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These essential reading accessories for 2023 include both some fun gadgets and real practical tools. The prices are mostly budget friendly, and all of these would make fantastic gifts for anyone in your life (and you, obviously) who loves reading. Not only will these help fit more reading into your busy life — or, conversely, help you slow down in your reading life if that’s one of your goals — but many of these reading accessories are able to be personalized or customized....

For simplicity’s sake, I’ve defined “the golden age of manga” here as “manga that debuted between 1980 and 1999. That’s a wide swathe of Japanese comics, and perhaps a tad too narrow, since it excludes both Urusei Yatsura and Chobits — two titles that most manga fans would agree came out of the golden age. But I have to draw the line somewhere, so do forgive me for excluding any of your favorite titles....

Yes, yes I did. And there was a reason. Here’s a glimpse of the not at all serious but still somewhat accurate thought-processes that go into my assignment of stars: 5 stars “OMG, I loved this book. I’ll probably never ever stop thinking about it and I don’t want to and oh man when can I Eternal Sunshine away the memory of reading it so I can read it again afresh?...

Let me elaborate. Recently, Booklist released their “Spotlight on Diversity” issue and the editor’s note from the youth fiction editor, Sarah Hunter, articulates some of my thoughts. In her note, Sarah questions whether it is a disservice to books by and about marginalised people to lump them all together in one issue. The same can be said of putting them in one category or one genre. Relegating books into further subcategories does little, if anything, to challenge our perceptions on normal....

A sect made up of farmers and traders, at odds with the all-powerful imperial government, crosses paths with a witch. She offers them a gift: a spell that will ensure they are undefeatable in battle. “When one of you is killed,” she tells them, “a dozen new warriors will rise from the ground in their place. No weapon will be able to harm your cause. My sorcery will protect you....

You see, at school we read local books like Chike and the River by Chinua Achebe and Sugar Girl by Kola Onadipe, and foreign books like Treasure Island, Oliver Twist, and so on, but the books at school just weren’t enough for me. Then one day on my way back from school, I noticed a little shop, squished in between other shops. If you didn’t look closely, you wouldn’t have noticed it....

But those books didn’t stop there. They encouraged even more collective biographies of rad women across time and across various classes, races, religions, sexualities, careers, and legacies. The publication of these isn’t slowing down—we may even have more this year than we saw when they began to emerge in numbers not too long ago. What’s great about these books is the same thing that many find frustrating about them: they’re easy to pick up and put down, with short pieces highlighting individual women’s contributions to the world....

Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.

The eight books below are not real bestsellers, but maybe that’s just because they haven’t been written yet. The Timekeeper’s Female Cousin Harold McHarold was born to become the world’s timekeeper. The men in his family have held the role of timekeeper for generations, and it is his turn as soon as his father passes. The life of a timekeeper is one of isolation and loneliness; the timekeeper must never stop counting seconds, minutes, days, years in order to keep the world’s clocks aligned....

“Delayed titles include literary fiction by Elena Ferrante and David Mitchell, a book about manhood and parenting by actor and comedian Michael Ian Black, ‘God-Level Knowledge Darts’ from the comedy duo Desus and Mero, and nonfiction by prominent public intellectuals like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Pankaj Mishra. The result is what looks to be an avalanche of high-profile books this fall, in the middle of a presidential election and an ongoing health and economic crisis, when consumers may be even more distracted....

This Russian-inspired fantasy trilogy has received praise for its unique worldbuilding since the first book’s release in 2012. The trilogy follows Alina, an orphan in Ravka’s non-magical first army. When monsters attack her ship in the Shadow Fold, she discovers her powers. Alina is recruited to the Grisha, a magical fighting force, as the Sun Summoner. Training is hard, but navigating the politics of being Ravka’s most powerful weapon is even harder....

Among other things, Batman is super smart. I mean, he even had plans to contain any member of the Justice League that might go rogue. It’s one of his many strengths, but those strengths shine when he’s tested by the bad guys. It is safe to say that superheroes are only as good as their villains, and when it comes to this cape crusader, he has dozens of bad guys....

Trying to foretell the coming of the sixth book in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series has become an annual ritual. Which is why you are here reading this post and why I myself have written it. (It’s nice to be a part of tradition, isn’t it?) So as we wind down 2019, the year that brought us an ending to the series courtesy of HBO’s Game of Thrones adaptation, let’s take stock of what we know and what we don’t know about The Winds of Winter release date....

Has this ever happened to you? Has your taste in books been the thing holding you back from a thriving, energetic dating life? First thing: you should invest in a bag with larger interior pockets — your book should not be falling out of your bag so often! Second: you will want to reevaluate the books you are bringing with you on first dates. Even if your book is securely hidden, you never know if your date will peek into your bag while you’re in the bathroom....

“’The idea for Sanctuary came to me during a very dark period of our nation’s history,’ Mendoza tells Teen Vogue. She explains how, in the spring of 2018, the Trump administration began separating families at the southern border. In response, she helped organize marches across the country to rally for the end of this hateful policy. It worked, but the trauma that the families endured was unchangeable. ‘In my despair I allowed myself to imagine the worst possible future for our country,’ she says....

“Rare finds from the Harry Potter universe can attract some serious cash, and Potterheads and collectors alike will clear out their Gringotts vault for the right item. Now, a tiny Harry Potter book going up for auction is expected to fetch up to £150,000. OK let me explain, it’s not just any tiny Harry Potter book. That would simply be a nightmare to read. It’s a tiny green 1.6inch x 2....

For that reason, I know just how vital it is for teens to access stories about trans and non-binary characters finding happiness and love. Stories about the discrimination and hardships trans people face are important, too. However, if those are the only stories trans teens are exposed to, they may worry that they will not find the love and acceptance they deserve after coming out. These five YA romance books all feature trans and enby main characters and love interests....

An added bonus of true crime audiobooks is that if you are listening while driving, every time you come to a red light, the people around you get to hear a snippet of the wild story you’re listening to. I don’t make the rules, but it is always the most ridiculous and/or gruesome scene that plays in those moments. Find below a massive collection of true crime audiobooks covering every corner of the genre: sexual assault, abuses of power, civil rights movements, identity theft, fraud, cults, drug cartels, prison life, and more....

Parents have to find their own way in parenting. Books can be helpful guides, but what works for one child or parent might not work for another. And you don’t know any of this until you’re in the thick of it. When my son was little, I started reading about Montessori and Waldorf education and parenting theories. I really, really liked them and found them to be the calming, minimalist approaches that were best for my son....

All links are to the social media accounts of the original artists, so you can peruse their other art, give a follow, check out their shops, and share some more! (And not an insubstantial amount of labour.)#GoodOmens @neilhimself @michaelsheen #DavidTennant et al. pic.twitter.com/4WPlb8mcBL — Lord Jazz (@Jazzymandias) July 14, 2019 — Andrea C. White (@Andrea_C_White) July 23, 2019 — WisesnailArt (@WisesnailArt) August 22, 2019 — Michealia Shen🌸 (@AeGlassofWater1) August 17, 2019 https://twitter....