Historical fiction, literature that is built around a time period in the past, is one of the genres that I most credit with helping me become a reader. The stories I found in historical fiction books helped me develop not only a more nuanced view of the historical record but also a better appreciation for the stories we pass on as human beings and how they help us understand one another....
A first-person narrator is often — but not necessarily — the protagonist. Starr Carter in The Hate U Give is a protagonist who is also the first-person narrator. Readers experience the novel’s events alongside her. Nick Carraway is a character and narrator in The Great Gatsby, but not the main character. By not making Jay Gatsby the narrator, the novel depicts his inner circle while preserving his mystique. First-person omniscient, or all-knowing, narrators are much rarer....
First Start With The Keep Pile If there’s anything you know or think you’d like from someone’s collection of books, set them aside. When my abuela got diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I brought her some of her favorite books, along with some I thought she’d love. It was also the moment that I realized many of my abuela’s books were in English and she had in fact known English my entire life, even though I’d never heard her speak it....
[Note: Despite having been around for nearly a century, Green Arrow and his supporting cast have overwhelmingly been written and drawn almost exclusively by white men. While that’s maybe not a surprise for the first few decades of the character’s existence, by 2021 there’s no excuse. Do better, DC.] Ollie doesn’t have his own book in Infinite Frontier, but he’ll be leading the Justice League starting with issue #59, out this March, as well as appearing in the upcoming Checkmate series....
Even though a lot of people find their books online through creators on TikTok or other social media, traditional publishers still invest time and energy in getting review copies to book reviewers for review consideration. If you’ve ever wondered who reads book reviews and what book reviews are for, there are a few different perspectives from the people reviews are meant for. First, what do we mean by a book review?...
Now, trends are nothing new in romances by any stretch of the imagination. For a while, paranormal was the popular one. Then, we had billionaire romances, thanks to a certain monochromatic series. Vampires and other supernatural creatures have always been a source of fascination in the literary world, across multiple genres. And billionaires have always been around in romance; the title just changes based on the time period. That is one of the reasons that there are so many books with titles that include “duke,” “viscount,” and “earl,” among others....
I imagine you’re giving me the same look he did, but there is a method to my madness here. In fact, I had been wanting to move to just reading ebooks on either my Paperwhite or a tablet for a while. It’s one of the reasons I was so bummed when my LG tablet finally kicked the bucket. “You know, you could just read a physical book.” Well, you’re not wrong there....
Here’s the thing: up until, oh, a few days ago, I had no idea why May is Short Story Month. My initial Google search showed nothing but very enthusiastic blogs and websites sharing their plans for the month: we’ll be reading this, reviewing that, and so on and so forth. But I only had to dig a little deeper to find the father of this idea. (Too grandiose? I really like short stories....
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! From Shakespeare to Twain, The Canterbury Tales to Gatsby, my syllabi throughout school were inundated with white men (and the occasional white woman) from long ago....
Reading Pandemic Books in the Midst of It As we start to experience what seems to be the beginning of the end of COVID-19’s reign, some folks have been nostalgic about the earlier days of the pandemic. When the United States first started shutting down in March 2020, many towns, businesses, and other groups were sure life would be “back to normal” in two weeks. Two weeks of staying at home and we would be out of this mess....
I will never be an expert in any of the subjects these books explore. That’s part of what makes these books so interesting — they let me into their secret worlds and change the way I think about things I encounter every day. They remind me of what’s so wonderful about being a human: that we share the world with so many incredible creatures, places, and materials, and that sometimes, we make pretty cool things, too....
It is therefore extremely amusing – and ironic – when authors themselves get involved in plots that seem too wild not to be merely the fruit of imagination. Even more so when reality ends up mirroring fiction. Perhaps one of the most famous instances of life copying fiction is the still unsolved disappearance of mystery writer Agatha Christie in 1926. To this day there is still no concrete information regarding Christie’s whereabouts December 3–14 of that year....
This list of upcoming YA anthologies, all set to come out during 2020, contains some of my favourite YA authors, with varied stories and voices you will love to read. Check them out! Rural Voices: 15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town America by Nora Shalaway Carpenter Rural Voices was edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter, and it’s a collection of stories which is set to challenge the stereotypes of rural America, while exposing the complexity and beauty of growing up in a small community....
Young adult has been a category for a number of decades now, but YA as we know it really began to come of age in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. There are a lot of YA authors out there who have bene publishing for over ten years, and continue to produce YA books frequently, and so we thought it would be fun to take a look at some YA authors with deep backlists who have been publishing for over ten years....
This smartly designed reading log consists of entry pages to record stats, impressions, and reviews of each book you read. Evenly interspersed among these entry pages are 12 challenges inspired by our annual Read Harder initiative, which began in 2015 to encourage readers to pick up passed-over books, try out new genres, and choose titles from a wider range of voices and perspectives. Each challenge includes an inspiring quotation, an explanation of why the challenge will prove to be rewarding, and five book recommendations that fulfill the challenge....
— Amistad Books (@AmistadBooks) June 14, 2020 On Twitter and other social media, several notable Black writers including Roxane Gay, Mikki Kendall, and Ibram X. Kendi have reposted the above image, which reads: “black publishing power. To demonstrate our power and clout in the publishing industry, Sunday, June 14–Saturday, June 20, we are encouraging you to purchase any two books by Black writers. Our goal is to Blackout bestseller lists with Black voices....
One thing you may notice about early human vs. robot adventures is the heroes’ cavalier attitude towards their inorganic foes. All of these heroes have strict no-killing codes, yet they have no trouble annihilating their robot double, despite the fact that all of the robots here show great intelligence and, in some cases, independent thought. One wonders what AIs like the Vision would think of all this robo-slaughter. Enough with the philosophy!...
Myers-Briggs Books The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI is personality test that sorts people into one of sixteen types. Each type is a combination of four letters: E for extrovert or I for introvert, S for sensor or N for intuitive, F for feeler or T for thinker, and P for perceiver or J for judger. This theory, created by Katherine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, is based on Jung’s cognitive functions theory....
Final Fantasy has been the premier JRPG franchise for the last 35 years, ever since Square’s release of Final Fantasy on the NES in 1987. The award-winning franchise now spans dozens of main-series titles, spin-offs, and rereleases spread across more than one-dozen gaming platforms. With more than 168 million units sold, it’s nothing short of a global phenomenon. Although every title is different from the last, there are a few elements that come part and parcel of any Final Fantasy game....
Want more suggestions for Native-authored books? Check out these posts: Read Harder: A Book in Any Genre Written by A Native, First Nations, or Indigenous Author Native American Poets You Need to Read Right Now 6 New Novels by Indigenous Authors of the U.S.
