Books

In 2019, we had Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, but in 2022, we were gifted with the Korean adaptation of the 19th century American classic. “Loose interpretation” might be a better term for the K-Drama that works as espionage thriller, high-stakes political drama, supernatural mystery, and Cinderella story. Each episode clocks in at over an hour, drawing viewers into the twisted

When eight old friends from high school manage to stay in touch and call on each other’s help over the years for matters great and small, you know a lot of history is there along with innumerable possibilities for comic mayhem. That’s certainly the case with JP Rieger’s new police procedural, Clonk! Humour? The clue

In Archives of Joy: Reflections on Animals and the Nature of Being, French Canadian author Jean-François Beauchemin looks back, around and into the mystic, to great effect. His brief and often breathtaking reflections on creatures he has encountered throughout his life meld into a salve for the troubled, weary or distracted mind and will appeal

If there is one thing I love as much as I love books, it is coffee. I buy my beans through a subscription service, and start every day with a hot cup of freshly brewed “hairbender” roast. I take it black, and I have more funny mugs than fit in my cupboard. Most mornings, my

Skyler Moore can’t escape the past in Kate White’s new psychological mystery, Between Two Strangers. The disappearance of her younger sister 12 years earlier, when Skyler was a graduate art student in Boston and her sister an undergraduate, not only haunts her, but her relationship with her mother was forever damaged. Skyler’s mother blames her

For fans of Madeline Miller’s Circe, a stunning debut following Clytemnestra, the most notorious villainess of the ancient world and the events that forged her into the legendary queen. As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her best… You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant.

The world is tough. Living in the modern world involves grappling with pressures from all sides, and if you are a marginalised person, you have added structural barriers and pressures to deal with. We’re all harmed by capitalism, bigotry, and other social factors, as well as having to live with medical issues, mental health problems,

Translated by Dr Jacky Collins — Everything about Skin Deep is, well, a little unusual. If you’re someone who likes to adventure beyond straightforward plotting, storytelling and character traits, you should find this peculiar 110-page novella most interesting. Taking you from Biarritz in southwest France to Paris and back again, it will give you glimpses

T.C. Boyle has never been afraid to torment his characters or draw from real life, and he does both in Blue Skies, putting his cast through just about every climate-related calamity to make the contours of the crisis so prominent that no one could miss them. He begins this bicoastal adventure—the action toggles between Florida

The Cure has been my favorite band since I was about 14. This was not too long after Wish came out, and while I enjoyed “Friday I’m in Love,” it was pretty far on the light side of pop for my 8th grade punk-grunge taste; I liked it, but I listened to Nirvana and the

It’s with great reluctance that Alex Tillerson is spending time in the strangely insular Australian coastal town of Merritt – and there are many reasons why she really doesn’t want to be there. For starters, the place brings back unhappy memories of childhood visits to her grandparents, who were not exactly the kiss and cuddle

Author Abdi Nazemian won a Lambda Literary Award for his debut novel for adults, The Walk-In Closet. His debut novel for teens, Like a Love Story, received a Stonewall Honor and was recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 greatest YA novels of all time. His fifth book, Only This Beautiful Moment, seems

Following a career as a litigator and trial lawyer that spanned over 30 years, James Polkinghorn is turning some of his legal experience into crime fiction stories, and the Florida-based author’s debut novel, Liquid Shades of Blue, arrives next week. Inside, a lawyer turned bar owner called Jack Girard heads from Key West to Miami

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not immediately bring World War II to an end. Bestselling author Evan Thomas (Ike’s Bluff) explains why in his superbly crafted military and diplomatic history Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II. “This book is a narrative of how the

Researching and reading books for this piece has been an unexpectedly needed experience for me. I may be speaking for myself, but when I think of “Asian horror” my first thoughts are of works in translation and their movie adaptations that make me want to pour bleach on my eyeballs. And I say that as

