Month: December 2019

My 10 Favorite Nonfiction Reads of 2019

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date December 17, 2019

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Hello and happiest of Wednesdays, nonfiction friends! Given the dates of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays this year, this will be my last Monday newsletter until 2020. This make it feel like the perfect time to dive into some of my favorite reads of the year.

A quick caveat – this is definitely not a “best books of the year” list. I never read enough to really be able to do a list like that. Instead, I can just speak to my own idiosyncratic and limited reading over the last 12 months. These are just 10 of the books that meant the most to me this year, listed in the order I finished them.

Parkland: Birth of a Movement by Dave Cullen – This book is an account of the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and the student activists who have emerged in the wake of the tragedy. It’s an empathetic, meticulously reported book that I couldn’t put down. It’s also a fascinating companion to Cullen’s other major book, Columbine, another one I highly recommend.

Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi and Joshua David Stein – This memoir is about how Kwame Onwuachi went from being a kid in the Bronx to a celebrated chef in Washington D.C. His path took him all over, from New York to Nigeria to the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. I loved how honest he was about his choices (both good and bad), and appreciated hearing about his perspective and experiences as a black man in a largely white industry.

Good Talk by Mira Jacob – This graphic memoir is about “American identity, interracial families, and the realities that divide us.” It’s heavy, but also really funny, and increasingly relevant as political divides become even more stark. I’m not sure I read a more heartbreaking or relevant book this year, which I say in the best way possible. Go read this one!

The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang – This book is a collection of autobiographical essays about what it’s like to struggle with both mental illness and a chronic illness. Esmé Weijun Wang begins with her initial diagnosis with a “schizoaffective disorder,” then goes on to look at arguments about labeling and diagnosis procedures, how schizophrenia manifests, and other misconceptions surrounding her diagnosis. It’s fascinating and beautifully written.

No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us by Rachel Louise Snyder – Each day around the world, 137 women are killed by familial violence. And 54 percent of mass shootings in America today involve domestic violence. These statistics are at the core of the argument in this book: that domestic violence isn’t a private problem, it’s an urgent matter of public health. Rachel Louise Snyder explores big questions about domestic violence with really precise, articulate, and confident reporting. It’s remarkable and so very important.

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski – If I had to pick the book that had the biggest impact on me personally this year, it’d be this one. This spring and summer, I realized that I was experiencing many of the symptoms of burnout and needed to do something about it. This book changed my outlook, specifically looking at what stress is like for women and offering concrete steps to address it in both the short and long term. Lightbulbs!

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb – After a traumatic break-up, therapist Lori Gottlieb realized she needed some help in processing her thoughts and emotions. This book is all about therapy – what it’s like to go to therapy, what it’s like to be a therapist, and what it takes to really get the most out of therapy that you can. Gottlieb is open with her experiences, and writes about her own patients with an incredible sense of empathy. I was very moved by this book.

Make it Scream, Make it Burn by Leslie Jamison – This collection of essays from one of my favorite authors covers a huge range of subjects, from children with past-life memories to a lonely whale named 52 Blue, to the author’s feelings about becoming a stepmother and a mother. I appreciate how specifically Leslie Jamison interrogates her thoughts and feelings, and how the themes of connection and privilege and perspective play into her work. She’s a really interesting thinker.

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado – For many years, Carmen Maria Machado was part of an abusive queer relationship. In the book, she plays with format and narrative tropes to tell the story of that relationship and try to better understand queer domestic abuse more generally. I loved the way she used different storytelling techniques to see the relationship in different ways, and how each piece built on everything we’d already learned. It was utterly fascinating to read, and a book I’ve already recommended many times.

And there you have it, 10 of my favorite reads this year! It’s been such a great year of books, even if it feels like my reading pace has been positively glacial.

Come share your favorites with me! You can find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim

Today In Books

Tournament of Books Shortlist: Today In Books

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date December 17, 2019

Sponsored by Amazon Publishing and Nine Elms.

Tournament of Books Shortlist

Playing off of March Madness, Tournament of Books pits two books against each other each week of March, with one advancing to the next round, until there’s just one book–the winner-standing! And we now have the shortlist for the 2020 matches. I love so many books on this list; every round is going to be filled with celebration and heartbreak.

Another Shortlist!

