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Some of you got it and left some great comments. Some of you didn’t and sent confused tweets. (And judging by the paucity of pageviews, most of you were yawningly indifferent.) At any rate, the point of the piece was to show that celebrity-“penned” novels are, at best, simply to be ignored, and at worst, unmitigated turds of American idiocy. That’s not a being a literary snob. That’s stating the prevailing opinion of a majority of people who can actually walk and chew gum at the same time....

Someone finally asked me what I had been reading lately and I told her. Well, there’s your problem, she responded. What? How could that possibly be my problem? I was sad, therefore I was reading about people who were not sad. I was reading about situations that end happily – I was CHEERING MYSELF UP, DAMN IT. No, she explained, you are making yourself feel bad. Try reading something else, something a little heavier, a little more realistic....

I decided to run a little experiment to see if it really was the reorganizing of the shelves that helped me read more. I would not let myself reorganize for six months. The only exceptions to the rule were: 2. New books could go on the shelves so long as they fit naturally. Meaning I couldn’t go in and shuffle books around to make them fit where I wanted them to....

A note: I’ve gone with the broadest interpretation of witch and magic nonfiction, so this includes books on brujería, hoodoo, and other practices.

The idea of a female superhero is, on the surface, a subversive one. A woman who is stronger than most men? Who can save herself and even the whole world instead of depending on others for rescue? Sign me up! And yet, the (mostly male) creators — partially under duress from contemporary censors, to be completely fair — continued to rely on the old stereotypes. The preferred stereotypes shifted from decade to decade, but they all had the same effect of keeping even the most wondrous of women in her place....

Are you happy with your life? What if you could try again . . . and again? From the New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars comes Again Again, a romantic and unpredictable love story that will surprise you over and over. Now in paperback! After a near-fatal family catastrophe and an unexpected romantic upheaval, Adelaide Buchwald finds herself catapulted into a summer of wild possibility, during which she will fall in and out of love a thousand times—while finally confronting the secrets she keeps and the weird grandiosity of the human mind....

And maybe, at some point, you’ve seen that I’ve liked said meme. I like a lot of memes. Liking is caring, whether it’s a thumbs up, a double tap, or a press and hold. It does not, however, mean that I want that shit to be enacted upon me. Please don’t spring a bookstore trip on me. Not as a date, not as an adventure, not as a last-minute hang....

I’m not the only writer who thinks this way. From music that invokes nostalgia to paintings that offer philosophical views of humanity to old stories that become new again, crossing genres happens. According to Poets.org, ekphrasis appears in works like The Illiad. These tidbits of ekphrastic writing appear in praise of the artwork on household items of great craftwork as wells as the carvings and etchings on weapons. In these ways, art appears in layers....

Great. Who are the Eternals? If the Eternals don’t sound familiar to you, you’re not alone—even among Marvelverse fans, this is going pretty deep. Back in the 1970s, Jack Kirby left Marvel and did a stint with DC, where he created a comic called New Gods. But the series was unceremoniously cut short with several loose ends unresolved. So Kirby returned to Marvel, and quickly got to work on a new comic—the first he got to create, write and draw without co-creators: The Eternals....

Each video is set to an instrumental track of “Impeach the President” by the 1970s funk band The Honey Drippers, and each participant challenges two of their fellow lyricists. The challenge is designed to push back against falsehoods told by Donald Trump and to engage a group that has had a “justifiably uneasy relationship with electoral politics”—that is, hip-hop makers and their descendants, who are primarily Black and who have been most impacted by the electoral college system of government....

The decision to forego releasing the movie— which starred Leslie Grace, J.K. Simmons, and Michael Keaton— comes not as a result of a lack of quality. Rather, officials cite wanting the studio’s DC-based movies to be blockbusters. That Warner Bros. is opting to not earn back some of the $90M spent producing the Batgirl movie is a bit unusual, especially since its movie The Flash is still set to be released in 2023....

I’ve already covered instances where a character’s family was magically erased with no explanation by creators in search of sales. This list is strictly about characters who were missing and presumed dead, only to dig their way out of their graves for another shot at life (some more literally then others). As their surviving family, who in most cases mourned them and moved on years ago, how do you deal with that?...

The Best Books Like Stranger Things 1. My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix If you’re looking for ’80s nostalgia and a story in which friends work together to fight off supernatural forces, look no further than this totally rad novel. When Abby’s best friend Gretchen begins to act strange, Abby is convinced her friend has been possessed by a demon. But no one else believes her, so Abby will have to rely on the power of friendship to save Gretchen from the clutches of the devil....

My friend texted this to me about Being Mortal (Atul Gawande), one of many books on caring for elderly parents, and the book she turned to time and time again for support and empowerment when she was caring for her mother, especially during the time she was considering palliative care. Becoming a caregiver for a parent can be an overwhelming and scary prospect. You’re already feeling so many emotions and trying to figure out how you’ll need to readjust your schedule....

The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan As the only adult child of an aging, widowed mother, Ruth becomes caregiver as her mother’s health deteriorates. Ruth finds her mother’s memoirs about her childhood in pre-revolution China. She finally begins to reconnect with her mother through their shared experiences. The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent In Puritan New England, there is little room for anything unusual. Sarah Carrier and her mother Martha must stand together as Martha is accused of and imprisoned for witchcraft....

And then… well, we look at the price of those fancier bookshelves, take a deep breath, and redirect our attention towards some cheaper bookshelves that, ya know, actually still look pretty nice and do the job. When finding the ten best cheap bookshelves, I had a few criteria: They had to be $200 or less (you’ll find some on the list as low as $60)* The bookshelves couldn’t be a complete hot ass mess that broke down after a year (see here) They had to look nice They had to be sturdy (and large) enough to hold ALL the books I had to hear from at least a few book lovers who vouched for their quality...

Below are some great book options to hand to babies who love books, but also have a baby’s knack for destruction. Whether you’re trying to find indestructible baby books that can stand up to bath time and spills, an interactive option that won’t immediately rip, or something your baby can chew on without worry, the choices below are sure to stand up to even the most active little readers. From classic nursery rhymes to fun with animals and friends, your baby will love these indestructible baby books!...

The best books about animals for adults 1. Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal This exciting new book explores the current science of animal cognition and challenges many of the assumptions humans have about “lower” life forms. The genius of animals has long been underestimated, but this book seeks to set the record straight, marveling at the ways in which animals have adapted to their natural environments and the humans that too frequently invade their homes....

A narrator can make or break the audiobook, and having several perfect narrators for a book can make the reading experience that much more amazing. With a full cast of narrators, a book can come to life in totally new and unexpected ways (and may even help newer audiobook readers to transition into the audiobook life — having different voices for each character can help readers differentiate and focus between dialogue)....