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I often turn to darkness, depravity, and intrigue when I want to relax. My copies of the books that offer these elements are softened—yellowed and worn. The spines are cracked to slender white slivers between which, remarkably, you can still discern the books’ titles. I have no idea when I first started reading these books, but I was far too young. As with many voracious readers, my parents did not monitor my reading because I was reading and that was all that mattered....

I could go on and on about what I love about fall and winter, but that’s not what we’re here for, so I’ll just say: the clothes! Scarves and hats and vests! Wool mittens! Cozy sweaters! Boots! Summer fashion has absolutely nothing on fall fashion. Give me a cardigan I can cozily wrap around myself over a sundress any day. Give me a warm hat over a brimmed one. Give me comfy long-sleeved shirts and wool leggings and flannel vests I can layer....

How Can Daydreaming Be Fun and Helpful? According to Erin Westgate, a psychology professor at the University of Florida, “as you build your ability to daydream, you’ll have a source of enjoyable thoughts at your disposal during stressful times.” Daydreaming goes past thinking positive thoughts. It’s more of creating an oasis, a safe world where your mind can stop by for a brief visit or stay the night. It’s a positive experience that can help you in times of stress or times of boredom....

“Hadley is not happy about being four-years-old, and according to her mom, it’s for one reason–she’s about to age out of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. ‘I want my Dolly books,’ she cried on a video taken by her mom. Children from the U.S., and kids in the UK, Canada, Australia and the Republic of Ireland, can receive books through Parton’s program, which was launched in 1995 and caters to children from birth to age five....

Here’s what it’s all about: Evelyn Talbot was only sixteen when her own boyfriend Jasper imprisoned and tortured her―and left her for dead. Now an eminent psychiatrist who specializes in the criminal mind, she is the force behind a maximum-security facility located in a small Alaskan town. Her job puts her at odds with Sergeant Amorak, who is convinced that Hanover House is a threat to his community…even as his attraction to her threatens to tear his world apart....

In Trylle, Wendy Everly was six years old when her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. Eleven years later, Wendy discovers her mother might have been right. She’s not the person she’s always believed herself to be, and her whole life begins to unravel. In the sequel trilogy, Hidden Kingdom, Bryn Aven doesn’t fit into Kanin society. But Bryn is determined to prove herself as a loyal protector of the kingdom she loves, and nothing will stand in her way....

I really love graphic novels and comics to begin with, but the more I read them, the more I also appreciate their use in subjects typically found in school. For science, this can be especially beneficial when explaining a complex reaction, if there’s a lot of material to remember on one thing, or if the particular topic doesn’t seem fascinating. Graphic novels can make it more interesting and make it more visual, and therefore easier to remember for some people, which can be especially helpful when it comes to science....

At 22, I developed gastroparesis, a condition where your stomach can’t empty properly, adding a whole new list of things I couldn’t eat. Most people think of diets as a way to lose weight, but for me, diets were never about weight. They were about just finding food that didn’t make me sick. Over the years, I began to view food as a necessary, but mostly stress-inducing, part of my life....

As our calendars turn over to 2022, we’re a century separated from the thick of the Harlem Renaissance period. How, after all this time, do the writings of this period still resonate today? Growing Awareness When I think of the position of the Harlem Renaissance in history, I see many parallels to today. The Great Migration occurred during World War I. During this time, Black Americans moved en mass out of the Jim Crow south and into the midwest, northeast, and western states....

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has a similar history of adaptation, as do the works of William Shakespeare and many other classics; it’s difficult to turn around at this time of year without tripping over an adaptation of A Christmas Carol, for instance. But I mention Hugo’s sweeping epic tale because yet another adaptation was recently announced. It is not the version I personally want (more on that below), but instead is a six-part BBC adaptation written by Andrew Davies, who you may know as The Man Who Gave Us Darcy In A Wet Shirt....