This time for the Oscars: Hair Love has made the shortlist for the 92nd Academy Awards in the Animated Short Film category. You can see the short film here and you can pick up a copy of the book Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, Vashti Harrison (Illustrator).

Apple TV+ Now Has Books

Apple TV+’s bookish show Ghostwriter, a remake of the ’90s show, now has books to go along with the show. First up are classics with the Ghostwriter branding on them (The Jungle Book and Alice in Wonderland), and coming very soon are original stories that will include puzzles, vocabulary guides, and reading games.

What's Up in YA

The Biggest YA Books Of The Decade

Post author By Kelly Jensen
Post date December 17, 2019

Sponsored by The Nightmare-Verse by L. L. McKinney and Fierce Reads

“Lewis Carroll by way of Buffy.” —NPR

“The fantasy series I’ve been waiting for my whole life.” —Angie Thomas, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hate U Give

Life in real-world Atlanta isn’t always simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, a slipping GPA, and an ongoing battle in a magical realm. When Alice’s mentor is poisoned, she’ll need to use everything she’s learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head . . . literally.

Venture into the Nightmare-Verse, but beware—this is not the Wonderland you remember.

As we roll through the last weeks of the decade, it seems fitting to highlight some of the biggest YA books from the past ten years. It’s fascinating to look at the big book from each year and how it reflected the general vibe of that year. But more fascinating is looking at the ways that the themes of the books evolved and shifted over the years. What does it mean? What does it show about how much YA has grown in the last 10 years?

Below, find the “biggest” book of the year, determined by it residing on the YA bestsellers list for a significant period of time. Those titles are pulled from among a number of sources, including Publishers Weekly’s lists, the New York Times lists, and other compilations around the web; they’re not scientific.

I also included the winner of the National Book Award (NBA) from that year, as a means of comparing what it was the general reading audience determined as the best book (we all know that the bestselling book doesn’t mean “best,” but this is a measure we have) and what it was a jury of kid lit writers and experts determined to be the best that same year.

2010

Bestseller: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

NBA winner: Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Erskie’s book is middle grade, so not the most apt to compare. But what is interesting is the title similarity here. Collins book was the final in “The Hunger Games” series — or at least until April 2020 when the prequel releases — and as we’ll see, the series did not slow down in sales for years.

2011

Bestseller: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

NBA winner: Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

The NBA winner is again a middle grade read, but for long-time YA fans, 2011 might be remembered as the year of the Chime/Shine confusion at the awards.

The first book in Collins’s trilogy enjoyed a return to the top of the bestsellers list in 2011, in large part due to the upcoming film release and the way the series caught fire (heh) following the conclusion in fall of 2010.

2012

Bestseller: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

NBA winner: Goblin Secrets by William Alexander

Another year where the NBA title happened to be a middle grade title; interestingly, it was the only middle grade book in the short list, as the other three were YA books. Although John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars released this year, it wasn’t until 2013 where sales shot into the stratosphere (it sold very well in 2012, too). Roth’s second entry in her “Divergent” series was the biggest seller and it’s likely we can thank the success of Collins’s adaptation that brought hunger for more dystopia.

For YA history fans, 2012 was the year when we learned how many adults were buying YA books. This is still an oft-cited study with so many flaws that it should be read with some understanding of how teenagers are able to — or not able to, as it were — acquire books on their own.

2013

Bestseller: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

NBA winner: The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata

I promise there are YA books which will make the NBA list, but that’ll be happening in the latter half of the decade. Although John Green has been popular since his debut in 2005, it was his 2012 book which really flew off shelves. It would sell tremendously well in 2014, too, with the release of the film adaptation that year.

2014

Bestseller: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

NBA winner: brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Rowell’s debut YA novel sold extremely well in 2013, but it went up against some slightly-heavier hitters. With it receiving a Printz honor to kick off 2014, though, it seemed right to include it here as the bestseller of the year. After years of dystopian domination on the bestseller list, Green and Rowell made it clear that realistic fiction was far from dead.

Woodson’s memoir in verse, which neatly toes the line between middle grade and YA, was a huge win and huge seller in 2014 as well. For many, it was their introduction to the long-time kid lit fan. It was also a forerunner to how the NBA awards would shift from middle grade heavy to YA.

Another big thing in 2014? We Need Diverse Books began.

2015

Bestseller: See below!