“Killed my husband. I am a monster.” Never say this when detained by the French police. It’s just one of several mistakes made by Anna Viera, played by Erika Sainte, in the riveting new French crime series I Killed My Husband, arriving on More4 in the UK at 9pm on Friday 26 May. You’ll also

In When You Can Swim, readers explore the joys of swimming in various bodies of water—oceans, ponds, lakes, rivers and more—in a text set primarily in conditional statements (the “when you can swim” of the title), as spoken by a parent to a child. This phrase is a refrain that conveys the abundant possibilities and

With Pride just a few weeks away, it’s time for library workers to start thinking about the where, how, when, and what of their book displays. We know that queer books remain among the most targeted in the current book ban ~curation~ wave and we also know that Pride displays have historically been among the

At long last, a blood moon is waxing and a deadly night awaits for fans of Norwegian author Jo Nesbo and his craggy Oslo detective, Harry Hole. It’s been four years since Knife, it feels like there’s some catching up to do, and Killing Moon is our lead book this week. Alongside it, we’ll look

Geniuses seem to inhabit a world apart from mere mortals like us. But they don’t, as the irreverent and entertaining Edison’s Ghosts makes clear. Debut author and science writer Katie Spalding has mined history, biography and psychology to turn the cult of genius on its head, shining a sassy light on the idiosyncrasies of some

Is there anything more exciting than seeing a book you read and enjoyed being adapted into a film or movie? You’ve imagined all of these scenes and characters in your head. Now you get to see it all play out in front of you. Will the adaptation include all of your favorite lines or moments?

Imagine the full spectrum of crime, mystery and thriller stories. Over on the left you’d slot tidy Miss Marple and the cosies. But hang onto your hat now as we veer way off to the right where, literally at the other end of that spectrum, you’ll find Frank Bill’s crime tale, Back to the Dirt.

In this era of domestic thrillers, a novel about a functional, loving family can feel refreshing and downright unexpected. Extraordinary circumstances severely test the bonds of one such family in Laura Dave’s The Last Thing He Told Me. Hannah Hall’s adoring husband, coding genius Owen Michaels, vanishes on the same day that his company is

Romance book clubs are the heart of romance community discourse. They can be a place to make friends. They can give you an opportunity to become connected to your neighborhood. Romance book clubs are also a place where romance readers can find conversations that go deeper into the intricacies of the genre and what makes

Canadian author Sam Wiebe is known for his gritty, realistic Vancouver noir, especially the Dave Wakeland series about a former cop turned private investigator. Sunset and Jericho is the fourth book in the series however it can be read as a standalone. If you are familiar with Vancouver, you’ll recognise the two city beaches named

In 1881, Jacci Reed is only five years old when a man attempts to kidnap her from the steamboat her mother, Irena, works on. Badly wounded during the confrontation, Irena takes Jacci aboard the Kingston Floating Palace, a showboat tied up beside them. There, Jacci’s actor grandfather tends to her mother and Jacci gets a

The advent of machine learning algorithms in publishing ushered the era of online book recommendations. First there was Goodreads, and then came Amazon. And now, there’s Tertulia, which scrapes an excessive amount of public data to recommend books to its users. There are also others out there that function similarly, be it an app or

Héctor Tobar has been busy. On a Zoom call to his home in California, he tells me that his new book, Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino,” is an “attempt to summarize 30 years of learning, reading about race in the United States and the Latino experience,

Screenwriter, filmmaker and bar owner Eryk Pruitt is no stranger to crime fiction that depicts the dark side of the American South, and has a growing reputation in rural noir storytelling. Something Bad Wrong is his third crime novel and was partly inspired by the Valentine’s Day Murders in North Carolina, a real-life case that’s

Squire is the brainy sidekick to the brawny Sir Kelton, a knight whose reputation precedes him but never quite seems to prove itself. Regardless, while Sir Kelton is heralded as a hero, Squire stands quietly by, more interested in books and knowledge than sword fighting and rescuing. When the two come across a desolate village