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If you’ve been struggling with miscommunications, baffling mix-ups, and technological difficulties, you may be suffering from Mercury retrograde. Good news — that will end on February 2, returning you to your regular programming. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, you may have romance on the brain. The planets seem to have the same idea, as February 16 marks the conjunction of Venus, the planet that rules love and relationships, and Mars, the planet that rules sex and passion....

Characters based on the Norse god Thor had been in comics almost from the beginning, but the Marvel character we know as Thor today first debuted in Journey into Mystery #83 (August 1962). Like so many Marvel mainstays, he was co-created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, with Stan’s brother Larry Lieber scripting. Not only does this year mark his 60th birthday (and also, like, his 1500th, but I don’t know what kind of present you get for that), he’ll soon be returning to the big screen in Thor: Love and Thunder, making him only the third superhero character to headline a fourth movie without being rebooted (alongside Batman and Superman), and making Chris Hemsworth the only actor besides Christopher Reeve to headline a fourth superhero movie....

While there are swathes of mysteries and adventure stories about scholar-explorers, what I enjoy the most are scenarios where protagonists feel the claustrophobia and panic of having everything happening at once. Dealing with thesis consults while fleeing for your life is an amazing study in contrasting concerns. I have only the briefest experience of it as an undergrad, but I know how it feels to wish that Freemasons are actually trying to kill you, just to have a valid excuse for missing the deadline of you Comp Lit paper....

I have weaknesses for all too many things literary, and several of them coalesce into a loose grouping of “unimportant” works by “important” writers. It has led to a strange experience with many classic authors. For example, I recently read Willa Cather for the first time, but did I start with My Antonia or O Pioneers? No, I started with Alexander’s Bridge, a novella that doesn’t even take place in the West Cather is famous for writing about....

This year has already been a great year for horror. The early part of this year brought us unforgettably creepy horror books like Sundial by Catriona Ward, Cherish Farrah by Bethany C. Morrow, Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin, and Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes, just to name a few. But does that mean the best horror of 2022 is already behind us? Of course not. We’ve got a fantastic year of horror ahead of us, featuring some debut fiction, some anticipated sequels, ghosts, vampires, haunted houses, nightmares, demons, and much, much more that will keep you up at night....

And of course, there is the obvious: a child whose homeland/home world is no longer stable or safe. Desperate parents who send that child to another place, hoping their beloved son will find shelter out there in the unknown. The boy who, despite not always fitting in, survives and thrives in his adopted world, taking advantage of the great opportunity it offers to excel beyond everyone’s wildest dreams. Okay, so not all immigrants can be superpeople, nor should their worth as human beings be based on whether or not they are superhumanly good at something, or even whether they have the right set of papers....

As much as I love fantasy, sometimes the covers for these novels are, well, a problem. So many swords and painted landscapes and dragons. But thankfully the young adult market, as it is in so many things, is refreshingly ahead of the curve in this matter. And right now, crowns and elegant gilded styles seem to be everywhere I turn. So many intricate designs of riches and decadence! It makes for some really great cover-gazing....

“Here is a video of me eating the mushrooms that sprouted from my book, Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, & Shape Our Futures.” They were delicious: I couldn’t taste any off notes, which suggests that the #fungus had fully metabolised the text. pic.twitter.com/wjhLdfvU4c — Merlin Sheldrake (@MerlinSheldrake) June 23, 2020 Big old NOPE, from me, thanks. “‘Beyond the book means, you’ve gotten this great purchase, you’ve bought from a black business… How do you open those pages, really internalize what you’ve read and then change?...

And I love the way J.K. Rowling fully draws out their individual personality traits and quirks. The professors seem to have their own morality systems too, complete with strengths and failures. They aren’t just at Hogwarts to teach young witches and wizards magical skills. They have important life skills to impart to their students (and the books’ readers) as well. This is just one of the many things that sets Harry Potter apart from other school and boarding school books....

