News-Washington Post poll. The stories of harassment and intimidation that […]
John Green’s latest unputdownable YA novel, Turtles All the Way Down, tackles the tough topic of anxiety disorders, specifically Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. As Michael Cart writes in his starred review, ” Green, a master of deeply felt material, handles all of this with aplomb. With its attention to ideas and trademark introspection, it’s a challenging but […]
The New York Times has reported that wealthy Asian-Americans have waged a campaign to make Crazy Rich Asians, opening today, a “bona-fide cultural phenomenon.” As Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks writes: [From] New York City to Los Angeles, Houston to Honolulu, these industry leaders and others have spent many thousands of dollars renting out dozens of theaters for special screenings […]
The Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation has announced the 2018 finalists for its annual awards in fiction and nonfiction. Dedicated to “recognizing the power of literature to promote peace and reconciliation,” the prize will be awarded on September 18. To follow is a complete list of finalists, linked to their Booklist reviews when available. For more […]
The following books, published this week, received starred reviews in Booklist. Want to read our starred reviews before the books go on sale? Subscribe to Booklist! Adult Fiction Alien Virus Love Disaster: Stories, by Abbey Mei Otis Ball Lightning, by Cixin Liu, tr. by Joel Martinsen Don’t Eat Me, by Colin Cotterill Don’t Send Flowers, by Martín Solares, tr. by Heather Cleary […]
LibraryReads has announced its September 2018 selections! Check out the ten titles chosen by librarians below, linked to their Booklist reviews when available. For those of you who prefer to listen rather than read, we’ve hunted down the producers of the audio versions when available and have provided ordering information. Please note that we have not yet had […]
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before starts streaming on Netflix on August 17. The film—whose trailer (above) has accrued more than four million views at the time of this writing—began as a 2015 novel from Jenny Han, which imbues a night-sweat inducing scenario (all your secret crushes find out!) with humor, charm, and swoon-worthy romance. […]
The ominous disappearance of a 13-year-old girl from an English village is the catalyst for Jon McGregor’s remarkable novel in linked stories, The Reservoir Tapes, originally broadcast on the BBC and out this week in the U. S. from Catapult. I talked with him about writing for radio, village life, and fascination. MICHAEL CART: Would you describe […]
Encouraging Middle-Schoolers to Choose Books
There’s been a lot of discussion among the librarians I know about what to do with middle-schoolers: they just don’t seem to read as much as they used to. I know that here in Chicago, we have a unique perspective on this situation, since our schools run K–8. In my former school system in Maryland […]
Getting Started with the Global Read Aloud
The 2017 Global Read Aloud kicked off yesterday, and I’m here to help. Author and educator Pernille Ripp founded the program as a way to connect students and teachers from different locales around the topics of books. (Think One Book One School or One Book One City, but on a global scale.) Each year, Ripp […]
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Practice Recognizing Fake News
Cindy: There have been a number of YA fiction books with the title “Two Truths and a Lie,” but we’ve found a creative, informational book for middle-grade students that reinforces evaluating information for truth. Fake news, anyone? Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive (2017) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson is the first […]
Encouraging Middle-Schoolers to Choose Books
There’s been a lot of discussion among the librarians I know about what to do with middle-schoolers: they just don’t seem to read as much as they used to. I know that here in Chicago, we have a unique perspective on this situation, since our schools run K–8. In my former school system in Maryland […]
Getting Started with the Global Read Aloud
The 2017 Global Read Aloud kicked off yesterday, and I’m here to help. Author and educator Pernille Ripp founded the program as a way to connect students and teachers from different locales around the topics of books. (Think One Book One School or One Book One City, but on a global scale.) Each year, Ripp […]
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Practice Recognizing Fake News
Cindy: There have been a number of YA fiction books with the title “Two Truths and a Lie,” but we’ve found a creative, informational book for middle-grade students that reinforces evaluating information for truth. Fake news, anyone? Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive (2017) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson is the first […]
Follow the Booklist Reader