NBA winner: Challenger Deep by Neal Schusterman

In August 2015, the New York Times changed how they were ranking their YA bestsellers. It would be hardcover books only, which was a bit of a game-changer in terms of what books remained on the list and which would fall off. In the second half of the year, after the change was implemented, Victoria Aveyard’s The Red Queen, Nicola Yoon’s Everything, Everything, and Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl all remained on the list for a good period of time.

But according to Publishers Weekly, once the John Green titles were removed, the bestselling YA title was Ransom Riggs’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. It’d released a few years prior, but with news of the movie, the book’s sales soared.

The NBA winner in 2015 seems, like the bestsellers list, to indicate shift. We’re into the world of YA winning this award now, and more, the winner was Schusterman, a man of color, who depicts mental health in the story.

2016

Bestseller: This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

NBA winner: March Book 3 by John Lewis, Nate Powell, and Andrew Aydin

The year when the election signaled a tone shift in the books we were discussing more broadly — no longer were dystopian titles the biggest books — we saw a graphic novel win the biggest award for children’s literature. Nijkamp’s multi-perspective debut YA novel explored gun violence. Both books highlight the hunger for social and cultural reform that would continue through the following years.

2017

Bestseller: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

NBA winner: Far From The Tree by Robin Benway

Whispers about a huge book hitting shelves in 2017 from an author of color about Black Lives Matter began to hit in early 2016. So it’s no surprise that Thomas’s debut took the world by storm when it came out. The book is still in hardcover as of this writing, which is a remarkably long run in that format.

Although not focused on social justice, Benway’s novel seems to have represented the power of a range of family experiences that readers have been clamoring for. Perhaps, too, the emotional release this book encouraged helped readers build up their resilience and reserves for continuing to advocate for a breadth of stories that were both windows and mirrors.

2018

Bestseller: One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

NBA winner: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Readers wanted a thriller last year, and McManus’s book delivered. Currently in development for small screen adaptation and with a sequel due out next month, chances are we’ll be seeing McManus on the top of the best selling list for a while to come. The other huge seller last year? Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone.

Acevedo’s novel in verse took home the NBA. This is the second book in verse to win in the last five years, as well as the third book not told in a “traditional” prose format. It explores family and cultural heritage — topics that, as seen, began to take center stage in the biggest YA books over the last few awards years.

2019

It’s too early to know what the best seller will be this year, exactly, but dollars to donuts it’ll be far more like the bestsellers of the last couple of years than those in the early part of the decade.

As for the NBA winner this year, 1919 by Martin W. Sandler won. This nonfiction dive into the social, cultural, and political history of 100 years ago was an interesting selection. The book is certainly savvy for connecting those past events to today’s reality, but in my read, it wasn’t necessarily representative of the most memorable book of 2019, but instead, one which spoke more to this moment. In other words, it’s powerful now, but might not have the same punch upon reflection in a few years.

Thanks for hanging out and going down this memory lane of YA from the 2010s. Here’s to amazing history to be made in the 2020s.

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.

The Stack

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Post author By Devin Service
Post date December 17, 2019

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date December 16, 2019

Sponsored by The Last Man at the Inn: One’s Man Quest to Believe.

The Last Man at the Inn is the story of a journey of conversion we all take in one form or another, told through the eyes and heart of a common man. It is written to affirm the believer, to lovingly beckon to the undecided, and to call out to those who may not even know they are looking for something only that there is a space in their soul that somehow needs to be filled. “Fans of Mesu Andrews will love this earnest exploration of Simon of Cyrene’s struggle with faith. …Enchanting historical.” –Publishers Weekly

Happy Tuesday, readers! It’s time for another round-up, as we are now halfway through Rounduptember! Today’s newsletter is about 20 of the books coming out in 2020 that I am excited about that I haven’t read yet. (Publishers/editors/authors/agents, feel free to send them to me!) Next week, I’ll cover books I have read. Which is woohoo for me, because you know how I love to tell you about as many books as I can!

You can hear about about more favorites from this year on this week’s episode of the All the Books! María Cristina and I discussed several of our favorite nonfiction books of 2019, including On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, The Priory of the Orange Tree, The Hollow Kingdom, and more!

