Banned Books Week is just seven days, but you can celebrate the freedom to read all year long with awesome accessories. Bundle our banned books pouch, tote, and heat-reactive mug for just $30 this week!
To make it even sweeter, get free shipping on ALL orders!
Ladies Represent!
I was over here raising the roof when the National Book Foundation announced this year’s 5 Under 35 honorees. All of the honorees are women and three are women of color. What what. The 2017 list is: Lesley Nneka Arimah, author of What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky: Stories; Halle Butler, author of Jillian; Zinzi Clemmons, author of What We Lose; Leopoldine Core, author of When Watched: Stories; and Weike Wang, author of Chemistry. An all-woman list has only occurred once before.
Today In Adaptations
Marlon James is writing the adaptation of his Man Booker Prize-winning novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. The chief director of the HBO series Insecure, Melina Matsoukas, is behind the series’ development, and she’s on board to direct as well as executive produce the show. James will also executive produce in addition to writing the script. It is comforting when the author is deeply involved in the adaptation.
Enjoy A Banned Book This Week
Banned Books Week kicked off and people are celebrating the freedom to read all over the nation and the web. The Banned Books Week Coalition shouted out a bunch of activities being hosted by their sponsor organizations. Readers are encouraged to participate in everything from theatrical performances and bookstore parties to online advocacy. So celebrate your right to read and enjoy a banned book this week.
Thank you to After the Eclipse by Sarah Perry for sponsoring today’s newsletter.
When Sarah Perry was twelve, she saw a partial eclipse of the sun, an event she took as a sign of good fortune for her and her mother, Crystal. But two days later, Crystal was murdered in their home in rural Maine, just a few feet from Sarah’s bedroom. The killer escaped unseen; it would take the police twelve years to find him. After the Eclipse is the story of a murder, an investigation, and a trial; but more than that it is an exquisite memorial for a mother stolen from her daughter.
Welcome back to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read. Let’s dive in.
This newsletter is sponsored by A Poison Dark and Drowning by Jessica Cluess.
Henrietta Howel doesn’t need a prophecy to know that she’s in danger. She came to London to be named the chosen one, the first female sorcerer in centuries, the one who would defeat the Ancients. Instead, she discovered a city ruled by secrets. And the biggest secret of all: Henrietta is not the chosen one. In the seductive and explosive second book in the Kingdom on Fire series, Jessica Cluess delivers her signature mix of magic, passion, and teen warriors fighting for survival.
The Book Riot contributors got inspired by “fall”s of many different kinds, leading to this list which includes everything from Reichenbach Falls to falls from grace to Things Fall Apart. Enjoy!
5 Under 35 is an award that goes to (you guessed it) 5 debut authors, all under the age of 35, and this year’s list is very very good. If your group is interested in contemporary fiction, buzzy books, and doesn’t mind hardcover, all of these would be excellent choices.
‘Bees’ might not be the first theme you think of for your next discussion, but maybe it should be! Here’s a list of five books about bees (including poetry, fiction, AND nonfiction) that might give you some starting points.
What does membership in 10 book clubs look like? Pretty great, actually, if you believe Laura (and I do). The most I’ve ever done at once was seven, so I salute her! There are also great ideas for different styles of book club — themed, classic, two-person. For the record, I too want to join her mother’s book club.
Does your book club need a soundtrack? Well here you go: seven songs with literary references embedded in their lyrics.
For those feeling ambitious about their fall reading, one Rioter put together a Back To School reading list for grown-ups. It’s full of classics across genres that you might have missed in your school days (or might want to revisit).
Is your group into audiobooks? Here are 11 places to find free (and legal) ones!
Read it before it’s on-air: Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (which is a contemporary retelling of Pride and Prejudice) is getting a “soapy” adaptation from AMC, with a team that includes an executive producer from Pretty Little Liars. I can’t decide if Jane Austen would be delighted or horrified??
And that’s a wrap: Happy discussing! If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations (including the occasional book club question!) you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda.
Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn
More Resources:
– Our Book Group In A Box guide
– List your group on the Book Group Resources page
Hello, book lovers! I don’t know about where you are, but here in my secret volcano lair in Maine it is SO HOT again. (It has nothing to do with it being in a volcano, I swear.) I hope you’re having a cooler September with lots of good things to read. Speaking of great things to read – segue achievement unlocked! – I have a few for you below and you can hear about several more great books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, including After the Eclipse, Five-Carat Soul, and Starfish.
