Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by Unbound Worlds.
Unbound Worlds offers readers insight into books and authors across and between the science fiction and fantasy worlds, including horror, slipstream, pop science, fairy tales and folklore, magical realism, urban fantasy, and anything that’s just a little bit weird.
Kicking off your holiday shopping early? It’s the last day to get free shipping on all US orders with the code SHIPSFREE. Use the extra hour today to cross some gifts off your list (or treat yourself, we won’t tell).
While you’re at it, Save 25% on hoodies, hats, socks, scarves, and mugs.
Looking for a chill? The new YA Book Mail is filled with strange and peculiar reads. Get one before they’re gone!
We’re delighted to welcome back Bookwitty as one of 2016’s presenting sponsors! You can find a new bookish community to participate in, recs for your next read, and amazing access to international literature thanks to their book partners around the world. Check out Bookwitty.com, where they’re bringing books, ideas, and people together — and don’t forget to visit their booth at Book Riot Live!
With only 8 days go to before Book Riot Live kicks off, it’s time for a recap! Next weekend, we’ll be:
– Partying at the Strand on Friday and Saturday nights.
– Alternating between games, discussions, and thought-provoking panels.
– Listening to and getting our books signed by some of our favorite (and new favorite) authors.
– Hanging out in the Reading Lounge for a quiet moment, or meeting up in The Commons to talk about our own favorite topics.
– Checking out our amazing vendors and exhibitors.
Got your tickets? Start planning your weekend! Haven’t gotten them yet? Go forth and take $20 off your weekend pass with code BOOKNERD.
Saddle up: It’s time for another big book round-up! YEE HAW! I am so excited for so many books coming out in the next few weeks, many of which are out this week. And you can hear more about some of them on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, such as Pull Me Under, The Gold Eaters, and Virgin and Other Stories.
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Arrndgros by Pyotr Andreyev.
Every fantasy reader thinks they know orcs. Savage and brutal. Ferocious in battle. Mindless monsters to be feared—or better yet, obliterated—by those who encounter them.
However, the truth, in both fantasy and reality, is more complex than first impressions suggest. Violent though they may be, orcs have their own rich cultures, spiritual lives, and traditions. Societies where strength, bravery, and skill in battle are prized.
Join the orcs of Arrndgros as they explore, reclaim lost lands, and march to war. Discover orcs as you’ve never seen them—proud, passionate, courageous, and, yes, brutal. Discover the warrior’s emotion. Discover Arrndgros.
**Before we get into today’s recommendations, enter for a chance to win a $50 VISA gift card by taking this quick survey.**
The Alligators of Abraham by Robert Kloss
Last Train from Perdition (I Travel By Night) by Robert McCammon
A Long December by Richard Chizmar
Bruja by Wendy C. Ortiz
The Book of Endless Sleepovers by Henry Hoke
The In-Betweens by Matthew Simmons
Lady Be Good by Lauren Hilger
Her Nightly Embrace: Book I of the Ravi PI Series by Adi Tantimedha
Iron Dawn: The Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle that Changed History by Richard Snow
The Long Room by Francesca Kay
Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 3: The War Years and After, 1939-1962 by Blanche Wiesen Cook
A Portrait of Emily Price by Katherine Reay
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
By Women Possessed: A Life of Eugene O’Neill by Arthur Gelb and Barbara Gelb
Stay Golden by Lucky Blue Smith
To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History by Lawrence Levy
The Facefaker’s Game by Chandler J. Birch
The Twenty-Three (Promise Falls Trilogy) by Linwood Barclay
The Game Don’t Change by Mazaradi Fox
The Winterlings by Cristina Sánchez-Andrade (Author), Samuel Rutter (Translator)
What the #@&% Is That?: The Saga Anthology of the Monstrous and the Macabre edited by John Joseph Adams and Douglas Cohen
What Have We Done: The Moral Injury of Our Longest Wars by David Wood
Who Killed Kurt Cobain? The Story of Boddah by Nicolas Otero
The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop by Karen L. Maness and Richard M. Isackes
Author In Progress: A No-Holds-Barred Guide to What It Really Takes to Get Published by Therese Walsh (Editor), Writer Unboxed
Double Down (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #11) by Jeff Kinney
The Weaver by Emmi Itäranta
The Wrong Side of Goodbye (A Harry Bosch Novel) by Michael Connelly
The Beach at Night by Elena Ferrante
American Dreamer: My Life in Fashion & Business by Tommy Hilfiger
Experimental Animals (A Reality Fiction) by Thalia Field
Faithful by Alice Hoffman
Virgin and Other Stories by April Ayers Lawson
Dispossession: A Novel of Few Words by Simon Grennan
Fish in Exile by Vi Khi Nao
Bestiary: Poems by Donika Kelly
Shackleton’s Heroes : The Epic Story of the Men Who Kept the Endurance Expedition Alive by Wilson McOrist
When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep and Stalin Robbed a Bank: History’s Unknown Chapters by Giles Milton
Valiant Gentlemen by Sabina Murray
A Death in the Islands : The Unwritten Law and the Last Trial of Clarence Darrow by Mike Farris
Thus Bad Begins by Javier Marias (Author), Margaret Jull Costa (Translator)
Pull Me Under by Kelly Luce
Frantumaglia: A Writer’s Journey by Elena Ferrante (Author), Ann Goldstein (Translator)
Cabo de Gata by Eugen Ruge (Author) Anthea Bell (Translator)
The White Road: Journey into an Obsession by Edmund de Waal (paperback)
Submission by Michel Houellebecq (Author), Lorin Stein (Translator) (paperback)
Hemingway in Love: The Untold Story: A Memoir by A. E. Hotchner (paperback)
The Gold Eaters by Ronald Wright (paperback)
Queen of the Night (paperback)
YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!
