Category: Uncategorized
Sponsored by Tor Books
Discover Caroline Stevermer’s The Glass Magician, a magical and romantic tale set in New York’s Gilded Age. New York 1905—The Vanderbilts. The Astors. The Morgans. They’re the cream of society, and they own the city, and the nation. Thalia Cutler doesn’t have family connections—all she has is the stage magic she dazzles audiences with every night. That is, until a trick goes horribly awry. In surviving she discovers that she can shapeshift and has the potential to take her place among the rich and powerful.
Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s the most wonderful time of the scifi year–the gathering of the Hugo reading list. It’s Alex, with some news, and some squee to take you into the weekend.
This is literally the best thing I have seen all week. (Also, it’s begging to be an MG fantasy, right?)
News and Views
Essay of the week: In Defense of Needlework
A profile of Michael Moorcock, now at age 80
Paul Weimer’s epic thread of SFF author and book recommendations is still going. He’s hit 271.
I had no idea that among the pre-flight superstitions of cosmonauts, they always watch a movie called The White Sun of the Desert.
Black Girl Nerds interviewed Isis Asare, the owner and founder of the bookstore Sistah Scifi.
This year’s Philip K. Dick award ceremony will be livestreamed.
A lovely short read: Little Free Library by Naomi Kritzer
Still not tired of Patrick Stewart reading sonnets. Here’s Sonnet 18.
Oh wow. Syfy is going to marathon Battlestar Galactica and Xena: Warrior Princess this month.
I missed that April 7 was Leland Melvin Day (technically just in Lynchburg, Virginia, but I think it should be everywhere)
A visual comparison of the tallest mountains in the solar system.
On Book Riot
20 must-read fantasy and sci-fi short story collections
Quiz: Answer fairytale questions to find your next YA fantasy read
You can enter to win a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card
Free Assocation Friday: Hugo Nominees!
ConZealand announced this year’s Hugo Nominees, and the list is AMAZING. So now’s the time to get a jump on your Hugo reading, whether you just want some good books and or if you want to vote, too. Both attending and supporting members of ConZealand can vote in the Hugos; since ConZealand has announced it will be the world’s first all-virtual WorldCon due to the current pandemic, here’s hoping for a massively diverse set of con attendees (and therefore voting members) as well!
Best Novel
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders – January is a tidally-locked planet, one side forever in frozen night and the other in burning daylight. Two cities cling to life in the tiny livable zones of the planet–and Sophie, a failed revolutionary, is exiled (it sounds nicer than a death sentence) from one of them.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – Gideon is ready to be done with a life of servitude that’s bound to be followed by an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. Unfortunately, her escape is foiled by her childhood nemesis, a necromancer who needs Gideon’s sword–and everything that comes with it–if she wants to save her house and become immortal.
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley – In the war between Earth and Mars, soldiers get turned into light for fast transport. Some of them come back wrong. Some of them come back different. And some of them start remembering things that can’t possibly have happened in their propoganda-ruled world.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine – Mahit is sent on what should be her dream assignment, to be ambassador to the Teixcalaanli Empire, whose culture she has always deeply loved. The problem is that her predecessor, whose memories she should have access to for help, is only an out-of-date copy, and the real man was murdered… and that’s only the start of the galaxy-shaking conspiracies.
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire – Roger and Dodger are twins, separated at birth for nefarious alchemical purposes. They’re not quite gods, but they might be something far more dangerous. The fate of the world rests on their shoulders–and their choices.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow – January feels like just another part of the collection, living in a mansion populated with artifacts by her eccentric guardian. Then she finds a book, and each page may be a portal to an different, impossible world…
Best Novella
Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom (from Exhalation by Ted Chiang – The Prism allows its users to glimpse alternate universes and talk to alternate versions of themselves, which calls into question morality and the reality of choice.
The Deep by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes – Yetu holds the memories of her people, the water-breathing descendents of enslaved African women who were thrown overboard during their cruel abduction. Overwhelmed, she flees from her people and her responsibilities… and tries to find a new way for them all to live.
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark – A simple case of a haunted tram car is taken up by the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities in early 20th century Cairo. It leads two agents to ever more dangerous secrets that threaten their city.
In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire – A serious girl who would rather study than be a house wife finds a magical door into a realm of logic, riddles, and lies. Not wanting to be returned home, she cuts a bargain at the Goblin Market–and those never go well.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone – Two enemy agents in the midst of a war across time begin a correspondence that becomes deeper and more dangerous for them… and could change both past and future for their respective peoples.
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers – Exploration crews in the 22nd century travel outward knowing that everyone they leave behind will age while they remain in stasis. They remain in contact with Earth, watching the culture shift… until one day Earth stops talking.
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.
Categories
043019-JohnWick-The-Stack
Today’s The Stack is sponsored by John Wick.
When a young John Wick embarks upon an epic vendetta, he comes up against a strange, powerful community of assassins and must learn how to master the rules that guide their lethal business. What are the Three Bills? Who is Calamity? And why is John Wick seeking vengeance?
This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by our $100 Amazon gift card giveaway! Enter here.
Is this a Veronica Mars Trailer or an Eye Cream Ad?
People of the Marshmalloverse, prepare thyselves: we have a premiere date for the Veronica Mars reboot! Hulu will premiere the eight episode series revival on July 26th and has gifted us with a teaser. I’m so pumped after watching that trailer, and super tryna get the deets on that Kristen Bell skincare routine. Has she aged at all??!?
