Categories
Riot Rundown

082917-TheSummerThatMadeUs-Riot-Rundown

Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by The Summer That Made Us by Robyn Carr.

Robyn Carr has crafted a beautifully woven story about the complexities of family dynamics and the value of strong female relationships.

For the Hempsteads summers were idyllic at the family house on Lake Waseka. The lake was a magical place, a haven where they were happy and carefree. Until the summer that changed everything.

After an accidental drowning turned the lake house into a site of tragedy and grief, it was closed up. But one woman is determined to draw her family together again, and the only way that can happen is to return to the lake and face the truth.

Categories
New Books

Paying for Your Words, Beauty and the Alien, and More New Books!

Today is an AMAZING day for books! I have a few fantastic new titles to tell you about here today, and as always, you can also 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 The Resurrection of Joan Ashby, The Burning Girl, and My Absolute Darling.

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller.

I Needed to Win.

They Needed to Die.

Sal Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class—and the nobles who destroyed their home.

When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand—the Queen’s personal assassins, named after the rings she wears—Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge.

All Rights ReservedAll Rights Reserved (Word$) by Gregory Scott Katsoulis

Imagine a future where you’ll pay for what you’ve said. Literally. That’s what happens in this inventive new book! Speth Jime is set to deliver her Last Day speech. After her speech, she must pay for every word she uses. It’s the same for everyone once they turn fifteen, and a way for the government to keep people down by forcing them to work constantly to afford being able to talk. But what would happen if someone refused to speak? That’s exactly what Speth decides to do, and her actions may very well spark a revolution. I eagerly await the second book!

Backlist bump: Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge

patinaPatina (Track) by Jason Reynolds

The follow-up to the wonderful National Book Award finalist Ghost. This time, it’s about Patina, a different star runner on the elite middle school track team. Patina has a lot to run from in her life, and a lot to run for – like her mom, who cannot run. But her resentments about her situation are starting to build up, and the coach is not going to put up with Patina’s bad attitude much longer. Can she find a balance and learn to work with others in order to run on the relay team. This is a wonderful story of overcoming obstacles and learning to face your problems.

Backlist bump: Ghost (Track) by Jason Reynolds

rogue heroesRogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain’s Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre

Macintyre has a knack for finding outrageous stories from history and turning them into fascinating books that read like thrillers. This one is about the SAS, Britain’s secret fighting force that helped turn the tide of World War II and shaped how special forces units operate still to this day. I am always riveted by these tales!

Backlist bump: Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal by Ben Macintyre

zero repeat foreverZero Repeat Forever (The Nahx Invasions) by G.S. Prendergast

An exciting new fantasy series, hooray! When the Nahx invade, Raven is away at summer camp. Isolated in the woods, she must do whatever she can to survive, even if it means trusting the enemy who killed her boyfriend. When Raven is injured, she must rely on Eighth, who has deserted his Nahx unit, to help her. Think Beauty and the Beast, but with aliens (and no singing dinner service set.)

Backlist bump: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

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

Categories
Giveaways

Win 3 Months of Call Number Book Boxes to Celebrate Black Literature!

 

We’re giving away a 3-month subscription to the Call Number Box!

Book box subscriptions are everywhere (as are subscription boxes for basically anything), so it’s hard to know which ones are worth your money and attention. Call Number is a Book Riot fave: curated by an academic librarian, it is a “library-inspired monthly book subscription box that celebrates Black literature and authors.” Each box contains a book by a Black author, a spine label and catalog card to keep your home library organized (!!!), and 4-5 library/bookish goodies that are relevant to themes in the month’s book pick

Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click on the image of one of the past boxes below. Good luck!

Categories
This Week In Books

28 New Books You Need to Read This Fall: This Week in Books

Get Cozy, Get Ready For Fall Reading

Some of us have been waiting to resurrect the Snuggie, put on a pot of hot chocolate, and make a nest of our fall reading piles. And, as it happens, you can set your autumnal clock by the book lists that arrive en masse before the first russet leaf falls from the tree. BuzzFeed has a particularly excellent list of upcoming books out this fall. So if your nesting plans are light on books, help yourself to Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, Salman Rushdie’s The Golden House, Ayobami Adebayo’s Stay with Me, and so many more must-have fall reads.