And now, it’s time for everyone’s favorite gameshow: AHHHHHH MY TBR! Here are today’s contestants:

Qualityland by Marc-Uwe Kling (Grand Central Publishing, January 7)

I heard that this book was awesome from Kira Jane Buxton, and since she wrote The Hollow Kingdom, I know she has amazing taste. It’s about a future country built entirely on algorithms. Peter Jobless is a machine scrapper who can’t bring himself to destroy some of the machines sent his way, so his home is now populated by a band of robot misfits. And one day he returns a machine, calling into question Qualityland’s whole system.

Virtuoso by Yelena Moskovich (Two Dollar Radio, January 14)

The first offering of 2020 from one of my very favorite indie presses is a novel sent in Prague, Paris, Boston, and Wisconsin. The Guardian calls it a mashup of David Lynch, Elena Ferrante, Anaïs Nin, Antonin Artaud, and Lana Del Rey, which is quite the impressive mashup.

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender (Scholastic Press, February 4)

I was a big fan of Callender’s 2019 release, Queen of the Conquered, which is most definitely NOT a children’s book. But this upcoming release IS for kids (and everyone else.) It’s a middle grade read about a 12-year-old boy who thinks his brother turned into a dragonfly after he died.

The Snow Collectors by Tina May Hall (Dzanc Books, February 12)

I marked this one down to read months ago, and then forgot, and then came across it a few weeks ago, and thought “WOWZA! I WANT THIS!” and then of course discovered I had already written it down, lol. I love when I do that. It’s being billed as a Gothic mystery about the Franklin Arctic expedition. I can’t wait to read it! I’d love to have a favorite novel about Arctic exploration that wasn’t by a garbage fire.

So We Can Glow: Stories by Leesa Cross-Smith (Grand Central Publishing, March 10)

I loved Cross-Smith’s novel, Whiskey and Ribbons, from 2018, so I am incredibly interested to see what she has for us in shorter form. Also, I think we need to bring neon signs back to more book covers. Last year’s cover trend was snakes. Maybe this year’s trend will be neon snakes.

You Will Never Be Forgotten: Stories by Mary South (FSG Originals, March 10)

I am all aboard for every book that FSG puts out, but I will admit that I saw an author I greatly respect discussing this online, so I marked it down without even reading about it. I can no longer remember who the author was (Elizabeth McCracken, maybe?) but I have now read over the synopsis of the stories and remain committed.

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami, by Mieko Kawakami, Sam Bett (Translator), David Boyd (Translator) (Europa Editions, April 7)

The author of Ms Ice Sandwich returns with a novel about three women in Japan and their relationships with their own bodies. One woman struggles with self image after giving birth; one is a girl terrified to experience puberty; and the unnamed narrator deals with being neither a daughter or mother.

Braised Pork: A Novel by An (Yu Grove Press, April 14)

I have heard amazing things already about this novel of a woman in Beijing who finds her husband dead in the bathtub after breakfast. Next to his body is a mysterious pencil sketch that sends her off on a journey across the city for answers.

Northernmost: A novel by Peter Geye (Knopf, April 14)

A man thought lost in an Arctic expedition returns home to discover his funeral is underway. His wife, of course, is shocked to see him alive. Over a century later, a woman travels to Oslo to learn more about her great-great-grandmother who was born there but moved away as a young woman and never returned.

The Abstainer: A Novel by Ian McGuire (Random House, April 28)

This is already the third mention of Arctic exploration and I’m not even halfway through my list, but I loved McGuire’s novel, The North Water, about an expedition gone wrong. It is a grisly, darkdarkdark novel, so I cannot wait to see what he does with his new one, about an Irishman in nineteenth-century England and the underground movement for independence.

Gory Details: Adventures From the Dark Side of Science by Erika Engelhaupt (National Geographic, May 12)

And it wouldn’t be a list by Liberty without something macabre! This book covers “the gross, strange, and morbid absurdities of our bodies and our universe” and is being compared to Mary Roach. WE NEEDS THE PRECIOUS.

House of Dragons by Jessica Cluess (Random House Books for Young Readers, May 12)

The promo material for this YA novel calls it “Three Dark Crowns meets The Breakfast Club with DRAGONS.” I don’t think I need to say anything else.

Catherine House: A Novel by Elisabeth Thomas (Custom House, May 12)

Okay, not only am I a sucker for a 1980s reference (see above), but I will read anything compared to The Secret History, which this has been. I guess you can say it’s in my Catherine Wheel house. (Sorry not sorry.) It’s a Gothicky novel about a very selective school of higher learning hidden in the Pennsylvania woods.

