Bookish kids are the best kids, and we’ve got gear to delight them all. Better yet, everything in the kids & baby collection is $15 today!
Shopping for a grown-up reader? Give them the Best Books of 2017 (which comes with an assortment of rad reads and bookish gifts)!
Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by Imperfect Justice by Cara Putman.
To the world it seems obvious: Kaylene Adams killed her daughter and then was shot by police. Attorney Emilie Wesley believes Kaylene would never hurt anyone and was looking for a way out of an abusive relationship.
Reid Billings thought he knew his sister. He discovers a letter from Kaylene begging him to fight for custody of her daughters if anything should happen to her and tells him to get help from Emilie Wesley.
Thrown together in a race to save Kaylene’s surviving daughter, Emilie and Reid must find the truth—and maybe a future together in the process.
Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by New Harbinger Publications.
“Compelling, funny, occasionally heartbreaking, and full of genuine hope in ways that most graphic memoirs never achieve artistically. … Don’t miss this one.”
—Library Journal Starred Review
As a young artist living in Portland, Lacy Davis’s eating disorder began with the germ of an idea: a seed of a thought that told her she just wasn’t good enough. And like ink in water, that idea spread until it reached every corner of her being. This is the true story of Lacy’s journey into the self-destructive world of multiple eating disorders.
This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden:
Paris Review Editor Resigns Amidst Inquiry Into Conduct
Lorin Stein, editor of literary magazine The Paris Review, resigned from his position amidst an investigation into his conduct with the publication’s female employees and writers. Stein “acknowledged dating and expressing interest in women with whom he had professional connections.” The review followed the appearance of Stein’s name on a list anonymously crowdsourcing allegations of harrasment, created after the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Stein has also resigned from his position as editor at large for Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
A Slaughterhouse-Five Series Adaptation Is In The Works
Happy showrunner Patrick Macmanus has signed on to write and executive produce the series adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five for Universal Cable Productions. One of the most frequently challenged books in the U.S., the non-linear, semi-autobiographical WWII satire follows Billy Pilgrim, a chaplain’s assistant in the U.S. Army and survivor of the firebombing of Dresden. UCP has yet to find a network home for the series, but they expect to shop the project within the NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment group, outside networks, and premium services.
California Faces Literacy Lawsuit
A group of lawyers representing teachers and students from poor performing schools have brought a lawsuit against the state of California demanding that the California Department of Education address its “literacy crisis.” According to the lawsuit, of the 26 lowest-performing districts in the nation, 11 are in California, and assessments found less than half of California students from third grade to fifth grade have met statewide literacy standards since 2015.
Happy December, Audiobook fans,
It’s that time of year–-Best Of the Year lists. Audible has already kicked things off by announcing their Best of the Year winners in various categories. Among them: The Hate U Give took Audiobook of the Year! YAY! Take a minute to celebrate something good happening in 2017! Jump up and down and clap and shout. I’ll wait.
Seriously, if you haven’t listened to Angie Thomas’s debut novel yet, what are you waiting for? It’s so good and so necessary. You can take a look at all the categories, nominees, and winners here.
Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio
Listening to an audiobook can bring family and friends together this holiday season. Listen to Turtles All the Way Down by John Green on your next family road trip and discuss the important themes of the story. Or, listen to Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak with your friends at book club to prepare for the holiday season. Connect, listen, and discuss with audiobooks from Penguin Random House Audio.
But I want to know what you all, the readers of this newsletter think! What were the best audiobooks you listened to this year? Don’t worry about if they actually came out in 2017–-if you listened to it for the first time in 2017 and it was your favorite listen of the year, I want to know about it. You can email me at katie@riotnewmedia.com or hit me up on twitter (@msmacb) (but let’s use a hashtag of some kind, shall we? I have the memory of a goldfish and will likely need some way to revisit what everyone said. How about #BRaudio2017? I’ll compile a list for an upcoming newsletter.