No I’ll Blow YOUR House down, Mr. Wolf
A school in Barcelona has nixed some 200 classic children’s books from its library, citing toxicity in their portrayal of gender roles as the reason for the pull. I’ll be the first to admit feeling seven kinds of ick when I think about the awful messages in faves like Sleeping Beauty. Nothing says consent like an unconscious makeout sesh! This feels like a huge step in the right direction.
A Book A Day Equals 300K
You already know that reading aloud to the kiddos is a good thing; there’s the bonding, the entertainment, the early introduction to literacy for their tiny spongey brains. Well here are some actual numbers for you on the benefits: it turns out a kindergartener who is read one book a day knows almost 300,000 more words than one whose parents don’t read to them. That’s a lot of words!
This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The Chaos Function by Jack Skillingstead.
Fat-Positively Fabulous
Fatventure Mag is a badass magazine that’s dismantling the toxic stigmas of diet and weight-loss culture. Its community is a body-positive space for people of all sizes, abilities, and sexualities leading active lifestyles, the kind of space we desperately need more of here and now. Let’s rally to get their second volume fully funded.
For the Love of Literati
It’s been six years since Literati opened its door in Ann Arbor, Michigan with seven employees and 9,000 books. With just about three times the staff and inventory in 2019, this bookstore success story and community pillar is Publishers Weekly’s Bookstore of the Year.
Call Racist Stuff Racist, The AP Says So!
The Associated Press recently updated its style guide on race-related issues, a move that’s kind of awesome and also kind of overdue. The changes include eliminating the “hyphenated American” and encourages journalists to call racists… well, racist.
The last episode of Season 1 of Book Riot’s podcast series, Annotated, was released last week. We’ve been pitching it as a sort of This American Life…but for books–it’s a scripted audio-documentary series about book related topics ranging from The World’s Most Glamorous Librarian to Why Do So Many People Care About The Oxford Comma? Basically, if you like either books or podcasts, you’re going to like it.
You can subscribe to Annotated in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or in your podcast player of choice.
Hachette was our amazing sponsor for Season 1, and they are giving away three stack of 12 great books to commemorate the season.
You can go here for a chance to win, or just click the image below that shows what books are included in the giveaway. Good luck!
Categories
[Mock Up] Librarian Newsletter
[Note: Not all of these categories would be used each time, but rather, this is how I’m thinking of having different featured sections for news as it pops up — easy to create a template and pop things in as the week progresses]
Welcome to (Librarian Newsletter Title Here). This is your guide to all things book talk worth knowing.
Adaptations In The News
- Season 5 of Orange is the New Black is streaming on Netflix. Here’s a look at all of the books seen on the show this season, perfect for a display with the source book itself.
- Game of Thrones is back for season 7 starting July 16.
- The Walking Dead has been re-upped for an eighth season.
- With both Spiderman: Homecoming and Wonder Woman in theaters, it’s a great time to make sure your comics collections can accommodate new and continuing interest in the superheroes. Here’s a list of great comics that, while not Spiderman, riff on the formula.
- Hard to keep Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon on shelf because of the movie? Here are some books that might be great read alikes.
- My Cousin Rachel, one of Daphne Du Marier’s novels, has hit theaters in a limited release. Here’s why it’s worth seeking out, and certainly, a great opportunity to pull together a display or book list on lesser known titles by well-known classic authors.
- The first look at A Wrinkle in Time starring Oprah.
Books In The News
- David O. Brown, former Dallas Police Chief, visited The Daily Show to talk about his new book Called To Rise.
- More would go here when talk shows are not on hiatus.
- Bestselling poet Rupi Kaur has a new collection hitting shelves in October. Preorder a few copies for your library ASAP.
- There’s been a new Maurice Sendak book discovered and it’s coming to shelves near you.
By The Numbers
- 60 libraries will loan out over 1 million audiobooks and ebooks this year.
- There’s been a 23% increase in digital audiobook loans through Overdrive this year.
Award News
- Denis John was posthumously awarded the Prize for American Fiction.
- More would go here.
Pop Cultured
- GLOW is a Netflix original streaming series that hit screens recently and has a growing, passionate fanbase. Check out this guide to books recommended to the cast of characters — a perfect way to create a thematic reading list or display for fans of the show.
- With Will & Grace coming back in the fall, a look at some of the show’s best bookish moments.
All Things Comics
- Up your manga knowledge with these nonfiction titles about it.
- 10 NSFW comics. Your readers want ’em, so it can’t hurt to know ’em.
- Queer comics for kids. Yes, please!
- The best comics of the year so far.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
- Books that go beyond the headlines on topics like healthcare, North Korea, and Populism.
- 100 Must-Read Books By Canadian Authors.
- Five works in translation from the first half of 2017 worth knowing.
- 20 essential books and short story collections by Jewish Americans from the past 20 years.
On The Radar
- The books hitting shelves in August that have readers buzzing and holds lists growing.
Level Up (or something like that? I don’t want to call it anything like diversity corner. Re: edelweiss titles will only go to those which have ARCs but for mockup purposes, etc.)
- Great book club picks for diversifying discussion and reading.
- Five diverse titles — that is, in this round-up, books by authors of color, authors who identify as queer, and works in translation — worth reading and considering for the October 2017 LibraryReads list. Pulling titles for the list two months out will give plenty of reading time & blurb-writing time. Here’s how — and why — you can take part in the project. The bulk of these are published for an adult audience, but knowing that LibraryReads has had YA titles appear, some of those may be in this round-up as well. All titles linked through Edelweiss: Her Body and Other Parts by Carmen Maria Machado, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L Sanchez, We’re Going To Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union, Malagash by Joey Comeau, A Beautiful Work In Progress by Mirna Valerio.
Just for Fun…