St. Vincent To Adapt The Picture of Dorian Gray

St. Vincent (Annie Clark) will direct a female-led adaption of Oscar Wilde’s creepy novel about a hedonistic man, The Picture of Dorian Gray. A novel I halfway skimmed to get to the part where Gray gets his comeuppance because he made me so angry. Here’s the twist: in Clark’s adaptation, the title character will be a woman. St. Vincent is best known as a Grammy award-winning experimental rock multi-instrumentalist, but she does have experience as a filmmaker. It will be very interesting to see where she takes the story.

Instagram Is The New Bookish Buzzmaker

It’s really no surprise that putting a product in the hands of a big name leads to sales, and some books owe a great deal of their success to celebrity buzz. I mean, Oprah. And now, according to this New York Times piece, book publicists are all about foisting their product on celebs, specifically hoping it’ll pop up on their Instagram accounts. Bookish celeb Emma Watson is one of the examples they use–she has a following of 38 million. That’s a lot of potential book buyers.

The Debate About YA Twitter Continues

“If the word ‘toxic’ was colloquially used in the 1960s, white people would’ve labelled the Civil Rights movement as such,” said Dhonielle Clayton, author of the upcoming The Belles. Clayton, alongside many YA authors, responded to Kat Rosenfield’s Vulture article about the “toxic nature” of the young adult community. The response, published on Bustle, was written by YA authors, Sona Charaipotra (Tiny Pretty Things) and Zoraida Córdova (Labyrinth Lost). There’s a lot to unpack here, specifically about the dangerous impact of critical conversations on race and representation being dismissed as “toxic drama,” and how Children’s literature is an overwhelmingly white industry that’s often unfair to marginalized authors. It’s worth a read, and the Vulture article is linked for context.

Thank you to In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan for sponsoring this week’s newsletter.

Elliot is smart, just a tiny bit obnoxious (he is thirteen years old), and perhaps not the best person to cross into the Borderlands where there are elves, harpies, and — best of all as far as he’s concerned — mermaids. In Other Lands is an exhilarating a novel about surviving four years in the most unusual of schools, about friendship, falling in love, diplomacy, and finding your own place in the world — even if it means giving up your phone.

Categories
Giveaways

Win an Advanced Copy of THE DIRE KING by William Ritter!

We have 10 advanced reading copies of The Dire King by William Ritter to give away to 10 Riot readers!

Here’s what it’s all about:

In the epic conclusion to the bestselling Jackaby series, the Sherlockian detective of the supernatural and his indispensable assistant, Abigail Rook, face off against their most dangerous, bone-chilling foe ever. EntertainmentWeekly.com calls the series “fast-paced and full of intrigue.” The Dire King is filled with everything fans could hope for: new mythical creatures, page-turning action, surprising plot twists, romance, and an apocalyptic battle that will determine the fate of the world.

Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the cover image below:

Categories
The Kids Are All Right

Kids Books About Coding!

Hello there, Kid Lit friends!

If there’s one big trend in STEM I’ve seen this summer, it’s been coding. There has been so much buzz for coding-themed books!

Reshma’s Girls Who Code book is packed with information about how to begin coding. Written in a relatable style with lots of graphics and illustrations, this book starts at the basics and gives clear definitions for coding terminology. What I liked most about this book was the clarity of how coding could be used for practical uses, like for apps or games.

We’ve got a $200 Powell’s gift card to give away! Go here to enter, or just click the image below:

Published in conjunction with Girls Who Code is The Friendship Code, a chapter book about four friends who start a coding club at school. Lucy is so excited about a new school year so she can do amazing things at coding club. But the club is moving so slowly; how can Lucy gain the skills she needs to make her app?

 

Secret Coders by Mike Holmes and Gene Luen Yang is a terrific graphic novel series for all coding enthusiasts. The series is set at Stately Academy, a school where the founder left plenty of mysteries for it’s enterprising students to solve. Each book dives deep into some aspect of coding. There are currently three books in the series with a fourth, Secret Coders: Robots and Repeats, coming out on October 3rd.

