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At Book Riot, we’re no strangers to arguing for all kinds of books and readers, like why there shouldn’t be a stigma around reading romance, or that adults can in fact read YA, or even that if you’re not in the mood for reading or not a big reader in the first place, that’s A-okay. But for some reason, despite all this, people still seem to think they need to be reading books that “make them think” or “challenge them” — books that meet this standard are “worthwhile” books....

Fast forward a few years to now, and most of the books I read these days are on an ereader of some sort. I’m not alone, as around 30% of Americans now read ebooks. It makes sense. They offer portability, a potentially vast library of books at your finger tips, and their e-ink give eyes a break from tiresome screens by granting a paper-like reading experience. In addition to all that, now there are so many ways to get ebooks....

That’s right: the #masspaperbackandbutts challenge has swept through Bookstagram (the bookish Instagram community), and this is a hashtag I can get behind. Bookish feeds are flooding with images of users with mass market paperbacks (usually cheaper and more compact versions of books) shoved in their back pockets, gleefully displaying their booty-ful backsides. The best part is that anyone can participate. It doesn’t matter what kind of butt you have—they’re all excellent, and they all help hold books!...

Plus, a lot has changed since I first signed up. Roxane Gay is there! Cheryl Strayed! Other brilliant people! With all the changes I think it’s a great time to add to the many Literati reviews for adults. What is Literati? I’ve subscribed to many book subscription boxes and have taken part in many online book clubs. Literati is unique among them. Each month each of the Literati “Luminaries” chooses a book that’s inspired them in some way....

Every autumn, John Pentecost returns to the farm where he grew up, to help gather the sheep down from the moors for the winter. Legend has it that over a hundred years ago, the Devil himself attacked John’s town, leaving thirteen dead and the survivors terrified. Each year, the townspeople redraw the boundary lines of the village, with pen and paper but also through song, dance, and rituals, which keep the sheep safe from the Devil....

I am not alone in crushing on written characters: read on to hear about how first fictional crushes changed the lives of other writers here at Book Riot. Those Who Looked Way Too Good in Armor via GIPHY Prince Caspian from Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis I have loved Prince Caspian throughout my whole life, even still in adulthood, and I don’t even like guys that much anymore. Maybe it was about bravery, chivalry, all those things we look for in heroes....

Falling into the past will change their futures forever. When shy but clever engineer Mary Davies is invited by her estranged childhood friend, Isabel Dwyer, on a holiday in an English manor, she reluctantly agrees in hopes that the trip will shake up her quiet life. But Mary gets more than she bargained for when Isabel loses her memory and fully believes she lives in Jane Austen’s Bath. The Little Paris Bookshop meets Sense & Sensibility with clever winks to all of Austen’s beloved novels—The Austen Escape is both a universally-relatable look at friendship and a winsome love letter to books....

A Brief Bio of the Bard Church records for the town of Stratford-upon-Avon confirm that a baby named William, son of John and Mary Shakespeare, was born in April 1564 and died in April 1616. In between 1564 and 1616, William pops up a few times in legal cases and other historical records. We know he married and had three children, he acted and lived in London for a time, and his name was attached to a bunch of plays and sonnets....

(A quick content warning: Aristotle and Dante contains scenes of transphobic and homophobic violence.) When I read The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth, I was struck by the image of Cam having her first kiss in the back of a pickup truck with another girl. While the original cover doesn’t include a truck, the movie cover does. Then I picked up Starting From Here by Lisa Jenn Bigelow, which began with the line: “The last time I kissed Rachel Greenstein we lay in the bed of Scarlett, my Ford pickup, watching the sun sink beyond West Lake....

There are bookstores and then there is Powell’s. I am lucky enough to live in the same city as the indomitable, inconquerable, unmappable Powell’s flagship store in downtown Portland, Oregon. It should go without saying, that if you ever find yourself here in Stumptown aka The Rose City, aka Bridgetown aka PDX, you owe yourself a visit. But even if that never happens, Powell’s should still be on your book shopping list....

But I’m going to be less of a cynical Eeyore and more of a hopeful Winnie the Pooh and say the enduring love for these books is also about the characters. Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger were all based on the stuffed animals of Milne’s son, Christopher Robin. While they are very different, each have very archetypal childlike traits. Winnie the Pooh can be naively cheerful and loves honey....

To help with this delightful problem of overabundance, I’ve created this curated queer TBR for Pride Month and beyond. I’ve included a little bit of everything: new releases you won’t want to miss, queer classics, books that dig into queer history, and queer beach reads. Are you looking for a perfect summer queer romance? Check. Excited about preordering books by queer authors coming out later in the summer? Check. Looking for a way to wish some queer artists a happy birthday?...

Each book takes place on the flat Discworld, on the back of a turtle. This turtle floats along in space, and its inhabitants work to make their worlds better or live their lives. Kings die, the policemen watch the streets, and sometimes Death has to step in when the Auditors want to wipe out life. What Discworld reading order do you recommend? There are 47 books in the series, several short stories, and supplemental books like The Science of Discworld, Where’s My Cow, and The World of Poo....

Let me explain. Ice Cream My mom read to me from the time I was a baby, but she really kicked my reading into high gear when she first said that magic sentence: “Let’s go to the library, Rachel, and then we’ll get ice cream.” I think I was four or five when she first said this, and as a lover of all things sugary, I probably knocked her down with my joy....

Song of the Dead by Sarah Glenn Marsh (January 22) Song of the Dead is actually the second book in the acclaimed fantasy series which started with Reign of the Fallen. The heroine, Odessa, has to grapple with the blurry line between the living and the dead. Now that she’s left her home kingdom of Karthia, she’s going to be able explore the lands beyond it for the first time—by land and sea....

“How Do I Love You” by Mary Oliver Excerpt: How do I love you? “Sonnet XVII” by Pablo Neruda Excerpt: I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things, secretly, between the shadow and the soul. “You Came too” by Nikki Giovanni Excerpt: I came to the crowd seeking friends I came to the crowd seeking love I came to the crowd for understanding I found you...

Jason Reynolds Jason Reynolds writes novels and poetry for young adult and middle grade readers. Reynolds’s goal is to write books for younger audiences (especially boys) who might be reluctant to read: “I know there are a lot — A LOT — of young people who hate reading. I know that many of these book haters are boys. I know that many of these book-hating boys, don’t actually hate books, they hate boredom… even though I’m a writer, I hate reading boring books too....

Book journals are, after all, a wonderful way to chronicle your reading life in a way that’s thorough and personalized. You’re not only keeping track of the books you’ve read and the books you want to read: you’re also monitoring your reading habits and challenges, keeping an easily accessible log of the series you’re halfway through, and you can be as open as you want without worrying about others finding or judging your thoughts on a book....

“At that time, in what might be best described as accidental mimesis, I was in the foggy middle of writing a novel about a lost science fiction manuscript written by a Latin American refugee from the 1920s. At some point, while both finishing the resulting novel, The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, and searching for my great-grandfather’s poems, which my grandfather incredibly discovered on his 100th birthday, I began to wonder about the innumerable books condemned to the abyss by personal and historical ruptures of space and time, and all those books nearly lost to history which, through impossible odds, still reach us like shadows from other worlds....

Karenga, an activist with a strong presence in the Black Panther movement, initially created the holiday as an alternative to Christmas for Black Americans. When one considers the racial tensions at the time, such as the Watts riots, this was an understandable desire. However, in later years, Karenga seemed to recant this in the 1997 book, Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture, saying it wasn’t created as a religious alternative....