“There was no money, but, Jesus, we had fun.” —Dorothy Parker In our Mississippi cottage rental, I ease deeper into freelancing. My book stacks take up space just as the sprawl of my reading, notebook, pens, and computer do. While I am privileged with coziness, my monstrous student loans have a way of making the money that passes through my hands not feel like mine. They urge me to consider every dollar....

Rooney has been something of a literary sensation since her debut, Conversations with Friends, lauded for her ability to make the universal personal and creating interesting characters with real spark. I liked Rooney’s work because I could see my own friends in it, sharing the same generation as her characters (and Rooney herself) in an Irish university. I found nothing untowardly controversial in Normal People — the entire title fitted, I figured, since the relationship between Connell and Marianne isn’t dissimilar to many I saw in my years at university, tales of lovers weaving back and forth, one often lost and the other riding high, both of them trying to find their place in the world....

Until recently, not finishing a book was a foreign concept, a sign of weakness, a readerly sin. Giving up was not an option. The immense guilt I felt for even entertaining the idea of abandoning a book made the notion of a DNF (did not finish) pile impossible. That all changed last fall. I woke up in the wee hours of a November night with the worst headache I’d ever had....

The first book we read in the series was Jealousy by Marcel Proust. The excerpts for this edition were taken from Proust’s only novel (a seven-volume novel, I might add), In Search of Lost Time. This first title bookmarked more than the start of our shared collection; it marked a milestone in our relationship, and it marked a difficult period for us as well. I am very linked to literature, and reading has always been a better way for me to understand my feelings, especially ‘ugly’ ones....

Although it is a privilege to be able to shelter-in-place at home, it’s one that comes with a few strings, especially now that the weather is warming, flowers are blooming, and spring has arrived. But who says you can’t bring a little of that outside goodness indoors with you while you cozy up with your next read? Here are a few ideas to help you recreate an outdoor reading experience indoors, so you can continue to safely social distance, create a soothing atmosphere perfect for reading, and support small businesses, if you’re in a position where you can....

Character art is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: it’s art of your very own fictional character! There’s no one way for character art to look. It can be just a sketch drawing, a full color head shot, or a full body posed picture. It all depends on your budget, what you’re looking for, and what the artist is able to do for you. Finding the right artist for your style, budget, and timeline can be a challenge, but knowing what you’re looking for can make it much simpler....

A guaranteed way to read less is to go through a major life change. Having a baby is the obvious one, but it’s one that really only works if you were planning to do it anyway (on the up side, it’s terribly expensive, which means less money for books). You might try moving to a new home, starting a new relationship, or switching jobs instead. But any of those will be a big commitment, and you may only want smaller ideas for reading less....

1. Figure Out Who You’re Inviting To Your Book Club The first thing you should do is figure out who will come to your book club. This will be the most important choice you make, because it will affect everything else about the book club, from where and when you can meet to which book you read. There are many kinds of book clubs, and the people who come will depend on the kind you choose....

I’ve been participating in NaNoWriMo since 2012. Having a deadline always makes me write faster. I haven’t always successfully completed the challenge, but I always enjoy trying. Since I’ve been doing this for almost ten years, I’ve learned a little bit about what helps (and what doesn’t). And I’m happy to share with you my secrets for getting a bunch of writing done in a short amount of time. One big thing I want to point out before I get into my tips?...

I have always loved sci-fi and fantasy; growing up in an isolated town in Alaska with no TV meant that I sought escape through books. And that meant that I read a lot of 700+ page books written by cis-het white men (CHWM). Fast forward to January 1, 2018. Over a glass of champagne looking out on the water — a New Year’s Day tradition I highly recommend if you can get it — I realized that my current reading was all people of color, and that January 1 was the perfect time to kick off a challenge I’d been lowkey considering for some time: five years of only books written by marginalized voices....

Now, I’m a reader. I love books. But I spend a lot more time reading and writing about books on the internet than I do actually reading books. My usual pace has me finishing a book or two a week. I would have to read about five times faster than usual to stay on track. Twice a year, I do 24 hour readathons, and because of that, I did know that it was possible for me to sit down and finish a book in a sitting or two....