Click’d (Disney-Hyperion, 9/5) by Tamara Ireland Stone is a middle grade book set at CodeGirls summer camp. Allie Navarro builds an app called Click’d which pairs users based on common interests and sends them on a fun scavenger hunt to find each other. The app is a hit; it goes viral. But when Allie discovers that the app has the potential to reveal secrets of the users, Allie races to find the glitch in the coding before anyone finds out.

For parents who struggle to keep up with technology, Coding for Parents is a great primer, organized by grade and age, and clearly defines coding terminology and usage with instructional diagrams and illustrations.

 

 

 

New Releases!

All The Way To Havana (Henry Holt & Company, 8/29) by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Mike Curato, is a beautiful picture book about a boy and his family setting off to visit a new baby cousin for his “zero-year birthday”. However, the car is rickety old vehicle with parts that have been swapped out, rusted, or fixed with wire, tape, and metal scraps. Will they make it to Havana?

The Bad Seed (HarperCollins, 8/29) by Jory John, illustrated by Pete Oswald, is a picture book about a seed with a bad reputation. He lies. He cuts in line. He never washes his hands. Can he repair his reputation, or will he be a bad seed forever?

 

 

The Adventures of Caveboy and Caveboy Is Bored (Bloomsbury, 8/29) by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, illustrated by Eric Wight, is a perfect chapter book for emerging readers. In the first book, Caveboy wants to be the greatest baseball player ever, until his club breaks. While searching for a new one, he also makes a new friend and learns what it means to take care of each other. In Caveboy Is Bored, Caveboy can’t find anything to do. Everyone is busy… except for his annoying sister.

Patina by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum, 8/29) is the highly anticipated second book in Jason’s track series. His first book, Ghost, was a runaway hit and a National Book Award Finalist. Patina is struggling to keep up with the track team. Between trying to keep her grade point average up at the fancy new school she’s going to, watching over her little sister, and taking care of her mom who is diabetic and wheelchair bound, can Patty keep up with everything and still have energy to train?

Writing Radar: Using Your Journal to Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories by Jack Gantos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 8/29) is geared for middle grade students looking for writing inspiration. Who better to turn to than legendary storyteller Jack Gantos? The opening line is, “I’m a writer and I’m on your side.” What follows are a series of stories and tips to encourage young people to establish good writing habits as they create, revise, and perfect their stories.

The Van Gogh Deception (HMH, 8/29) by Deron Hicks is a spell binding mystery thriller about a young boy that has forgotten almost everything about himself. He was found sitting in the National Gallery in front of a Degas sculpture and knows oddly detailed facts about artists, but he can’t remember his own name. The book has QR codes sprinkled throughout so readers can look up the referenced paintings, and the end papers have beautiful images of color Van Gogh paintings.

Lucy and Andy Neanderthal: The Stone Cold Age (Random House) by Jeffrey Brown is the second in the Lucy and Andy Neatherthal graphic novel series. In this one, the protagonists have to deal with their greatest challenge yet: humans!

 

 

Ebook Deals!

Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan is only $1.99! A perfect time to get caught up with the Applewhites before the third book in the series, The Applewhites Coast to Coast, comes out on October 17th.

Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace is $1.99. Never heard of it? Meg Ryan, portraying an indie bookstore owner, recommended this book to a little girl in the movie You’ve Got Mail. 

That’s it for this week! I just finished reading Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass, which is a great post-eclipse book for upper middle grade kids. I’m in the middle of Ghosts of Greenglass House by Kate Milford (HMH, 10/3/17), and The New Kid: The Carver Chronicles by Karen English (HMH, 12/5/17). What children’s books are you reading and enjoying this week? Find me on Twitter at @KarinaYanGlaser, on Instagram at @KarinaIsReadingAndWriting, or email me at karina@bookriot.com.

Until next time,
Karina

Izzy picking out what book I should read next.

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Categories
The Goods

$20 Tees, Free Pouch

Do your last-minute back to school shopping the Book Riot way! Get adult, kids’, and baby tees for $20 and a free pouch with any order over $50 this weekend only!

Categories
Book Radar

Make Way for Beyoncé’s New ($300) Book!

