Every weekday, we feature a different review on Booklist Online that highlights starred reviews, high-demand titles, and / or titles especially relevant to our current issue’s spotlight. We’ve collected the reviews from July 17 through 21 so that you can revisit the week’s best books. July 17 The Whole Art of Detection, by Lyndsay Faye, read by Simon […]
Two hundred years after the author’s death (on July 18, 1817), Jane Austen remains one of the most revered writers in the English language. Beyond the many updated versions of her now-classic plots, contemporary authors continue to explore her themes of love, loyalty, social class, and self-deception. From the wild west and high seas to India […]
Hey bibliophiles and font fanatics: There’s a growing trend of book covers designed to emulate the bubbly, serif text-heavy covers that emerged in the late 1960s and exploded in the 1970s. You know, the ones that used this font: What was the original book that had this style? Surely someone has it deep in their […]
The following books, all publishing this week, received starred reviews in Booklist. Want to read our starred reviews before the books go on sale? Subscribe to Booklist! Adult Fiction Afterlife, by Marcus Sakey Beautiful Animals, by Lawrence Osborne Final Girls, by Riley Sager Less, by Andrew Sean Greer The Late Show, by Michael Connelly Like a Fading Shadow, by Antonio […]
The International Thriller Writers announced the winners of the 2017 ITW Thriller Awards on Saturday at the Thrillerfest banquet. Find their Booklist reviews below. For a complete list of finalists, click here. To read Best Young Adult Novel-winner A. J. Hartley’s explication of his influences—a Booklist Reader exclusive—click here. Best Hardcover Novel Before the […]
Every weekday, we feature a different review on Booklist Online that highlights starred reviews, high-demand titles, and / or titles especially relevant to our current issue’s spotlight. We’ve collected the reviews from July 17 through 21 so that you can revisit the week’s best books. July 17 The Whole Art of Detection, by Lyndsay Faye, read by Simon […]
The Brooklyn Public Library has announced the longlist for its annual literary prize, given to one fiction and one nonfiction title. According to the press release, the winners and nominees were chosen for “subverting literary forms, pushing against established ways of thinking, or otherwise introducing new or challenging ideas.” The press release also noted the […]
Two hundred years after the author’s death (on July 18, 1817), Jane Austen remains one of the most revered writers in the English language. Beyond the many updated versions of her now-classic plots, contemporary authors continue to explore her themes of love, loyalty, social class, and self-deception. From the wild west and high seas to India […]
This month, after our brief foray into BYO Books, the LIT book club resumed our normal reading schedule with In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner. This 2012 novel, Ratner’s first, tells the gorgeous, wrenching story of a prince’s daughter, Raami, who grows up in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge takes over in […]
Every year, area clubs invariably ask us to suggest short books for holiday reading. There are many such titles, of course, but it can be hard, at this time of year, for members to get copies of holiday titles when they need them. But there are ways to work around the holiday crush. Some book clubs in our area have each […]
This month, the LIT book club finished out the last of our genre summer reading with Isabel Quintero’s wonderful Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, a young adult novel recommended by librarian Lizzy Klinnert. In this Lincoln Award-winner (given for excellent YA literature), seventeen-year-old Gabi is dealing with some heavy issues. One friend is pregnant, and another is gay […]
Lynn: We focus on youth books here at Bookends, but every so often, an adult book comes along that we think would be of special interest to kids. The Photo Ark: One Man’s Quest to Document the World’s Animals (2017) by Joel Sartore is just that sort of book. In fact, this book may be […]
Lynn: Being a reviewer and blogger is the best job ever, but there are a few drawbacks. We get so many books (I know, tough problem, right?), and keeping up can be challenging. What often happens is that sometimes later books in series get postponed till. . . well, later, and sometimes never. So it says […]
Lynn: Although it’s not unusual for children to be afraid of bees, bees are struggling, and they need all the help we can give them. Winning over a new generation of bee protectors has never been more important. Happily, I’ve read a trio of fun picture books starring our stripey friends that should help the […]
For decades, I read almost no nonfiction. Although I was tempted occasionally, it was always a slog. Then I discovered audiobooks, and they opened up a whole new world world. Now, when I check out ALA’s Notable Books or Carnegie medalists, I’m more likely to have read the nonfiction than the fiction titles. The audiobook […]
Once upon a time, I was wary of audiobooks; I didn’t think they were “real” reading. How wrong I was! Two sparked an obsession: Feed by M.T. Anderson, read by David Aaron Baker, with a full production complete with brain-fed ads and instant messages before I even knew what they were (!), and Shantaram by […]