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson (Scholastic Press, June 2)

I 100% admit to wanting to read this simply because it is a reference to my favorite Andrew Scott moment on Sherlock. (Yep, that’s where the title for the Billie Eilish song came from, too.) It’s about two girls competing for prom queen who fall in love. Sounds amazing, I want to have read it yesterday. SIGN ME UP.

How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue (Random House, June 16)

This is Mbue’s first novel since her impressive debut, Behold the Dreamers, back in 2016. (Where DOES the time go???) This one is about the people of the fictional African village of Kosawa, who are fighting back against the devastation caused by an American oil company.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey, June 30)

This is SMG’s second novel coming in 2020, the first being Untamed Shore in February. Mexican Gothic is “a reimagining of the classic gothic suspense novel, a story about an isolated mansion in 1950s Mexico.” MY BODY IS READY.

Hamnet: A novel by Maggie O’Farrell (Knopf, July 28)

This is based on O’Farrell’s fascination with a story regarding Shakespeare and the death of his eleven-year-old son, Hamnet. It’s a look at Shakespeare and his wife after the loss of the son, and in the years leading up to the production of Hamlet.

Empire of Wild: A Novel by Cherie Dimaline (William Morrow, July 28)

This one was blurbed by Tommy Orange, so I cannot wait to get my hands on it ASAP. It’s a fable inspired by the traditional Canadian Métis legend of the Rogarou—a werewolf-like creature that haunts the roads and woods of native people’s communities. My goal in 2020 is to read more Native voices, and I think this one is going to be incredible.

luster Luster: A Novel by Raven Leilani (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, August 4)

And this promises to be an electrifying debut about a young Black woman who gets involved in an open marriage, that turns into attachment when she loses her job and grows close with the wife and child.

cover image: a wolf like monster in a skirt and blouse My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Vol. 2 by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics Books, September 15)

I’m not going to get too excited, since they have already pushed this release date three times, and then pulled it entirely for a while. But for now, it appears to be back on, and I love the first book so much that I don’t care if I am sharing incorrect information right now, I just want it to happen. The artwork in the first book is some of the most amazing pen-and-ink work I have ever seen.

See you next week!

xx,

Liberty

Unusual Suspects

Mystery As A Gateway To Other Genres

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date December 16, 2019

New Children’s Book Releases for December 17, 2019!

Post author By Karina Glaser
Post date December 16, 2019

Sponsored by our Kindle Paperwhite Giveaway! Enter here.

We’re giving away a Kindle Paperwhite to one Riot Reader! To enter, click here and sign up for Daily Deals, our newsletter that rounds-up the best books that have gone on sale every day.

Hello, Kid Lit Friends!

I hope everyone is enjoying these last couple of weeks of 2019! New York City is one of my favorite places to be during the winter holidays. There is a festive spirit, white twinkle lights cover trees and storefronts, and we’re not too tired of the cold weather yet.

It’s New Book Tuesday, and I’m excited to share with you these new releases (as well as some of my backlist favorites). Please note that all descriptions come from the publisher. Happy reading!

Middle Grade New Releases

The Moviemaking Magic of Star Wars: Ships and Battles by Landry Walker

Go behind the scenes of the biggest movie franchise of all time in this immersive and interactive book to see how the most iconic vehicles in the galaxy—from the Millennium Falcon to X-Wings and TIE fighters to AT-ATs and the Death Star—were created and used in the films of the Star Wars saga. This collectible book includes special interactive elements, including six-page booklets, accordion folds, and flaps that reveal the magic behind the movies with concept sketches, molds, digital imagery and more! Plus, get a sneak peak at some of the vehicles from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker!

Backlist Bump: Movie Maker: The Ultimate Guide to Making Films by Tim Grabham and Suridh Hassan by Tim Grabham and Suridh Hassan

The Adventurer’s Guild: Night of Dangers by Zack Loran Clark and Nick Eliopulos

After falling victim to a vile betrayal, Zed is cut off from Brock and their friends and unable to warn them about a dangerous enemy on the move. The Adventurers Guild may have defeated the evil that cast the elves from their home, but that doesn’t keep them in the Freestoners’ good graces for long. An ordinary day at the market comes to a fatal end when a rare Danger infiltrates the city, leaving over a dozen dead. Tensions come to a boil as the city is threatened by upheaval from within and becomes alight with terror. Brock finds himself frustratingly unable to utilize his underground contacts…though the mysterious Lady Grey may not be finished with him yet.

