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This past reading I did not notice all of the intriguing colors—the green of Daisy’s dock and all the differing shades of blue—and their symbolism set against the decayed American dream. This reading had me wondering how Fitzgerald could be so prescient with presenting some of the most appalling and repulsive aspects of old wealth and the cluelessness of the nouveau riche. Here are just a few samplings for another take on the brilliance of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece The Great Gatsby....

The Island has a few bookworms, including Sawyer, the southern bad boy with a penchant for often cruel nicknames. Sawyer’s reading list is uh, very white. Yes, the man was in a plane crash and his reading materials were limited to whatever people had in their suitcases. However, Lost as a whole featured and referenced plenty of books, generally favoring white authors. If Lost were produced in 2021, would Sawyer’s reading list be more diverse?...

The Caraval trilogy put me in the mood for stories about high-stakes competitions, magic, circuses, and the overall art of performance. Here are some book recommendations along those lines that might help with the recovery process. Note: While the Caraval trilogy is labeled YA, most of the recommendations below are considered adult fiction and fantasy. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern This is a given, because the Caraval trilogy and The Night Circus remind me of each other....

Growing up in Puerto Rico, I came from a hard-working family that hustled to keep food on the table and to keep us happy and taken care of, no matter what the sacrifice entailed. My parents worked hard to keep my brother and I studying in one of the best bilingual high schools on the island. Things like books were a treat to always appreciate, especially if they were bought and not borrowed from the school library....

Too Much Productive Reading Creates a Struggle Reading fatigue might have seemed odd to people a hundred years ago or more. After all, regular daily life was so often about physical labor; now, many jobs require a substantial amount of reading just to get to the work tasks themselves. With so much of communication culture moving to text messages and emails, we read even when we don’t think we are reading....

For those unfamiliar, Vogel is the author of 15 plays, which have been produced all over the country and world. She was the head of the playwriting program at Brown University for over 20 years and also taught at Yale University, concurrent with her time as the playwright in residence at Yale Repertory Theatre. How I Learned to Drive won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1998, placing Vogel’s tale of a woman examining her troubled relationship with her uncle in the esteemed company of Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Fences, and ‘night, Mother....

Without further ado, here are your favorite books born from and inspired by podcasts. Enjoy! Adnan’s Story by Rabia Chaudry Dirty John by Christopher Goffard The Moth Presents: All These Wonders edited by Catherine Burns My Dad Wrote A Porno: The Fully Annotated Edition of Belinda Blinked 1 by Morton, Jamie The Sawbones Book by Justin McElroy and Dr. Sydnee McElroy, illustrated by Teylor Smirl Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes’ Hollywood by Karina Longworth Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark Waiting for the Punch by Marc Maron and Brendan McDonald Yes, We (Still) Can by Dan Pfeiffer

“If you loved The Tattooist of Auschwitz, read The Huntress.” —The Washington Post Already Named one of Marie Claire’s Best Women’s Fiction Books and One of BookBub’s Biggest Books of the Year! From the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling novel, THE ALICE NETWORK, comes a fascinating new historical novel about a battle-haunted English journalist and a Russian female bomber pilot who join forces to track the Huntress, a Nazi war criminal gone to ground in America....

Yes, I know. I’ve written before about how I don’t find horror books that scary. I still think that’s true. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy these books, though. Combine that with my love of science fiction and I’m all over a good space horror book. Maybe it’s aliens on a spaceship. Could be religious fanatics on a frozen planet. Ooh, or there’s the old alien virus on a space station — though, technically, that’s just tiny aliens on a larger spaceship....

Frightening creatures, spaceship massacres, natural disasters — these are a few of the scary events that you’ll find in this list. And as it always happens when I write these posts that I have a perfect title to recommend, but it isn’t out yet. Curses! So I will shout it out here so you can mark it down on your TBR: The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown, out April 4, 2023....

I hope you’re feeling inspired by these manga drawing books. And if you’re still a little unsure about what kind of manga style is for you, check out this guide to manga and see which category appeals to you the most.

I don’t want to shame anyone for their consumption, but it’s always worthwhile to stop and think, Am I buying this because I need it or can use it, or am I buying it because I just like it? And sometimes buying things because they make you happy is legit! We also, I think, have a collective responsibility to be more mindful about our consumption and how it affects our planet....

In the past, the closest I’ve gotten to using Valentine’s bookmarks has been using actual Valentines as bookmarks. While this is far from the most uncommon thing to use as a bookmark, wouldn’t the world be a better place if I (and you, and your sweetie) had love-inspired bookmarks to keep our place in our favorite romance novel? Or bildungsroman? Or horror manga? Whatever floats your love boat, let’s mark it with a cool bookmark!...

One minute they’re there: laughing and having fun at the house next door. The next minute, the teens are gone. Like magic. Marin can’t believe her eyes. Who are they? Can anyone else see them? What makes them so happy? Marin’s lonely in this new town of hers and eager to discover more. Then she meets Charley, who reveals he knows about them, too. He calls them the “Remarkables.” Charley warns her to stay away from them—and him....

Books mentioned: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty Meaty by Samantha Irby The 5th Season by N.K. Jemisin Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start-Up by John Carreyrou I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara Severance, by Ling Ma Find more bookish quizzes here.

Best Escape-From-2018 From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon “Aspiring filmmaker Twinkle Mehra is ecstatic when fellow geek Sahil Roy approaches her to direct a movie. The fact that it gets her closer to her longtime crush? Dream come true x 2.” Delightful, inspiring, and the hug my heart needed. Twinkle is a lovely character to cheer for who I absolutely adored. —Jamie Canaves Runners up: The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton...

Now, I am definitely one of those people who brings a book to read at holiday gatherings (you can find my tips here), but the next best thing is to break out some board games. Gone are the days of only gentlemen sitting around the table after dinner, playing poker and whatever they thought gentlemen should do. Today, we are positively blessed with a wide and diverse range of games for everyone to play....

To start with, if you’re a newbie and haven’t checked out this list of best manga, it begins with a selection of completed series. I recommend those titles as a place to start. But let’s say you’re not so new to manga and have already read them, you probably want some newer completed series. Fair enough! Thankfully, some popular series recently concluded their runs, and their final volumes are now available in English....

“Yet, reading per se doesn’t make you a better person. You can read 52 books a year without changing at all.It’s about what and how you read that will improve your life’s quality and enhance your mind. I read a book a week for more than two years now and continue to look for ways to improve my reading. Recently, I listened to Bill Gates sharing his free, yet priceless lessons on how he reads books....