“And yet, Ramona, whose family lives in the working-class Pacific Northwest, does not eschew gender and behavioral norms out of calculated defiance, but rather out of disbelief that metrics of femininity and propriety could matter in the grand scheme of things. It would be vastly oversimplifying to refer to Ramona as a tomboy; she nurtures crushes on classmates and wants a pair of gleaming red galoshes that match the ones worn by other girls in her kindergarten class....

In January 2019, after ruling out all other options, doctors diagnosed my dad with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. An insidious disease, ALS causes the death of motor neurons that govern muscle movement. For my dad, the progression of the disease was quick and brutal. Within a few months, he lost the ability to eat, drink, move, and breathe on his own. It was like watching someone being ripped out of the world, piece by piece....

As if the arrival of new books could get any more exciting (okay okay I know I’m a nerd), some publishers and businesses also offer story boxes: books coupled with toys, games, stickers and other goodies that tie into each story. Like Birchbox mets storytime. The extra goodies are fun, but they also do some heavy lifting. The Story Box, for example, is curated by a speech pathologist focused on helping kids master new language skills and develop a passion for reading....

Now you’re a science fiction fan with a Jane Austen collection. A cozy mystery fan with the 50 Shades box set. Or now you have a set of vintage Elvis bookends that you’ll only bring out when that particular aunt comes to your house. Of course, you’re a polite person. You smile and glow with gratitude as you unwrap these gifts. But they aren’t what you wanted. So, the question is: How to you ask for better bookish gifts you really want?...

— Grace Lapointe (@glapointewriter) July 31, 2022 Early Bird Books and Modern Mrs. Darcy are also great blogs that curate deals across genres and platforms every day. I can’t predict book deals, of course, but I notice trends. Ebooks will often go on sale around the same time as a sequel, TV or movie adaptation, or the publication of a paperback edition. Good Omens and Dune had recent ebook deals and streaming adaptations....

First, let’s start with a definition of information literacy. According to Webster’s Dictionary…just kidding, I won’t do that to you. However, it helps to start with a general idea about the topic here. The simplest way to describe it is as a group of techniques, approaches, and actions that we take when we are evaluating the reliability of the information we are encountering. And if you’re still with me, you probably have some idea of how increasing one’s information literacy could be useful when reading more than just the news or trying to “do your own research” on some particularly controversial topic....

There is one chapter in particular from When Languages Die I found myself thinking about years after I read the book. In it, the author shares what he learned from the last speakers of the Tofa language of Siberia. Confronted with social pressures, young speakers had abandoned their ancestral language. Harrison explains that “Many factors can interrupt successful language transmission, but [it] is rarely the result of free will.” Instead, he suggests, the loss of a non-dominant language is sometimes the result of speakers as young as 7 years olds who, due to social pressure, choose to speak the more dominant tongue and leave behind the language of their parents....

Mix It Up With Genre Fiction Whenever I want to add momentum to my reading, I’ll pick up something propulsive. It’s an exciting time for plot-driven writing. Books like Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, The Serial Killer are closing the gap between “literary” and “genre” in powerful ways. Braithwaite’s debut novel, released this month, is set in Lagos. It follows Korede, a nurse, whose charismatic sister Ayoola has a habit of killing her lovers....

También de este lado hay sueños. On this side too, there are dreams. Lydia Quixano Pérez runs a bookstore in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She has a son, Luca, and by and large, they live a fairly comfortable life. But when Lydia’s wonderful journalist husband publishes a tell-all profile of Javier, the jefe of the newest drug cartel, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca are forced to flee. None of their lives will ever be the same as they join the countless people trying to reach el norte....

I’ve never been part of a book club like that. I’ve never met anyone in a book club like that. Like unicorns and spacious NYC apartments (as seen on TV), they are the stuff of myths and legends. Most of the book clubs I’ve been a member of go strong for six months to a year before they start to fade. People stop reading the books. Schedules don’t coordinate. Personalities clash....