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We had just read Orlando by Virginia Woolf, and my classmates and I launched into the first truly animated conversation I’d seen in the class, about how the moment Orlando becomes a woman could be interpreted within today’s trans and queer world, especially given how consciously Woolf shifts the pronouns in this “magical” scene from ‘he’ to ‘they’ and then to ‘she.’ One student proposed that this could have been a way to talk about transgender or genderfluid people without facing ire, and another was talking about how progressive the discussion around Orlando’s pronouns are....

“At first, they received 10 or 15 requests a day, a few hundred in total during the first two week of the offer. Then three weeks ago, OregonLive wrote a story about Gold Beach Books’ offer. Watkins Peterson was asked in the story when they might end such an offer. When it brings us to our knees, she said. Seven hours after the story posted on OregonLive, it brought the sisters to their knees....

For those of us who grew up during a time when sci-fi and fantasy (SFF) were stigmatized and categories like MG and YA were barely even blips on the literary radar, SFF offerings were thin. Sure, there were some great ones out there, but SFF books aimed specifically at younger audiences weren’t nearly as prevalent as they are today. Luckily, today is when we are. Now the bookshelves are so full of fantastic SFF for MG and YA readers (not to mention us adults!...

Failure. It’s such a terrifying word for a first-generation Indian American whose parents busted their backs to get her a good education. I remember the first week after being a blur. But I’m not a woman to sit and wallow (enjoy some chocolate cake, absolutely). Instead, I had a nagging desire to do something. Apply to jobs, yes. Start a certificate program in editing, yes. But also, to be better—to learn lessons that only books could provide....

Janina and Dizzy, both Polish, consider fragments of the original poems and reflect on the translation: they discuss in depth the language to be used, what the author meant, and what is really the most important for poetry in translation: trueness or intent; staying as close as possible to the original text, or changing whatever is necessary to pass on the meaning the original was trying to convey. An interesting fact is that Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead, the novel, has taken its title from one of Blake’s poems, Proverbs Of Hell....

Recently, I checked Tenements, Towers, and Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City by Julia Wertz out of the public library. In the book, Wertz writes and illustrates New York City’s little-known histories. On one page, she meticulously shows the Willoughby Theater—a theater that opened in 1913 and closed in 1951. My last name is Willoughby and my husband is a theater teacher. I thought, “We need this page framed and hung on our living room wall....

OverDrive is the leading digital reading platform for libraries, schools, corporations and organizations worldwide. We deliver the industry’s largest catalog of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, streaming media and more to a growing network of 76,000+ partners in 94 countries. And that, my friends, is so far from the truth, you couldn’t see it with a telescope. Sure. Both of these arguments, to an extent, have some element of proof. There are significantly fewer people reading books than there were 30 years ago, because you don’t have to pick one up to get information that you can just as easily find in a google search or research database....

According to Variety, Netflix announced the project on Thursday, May 16, a day before it premiered Naim’s new series, It’s Bruno. Dave Broome co-wrote the script with Naim, who stars as the owner of dog Bruno. The contemporary Romeo and Juliet adaptation is based in New York City and follows the love story of a young waitress and an aspiring musician from a wealthy family. Reports did not name any actors attached to star in the Netflix movie....

I’ve been writing about queer books for more than a decade. I’ve seen the golden age of queer YA dawn. You might have been able to list and try to ban every queer kids and YA book in the 80s and 90s, but you’re too late now. Queer readers and authors have finally wedged a toe into the publishing industry, and we’re just getting started. You can ban 500 books, but more are on their way every week....

I have an issue with this because it’s hard for straight people to separate the idea of queer people from sex already. Whether they admit it or not, the idea of queerness leads straight to the idea of queer sex. There is a common misconception that by disclosing the fact that I am a queer woman, I am also disclosing something private. This is not the case. My attraction to mine and other genders does not give you a “hint” into my sex life....

I got a lot of these suggestions from the Queer SFF Database. They have a way to search their database for worlds without homophobia! I also got some recommendations from a Guardian article and crowd-sourced using Twitter, other Book Rioters, Goodreads, and a handful of blogs. I tried to double check each of these to make sure that they are, in fact, set in worlds without any homophobia or transphobia, but if I got any of them wrong, please let me know!...

Of course, we all want to be Elizabeth Bennet—I know, I know. But there are only so many Mr. Darcys in the world. Trust me, as someone who studied Austen for an entire semester in college (and then here and there throughout the other three-and-a-half years), I can promise the other love interests are just as worthy. And honestly, Persuasion‘s Anne Elliot is way more interesting than Lizzy Bennet, anyway....

But lest we forget, Batwoman is not the first queer superhero in The CW universe. Shows like Black Lightning, Legends of Tomorrow, and more have featured queer heroes, sometimes quite prominently. So to celebrate Batwoman’s impending induction into this illustrious club, why not take the quiz below and find out which queer TV hero you’re most like?

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....

TBR is Book Riot’s subscription service offering Tailored Book Recommendations for readers of all stripes. Been dreaming of a “Stitch Fix for books?” Now it’s here! Tell TBR about your reading preferences and what you’re looking for, and sit back while your Bibliologist handpicks recommendations just for you. TBR offers plans to receive hardcover books in the mail or recommendations by email, so there’s an option for every budget. TBR is also available as a gift to give to the readers in your life!...

Jay Kristoff’s characters and books have the right type of attitude, sure to feed that need for unique and edgy storytelling with a side of strong sass. With that said, this author is one for the ages, and all ages, but you just have to pick the right book to start with and get introduced to his storytelling techniques. With that in mind, I have created this reading pathway to three Jay Kristoff books sure to please readers seeking dark and deeply sarcastic characters, funny space cadets, and a little steampunk fantasy....

From fake news and conspiracy theories about the origin of the disease, miracle cures to resistance to mask wearing, the influenza outbreak had seen it all. But despite the far-reaching impact of the pandemic, personal and scholastic accounts of the outbreak are surprisingly few. In her essay On Being Ill, Virginia Woolf says about illness, and the reason for the dearth of its representation in literature: This statement is probably most applicable to the influenza epidemic, a disease which struck at a time when great advances in medical sciences had made medical professionals confident about their ability to treat, or manage, the spread of infectious diseases....

It’s hard to say whether the books I’ve read during this time have influenced my pregnancy, or if my being pregnant has influenced what I’ve read and how I’ve felt about it. My guess is that it’s a circle of life kind of thing. (If you just heard the song in your head then you’re welcome). What we read influences our lives, and our life experiences affect how we interpret and understand what we read....

From award-winning author Nghi Vo comes a dazzling new novel where immortality is just a casting call away. Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn’t care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid. Siren Queen offers up an enthralling exploration of an outsider achieving stardom on her own terms, in a fantastical Hollywood where the monsters are real and the magic of the silver screen illuminates every page....

At the time, I kept thinking How did they know all of this, then? How is it possible that this is all still so eerily relevant? Well, as Neil Gaiman states in the introduction, speculative fiction is really good at “not the future but the present — taking an aspect of it that troubles or is dangerous, and extending and extrapolating that aspect into something that allows the people of that time to see what they are doing from a different angle and from a different place....