Backlist Bump: The Storm Runner by J.C. Cervantes

Activity Book New Releases

Meet the Artist: Frank Bowling: An Art Activity Book by Helene Baum and Zoe Whitley

Step into the colorful world of Guyana-born British-American abstract artist Frank Bowling! This book is bursting with wonderful activities and ideas for budding young artists. Join Tate curator Zoé Whitley and illustrator Hélène Baum on a vibrant journey through the works of Frank Bowling, and make your own artwork along the way!

Backlist Bump: Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier

Meet the Artist: Peter Blake by Rose Blake

The book includes a brief introduction to the artist’s life, followed by a series of activities that explore prominent themes and ideas in Blake’s work. Featuring beautiful reproductions of key artwork and illustrated by a leading contemporary illustrator—the artist’s daughter, Rose Blake—this book, like all titles in the Meet the Artist series, encourages children to use art as an avenue for exploring ideas and expressing their own experiences.

Backlist Bump: Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos by Monica Brown, illustrated by John Parra

What are you reading these days? I want to know! Find me on Twitter at @KarinaYanGlaser, on Instagram at @KarinaIsReadingAndWriting, or email me at KarinaBookRiot@gmail.com.

Until next time!
Karina

*If this e-mail was forwarded to you, follow this link to subscribe to “The Kids Are All Right” newsletter and other fabulous Book Riot newsletters for your own customized e-mail delivery. Thank you!*

Today In Books

Original Peter Pan Manuscript Shows Meaner Peter: Today In Books

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date December 16, 2019

Sponsored by our Kindle Paperwhite Giveaway! Enter here.

Original Peter Pan Manuscript Shows Meaner Peter

JM Barrie’s original manuscript of Peter and Wendy has been published (1,000 hand-numbered copies) showing not only the author’s handwriting but also the edits he made while writing. Looks like Peter Pan originally had more ego and was meaner.

Jennifer Weiner-Jonathan Franzen Feud Effect

Vox takes a really interesting look at what started a decade ago as an author “feud” but was really the beginning of questioning and pushing back in regards to “What kinds of stories do we consider to be worthy of respect? And to whom do those stories belong?” More end-of-decade pieces like this, please.

Emma Watson Book Fairy

Emma Watson continues to be a book fairy. This time she’s part of an initiative that is hiding 2,000 copies of Little Women. And there’s a surprise for those that find one: Watson handwrote a note in each book. Get to searching!

Check Your Shelf

The Best of 2019 Lists Just Keep on Coming

Post author By Katie McLain
Post date December 16, 2019

Swords and Spaceships for December 17: A Celebration of Series

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date December 16, 2019

Sponsored by Serial Box, a premium audio and reading entertainment platform

Join Thor and Loki on a cosmic odyssey to recover a dangerous alien artifact and stop the return of an ancient evil! Together with a Korean tiger-goddess, charismatic, gender-fluid space pirate, and Frost Giant mercenaries, the sons of Odin must confront their pasts and face the truth behind the destruction of a planet that Thor once tried to help. Narrated by Vampire Diaries star Daniel Gillies and tinged with humor, epic battles, and blasts of sheer fun (intergalactic K-pop concert, anyone?), this is one adventure you won’t want to miss. (Use promo code ‘thormetalgods’ for 10% off!)

Ahoy, shipmates! Here’s Alex, and we’re doing something a little bit different this Tuesday. There wasn’t much in the way of new releases again this week, so we’re going retrospective once more. And there are SO MANY THINGS I wanted to tell you about, I’m going to give you a double helping of news on Friday to leave more room for talking about books here. Enjoy!

17 SFF Series That Finished in 2019

I wanted to look at what series have finished in 2019, in case you know some people averse to picking up a series until it’s done. (Though seriously, please don’t wait until the bitter end. If the early books of a series don’t sell enough, the later books never get published.) There are a lot of great series to choose from here, and it’s an opportunity to put any bookstore gift cards to good use!

Huge thanks to everyone on book Twitter who told me their favorite series that finished this year. I could not have put this list together without all of the help–and I’m sorry I still couldn’t fit them all!

