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What does genre mean to me? I used multiple methods for choosing and defining fiction and nonfiction genres and sub-genres. In addition to my 11 years of experience as a book buyer, I looked at the websites of a couple large bookstores, a few publisher websites, and the library of congress categories. The following book genres are an amalgamation of these sources. Side notes: These categories apply to all age groups, thus, young adult, middle grade, etc....

We’re halfway through the year so I’ve officially reached the point where I’m looking at my pile of 2019 releases that I still haven’t gotten to—but am dying to read—and my galleys for upcoming 2019 releases, and all the backlist titles, and why hasn’t time-pausing been invented yet?! In less-freak-out-mode, though, I did read a bunch of great titles in June that I’ll share with you—because sharing is caring, of course....

Often included in these forgotten stories are the women of the subcontinent. Attempts have been made recently to highlight the horrors many women endured. Yet the narrative remains largely male. It is here that writers have taken it upon themselves to share these stories. Even fiction lends a deep, heartwrenching insight into the stories we have all but forgotten. Most of the stories that do talk about women in partition focus on the sexual violence they endured....

First up: We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (Reagan Arthur, May 21st). The premise of this book really intrigued me: a young girl, Darling, leaves Zimbabwe in search of a better life in America. Bulawayo uses her own life experiences to flesh out Darling’s character, and in turn the reader is able to get an actual sense of how this must feel. Bulawayo’s main goal is to leave the reader with a feeling that no matter what country Darling is from, “she is from anywhere else where people live and hope and dream and live....

Following a national outcry, six of the school’s seven board members voted last week to reinstall access to those books in their high school classrooms. The single board member to vote against the change was Ryan Ponder, who has a history of seeking book removal and censorship of materials taught in literature classes. In a statement reported by CNN following the reversal of the decision, Ponder doubles down on insisting that the books were never pulled or made inaccessible to students....

Apparently nothing else from the story actually stuck with me other than that there was some problem and the train overcame it. However, considering I heard it many decades ago, I’m pretty impressed that I have any memory of it at all. Recently, I revisited it and realized there was more to the story than the tiny parts I remember. I enjoyed it a great deal. It has an excellent lesson about persistence and believing in yourself, and it is still a good read even for an adult....

Homophobic rhetoric has increased in the U.S. in recent years — seen in transphobic and homophobic bills like Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and Texas’s bill endangering gender-affirming care as well as an increase in anti-LGBTQ book bans — and this inevitably seeps into Canadian discourse as well, especially in terms of social media. Some attendees pointed to this attack as proving the need for Pride events, while others expressed concern for the safety of their LGBTQ children....

Told in alternating perspectives, The Beauty of the Moment is a very honet and realistic look at teen relationships, culture shock and finding your own voice. I was lucky to have interviewed Tanaz on her YA novel, A Girl Like That, which received international acclaim. I once again had the privilege of interviewing Tanaz for The Beauty of the Moment, sure to be a huge hit when it’s released in late Feb 2019....

Including an extremely steep learning curve and some major realizations for our resident literal hot head, Bakugo Katsuki. Bakugo is a tough character to parse and he always has been. He’s a bully. He’s mean. He’s gruff. His idea of affection is an insulting nickname and his idea of friendship is fighting someone at full power until both he and his opponent are in the hospital. There’s an infamous scene where he and other students who failed the provisional hero licensing exam have to wrangle a bunch of young kids and Bakugo advocates for tough love because that’s how he grew up and he turned out fine; even Todoroki, who grew up in such an abusive household his near permanent emotional dissociation gives him a perpetual flat-affect, gets how problematic that statement is....

B-list heroes, however, haven’t gotten quite the same bump and I can think of a few who deserve a little love and air time. And with Avatar: The Last Airbender enjoying a resurgence thanks to its migration to Netflix in anticipation of a future live-action series (anticipated air date: who the hell knows, die in a fire COVID-19) I thought it would be nice to take a little vacation from capes and tights to introduce y’all to some characters who might conceivably pop up at some point....

1. Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio and Christian Robinson This book is an adorable lesson in diversity. Gaston doesn’t exactly look like his poodle siblings: Fi-Fi, Foo-Foo, and Ooh-La-La. While at the park, he meets a family of dogs that he does resemble, and they happen to have a poodle that matches his family. The mismatched puppies switch, but something doesn’t feel right. 2. Use Your Imagination by Nicola O’ByRne This book is delightfully interactive, as a bored rabbit is convinced to write a story with a dastardly wolf....

With time, the waves of sadness caused by loss are less frequent. Or at least, as a friend told me recently, we eventually accept that grief may not leave us altogether, a sign of all the love it represents, but it can cohabitate with the joy of memories. More recently, in September 2020, Vanity Fair published an article by Jesmin Ward titled On Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by Pandemic....

Search. Do not click on books you have read or books you think you might like. Click only on the opposite point of view. Read the description. Read the positive reviews. Read the negative reviews. Now ask yourself, “Would I read this book?” Would you? Really? Think long and hard about this. Are you willing to read what in your mind is half-truths and extremism? Are you willing to consider that maybe what you believe is true, that the books you believe are balanced and well-researched are, to others, simply the mirror image of the half-truths and extremism?...

As a longtime DC comics fan who has been all too frequently disappointed by DC movies (well, and by DC comics), I was cautiously optimistic about Birds of Prey. I’d been burned before—there was a moment in 2013 where I was pretty sure Man of Steel was going to be good, because I’m a fool—but I love the characters who had been chosen for Birds of Prey, the trailers looked fun, and I was fully behind Margot Robbie’s plan of snatching a character she loved from a terrible, sexist movie and surrounding her with women in front of and behind the camera instead....

The Half-God of Rainfall by Inua Ellams This podcast-inspired purchase is my most recent – I bought it this morning, after listening to Inua Ellams chat with Tim Clare on Death of 1000 Cuts. This story in verse follows the life of Demi, the half-god of the title who has to contend with the Yoruba and Greek pantheons. This story (which is also a play) explores the bond between mothers and sons, and is a love letter to language – and it’s next on my TBR list....

The A.I. Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole for $2.99 Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones for $3.99 The Diviners by Libba Bray for $3.99 Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis for $1.99 Joy at Work by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein for $2.99 The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict for $2.99 Conviction by Denise Mina for $2.99 The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben for $1....

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert for $1.99 Originals by Adam Grant for $1.99 When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Cullors and asha bandele for $2.99 The Princess Will Save You by Sarah Henning for $2.99 I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest for $2.99 The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman for $2.99 Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran for $2.99 No One Can Pronounce My Name by Rakesh Satyal for $2....

Homesick for Another World by Otessa Moshfegh for $4.99 The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams for $1.99 Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi for $1.99 Diamond Doris by Zelda Lockhart for $2.99 Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram for $1.99 City of Saviors by Rachel Howzell Hall for $2.99 Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh for $2.99 The Chemistry Between Us by Brian Alexander and Larry Young, PhD for $1....