It’s a new week with new book news! As always, there’s lots of exciting stuff going on. I hope you find something below that brightens your day and manage to get in a little reading, too. Be excellent to each other. – xoxo, Liberty

Sponsored by A KIND OF FREEDOM by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, published by Counterpoint Press

At the height of WWII, Evelyn, a Creole woman, comes of age in New Orleans. In 1982, Evelyn’s daughter, Jackie, is a single mother grappling with her absent husband’s drug addiction. Post-Katrina, Jackie’s son, T.C., is fresh out of a four-month stint for drug charges and decides to start over―until an old friend convinces him to stake his new beginning on one last deal. For Evelyn, Jim Crow is an ongoing reality, and in its wake new threats spring up to haunt her descendants: “A poignant, deeply emotional and timely exploration of systemic racism in America” (PureWow).

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

sarong party girlsSarong Party Girls by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan is coming to the small screen!

More additions to the Dumplin’ cast!

Beyoncé will release a $300, 600-page coffee table book.

The Discovery of Witches series has found its Matthew and Diana.

Issa Rae has joined the cast of The Hate U Give!

Common is set to star in a new series based on the Black Samurai book series. 

Elizabeth Debicki and Isabella Rossellini have joined Vita & Virginia, based on the love letters of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West.

100 year old manWill Ferrell to star in The 100-Year-Old Man adaptation.

David Oyelowo has joined the cast of Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness.

And speaking of Patrick Ness, he’s writing the screenplay for the film adaptation of Anya’s Ghost.

Netflix announced the premiere date of Gerald’s Game, the film based on the novel by Stephen King.

Cover Reveals

Luis Alberto Urrea announced his next novel and revealed the cover: The House of Broken Angels. (March 6, 2018)

Jamie Quatro revealed the cover for Fire Sermon, her next novel. (January 9, 2018)

The cover for Tara Sim’s Chainbreaker, her Timekeeper sequel, is out. (November 7)

Sneak Peeks!

dirk gentlyThe trailer for Netflix’s adaptation of The Punisher is up.

The trailer for the second season of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency looks bonkers!

 

 

Book Riot Recommends 

At Book Riot, I work on the New Books! email, the All the Books! podcast about new releases, and the Book Riot Insiders New Release Index. I am very fortunate to get to read a lot of upcoming titles, and I’m delighted to share a couple with you each week!

the city of brassThe City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty (Harper Voyager, November 14): This is the first book in a new fantasy trilogy set in the 18th century Middle East. And wow-ow-owza! Nahri has never believed in real magic – until she accidentally summons a mysterious djinn warrior, who tells her the tale of the legendary City of Brass. Determined to see this city for herself, Nahri embarks on a dangerous journey, one of dark court politics and deadly schemes. But what fun! The City of Brass is a stunning debut that will charm your pants off.

her body and other partiesHer Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado (Graywolf Press, October 3): Want to read the most blisteringly brilliant story collection of the fall? This is it! Plagues, prom dresses, houseguests, ghosts, and girls with bells for eyes are just a few of the things you’ll find on these pages. Machado’s genre-bending stories about women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies is a “how is this a debut??!” book, for sure, and perfect for fans of Karen Russell and Kelly Link.

And this is funny.

There was a little scandal in the YA community last week. And Preeti Chhibber made the best gif for it.

Categories
Giveaways

Win 3 Penguin Clothbound Classic Mysteries!

 

Penguin’s Clothbound series designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith have quickly become reader favorites. They’re eye-catching and beautiful, and just look plain fancy on the shelves. We’re giving away three books from the line–classics of the mystery genre–to promote our weekly mystery/thriller newsletter, Unusual Suspects!

Entries are open worldwide and will be accepted until 11:45pm, Tuesday, August 29th. Winners will be randomly selected.

Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the image below!

Categories
Riot Rundown

082417-2023-Riot-Rundown

Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by 2023: A Trilogy by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu.

Well we’re back again,
They never kicked us out,
twenty thousand years of
SHOUT SHOUT SHOUT

Down through the epochs and out across the continents, generation upon generation of the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu have told variants of the same story – an end of days story, a final chapter story. But one with hope, even if the hope at times seems forlorn.

The story contained in this trilogy is the latest telling. Here it is presented as a utopian costume drama, set in the near future, written in the recent past.

Read with care.