Speaking of Audible, what the hell is happening with the audio of Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem? Diane Keaton narrates, which sounds like it would be awesome, right? Not so, according to the reviews. Of course, sometimes Amazon/Audible reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt but these reviews all seem to be written by people who loved the book but hated the narration. But…but… it’s Diane Keaton? Color me confused. If anyone has listened to it and has strong feelings one way or the other, I’m all ears.
So while you are all mulling over your favorite titles of the year, I want to highlight some of the books coming out in 2018 that I am specifically stoked about.
A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa (1-1-18)
Here’s an embarrassing thing about me: most of what I “know” about life inside North Korea I learned from the fictional book The Orphan Master’s Son. Incredible book, by the way, but fictional. This isn’t entirely my fault–-not a lot of information comes out of North Korea about what daily life is like there. Which is why I am so looking forward to A River in Darkness.
Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa moved from Japan to North Korea when he was thirteen years old. In North Korea, he and his family “unwittingly became members of the lowest social caste. His father, himself a Korean national, was lured to the newly Communist country by promises of abundant work, education for his children, and a higher station in society. But the reality of their new life was far from utopian.”
Ishikawa recounts “the brutal thirty-six years” he spent living under a crushing totalitarian regime, as well as the challenges he faced repatriating to Japan after barely escaping North Korea with his life.
Brave by Rose McGowan (1-30-18)
Before there was #metoo, there was Rose McGowan (and many other survivors of sexual assault and harassment) who spoke out about abuses of power, both against her personally and systematically in Hollywood. After having her reputation smeared simply for speaking the truth, McGowan more than deserves the chance to say exactly what she wants to say, how and when she wants to say it. And I, for one, can’t wait to listen.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (2-6-18)
“Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man.” He moves his family off the grid, to the Alaska. Allbright and his wife and thirteen-year-old daughter begin their new life in a “wild, remote corner of the state.” Initially, it seems like the right decision. The family connects to the small, strong community. But they are unprepared for the rigor of the Alaskan wild. “In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger.”
Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride (3-6-18)
Sarah McBride shares what it was like to be frightened teenager struggling with her gender identity, a closeted college student, and tells us about her “heartbreaking romance with her first love and future husband Andy, a trans man and activist who passed away from cancer in 2014, just days after they were married.” But despite (or perhaps because) of those struggles, Sarah became an activist and McBride was the first transgender person to speak at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. More books like this, please.
So Close to Being The Sh*t, Y’all Don’t Even Know by Retta (5-29-18)
I am a Parks & Recreation superfan. Like, I actually fall asleep to it every single night because I love it so much it soothes me to sleep like a lullaby. So while I am quite confident that I know exactly how close to being the sh*t Retta is (so close it may as well be the same damn thing), I am still here for this book. I don’t know much about Retta’s personal story but “making it” in Hollywood isn’t easy for anyone, especially for women of color. So much to look forward to with this one.
New Release of the Week (publisher description in quotes)
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Hadish
I wasn’t familiar with Hadish until her SNL appearance a few weeks ago but I loved her performance on the show. Her story is challenging but inspirational (can you tell I’m a sucker for a good Nevertheless She Persisted story). And this one starts out like a punch to the gut: Hadish’s mother gets a debilitating head injury from a car accident, so Hadish spent much of her childhood in foster care. “As an illiterate ninth grader, Tiffany did everything she could to survive. After a multitude of jobs, she finally realized that she had talent in an area she would never have suspected: comedy.”
Hope those titles give you a little something to look forward to in 2018. Any titles you are particularly excited about? Let me know!
Until next week,
~Katie
We have 10 copies of No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin for 10 Riot readers!
Here’s what it’s all about:
Ursula K. Le Guin has taken readers to imaginary worlds for decades. Now she’s in the last great frontier of life, old age, and exploring new literary territory: the blog, a forum where she shines. The collected best of Ursula’s blog, No Time to Spare presents perfectly crystallized dispatches on what matters to her now, her concerns with the world, and her wonder at it: “How rich we are in knowledge, and in all that lies around us yet to learn. Billionaires, all of us.”
Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click on the cover image below:
Keep your tootsies toasty in bookish style. All socks are $7 today, and we’re rocking free shipping on all US orders!