Sponsored by Seconds Acts by Teri Emory
An unshakeable rapport among three women takes root in a college dorm in the 1960s. At midlife, they find themselves re-examining choices and compromises they have made over the years. Sustained by their abiding friendship, the three women move to relinquish past regrets and make peace with present circumstances in order to flourish in the second acts of their lives.
P.S. – Have you checked out our newest podcast, Recommended? Each episode features two really interesting people talking about a book that they love! Check out Samantha Irby and Robin Sloan in Episode 1. Because who doesn’t need more book recommendations???
Provenance by Ann Leckie
Eeeeeeeee! Leckie has followed up her record-breaking Imperial Radch series with a fun, fast novel of power and birthright! A young woman must regain status and power to save her world, but she needs the help of a thief to do it. INSERT CAPERS HERE. There’s a prison planet, priceless artifacts, political turmoil, heists, and interstellar conflict. It has all the ingredients needed to make this an amazing book! Not that you needed me to tell you Ann Leckie is amazing. Run, don’t walk, to pick it up!
Backlist bump: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Passage by Khary Lazarre-White
Set in NYC in 1993, Passage is the story of Warrior, a teen trying to navigate the world and the hurdles and dangers he encounters as a young black man. Haunted by the spirits of his ancestors and the demons of oppression, it will take more than the loving support of his family to help him exist in an unfair, yet supposedly post-racial, society. This is a powerful novel that shows just how far America hasn’t come with regards to racism.
Backlist bump: The Liminal People by Ayize Jama-Everett
An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard
Magic + New York City + Kat Howard = HEART EYES. Something is happening to the magic in NYC. No one understands it, except Sydney, a young magician with more power than has been seen in the city in decades. But Sydney doesn’t want to restore the city’s power – she wants to destroy it. This is a fun dark fantasy with a strong protagonist and lots of imagination.
Backlist bump: A City Dreaming by Daniel Polansky
That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!
Stay rad,
Liberty
10 lucky winners will each receive one prize pack with the following (physical CD) copies: The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve, Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown, and The Shark Club by Ann Kidd Taylor.
With fall ramping up, it’s back to juggling busy school and work schedules with social engagements like date nights, yoga with friends, and book club. Luckily, you can listen to your book clubs next pick so you can stay on top of it all.
Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the image below:
Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by Black Bird of the Gallows by Meg Kassel from Entangled Teen.
Where harbingers of death appear, the morgues will soon be full.
Angie Dovage can tell there’s more to Reece Fernandez than just the tall, brooding athlete who has her classmates swooning, but she can’t imagine his presence signals a tragedy that will devastate her small town. She can’t know she’ll be thrown into a battle between good and evil with Reece right in the center of it—and he’s not human.
Still, she knows something most don’t. The secrets her town holds could kill them all. But falling in love with a harbinger of death could be even more dangerous.
Diana Gabaldon Says Outlander is Over…Probably
In an interview last week, Outlander series author Diana Gabaldon said that she knows exactly how the last book will end and that it will probably be at the end of book 10. Apparently, a mysterious incident in the first book is the key to the story’s finale, so Outlander fans, rev your conjecture engines.
Kenneth Branagh Will Narrate New Audiobook Version of Murder on the Orient Express
As part of the run-up to the release of his new film adaptation of Christie’s most famous work, Kenneth Branagh will record a new narration of Murder on the Orient Express. The new version will be available on October 19th, just a few weeks before the film premieres on November 10th.
A Deep Dive into the Archive
The Village Voice has a great profile of the archives of the New York Public Library, featuring the so-called “most interested man in the world.” It would seem that the rising tide of interesting paper document produced over the last few centuries has led to a glut of collected, and largely unprocessed, information. The work of archivists might be among the most important least heralded anywhere.
Today in Books is sponsored by Rakuten Kobo Inc:
Calling all listeners—audiobooks are now available from Kobo. Find all your eBooks and audiobooks together in the FREE Kobo App for iOS and Android. Save with a subscription for the best deal on audiobooks—your first 30 days are FREE.
As hard as it may be to believe, it was 50 years ago that the iconic novel, The Outsiders, was published. It was a game-changing moment that essentially launched the Young Adult genre. Penguin Young Readers is proud to have been on this YA ride from the beginning and is thrilled to present our Penguin Teen Game-Changers collection, highlighting five stellar novels that are sure to transform the YA scene this fall. Titles include Marie Lu’s Warcross; Kristin Cashore’s Jane, Unlimited; Stephanie Perkins’s There’s Someone Inside Your House; Peter Bognanni’s Things I’m Seeing Without You, and Julie C. Dao’s Forest of a Thousand Lanterns.
