The Oregonian reported on an email to Powell’s employees in which the human resources director for the Portland-based independent bookstore chain wrote, “Powell’s needs to take to immediate steps to scale back the company.” The chain is initiating “involuntary” layoffs, and employees can expect to see their health insurance cut off at the end of their last month of employment. Meanwhile, news of McNally Jackson layoffs circulated on Twitter. Cristin Stickles, Children’s and Young Adult Buyer at McNally Jackson Books and former Book Riot contributor, posted: “employees (anyone at the store less than 4 years) were (temporarily) laid off today, to be hired back at an indeterminate date....

This is not an exhaustive list (that list would be hundreds of editions long because wow do people love their Pride and Prejudice), but it is a round up of some of the editions I found most lovely or interesting. So enjoy—and try not to buy them all! 1. Modern Classics Library Edition 2. Dover Thrift Edition Splinter Edition Vintage Classics Edition Barnes and Noble Edition 6. Race Point Publishing Edition Penguin Classics Editions...

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova This is a witchy paranormal fantasy tale of a powerful Bruja who hates magic, a Deathday celebration, and a spell that accidentally vanishes her whole family. The Brooklyn Brujas series continues in Bruja Born. Brew: A Novel by Dane Figueroa Edidi In more witchiness, this is the story of a trans teenager who is secretly a witch and finds herself the middle of a conspiracy....

If you’ve ever thought that you could bring home the jackpot on a trivia show, provided it was all literary questions, here’s a challenge for you. These are all questions that were either on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? or were written by show’s team as examples. They range from the classics to kidlit to books in pop culture. Oh, and one other piece of good news: LeVar Burton is working on his own bookish game show!...

Fantasy differs from realistic genres primarily through setting. Jeff Vandermeer argues in Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction that all settings are fantasy regardless of genre because “it does not exist in our reality the way it does on the page.” Thus, if I were to write a story based in Nashville, my home city, it would still be a fantastical version of that city, because it would be interpreted through my imagination....

In the weeks since writing that post, I…have not read a single book. I DNFed both the book I was reading and the audiobook I was listening to. They were both fine, but I didn’t love them. I surveyed my TBR stacks with trepidation. Usually, while reading for the All the Books podcast, for instance, I’d pick out some books that came out that week that looked interesting, and I’d read those selections — unless I was disliking the book, then I’d look for alternatives....

Created by Book Riot, this smartly designed reading log consists of entry pages to record stats, impressions, and reviews of each book you read. Evenly interspersed among these entry pages are 12 challenges inspired by Book Riot’s annual Read Harder initiative, which began in 2015 to encourage readers to pick up passed-over books, try out new genres, and choose titles from a wider range of voices and perspectives. Indulge your inner book nerd and read a book about books, get a new perspective on current events by reading a book written by an immigrant, find a hidden gem by reading a book published by an independent press, and so much more....

Meet Libby. The one-tap reading app from your library, powered by OverDrive. Downloading Libby to your smartphone allows you to borrow thousands of eBooks and audiobooks for free anytime and anywhere. You’ll find library books in all genres, ranging from bestsellers, classics, nonfiction, comics and much more. Libby works on Apple and Android devices and is compatible with Kindle. All you need is a library card but you can sample any book in the library collection without one....

New York Times bestselling authors Barry Lyga and Morgan Baden have teamed up for the first time to create a novel that’s gripping, terrifying and more relevant every day. The Hive follows seventeen-year-old Cassie, who, after being “condemned” on social media, is on the run from a deadly state-sanctioned mob seeking to exact IRL punishment. Aided by a shadowy underground network, Cassie becomes an unlikely heroine, as her search for the truth makes her a threat to the entire unjust system....

Reading a book for an assignment can sometimes overshadow that a book is actually worth the read; I still believe that there is some truth to this. At the same time, I feel the need to write about how lessons from textbooks are lacking too. Over time, I started to understand that I had unlearning to do. The textbooks that I had to use for my classes mostly presented one side of history — and they didn’t really include diverse perspectives....