This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The House on Foster Hill by Jamie Jo Wright:
2017 Goodreads Choice Awards Winners
The winners are here! Some highlights: Best Fiction went to Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay won in Fantasy, and Lilly Singh’s How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life won for Nonfiction. Check out the full list for the winners in Mystery, Romance, Memoir, and more.
Fox To Adapt Turtles All The Way Down
John Green announced on YouTube that his most recent release, Turtles All the Way Down, will be adapted for film. Fox 2000 and Temple Hill will be behind the adaptation, and Green will executive produce. Turtles follows a 16-year-old girl with obsessive compulsive disorder who attempts to solve the mystery of a missing fugitive billionaire for a lofty reward. Fox and Temple Hill were also behind the adaptations of The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns.
NPR’s 2017 Book Concierge Is Go
For more of what to read next, take a look at NPR’s freshly-launched 2017 Book Concierge. Through the Concierge, NPR offers readers the ability to discover more than 350 titles the organization’s staff and critics loved this year. The titles are discoverable through filters for genre and more, including Eye Opening Reads, Book Club Ideas, and Tales from Around the World–you can even combine filters. If you’re a backlist reader, the Concierges for 2008-2016 are still available to view.
Hi fellow mystery fans! I’ve started reading galleys for 2018 mysteries because they’re stacked next to my bed chanting my name and who am I to say no? So this week I’m talking 2018 titles to put on your TBR now or to pre-buy!
Sponsored by Imperfect Justice by Cara Putman
To the world it seems obvious: Kaylene Adams killed her daughter and then was shot by police. Attorney Emilie Wesley believes Kaylene would never hurt anyone and was looking for a way out of an abusive relationship.
Reid Billings thought he knew his sister. He discovers a letter from Kaylene begging him to fight for custody of her daughters if anything should happen to her and tells him to get help from Emilie Wesley.
Thrown together in a race to save Kaylene’s surviving daughter, Emilie and Reid must find the truth—and maybe a future together in the process.
Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosley (February 20th, Mulholland Books): (TW: sexual assault) I’m still making my way through Mosley’s catalog, but you better believe I dropped everything to read this ARC the day it arrived. We’re introduced to a new detective, Joe King Oliver, a former cop-turned-PI. He’s a former cop because of a rape charge he denies, and the book focuses on him trying to find out who set him up while also taking on a case to find justice for a convicted cop killer. A good read that pits law vs. justice and I loved his relationship with his assistant, his teenage daughter.
Force of Nature
(Aaron Falk #2) by Jane Harper ( February 6th, Flatiron Books): The followup to The Dry is just as good, which is saying something. This time around, Federal Police Agent Falk is back home with a new case: 5 women went on a work retreat in the woods, but only 4 are accounted for. The missing woman was cooperating with a financial investigation, the woods she’s missing in once housed a serial killer, and witnesses stories aren’t adding up…Harper delivers another solid mystery from beginning to end.
Hollywood Ending (A Detective by Day Mystery) by Kellye Garrett (August 8th, Midnight Ink): I’ve been looking forward to this since I finished Hollywood Homicide because I loved the characters so much. I am here for more of this cozy mystery and look forward to seeing what Dayna Anderson and her friends get into. And it looks like this time around Dayna is a P.I.’s apprentice so I’m excited to see her evolution from amateur sleuth.
Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott (July 17th, Little, Brown and Company): Abbott has topped herself! The pages are electric as suspense builds between the “then” and “now” as one woman holds onto a secret she never wanted from her past while trying to grab the future she wants… And reminding me of my love for Abbott the “now” is mostly set in a research lab looking into PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder). Already on the Best of 2018 list!
A Necessary Evil (Sam Wyndham #2) by Abir Mukherjee (April 3rd, Pegasus Crime): Another sequel for a 2017 release that I can’t wait for! The series follows a former Scotland Yard detective trying to not only solve crimes for the CID but to navigate British ruled Calcutta in the early 1900s. The sequel has him working again with Sergeant Banerjee (one of the only Indians working for the CID) and I’m excited for their new mystery in the wealthy kingdom of Sambalpore.