Every time a new LibraryReads list is published, we share the titles here on The Booklist Reader, along with links to Booklist reviews. (Click here to see the July 2017 print LibraryReads.) For those of you who prefer to listen rather than read, we now also hunt down the producers of the audio versions and […]
Two hundred years after the author’s death (on July 18, 1817), Jane Austen remains one of the most revered writers in the English language. Beyond the many updated versions of her now-classic plots, contemporary authors continue to explore her themes of love, loyalty, social class, and self-deception. From the wild west and high seas to India […]
In her latest, The Identicals, queen of coastal women’s fiction Elin Hilderbrand focuses on twin sisters who learn about their other half when they pull a Parent Trap-style swap one summer. Readers who love books about the bonds (and bruises) of sisterhood will get great ideas of what to read next from Rebecca Vnuk’s “Core Collection: Sisters […]
Following the success of The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins’ second novel, Into the Water, was an instant bestseller. Fans can’t get enough of Hawkins’ twisty, secretive suspense. Fortunately, you can tide them over until her third book with these dark domestic thrillers, linked to their Booklist reviews, where things—and by that, I mean people—are not always […]
Stephen King’s IT Parade is author/editor Daniel Kraus’s 10-week journal of re-reading King’s classic. Join him on this long (very long) journey, if you dare. CHAPTERS 4-7 & THE FIRST INTERLUDE Nothing speaks to the way King just can’t stop with IT than the book’s four “interludes”—in total, about 120 pages of history lessons about Derry that probably could […]
Every weekday, we feature a different review on Booklist Online that highlights starred reviews, high-demand titles, and / or titles especially relevant to our current issue’s spotlight. We’ve collected the reviews from July 17 through 21 so that you can revisit the week’s best books. July 10 Spinning, by Tillie Walden Award-winning Walden’s first book-length work traces her […]
War for the Planet of the Apes opens today. Upon the conclusion of the latest (and best) iteration of the blockbuster sci-fi franchise, let’s take a look back on its debut. Rise of the Planet of the Apes came out in August of 2011, on the heels of two of the most devastating nonfiction chimpanzee narratives […]
Cindy: The blue hour happens twice a day, at dawn and dusk, and is treasured by artists for its exceptional quality of light. I treasure Isabelle Simler’s The Blue Hour because it’s a gorgeous new picture book from France by an author / illustrator who takes full advantage of that magical time. The endpapers set the scene […]
One of my favorite things about working in a school is the school year cycle itself. I love the momentum and the sense of change. There’s a clear beginning (New school supplies! Bright ideas for lessons! Brand. New. Books!) and a clear end (Collecting all the books! End-of-year reports! Putting in final grades!). OK, the […]
This morning’s David Brooks New York Times column about structural and social inequality engorged the outrage glands of the Twittersphere due to the following passage: Plenty of blogs have already collected the best Twitter takes, and The A. V. Club just weighed in with the first feature-length satire of the op-ed. But has anyone stopped to […]
Looking Back on the End of the School Year
One of my favorite things about working in a school is the school year cycle itself. I love the momentum and the sense of change. There’s a clear beginning (New school supplies! Bright ideas for lessons! Brand. New. Books!) and a clear end (Collecting all the books! End-of-year reports! Putting in final grades!). OK, the […]
Rereading Mysteries, Reveling in Childhood Nostalgia: Not Overrated
When I started my “mystery mystery” project last year, I really enjoyed going through my collection and pulling mysteries to put into brown paper bags in order to entice students to read those books. I grew nostalgic thinking of my own mystery-loving self as an elementary school kid. But as I wrapped up the books, […]
Is That a Poem in Your Pocket?
Cindy: Tomorrow, Thursday, April 27th is Poem in Your Pocket Day, and I hope you’ll celebrate. It’s the perfect chance to encourage sharing poetry; the link above lists many great ideas for classrooms and libraries. Last year, I shared a few display ideas. This year, a volunteer got creative with the big pocket I made and crafted a […]
Looking Back on the End of the School Year
One of my favorite things about working in a school is the school year cycle itself. I love the momentum and the sense of change. There’s a clear beginning (New school supplies! Bright ideas for lessons! Brand. New. Books!) and a clear end (Collecting all the books! End-of-year reports! Putting in final grades!). OK, the […]
Rereading Mysteries, Reveling in Childhood Nostalgia: Not Overrated
When I started my “mystery mystery” project last year, I really enjoyed going through my collection and pulling mysteries to put into brown paper bags in order to entice students to read those books. I grew nostalgic thinking of my own mystery-loving self as an elementary school kid. But as I wrapped up the books, […]
Is That a Poem in Your Pocket?
Cindy: Tomorrow, Thursday, April 27th is Poem in Your Pocket Day, and I hope you’ll celebrate. It’s the perfect chance to encourage sharing poetry; the link above lists many great ideas for classrooms and libraries. Last year, I shared a few display ideas. This year, a volunteer got creative with the big pocket I made and crafted a […]
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