The Custard Protocol Series by Gail Carriger – World-hopping steampunk rebels with bonus werewolves and vampires. Start with Prudence. Book 2 is Imprudence; book 3 is Competence; book 4 is Reticence.

The Wormwood Trilogy by Tade Thompson – Aliens come to Nigeria and build a biodome; the humans try to build their own city and their own lives alongside this invasion. Start with Rosewater. Book 2 is The Rosewater Insurrection; book 3 is The Rosewater Redemption.

Dr. Greta Helsing by Vivian Shaw – Dr. Helsing is a medical provider for the undead, intent on living a quiet life of getting by… until there’s a murder to be solved. Start with Strange Practice. Book 2 is Dreadful Company; book 3 is Grave Importance.

The Tensorate Series by JY Yang – Silk punk where people choose their gender and ride on dinosaurs while they fight the authoritarian establishment. Start with The Black Tides of Heaven. Book 2 is The Red Threads of Fortune; book 3 is The Descent of Monsters; book 4 is Ascent to Godhood. (Full disclosure: I share an agent with JY.)

The Amberlough Dossier by Lara Elena Donnelly – A roaring twenties-flavored and very queer spy thriller that explores the roots of nationalism, fascism, and hatred–and the fight against them. Start with Amberlough. Book 2 is Armistice; book 3 is Amnesty.

Their Bright Ascendancy by K. Arsenault Rivera – In an Asia-based fantasy world, two fated lovers fight demons… and become goddesses. Start with The Tiger’s Daughter. Book 2 is The Phoenix Empress; book 3 is The Warrior Moon.

Gods of Blood and Powder by Brian McClellan – A young nation of settlers and sorcerers face a an ancient threat at the frontier they push forward. Black powder fantasy. Start with Sins of Empire. Book 2 is Wrath of Empire; book 3 is Blood of Empire.

A Dominion of the Fallen by Aliette de Bodard – Gothic fantasy in a Paris that’s been devestated by a magical war–and there are fallen Angels. Start with The House of Shattered Wings. Book 2 is The House of Binding Thorns and book 3 is The House of Sundering Flames.

Miram Black by Chuck Wendig – Hard-boiled, urban fantasy thrillers about a woman who sees everyone’s inevitable death and really hates it. Start with Blackbirds. Book 2 is Mockingbird; book 3 is The Cormorant; book 4 is Thunderbird; book 5 is The Raptor & The Wren; book 6 is Vultures.

Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee – I cannot put it better than I saw an anonymous poster do on the internet: Two ghosts argue about daylight savings time. Billions die. (And it’s military space opera.) Start with Ninefox Gambit. Book 2 is Raven Strategem; book 3 is Revenant Gun; book 4 is Hexarchate Stories.

Timekeeper by Tara Sim – An alternate Victorian world that’s controlled by clocktowers, in which those who repair the towers have the skill to repair the fabric of time itself. (Or stop it.) Start with Timekeeper. Book 2 is Chainbreaker; book 3 is Firestarter.

The Bone Witch Series by Rin Chupeco – Forbidden magic reveals terrible truths about the past in an Asian fantasy world. Start with The Bone Witch. Book 2 is The Heart Forger; book 3 is The Shadowglass.

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton – In Orleans, the Belles control beauty, and beauty is the only currency that matters. Start with The Belles. Book 2 is The Everlasting Rose.

Titan’s Forest by Thoraiya Dyer – In a giant, mythical rain forest where mortals can be reborn as gods, a youg woman fights to meet her own destiny. Start with Crossroads of Canopy; book 2 is Echoes of Understorey; book 3 is Tides of the Titans.

Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden – Vasilisa grows up at the edge of the wintery Russian wilderness and grows up on traditional stories. Then she meets one of the monsters of those stories, the winter demon Frost. Start with The Bear and the Nightingale. Book 2 is The Girl in the Tower; book 3 is Winter of the Witch.

Book of the Ancestor by Mark Lawrence – A nine-year-old girl falsely accused of murder is bought by the Convent of Sweet Mercy and trained to be a mystical assassin. Start with Red Sister. Book 2 is Grey Sister; book 3 is Holy Sister.

Analog by Eliot Peper – Information is power in these very-near-future techno thrillers about politics in the digital age. Start with Bandwidth. Book 2 is Borderless; book 3 is Breach.

See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.