Five (5) winners will each get a box of books called “Game-Changers!” Titles include Warcross, Jane, Unlimited, There’s Someone Inside Your House, Things I’m Seeing Without You and Forest of a Thousand Lanterns.
Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the image of the prize below. Good luck!
Black Mirror Gets A 3-Volume Book Series
Every time I hear Belinda Carlisle’s Heaven Is a Place on Earth, I think of Black Mirror. Every time I have a nightmare, I’m certain it’s thanks to some Black Mirror remnant floating in my subconscious. Fans, prepare for more nightmare fodder–the sort you can physically carry around with you. We’ll be seeing the first volume of a three-volume Black Mirror book series in May 2018. Show creator Charlie Brooker will edit the volume, which will feature stories by writers including Sylvain Neuvel (Sleeping Giants) and Claire North (The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August).
Hidden Figures Author Joins NASA to Honor African-American Mathematician
Margot Lee Shetterly, author of Hidden Figures, joined additional dignitaries to honor Katherine Johnson, a former NASA employee and one of the central figures in Shetterly’s book. The book highlighted the lives and work of the black women who stepped in as human computers, and whose calculations were integral during wartime in the U.S. 99-year-old Johnson cut the ribbon for the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The event aired live on NASA Television earlier this afternoon, but I bet you can dig up a video online.
It Becomes All-Time Highest-Grossing Horror Film
Whether you love the Stephen King story or want to throw a brick through the window of every person who’s posted a picture of Pennywise on social, the masses have been parking themselves in theater seats across the country, desperate to be scared out of their minds. In fact, so many people wanted to see the newest adaptation that ticket sales pushed past The Exorcist to make It the highest-grossing horror film of all time. The movie has earned $236.3 million. That’s a lot of circus tickets.
Thank you to Black Bird of the Gallows by Meg Kassel, from Entangled Teen, for sponsoring today’s newsletter.
Where harbingers of death appear, the morgues will soon be full.
Angie Dovage can tell there’s more to Reece Fernandez than just the tall, brooding athlete who has her classmates swooning, but she can’t imagine his presence signals a tragedy that will devastate her small town. She can’t know she’ll be thrown into a battle between good and evil with Reece right in the center of it—and he’s not human.
Still, she knows something most don’t. The secrets her town holds could kill them all. But falling in love with a harbinger of death could be even more dangerous.
Hey Kid Lit fans!
Today, let’s talk about the National Book Awards. The mission of the National Book Foundation and the National Book Awards is to, “to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of great writing in America.” Every September, the National Book Awards long list of ten titles are announced in the categories of Young People’s Literature, Poetry, Non-Fiction, and Fiction. This list is narrowed to five finalists, and the winner is announced at a swanky banquet in Manhattan. This year, the National Book Awards Benefit and Ceremony will be on November 15th.
Sponsored by Click’d by Tamara Ireland Stone
Allie Navarro can’t wait to show her best friends the app she built at CodeGirls summer camp. Click’d pairs users based on common interests and sends them on a fun (and occasionally rule-breaking) scavenger hunt to find each other. And it’s a hit.
Watching her app go viral is amazing. But when Allie discovers a glitch that threatens to expose everyone’s secrets, she has to figure out how to make things right, even if that means sharing the computer lab with her archenemy Nathan. Can Allie fix her app, stop it from doing any more damage, and win back the friends it hurt—all before she steps on stage to present Click’d to the judges?
For the Young People’s Literature category, books are chosen from both middle grade and young adult, in both fiction and non-fiction. For 2016, six of the ten titles in the longlist were middle grade: When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin, Ghost by Jason Reynolds, Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo, Booked by Kwame Alexander, Pax by Sara Pennypacker and illustrated by Jon Klassen, and Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story by Caren Stelson.
This year, there are two middle grade titles: Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Garcia-Williams and Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder.