Stay rad,
Liberty
Nothing to wear? Don’t panic! You still have today to Get leggings + any pair of socks for $20.
And don’t forget to accessorize! Pick up one of our new totes and be the coolest cat on campus and at book club.
Shakespeare Gets a Co-Author
The Oxford University Press (no slouch when it comes to the academics of Shakespeare, obviously) is officially crediting Christopher Marlowe as co-author of Shakespeare’s three Henry VI plays. The new co-authorship credit is based on comparison of the language used in the Henry plays to other Marlowe works, and this is the first time a major publisher has gotten behind “Shakespeare trutherism.”
Real-Life Hogwarts to Open in 2017
We’re all a little bummed we didn’t get our letter to Hogwarts as kids, and now you don’t need one. A real-life school of witchcraft and wizardy is opening next year in France, complete with a sorting ceremony and classes in potions and charms. Two catches: only 100 students will be admitted, and all lessons will be conducted in French. Opportunity to do your best Fleur Delacour?
A Strange History of Books Bound in Human Skin
Because it’s Halloween, have a long-read about the (naturally) dramatic history of books bound in human skin. My favorite tidbits: doctors were some of the first to bind books in…people…, often using the skin of executed criminals to bind books about the criminal’s exploits. Also, someone bound Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in skin, which seems especially inappropriate and icky.
Chimamanda’s Feminist Suggestions
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of the best fiction writers doing things with feminism today, and she gave us a gift on Facebook of all places in her Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. It’s a letter to a new mother about raising a daughter in a feminist way, and she recommends everything from considering the language you use to speak to your children, to never speaking of marriage as a woman’s ultimate achievement. Well worth a read, whether you have children or not (and no matter their gender, if you do).
Thanks to Thrill Me by Benjamin Percy for sponsoring This Week in Books.
In Thrill Me, best-selling author Benjamin Percy dissolves the boundaries between literary and genre fiction. He explores how Cormac McCarthy, Ursula K. Le Guin, Stephen King, and others engage plot, character, dialogue, and suspense. He also makes clear the literary importance of “exploding helicopters, giant sharks, robots with laser eyes, pirates, poltergeists, were-kittens, demons, slow zombies, fast zombies, talking unicorns, probe-wielding martians, sexy vampires, barbarians in hairy underwear…”Percy’s distinctive blend of anecdotes and advice, round out a perfectly thrilling roadmap for writers and readers hoping to understand how and why the best fiction keeps us riveted to the edge of our seats.
Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by National Geographic Partners, LLC.
Featuring the most liked, commented on, and favorite photos from National Geographic’s iconic Instagram account, @NatGeo is a winning combination of expertly curated and favorite National Geographic photographs from the account. National Geographic, or @natgeo, is the world’s top media brand on Instagram, with over 61 million followers and more than two billion likes on its 12,000+ images posted. The cumulative voice of the contributing National Geographic photographers will take you on a visual journey that has already inspired millions. See the world through the eyes of National Geographic photographers with @NatGeo.
So you love bookish mail but aren’t so big on surprises? The cat’s out of the bag, and the contents of our September Book Mail box have been revealed!
Want one? Snag it now! We have a limited supply of extras.
Theme: Magic and Myth
Book Mail boxes are available for one-time purchase, while supplies last. Treat yourself or a bookworm you love.
Want some YA? We’ve got that, too! The October YA Book Mail box is currently on sale, with strange and peculiar books and bookish items.
This weekend giveaway is sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio.
We have audiobook bundles for 10 lucky Riot readers, each of which includes:
The City Bakers Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller
The French Chef in America by Alex Prud’homme
Cooking for Picasso by Camille Aubray
32 Yolks by Eric Ripert
Entries are limited to the United States and will be accepted until 11:59pm, Friday, November 4th.
Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the image below!
There have been a lot of firsts since Book Riot Comics launched at the beginning of September, and now we have a new one: first mailbag giveaway! We’ve picked some pretty great comics to send out to one lucky reader.
We’ll ship this to any worldwide address we can mail to, not including via carrier pigeon.
Go here to enter, or just click the image below:
