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“What I have found myself hungering for, in short, is literature that stretches past legal testimonies and sentimental appeals toward what, for lack of a better phrase, I’m calling post-traumatic futurity. What is the situation of survivors who saw the injury proven and exposed—and maybe even punished—and saw, also, that nothing much changed? I am curious about their vision of things. I want to know how they think things should be....

For most of us, books are the one place in the world we find ourselves. I don’t know how to confront my queerness externally, because I’m hampered by anxiety, but I can explore it internally, through books and essays. My confidence and my ability to be openly gay wherever I am are growing, but for many people it’s a process that starts internally and takes a long time to see the light....

If you’re looking for another romantic read, marry date or dump these Jane Austen heroes for another book recommendation.

Maybe you would fit right in with the Bridgertons, though. Maybe you’re an extrovert who loves, or would love, to be part of a big, sprawling family. Or maybe not. But doesn’t this make you wonder what literary family would you be a part of? Maybe you would fit in with the Buendías or the Bennets instead. The possibilities are endless! (Except not really: I only included five possible results....

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder! Christmas is a mysterious, as well as magical, time of year. There’s no denying that the supposed season of goodwill is the perfect backdrop for festive detective fiction. These books, which are part of the British Library Crime Classics series, introduce the reader to some of the finest Christmas and wintertime detective stories of the past—blending merry mysteries from much-loved authors with vintage crime vignettes set in winter…including one or two stories which are likely to be unfamiliar even to diehard mystery fans....

The world is full of Pokémon books for every grade level, from the Classic Chapter Book Collection—and favorite classic titles such as Night in the Haunted Tower and Return of the Squirtle Squad—to the Pokémon Adventures manga series, to the encyclopedic Super Deluxe Essential Handbook, to the newest Alohan books, including the Aloha Chapter Book Collection. But with all those games and all those pages, one question is still on my mind: Which Pokémon am I?...

Celebrate Hobbit Day on September 22 by reading this great modern classic and the prelude to The Lord of the Rings.Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and dangerous dragon....

The year is 1998 and like any other teenager Jess Flynn is just trying to survive high school. Between a crush on her childhood best friend, overprotective parents, and her sister’s worsening health, the only constant is her hometown of Swickley…until the day she discovers a mysterious device, causing her to question everything she’s ever known. As more cracks appear in Jess’s world, she faces a choice: can she live the rest of her life knowing it’s a lie or should she risk everything for the truth?...

The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story by Marie Kondō and Yuko Uramoto (Ten Speed Press) People, Marie Kondo doesn’t want to throw all of your stuff away. She is not going to come into your home in the middle of the night and consign your favorite geeky T-shirt to oblivion. She’s simply recommending that you evaluate all of your crap and decide whether or not you care about it....

Meet Libby. The one-tap reading app from OverDrive. By downloading Libby to your smartphone, you can access thousands of eBooks and audiobooks from your library for free anytime and anywhere. You’ll find titles in all genres, ranging from bestsellers, classics, nonfiction, comics and much more. Libby works on Apple and Android devices and is compatible with Kindle. All you need is a library card but you can sample any book in the library collection without one....

Perhaps most famous is Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. The book that pushed Kondo into the stratosphere of popularity, this book gently demands that we begin to let go of things we no longer need, and teaches skills for tidying and organisation. Though I enjoyed the book and it taught me some key lessons about letting go of things, I can’t quite adopt the tidying and organisational tips; unfortunately, my socks remain boringly tucked together and tossed into a drawer without much care....

I remember picking up my very first Alyssa Cole title. It changed my life. It also changed my perspective on romance novels. The storytelling was just the cherry on top of the sundae. From the moment you pick up one of her books, you won’t be able to stop reading. They will excite you and enthrall you so that, before you know it, you will have read all 18 of her novels....

It is a constant in my life: I either put in a hold request at my local library or, if I know that Alice Hoffman will be coming to town at a bookstore near me, I buy the book and look forward to her autographing the title page. Also, I am assured that Hoffman will always bring a tear to the eye somewhere in the book—not just at the end....

If you have an author you’d like us to feature here, write us at commmunity (at) bookriot (dot) com. Today’s arrival of 1Q84 has a lot of Murakami newbies curious and wondering where to start. 1Q84 not only has a cryptic title, but it puts the magnum in magnum opus, running almost 1000 pages. Clearly, this is a tall mountain to climb if you’ve never read Murakami, but it’s actually a pretty short hike to 1Q84 from the more scalable of his works....

When a massive hurricane severs all power and cell service to Little Bridge Island—as well as its connection to the mainland—twenty-five-year-old Bree Beckham isn’t worried . . . at first. She’s already escaped one storm—her emotionally abusive ex—so a hurricane seems like it will be a piece of cake. But animal-loving Bree does become alarmed when she realizes how many islanders have been cut off from their beloved pets. Now it’s up to her to save as many of Little Bridge’s cats and dogs as she can ....

Political intrigue in fantasy books can take many forms. It can involve heirs competing for the throne, kingdoms rebelling, overthrowing tyrant rulers, empires falling. However the political intrigue unfurls, it usually involves different groups or people vying for power. I find it fascinating to watch these dynamics at play. George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is a perfect example of this, and I’ll devour all of the fantasy books with political intrigue I can while I wait on The Winds of Winter to publish....

Much like the eponymous modern Prometheus, the book is a hodgepodge of different points of view that have been stitched together to form an unreliable, endlessly fascinating behemoth of a story that only emphasises the novel’s penchant for gothic misdirection, uncertainty, and a consistently liminal sense of reality. As Walton fawns over Victor and whines to his sister about how boring his once-in-a-lifetime nautical journey is, you begin to wonder about the types of stories are locked away inside Victor’s later, narrow-minded take on the situation....

This collection of audiobooks features classic stories and favorite fairy tales and reimagines them with modern flair. Marissa Meyer takes on Rumpelstiltskin in Gilded, Lauren Blackwood gives an Ethiopian-inspired fantasy twist to Jane Eyre in Within These Wicked Walls, Alix E. Harrow puts her own spin on Sleeping Beauty in A Spindle Splintered, and more. Hear them all now! I’m not ashamed of this, but it shocks a lot of people....

I thanked her for such a generous gift, but it took me a day before I began reading the first book. Before owning the books, my experiences with Anne Shirley was watching Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea on cable television. I appreciated watching the films, yet I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about Anne Shirley’s life. Still, I appreciated that my cousin thought to give me such a heart-felt gift, especially after observing my struggles with new meal planning routines and insulin injection management....

The Best Books We Read October–December 2019 10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon (Simon Pulse, June 30, 2020) Ever since reading When Dimple Met Rishi in the fall of 2016 I’ve continued a fall tradition of reading a galley of Menon’s book that is set to publish the next year. It has become self-care. An escape at the end of the year and certainly more and more needed since 2016....