Comics and animation can also influence the content of books in other mediums, lending their characters and themes to prose stories, poetry, art books, or other larger exploration of culture such as “philosophy of” or “theology of” anthologies and cookbooks. Here are some upcoming non-fiction releases to help you explore the possibilities of the comics medium. What else can comics do? Honestly? Anything. Anything with pictures. That’s why they’re great and why people should consider them as teaching materials more often....

HOLIDAYS ARE HAPPIER WITH AUDIOBOOKS. Make your holiday travels, errands, cooking sessions, and all the rest more enjoyable by listening to an audiobook. From bestsellers, to thrillers, to self-care, you can find the perfect listen for any moment. Give yourself the gift of audio this holiday season. I have memories of my brother sitting me down so that he could read Harry Potter aloud to me. I didn’t get into it, however, and it was really hard to do so....

CIA agent Alisa Flynn is willing to go rogue if it means catching the most heartless band of criminals she’s ever encountered. In a ripped-from-the-headlines plot, schoolgirls in Africa have been kidnapped, and Alisa knows that billionaire Gabe Korgan has the courage, financial means, and high-tech weaponry to help rescue them. With additional assistance from renowned horse whisperer Margaret Douglas, Alisa and Gabe lay their rescue plans, only to see them descend into chaos....

What does a seventeen-year-old Haitian American from Miami with way too little life experience have to say about anything? Actually, a lot. Thanks to “the incident,” Alaine Beauparlant is spending the next two months in Haiti on a “spring volunteer immersion project.” It’s definitely no vacation. Under the ever-watchful eyes of Tati Estelle and her lean-in queen of a mother, she is on strict orders to finally do things right....

Young Fleetwood Shuttleworth, noblewoman of one of the finest houses in Lancashire, is pregnant for the fourth time, having been unable to carry a baby to term so far. When Fleetwood finds a hidden letter from the doctor who delivered her last stillbirth, she learns of the prediction that she will not survive another pregnancy. By chance she meets a midwife who promises to help Fleetwood deliver a healthy baby and prove the physician wrong....

I’m fat. I love romance novels. I have no trouble finding romance novels with covers that make me feel represented. As I am sure you’ve guessed, the last item is the lie. Or at least, it was untrue until recently! The first time I remember looking at a cover and thinking “That could be me!” was on Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade. I don’t think this was the very first book cover I ever saw with a fat romance heroine, but it was one of the first....

Yesterday evening, bestselling author of historical romance Courtney Milan said on Twitter that she was going to “name-and-shame” someone later. She followed up this announcement with a blog post titled “Cristiane Serruya is a copyright infringer, a plagiarist, and an idiot”, where she compared fragments from her novel The Duchess War with Brazilian author Cristiane Serruya’s Royal Love. Serruya had lifted entire passages from Milan’s book and dropped them into hers....

In the 2000s there were endless sex guidebooks with sexy fruits on the covers, all with wonderfully hilarious titles like Tickle His Pickle, She Comes First, and Passionista, but those aren’t what we’re looking at today. Recent sexy fruit books cover the gamut of genre and audience, and usually don’t have blatant innuendo like Tickle His Pickle. The more interesting book covers are the ones with the sexily suggestive fruits on the covers of books that aren’t shelved in the sexuality or erotica sections....

ME: What is it that draws you to small press books? LIBERTY: First and foremost, the content! I find that titles from indie presses tend to be more weird, wild, and wonderful. I LOVE WEIRD BOOKS. Small presses take bigger chances on books, and it almost always pays off. ME: I agree! I love books that experiment with form in some way, and I’m more likely to find them from small presses....

But fewer things make my pedantic eye twitch come on stronger than when people get certain folklore terms mixed up. I don’t mean misunderstanding what the Aarne-Thompson index is or getting one specific creature wrong. I mean the basic stuff, like the difference between story types. It’s a small thing, but it’s greatly irritating when I come across a list of “great fairytale retellings you must read!” and it’s full of Greek myths....