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We’ve all witnessed literary glow-ups in our lifetime. If you experienced the ’90s, I’m going to guess you’ll have seen quite a lot. This isn’t to single out the ’90s, because every decade has had its problematic design moments, but rather to say that we’ve come a long way when it comes to book cover design… Some authors, however, seemed like they might be forgotten from that journey. We love Eva Ibbotson here on Book Riot (here’s an excellent Reading Pathway) but her book covers have never been great....

As a disclaimer: I am basing my list of classes off of the ones available on the D&D Beyond website. There are so many homebrew classes and subclasses for 5e that sadly make me unable to provide a reading list for everyone. Regardless, I highly encourage seeking out this homebrew content, especially by independent creators, or developing your own! There is so much variety out there, and going beyond the confines of the player’s handbook can lead to even more intriguing and unique dungeon crawling heists, and is additionally a way to add more diversity to your tabletop experience....

Barely seventeen and as pretty as can be: the summer is their playground. Cait and her best friends take on San Francisco’s party scene with fake IDs and short dresses. When Cait meets Adrien Cross, the charismatic lead singer of her favorite band, she’s introduced to a hedonistic world of liquor and lust that she never wants to leave. But then that world spirals out of control and the harsh realities of reckless living take a toll on Cait and the ones she loves....

When I first conceived the idea for this piece, I thought it would be about how no book should be banned. But after reviewing their reasons and reflecting more, I agree with their decision to remove the books, for several reasons. First, as any librarian knows, it can often be tough to fit all the books on the shelves, and it’s often necessary to purge some of those books. So what the librarians did was remove their least valued books and replaced them with books they deemed more valuable....

Back when I was, as Britney once wisely said, not a girl but not yet a woman, I fell head-over-sneaker-soles in love with the books of Francesca Lia Block. You could not tell me these books had flaws, because their whimsical, detailed descriptions of living in Los Angeles were addictive. Block created a neon-colored world that I desperately needed; streets populated with dreamy and diverse people on their way to grab ice creams and all-night knishes, breathing in air scented with jacaranda and lemon trees....

Characters in books often have sisters in the same way that characters have arms: they might be mentioned a few times but it’s mostly just taken for granted that they exist because they’re a thing that people have. What I love is when an author takes the time to really develop a fictional sister relationship until it’s so vivid and full that I just have to put the book down for a minute and text my own sister....

There’s something that always strikes me to my core when an avid reader is able to articulate the joy and frustration and entertainment and challenge that are all part of a balanced reading life. Memoirs about books focus in on the intimate act of reading and what it means. Book memoirists are, in many ways, preaching to the choir, but that makes it all the more difficult to get it right — I know reading in a way I am never going to understand other frequently-covered memoir topics....

Before we discuss books, watch this episode of The Big Bang Theory. That was every evening in my childhood home as my father tried to help me with my math homework. My interest in math started with an interest in the universe which came from building rockets which led to that time I went to Space Camp for my thirtieth birthday. Physics and math are so intertwined that if I was ever going to understand anything about how the universe worked, I was going to need to develop a better understanding of math....

I have a soft spot for all things gothic, a penchant for the dark, the musty, the creepy. I love learning more about any madwoman in any attic, even when she’s not necessarily Bertha Mason Rochester in a literal attic. I love Flannery O’Connor, I love The Yellow Wallpaper, and I’m basically a Jane Eyre fangirl. When I was in junior high, I actually found Wuthering Heights to be, well, the height of romance....

Because of that, it is easy to think genres that are popular where I grew up are popular everywhere. The same kinds of procedurals, the same kinds of romances, the same kinds of comedies. But, of course, these genres aren’t the end all be all. There are thousands of genres and subgenres you and I may not have ever heard of because we haven’t been exposed to them yet. Genres specific to China or Russia or Sweden that haven’t been translated, or haven’t caught popularity, in the United States....