First of all, I have to say that I loved both of these books. In Clayton Byrd Goes Underground, Clayton and his grandfather Cool Papa Byrd love playing the blues. Clayton cannot wait to join the Bluesmen, which his grandfather says he can do once he has a blues song of his own. But when his grandfather dies, Clayton finds that his mother’s anger over Cool Papa Byrd’s abandonment when she was a child lies very deep. She starts selling off all of his jazz possessions, instruments and memorabilia that Clayton wanted to keep for himself. Clayton decides to run away from home, hoping he can find the Bluesmen and join them on the road. This book was beautiful, filled with very honest, relatable emotions. It made me think about how past family hurts run deep, and the difficulties of growing up and desiring independence in a world where your parents call the shots. Check out Meg Medina’s New York Times review of this book; it’s worth reading.
Now onto Orphan Island – this book has gotten so much buzz, and I’m not surprised because it’s definitely not like anything I’ve ever read. On the island, everything is perfect. It is beautiful and predictable, and part of the predictability comes with an annual tradition: a boat arrives with a new child for the island, and the oldest child must leave. The nine children on the island are the only inhabitants, and the island provides all they need. The story begins with the annual Changing: a boat arrives with a little girl named Ess, and Jinny’s best friend Deen leaves. Now the oldest, Jinny is in charge of Ess and spends the year teaching her about the island while also thinking about her own Changing day and what lies ahead. There are so many interpretations of this book, and readers have had so many questions! After reading it, I suggest you check out this interview with Laurel Snyder on the Books Between podcast. Laurel talks about her writing process and answers some of the questions you might have had.
The finalists will be announced on October 4th, and I’ll be rooting for both of these books to make it! Want to know more about these awards? Read this.
New Releases!
SO MANY GOOD ONES!!! Two of the biggest, buzziest books of the fall season are coming out this Tuesday!
Wishtree (Feiwel & Friends), by Newbery Award winning author Katherine Applegate, is written from a very unique perspective: Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. He is the neighborhood “wish tree” where every year people gather to write their wishes on pieces of fabric and tie them to his branches. When a new family moves into the neighborhood, not everyone is so pleased. This is a story of love and compassion, empathy and forgiveness. It’s a book that reminds of the important role we all have in making this world a better place for everyone. For more about this book, read this gorgeous post by Katherine Applegate on the Nerdy Book Club website.
The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine (Random House Children’s Books), written by Mark Twain and Philip Stead and illustrated by Erin Stead, is a brilliant piece of art. Here is the synopsis: “In a hotel in Paris one evening in the 1880s, Mark Twain sat with his young daughters, who begged their father for a story. Choosing a picture from a magazine to get started, Twain began telling them the tale of Johnny, a poor boy in possession of some magical seeds, who finds himself on a quest to rescue a stolen prince. Later, Twain jotted down some rough notes about the story, but the tale was left unfinished…until now… Philip and Erin Stead have completed the text and illustrated the book, framing the narrative as a story ‘told to me by my friend, Mr. Mark Twain.'” What I loved most about this book was the leisurely way it was laid out. At 160 pages, the Steads had the luxury of white space, to do spreads with only one small chicken in the lower right hand corner, to draw portraits and create gorgeous lettering. This book is a treasure, a perfect gift to give all the kids in your life.
Other releases I loved are coming out this Tuesday…
The Dam Keeper by Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi (First Second)
Skeleton Tree by Kim Ventrella (Scholastic)
Frazzled #2: Ordinary Mishaps and Inevitable Catastrophes by Booki Vivat (HarperCollins)
The Wonderling by Mira Bartók (Candlewick)
I’m Just No Good At Rhyming and Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris Harris, illustrated by Lane Smith (Little, Brown)
Ebook Deals!
Greenglass House by Kate Milford is $2.99 (The sequel, Ghosts of Greenglass House, will be out on October 3rd!)
Storybound by Marissa Burt is $1.99
Before I leave you, I wanted to let you know about a new Book Riot Podcast called Recommended, in which authors talk about books that matter to them. The second episode has authors Celeste Ng and Tara Clancy pitching their favorite book (which would make an excellent book club pick)! Go find out what it is.
This week I’m reading Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi (Dutton Books for Young Readers, November 14), The Perfect Score by Rob Buyea (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, October 3), and Finding Perfect by Elly Schwartz. I’d love to know what you are reading this week! Find me on Twitter at @KarinaYanGlaser, on Instagram at @KarinaIsReadingAndWriting, or email me at karina@bookriot.com.
Until next time,
Karina
Did you know there will be a sequel to Tru and Nelle? Izzy is very excited about it! Tru and Nelle: A Christmas Tale comes out on October 24th!
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