Books

It’s about the middle of the year — and the middle of Pride Month — and Esquire has blessed us with a roundup of 20 of the best queer books out this year so far. In this list, you’ll find trans memoirs, illuminating nonfiction, poetry, and a variety of genres written by well-known authors as well as exciting new ones to know. So, here are the 20 best LGBTQ+ books so far this year to pick up between Pride events. Also In This Story Stream...

It’s time to pause, take a step back, and review the books we’ve read and enjoyed this year so far. Other booksellers — Amazon and Barnes & Noble — have already shared what they think are the first half of the year’s best books, but the advantage of this list is that it’s the most popular books on Goodreads, meaning that it takes readers’ views into account way more. This roundup shows the nine most popular books in different genres and age categories — mystery, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction,...

To paraphrase the good sis Lizzo: It’s about that time! Time to take stock of books that have come out so far this year that have left an impression. Amazon has joined Barnes & Noble as the latest bookseller to share their list of books that we should all give more attention to. The list of Amazon’s best books of the year so far was assembled by its editorial team, which took into account book reviews, factoring in buzzy books with what readers and their fellow Amazon reviewers liked the...

Cormac McCarthy, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Road, No Country for Old Men, Blood Meridian, and more, has died at the age of 89. He passed away from natural causes in his Sante Fe home, according to his publisher, Knopf. McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for his bleak dystopian novel, The Road. Many of his novels were adapted into movies, including the 2007 Coen brothers’ film No Country for Old Men, which won the Oscar for best picture, among other awards. His first novel, The Orchard Keeper,...

The boom of Korean pop culture, Korean Wave, or Hallyu has reached new heights. First, it was K-pop. Then, it’s K-drama. And now, that popularity has transcended into literary territory in the form of webtoons. According to The Economist, Korean webtoons have surpassed Japanese mangas. The format is poised to become the next big thing in the comics business, following the success of South Korea’s other cultural exports. But in general, the comics industry is seeing a boom. Sales of comic books are strong. In fact, manga and comics have...

I am a gamer, and I read books. Yet the one thing that will turn me off any book is when the creator falls back on the same old nerdy gamer stereotype. It’s almost like they forgot to ask the question, “Do Gamers Read?” I mean, have you heard about The Witcher? Or perhaps American McGee’s Alice? There’s even a whole genre of video games designed for people who like to read: Narrative Games. And while it is easy to imagine gamers who like to read, it has only been...

If you’ve never heard the term “atompunk,” I’m sure you’re not alone. The sci-fi and speculative fiction genres are full of these hyper-specific sub-genres of books, media, video games, and television that each come with their own unique characteristics. I’d be willing to bet you’ve seen or heard of at least one movie or TV show that fits “atompunk,” though. What is Atompunk? Also known as “atomicpunk,” atompunk is a sub-genre of speculative fiction and science fiction that centers on the 1950s and 1960s historical events, particularly the Space Race,...

We’ve all heard of the things that go bump in the night, but what about the bogeymen that prey upon you during the day? Daylight horror is a fascinating genre that destroys any illusions of safety in the sunshine. I’ve got 12 daylight horror novels for your summer reading pleasure here. Horror tends to be associated with the dead of the night. That’s when vampires walk among us, werewolves transform, and zombies rise from their graves. It’s also when those oh-so-unlucky camp counselors face off against machete-wielding murderers. And who...

Who here is dreaming of traveling to Italy? *waves hand dramatically* Gimme some of ‘La Dolce Vita’; the sweet life with smooth sunsets, romantic culture, lemons as big as your head, and the most delicious food you can imagine. Oh, take me back to the rolling hills of Tuscany! The cliffs of Cinque Terre! The weaving cobbled streets of Assisi! For centuries, Italy has fed our lofty ideals of the perfect holidays, highlighted in every travel guide you can imagine. The oldest travel guide in the world dates back to...

This week, news broke that the workers at Barnes & Noble’s flagship shop in Union Square, New York City, voted to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) — and not by a small amount. Ninety-seven percent of staff voted in favor of taking part in the union. In the past few months, several other B&N shops voted in favor of unionizing as well, including Barnes & Noble College Booksellers at Rutgers University with RWDSU and Barnes & Noble workers in Hadley, Massachusetts with UFCW Local 1459. “It’s...

The 2023 Lambda Literary Award winners have been announced! This year’s winners were selected by a panel of over 60 judges from the literary world and from more than 1,300 book submissions from over 300 publishers. Now in its 35th year, the Lambda Literary Award is considered one of the most prestigious awards in LGBTQ publishing. The winners were announced live at The Edison Ballroom in New York City on June 9, 2023, marking the first time since 2019 that the ceremony was held in person. In addition to the winners in...

Anti-censorship advocates and activists have shouted from the rooftops that it is essential to vote. That it is essential to show up to school and library board meetings and speak up about/write those who sit on those boards against book bans and censorship. Advocates and activists have been on the front lines in their respective state legislatures and, where possible, on the national level. But where and how do we move from advocating against draconian legislation and shift into preparing for those bills to be passed? And when and where...

The Washington Post released their analysis of book challenges they had obtained from PEN America researcher Tasslyn Magnusson. These 1,065 challenges, which were filed during the 2021-2022 school year, extended over 153 school districts and 37 states, and totaled 2,506 pages. They also tended to target books with similar content, specifically LGBTQ+ topics. While a desire to keep sexual content away from children was cited in many complaints by book challengers, sometimes merely featuring queer lives and stories in a nonsexual way was enough for a book to be contested....

A K-8 school in Florida has banned Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb” for its elementary students. In March, the Miami Lakes school received a complaint from a parent of children at the school, Daily Salinas, about the poem as well as four other books. In the complaint, which Gorman tweeted below, Salinas claims the poem means to “indoctrinate students” and “is not educational.” She also incorrectly lists Oprah Winfrey as the poem’s author, doesn’t specify the parts of the poem that are the source of her complaints,...