“We’re putting a new spin on the classic ‘book club’ by pairing active discussion with active hands,” said Helen Berhanu, publicity assistant at Riverhead. Books on the agenda? Elizabeth Gilbert’s City of Girls and Jacqueline Woodson’s latest, Red at the Bone. Attendees received stitching patterns inspired by these texts, which were paired for their shared themes; both stories feature young women coming of age, discovering their sexuality, and growing into their own lives in New York City....

Eran Sharon knows nothing of his father. Now a senior in high school and living with his protective but tight-lipped mother, Eran is a passionate young man deeply interested in social justice . He organizes a peaceful protest but when heated moment at the protest goes viral, a reporter connects the Sharon family to a tragedy fifteen years earlier — and asks if Eran is anything like his father, a supposed terrorist....

Here are the 2022 nominees for comics and original graphic novels. Outstanding Comic Book Nominees Aquaman: The Becoming by Brandon Thomas, Diego Olortegui, Skylar Patridge, Scott Koblish, Wade Von Grawbadger, Adriano Lucas, Alex Guimarães, Andworld Design (DC Comics) Barbalien: Red Planet by Tate Brombal, Jeff Lemire, Gabriel Hernández Walta, Jordie Bellaire, Aditya Bidikar (Dark Horse Comics) Crush & Lobo by Mariko Tamaki, Amancay Nahuelpan, Tamra Bonvillain, Nick Filardi, Ariana Maher (DC Comics) The Dreaming: Waking Hours by G....

Katie Henry’s debut novel deftly handles differing spiritual beliefs, or lack thereof, by putting five very different characters together. Michael is an atheist, Lucy is a feminist Catholic, Avi is a gay Jew, Eden is a Celtic Reconstructionist Polytheist (basically, a pagan), and Max is a cape-wearing Unitarian. Michael, who hates that he’s been forced by his parents to attend a Catholic school, is relieved when Lucy speaks up in theology class to challenge the teacher, assuming that she’s an atheist like himself....

Not sure what to pick up for yourself or a friend experiencing mental health problems? Here are some ideas about what kind of books to read during mental health challenges. These picks are good ways to keep reading through the darkness. I especially recommend these choices to anyone doing inpatient psychiatry. Hospital libraries can be hit or miss, and you can’t count on there being a robust selection when you go....

If so, you might be under the influence of great art designers. The colors we choose often reflect the books we like to read. Designers want to make sure the book feels right to authors and readers alike. “Color is so key in helping to set the tone for a book in an instant,” says Kelly Lawler, the Creative Director for adult and YA imprints at Sourcebooks. “Yellow screams happy, red can give you the sense that something is off, black is dark and moody…and if that feeling doesn’t match with the content of the book, you’re essentially causing confusion for a consumer before they’ve even picked it up....

This doesn’t mean we need to boycott the perspectives of white authors altogether or undermine their literary or intellectual value. Instead, we need to work towards creating spaces where BIPOC voices get the recognition they deserve. It’s not going to happen overnight, but contemporary literary fiction has become one of the mainstays of this movement. They are promoting racial literacy, contributing to the ongoing conversations of representation of minority communities, decentering whiteness by including diverse narratives, and inciting critical self-reflections on both micro and macro levels....

A good example of this is Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen, which introduces us to Adah. She is a resourceful Nigerian woman trapped in a bad marriage with Francis. Francis and his people wanted a marriage of convenience, and it was thought that Adah’s education and ambition would support their family financially and could be their ticket to a better living situation. Adah was funding Francis’s education in the UK, and while he was completely dependent on her, he didn’t have an iota of gratitude....

In the Illinois county where Joan* works, complaints against their Pride display started to come in before they had one. A conservative group called Awake Illinois had begun organizing opposition to it in anticipation, based on the library having a Pride display the previous year. This really shows that the complaints weren’t based on any one book being “offensive” or “pornographic,” but instead on the concept of having LGBTQ books on display at all....

Charlie Hall has never found a lock she couldn’t pick, a book she couldn’t steal, or a bad decision she wouldn’t make. From #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black comes the stunning new novel Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies. Libraries can play a particularly important role for newcomers within a particular community. As libraries are usually staffed by locals, libraries are places where users can come and ask for information about the town or city, as well as looking for books and resources....