Sunburn by Laura Lippman (February 18th, William Morrow): I’ve seen a lot of authors raving about this one so I had to read it. And the buzz is warranted: It’s a great read that mixes lit fic, crime, a whudunit and the “unlikable” woman. In this case you have a woman with a past trying to secure her future–but at what cost? If you’re a fan of writers that can tap into the energy of a ruthless need for survival don’t miss this one.
A Treacherous Curse
(Veronica Speedwell #3) by Deanna Raybourn (January 16th, Berkley): A funny, feminist, historical fiction mystery series that I love. This one had me laughing from the first page as Speedwell and Stoker find themselves solving a mystery revolving around an Egyptian archaeological dig involving Stoker’s past. If you haven’t started this series yet now’s a perfect time to get caught up!
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara, Gillian Flynn (Introduction), Patton Oswalt (Afterword) (February 27th, Harper): (TW: sexual assault) McNamara never forgot about an unsolved murder from her childhood neighborhood which ultimately led to her creating a website as an adult to try and solve unsolved cases. One of those, which became her obsession, was a rapist/murderer who preyed in California during the ’70s and ’80s. Her extensive research and work is this book, which sadly she won’t get to see published because she passed away while writing it. I’m almost finished and so far I’ve had nightmares, cried, and fiercely loved McNamara.
The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein (April 10th, St. Martin’s Press): There are books I want to read solely for the title. Others because Rioter Liberty Hardy told me to. And those because I’m interest/fascinated with the subject. This book hits all 3 reasons as Sarah Krasnostein followed and wrote about Sandra Pankhurst, a trauma cleaner with a hell of a life story who “bring order and care to these, the living and the dead…”
Links:
Book Riot:
How to Set up a Mystery Book Club
Rincey and Katie dedicated a Read or Dead episode to Agatha Christie.
10 Great Mystery Books for Teens
20 Best Historical Mystery Books
Muppet arms: The mystery comic Goldie Vance is being adapted by Kerry Washington (producing) and Rashida Jones (writing)!
Michael B. Jordan to star in adaptation of Just Mercy, social justice activist Bryan Stevenson’s memoir about his first legal case.
Netflix has renewed Mindhunter (fictional adaptation of Mind Hunter) for a second season.
(TW: sexual assault) How the Super Lawyer David Boies Turned a Young Novelist’s Sexual Past Against Her (Emma Cline, author of The Girls)
Kindle Deal
Caroline Carlson’s delightful The World’s Greatest Detective is $1.99 (review)
And the first in Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan series Baltimore Blues is $3.49
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And here’s an Unusual Suspects Pinterest board.
Until next time, keep investigating! And come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canaves.
Hey YA Readers: Time to catch up on the latest and the greatest stuff in the world of young adult literature.
“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Not Now, Not Ever by Lily Anderson from Wednesday Books.
Jennifer E. Smith meets The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy in this deliciously nerdy sequel to The Only Thing Worse than Me Is You, inspired this time by The Importance of Being Earnest.
Elliot Gabaroche is packing up her determination, her favorite Octavia Butler novels, and her Jordans, and going to summer camp. Specifically, a cutthroat academic competition for a full scholarship to Rayevich College, the only college with a Science Fiction Literature program. It’s going to be an epic summer.
Let’s dig into some of the most interesting and noteworthy YA news from the last few weeks. Don’t forget — if you haven’t shared your favorite YA title from 2017, fill out the survey ASAP.
Onto the news!
Load up your ereader with some inexpensive and worthwhile YA.
CJ Redwine’s The Shadow Queen is only $2. Perfect for fantasy readers.
Speaking of fantasy readers, particularly those who like reimagined fairy tales, Robin McKinley’s Beauty is $2.
And those who’d like a contemporary love story, Emma Mills’s First & Then is $3.
Thanks for hanging out this week, and we’ll see you back here next Monday. We’ll reveal the top 2017 YA reads from “What’s Up in YA?” readers, as well as the titles they wish had seen more love this year (and we’ll shower that love!). Add your voice to the survey before Wednesday, December 13.
— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars