Books

When I was a teenager, I had acne. The kind of acne that meant my face was never clear except in rare and random instances, I considered bangs for their ability to hide my forehead, and I got to know the skincare aisle of my local drugstore really, really well. Worrying about my breakouts and

Books are an ideal helpmate when dealing with mental health issues. I don’t mean self-help books, although they can certainly help if you like them. I mean books in general: literary and genre fiction, nonfiction, poetry. To be clear, books aren’t a substitute for professional help. But they can be an addendum: there is a

“Moms for Liberty” and similar groups say that they are fighting for “parents’ rights” by trying to remove books from schools. They claim to speak for all parents. The truth is, though, that most parents (and people in general) do not support book bans. When given the choice to opt their children out of access

It’s almost October, which is prime horror reading season. If you’re preparing to pack your seasonal TBR, now is the time to start exploring the best the genre has to offer. Like many genres, there are a few authors and titles that are classics that show up on every list, like Stephen King’s older works

As conservative groups are making their presence known in Canada by proposing book bans, they’re hitting a bit of a road block. Turns out, Canadian school boards have limited control on what is taught in classrooms. Similar to book banning groups in the U.S., conservative groups like ParentsVoice B.C. are targeting books like All Boys

Transcendent Kingdom is one of those rare books that is about so much, and yet fits together flawlessly. Yaa Gyasi tackles science, faith, work, addiction, grief, complicated family relationships, immigrant experiences, race, Black girlhood and womanhood, and more. It is a richly layered novel full of seemingly endless stories, and it is also intensely focused

TIME Magazine has named the people who made 2022’s TIME100 Next list, an annual list inspired by TIME100 that highlights 100 people across different industries who, as they rise within their fields, are also creating change and making impact. The list includes everyone from government leaders to musicians, medical professionals to activists. Here are the

To celebrate National Comic Book Day, which took place on September 25th, Wisevoter investigated the most loved comic book superheroes by state. The comic book market size increased by more than 60% between 2020 and 2021, which both DC and Marvel benefitted from. Marvel’s share of the market was 37% in 2021 and DC’s 27.1%—

If you don’t know about Joyce Carol Oates’s tweet history, I envy you. Suffice to say, she’s notorious for going viral with some truly mystifying hot takes. In her latest example, she claims that “fantasy as a genre is fundamentally YA” and misrepresents Ted Chiang as saying that sci-fi is “impersonal, never ‘magical’” and fantasy

One of the interesting things about the book industry is that you can never get a straight answer on just how many copies a book has sold. Amazon keeps its information to itself, and they control a large part of the market. Different lists are based on their own sources and criteria. No single bestseller

Halloween is right around the corner, and you know what that means — it’s time to start working on your Halloween TBR! To help you get started, I’ve picked out 12 short horror novels under 300 pages each, so you can pack as many scary stories as possible into your October. There’s just something about

What better way to celebrate the season of crisp air, pumpkin spice, butternut squash, juicy apples, plaid, longer nights, and crunchy leaves than with new paperback books? Paperbacks let you tote your latest read around with you like no big deal, and at a lower price point, let you snag more at your local indie

The Nancy Drew PC games were a huge part of my life for years. From the time I discovered them circa 2000 until 2015, two games were released every year, one in winter and one in summer. Since then, there has only been one game released, but I live in hope that more are on

I’m new to the world of the best word search games. I first started playing mobile apps during quarantine. Before the lockdowns, I had certainly experienced idle time, but never quite so much as I did in April 2020. People I knew played farming simulators and Candy Crush, but I found myself drawn to puzzles.

I love cosmic horror. As the world has become increasingly baffling, nonsensical, and outright terrifying, I’ve been drawn to reading cosmic horror stories more and more. There’s something about humans facing overwhelming powers beyond our comprehension that’s…definitely not comforting, but kind of relatable. H. P. Lovecraft may not be the creator of the cosmic horror

Recent political events have me considering the way our history shapes the books that writers write and publishers publish. After the summer of protests in 2020, publishers have made an attempt to push forward more books by authors of color and diversify the industry overall. As for recent events, I’m wondering how the overturning of

This week, PEN America released a report on the current state of book bans in the USA. The report discusses the 50+ “parents’ rights” groups operating across the country, both on the national and local levels, and how these groups are responsible or connected to at least half of the book bans that have taken

The New York Times has reported on the passing of Hilary Mantel. Mantel, 70, died from a stroke on Thursday. The British author, two-time winner of the Booker Prize, was a prolific author of literature, including historical fiction, personal memoirs, and short stories. She authored Wolf Hall (Booker Prize winner), Bring Up the Bodies (Booker

Yesterday, in response to the increased number of book banning attempts across the country, the City of Chicago and the Chicago Public Library (CPL) have declared themselves safe spaces for endangered stories. The city of Chicago and the CPL have established “Book Sanctuaries” across 81 library branches and 77 neighborhoods. These sanctuaries are safe spaces

“Boys don’t cry” — this stale narrative has done a lot of harm. Men’s emotions are devalued. They are pressurized into a performative model of masculinity that completely removes empathy out of the equation. As a result, men are always expected to be strength personified. Their breakdowns and mental health issues are pushed under the

Months ago, the Brooklyn Public Library started its Books UnBanned project in order to counter increased efforts to ban books across the country. Through the initiative, teens and young adults ages 13-21 can obtain a Brooklyn Public library card for free and gain access to the full collection of 350,000 eBooks and 200,000 audiobooks. A

Oak Brook is a small town just outside of Chicago, Illinois. It is home to one of the state’s largest malls, as well as an array of restaurants, golf and sports clubs, and other markings of a typical middle to upper middle class suburb. Oak Brook is also home to one of the most unconventional

Spotify subscribers will be able to find one new feature in their app today: audiobooks. The company launches its audiobooks feature today in the U.S. with a library of 300,000 books from major publishing houses, indie publishers, and amateur audiobook authors. Audiobook listeners will be able to sample books before buying them à la carte

Last month, Christine Gaiter spoke at a Wellington library board meeting advocating for 19 titles to be moved off the public shelves. She said that this these books were pornographic, and that they shouldn’t accessible by children — even though the majority of the books listed were shelved in the adult fiction section. She went

Orbit Discover an epic tale of magic, revenge, and an empire on the verge of ruin in the first ever novel set in the blockbuster universe of League of Legends. I fell in love with video games as a kid not by playing them all on my own first, but by watching my brothers play.

“More” is the key word in a newly released report from PEN America, the free expression group which has been tracking and detailing censorship and gag order bills across the country. The report, which updates their “Banned In the USA” from April, includes new data and information about the rise of book bans in the

I’ve been running a school library podcast for the past five years. It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve really enjoyed helping to create it. The students are really involved with it and have taken it to whole new levels. I’m hoping to share some advice, things I’ve learned, and things that have worked

Players know that storytelling is of utmost importance in Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs), but alas, we can’t play games all the time. That’s why I’ve pulled together this list of 10 fantasy book series for Final Fantasy fans: so you can enjoy a fantastic narrative while giving your eyes a much-needed break from screen time.

Banned Books Week launches Monday, September 19, 2022, and the American Library Association (ALA) has released the latest numbers on book challenges in a new field report. Pulling from information reported directly to ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF), news coverage, and public records, the data show a marked increase in censorship and 2022 is

Authors using pseudonyms is nothing new. In fact, there are still five that are unknown, with another mystery author story fresh from the headlines this week. They choose a pseudonym for many reasons: to avoid the limelight, to remain anonymous, to avoid criticism, or to protect their identity. Some authors write under a pen name