Books

The world was once full of wonders: monsters and marvels of human architecture, magic that could create visages both impossible and perfect. But such magic—and everything even approaching it—has long been outlawed, labeled as the dangerous apostasy of a bygone age. But Iriset knows that her society could do more with the magic that it
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This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror
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In her new hybrid work, The Möbius Book, Catherine Lacey sets a novella-length piece of fiction next to a memoir, calling them “Book A” and “Book B.” Book A, the fiction piece, follows longtime friends Marie and Edie through a long night as they try to comfort each other, both having suffered a bad breakup,
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Almost everyone knows that Toni Morrison deeply shaped American letters with her evocative novels and her powerful and eloquent literary criticism and speeches. What many don’t know is that she also profoundly influenced American book publishing and literature in her years as an editor at Random House from 1967 to 1977. Dana A. Williams provides
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Why one story totally captures my attention and another doesn’t, I can’t always pinpoint. It’s some ineffable yet powerful characteristic that goes beyond plot, character and setting. For whatever reasons Lori Roy’s new thriller, The Final Episode, kept me spellbound. She provides a great set-up – a true crime television series is reinvestigating the mysterious
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Laura Lippman is a woman with a plan. As the newly minted Mystery Writers of America Grand Master explains in a wide-ranging, highly entertaining call with BookPage from her Baltimore home, “I always tell people that when the apocalypse comes down, first I’m going to go pick up the woman who tints my brows and
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This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Rachel is a writer from Arkansas, most at home surrounded by forests and animals much like a Disney Princess. She spends most of her time writing stories and playing around in imaginary worlds. You can follow her writing
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Over the last several years, conservative groups have proposed laws that ban certain books from libraries or even penalize librarians. These bills depict books about LGBTQIA+ people as inappropriate for kids and claim that learning about systemic racism scapegoats white kids. People often justify censorship by claiming to protect kids. Of course, some materials are
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Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View
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Rachel Joyce’s fictional journeys have ranged across the islands of New Caledonia (Miss Benson’s Beetle) and nearly the length of England (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry). In her novels, Joyce thoughtfully mines the depths of both human frailty and resilience while playing with the passage of time and the pangs of memory. The Homemade
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Just shy of the Arctic Circle, Norway’s Vega Islands are stark and elemental, home to otters, sea eagles and a diminishing population of eider ducks. They are also the seasonal home of Norway’s “duck women,” who protect the ducks from predators during nesting season and then gather their eiderdown feathers for human use once the
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This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. What We Talk About When We Talk About Synergy Cynthia Erivo has announced a memoir of “powerful, personal
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Edited by SA Cosby and Steph Cha — This annual compilation of short stories by leading American crime authors has evolved quite a bit since Steph Cha took over the editorship from Otto Penzler, who now publishes The Best Mystery Stories of the Year as a rival. Many thought Penzler’s long-running series needed a refresh,
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The City Sings Green & Other Poems About Welcoming Wildlife is an inspirational treasure trove that introduces young readers to the concept of rewilding, showing how cities and communities around the world are repairing some of the environmental damage caused by human habitation. Focusing on 11 intriguing examples, Erica Silverman has created a unique blend
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When Rolling Stone music critic Rob Sheffield called me from New York City, I didn’t spend any time with softball questions or developing rapport. I jumped right in with my hardest-hitting question about his new book, Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music: Did he write an essay about the 1989
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This week sees the arrival of an unusual crime fiction character – one who feels no pain. But are they indestructible? Find out in Emma Cook’s You Can’t Hurt Me. Our lead book is followed by two novels set in Scotland, a brutal one set in gangland London in the 1950s, and nice little trip
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Happy Halloween, and welcome to our final crime fiction news column for October. If you’re hankering for some slightly scary crime fiction in ghostly hour, see our Six criminally spooky cosy reads for Halloween. Meanwhile, in our news you’ll have a whale of a time with the latest from John Straley, some gritty pulp action
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When Kiss Of Death was published in 2018, I doubt Paul Finch expected his readers to have to wait six years to see how he resolved the astounding cliff-hanger DS Heckenburg faced at the conclusion of that novel. But it seems not even best-selling authors are immune to the vagaries of the publishing industry. Still,
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The upcoming sequel to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator looks brutal to man and beast alike. It arrives in cinemas on 15 November, but we think crime fiction lovers interested in Ancient Rome might be drawn to something a little more… subtle. Here to help us is classicist Fiona Forsyth, author of five crime series set in
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Sleeping Dogs is the fourth outing for DS Adam Tyler and life just keeps getting harder for the South Yorkshire detective sergeant. One way or another he’s been in trouble ever since he first appeared in Firewatching in 2020. Between his bosses and the criminals it’s been a rough ride for the unorthodox officer. This
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