Books

“Why does a snake cross the road?” In Slither: How Nature’s Most Maligned Creatures Illuminate Our World, that’s not just a twist on the age-old riddle—it’s the impetus for an experiment conducted by scientists curious about snake behavior upon encountering a road and how they might react if a pickup truck sped by.  As science

The first new biography of Aimee Semple McPherson in over 30 years, Claire Hoffman’s Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson shines a bright light on the life and times of the colorful 1920s evangelist whose spellbinding preaching and healing services drew thousands to her Los Angeles temple. Drawing on

Mary Annette Pember, a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Wisconsin Ojibwe, offers a searing account of Indian boarding schools and the impact they continue to have on families, communities and cultures. From the mid-19th century to the late 1930s, nearly 500 of these schools operated in the United States, some run by the

To hear young adult novelist K. Ancrum speak about her work is like stumbling upon a rare illuminated manuscript. The text itself stands alone as a beautiful and precious thing—but its marginalia reveal secret paths to new lenses through which to view the world. It’s like swimming after Ariel into her grotto of treasures, spinning

Looking at our own family histories, we tend to imagine the roles our ancestors played in the events which shaped their times. How did they survive the Great Depression? If they immigrated, did they come through Ellis Island? Were they listening to the songs or reading the books from their time that are now classics?

Irish fiction to enjoy on Saint Patrick’s Day and all year long, featuring picks by Sally Rooney, John Banville, Vanessa Kelly and more. Originally published here.

Francine Stevenson: a smart but lonesome 25-year-old, a Black lesbian and a UC Berkeley graduate. A product of her parents’ abundant love, which counteracted the bullying she endured in her crappy childhood, Francine is supremely cultured and cool, yet lacks the confidence to believe it about herself. She is an aspiring photographer with talent; however,

In her foreword to Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores, the late poet Nikki Giovanni praises a life spent in pursuit of stories—from listening to her mother’s songs while in the womb to getting her first library card to driving straight to a bookstore after passing her driver’s exam. “Nothing was more

Stephanie Sabbe’s Interiors of a Storyteller is as much a memoir as it is a book about design. Sabbe is from West Virginia, but she built her career as an interior designer in Nashville, Tennessee. Her affinity for Southern storytelling is clear: Woven throughout the photographs of beautiful homes are personal stories about an absentee

Sixth grader Beatrix (Bea) is thriving. She and her adoptive mom Maxine (Max) have a strong bond, which they cement by repeating the mantra “Xs to Xs,” which means “‘Beatrix to Maxine,’ two Xs who found each other.” They find support in their neighbors Lucius and Aaron, who are both great cooks and built a

What is a colored pencil? Is it just an artist’s tool? In Pencil, debut author-illustrator Hye-Eun Kim wordlessly—and beautifully—conveys to readers all the possibilities that a pencil can signify. As Pencil begins, curly green shavings tumble down a stark white backdrop, transforming into leaves on a tree that is eventually joined by more trees of

In her debut novel, Denne Michele Norris, editor-in-chief of Electric Literature, explores the limits—and radical healing possibilities—of queer love. The book opens on the eve of a wedding: Davis, a Black violist, is about to marry his boyfriend, Everett, the son of a close-knit white family whose exuberance and easy camaraderie permeate the air they

On a blistering hot moonlit night in South India, a girl and her mother ride together on a motorbike to beat the heat and take in the sights in Maureen Shay Tajsar’s lush, atmospheric Midnight Motorbike. “On a night like tonight,” the girl’s Amma tells her, “we are in the belly of the Indian moon.”

Stories about moving from one home to another are a staple of children’s picture books, but many just skim the surface, showing a flurry of moving boxes and an eventual settling in. In contrast, Home Is a Wish is a deeply felt story told from a child’s point of view. It’s one of the best

Have you met an alligator on a train?  Glimpsed fairies out of the corner of your eye? Do you feel the roar of a tiger inside you? Open this book and dare to pass through a portal leading to a dream world where pinatas breathe fire, where sneakers have jetpacks, and where you might just

The protagonist of Another Word for Neighbor, Han, only likes his tea, the newspaper and his plants—the latter because they can’t talk. So it’s not exactly a match made in heaven when young Kate and Olly, who happen to be especially chatty, move in next door. No matter how much Han ignores or chastises the

Although the concept of “farm to table” has been hugely promoted and popularized in recent years, the professions of farmer and cookbook writer don’t often go hand in hand. But this pairing is a perfect fit in Kaleb Wyse’s new cookbook, There’s Always Room at the Table: Farmhouse Recipes From My Family to Yours. Crafted

Fish are super cool, right? For starters, they can breathe underwater; they come in a glorious array of sizes, shapes and colors; and they’ve starred in beloved animated films, too. But the narrator of the wonderfully hilarious Don’t Trust Fish thinks we shouldn’t be so quick to praise our fishy so-called friends, instead warning in

If you’re reading this, chances are that you read BookPage as devotedly as I do, and you know that you won’t find a negative book review in these pages. That’s BookPage’s core philosophy: genuine recommendations only, no pans. If a book is not worth your time, BookPage doesn’t review it. The only downside to this

Ray Nayler’s view of our future in Where the Axe Is Buried can be described as bleak, at best. In the West, AI constructs have replaced prime ministers. Their programs of rationalization, meant to optimize human life and each country’s economic well-being, seem instead to entrench their citizens semicomfortably in the class divisions that have

In Ray Nayler’s dystopian sci-fi novel, incredible technological advances have enabled autocracy to run amok. But the world he depicts isn’t so far from our own. We talked to Nayler about artificial “intelligence” and how it all goes back to Borges. You have an extensive background in foreign service and development. How does that work

Carlie Walker’s action-packed new rom-com is utterly delicious, plus the latest from Katee Robert and Suzanne Enoch in this month’s romance column. Originally published here.

Our world but stranger, better or worse. Originally published here.

In Birding to Change the World, Trish O’Kane shares the story of how she became a committed bird watcher after losing her New Orleans home during Hurricane Katrina. Relocating to Madison, Wisconsin, following the storm, O’Kane begins surveying the birds in Warner Park, haven to 141 species, and becomes involved in local preservation efforts. Her

New books by acclaimed poets Maggie Nelson, Martín Espada, Tiana Clark and Didi Jackson speak to the moment. Originally published here.

If you want an intense enemies-to-lovers romantasy How’s this for a meet-cute? In Milla Vane’s A Heart of Blood and Ashes, barbarian warrior Maddek fully intends to kill Princess Yvenne to avenge his parents’ death. But he changes his mind after she kills her own brother in front of Maddek and proposes marriage to him

In these romances, the PDA is paramount and the subterfuge is swoony. Originally published here.

Journalist and author Kostya Kennedy is best known for his books about sports, including True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson and Pete Rose: An American Dilemma. With The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America, Kennedy brings his clear prose and flair for play-by-play storytelling to unravel fact from legend in one

In a scene near the end of Ron Currie’s marvelous new novel, The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne, 60-something Babs looks at her adopted sister, Rita, as a wildfire approaches her home and says, “There goes the neighborhood.” The line is a testament to the ferocious dark humor that infuses this book and characterizes

One of the pervasive myths about people experiencing homelessness is that they refuse to work. This paints them as freeloaders deserving of stigma, a notion that rationalizes our nation’s failure to address root causes of poverty: minimum-wage pay, rising rents, scant tenant protections and the inclusion of credit scores on rental applications. The reality is