July 19, 2024
I think I figured out why I read more during the summer. I am outside where there is less to pick up, organize, clean up or otherwise move around. Yes, I will shift flowers around or come up with ideas on how to better enjoy entertaining. But for the most part, I am happy to just float or stand in the pool with a book, or hibernate in the “Cleopatra” tent. Life is just a tad easier.
Editorial Content for I Was A Teenage Slasher
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones indicates in his Acknowledgements for I WAS A TEENAGE SLASHER that he finished the book right between Lita Ford’s “Kiss Me Deadly” and Ratt’s “Lay It Down.” He listened to a lot of music from the late ’80s as the story is set in 1989. Read More
Teaser
1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton --- and a place where everyone knows everyone else’s business. So it goes for 17-year-old Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, who is about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, the unfairness of being on the outside, through the slasher horror he lives but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic.
Promo
1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton --- and a place where everyone knows everyone else’s business. So it goes for 17-year-old Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, who is about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, the unfairness of being on the outside, through the slasher horror he lives but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic.
About the Book
From New York Times bestselling horror writer Stephen Graham Jones comes a classic slasher story with a twist --- perfect for fans of Riley Sager and Grady Hendrix.
1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton --- and a place where everyone knows everyone else’s business. So it goes for 17-year-old Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, who is about to be cursed to kill for revenge.
Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, the unfairness of being on the outside, through the slasher horror he lives but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic.
Audiobook available; read by Michael Crouch, with acknowledgments read by Stephen Graham Jones
Editorial Content for Breaking the Dark: A Jessica Jones Marvel Crime Novel
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
I admit to being just as shocked as probably everyone else when I learned that Lisa Jewell was penning the first story in a new line of Marvel Crime novels. BREAKING THE DARK features Jessica Jones, whom many Marvel fans fondly recall Krysten Ritter portraying in the Netflix series “Jessica Jones” and “The Defenders.” Read More
Teaser
Jessica Jones is a retired superhero turned private investigator. One morning, a distraught Amber Randall comes into her office. She is adamant that something happened to her teenage twins while they were visiting their father in the UK. The twins don’t act like themselves, and they now have flawless skin, have lost their distinctive tics and habits, and keep talking about a girl named Belle. Traveling to a small village in the British countryside, Jessica meets the mysterious Belle, who lives a curiously isolated life in an old farmhouse with a strange woman who claims to be her guardian. Can this unworldly teenager really be responsible for the Randall twins’ new personas? Why does the strange little village of Barton Wallop seem to harbor dark energies and mysteries in its tight-knit community?
Promo
Jessica Jones is a retired superhero turned private investigator. One morning, a distraught Amber Randall comes into her office. She is adamant that something happened to her teenage twins while they were visiting their father in the UK. The twins don’t act like themselves, and they now have flawless skin, have lost their distinctive tics and habits, and keep talking about a girl named Belle. Traveling to a small village in the British countryside, Jessica meets the mysterious Belle, who lives a curiously isolated life in an old farmhouse with a strange woman who claims to be her guardian. Can this unworldly teenager really be responsible for the Randall twins’ new personas? Why does the strange little village of Barton Wallop seem to harbor dark energies and mysteries in its tight-knit community?
About the Book
In her most imaginative novel yet, #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell (NONE OF THIS IS TRUE) launches the Marvel Crime series of thriller books for adults with an original story starring private detective Jessica Jones.
Meet Jessica Jones: Retired superhero, private investigator, loner. She tried her best to be a shiny spandex crimefighter, but that life only led to unspeakable trauma. Now she avoids that world altogether and works on surviving day-to-day in Hell’s Kitchen, New York.
The morning a distraught mother comes into her office, Jessica would prefer to nurse her hangover and try to forget last night’s poor choices. But something about Amber Randall’s story strikes a chord with her. Amber is adamant that something happened to her teenage twins while they were visiting their father in the UK. The twins don’t act like themselves, and they now have flawless skin, have lost their distinctive tics and habits, and keep talking about a girl named Belle. Amber insists her children have been replaced by something horrible, something “perfect.”
Traveling to a small village in the British countryside, Jessica meets the mysterious Belle, who lives a curiously isolated life in an old farmhouse with a strange woman who claims to be her guardian. Can this unworldly teenager really be responsible for the Randall twins’ new personas? Why does the strange little village of Barton Wallop seem to harbor dark energies and mysteries in its tight-knit community?
A mother’s intuition is never wrong. And Jessica knows that nothing in life is perfect --- not these kids, not her on-again, off-again relationship with Luke Cage, and certainly not Jessica herself. But even as she tries to buy into the idea that better days are ahead, Jessica Jones has seen all too clearly that behind every promise of perfection trails a dark, dangerous shadow.
BREAKING THE DARK, the first book in the brand-new Marvel Crime series, introduces fans to a grittier, street-level side of the Marvel Universe, and will continue with original novels featuring fan-favorite characters like Luke Cage, written by S.A. Cosby, and Daredevil, written by Alex Segura.
Audiobook available, read by Helen Laser
Editorial Content for Confessions of the Dead
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
As I was reading CONFESSIONS OF THE DEAD, I felt like I was taken back in time --- to the 1970s and ’80s --- and it allowed me to experience true small-town horror that had no connection to the modern world or any pandemic. The best comparison I can think of is Dean Koontz’s 1983 novel, PHANTOMS.
The brilliant minds behind this book are James Patterson and J. D. Barker. Their combined efforts have brought us a classic work of horror that harks back to the days when names like Koontz, King and Straub were at their best and most chilling. Read More
Teaser
Hollows Bend, New Hampshire, is a picture-perfect New England town where weekend tourists flock to see fall leaves and eat breakfast at the Stairway Diner. The crime rate --- zero --- is a point of pride for Sheriff Ellie Pritchett. The day the stranger shows up is when the trouble starts. The sheriff and her deputy investigate the mysterious teenage girl. None of the locals can place her. She can’t --- or won’t --- answer any questions. She won’t even tell them her name. While the girl is in protective custody, the officers are called to multiple crime scenes leading them closer and closer to a lake outside of town that doesn’t appear on any map.
Promo
Hollows Bend, New Hampshire, is a picture-perfect New England town where weekend tourists flock to see fall leaves and eat breakfast at the Stairway Diner. The crime rate --- zero --- is a point of pride for Sheriff Ellie Pritchett. The day the stranger shows up is when the trouble starts. The sheriff and her deputy investigate the mysterious teenage girl. None of the locals can place her. She can’t --- or won’t --- answer any questions. She won’t even tell them her name. While the girl is in protective custody, the officers are called to multiple crime scenes leading them closer and closer to a lake outside of town that doesn’t appear on any map.
About the Book
In this chilling mystery from a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a small New England town is hit with a wave of crimes after the arrival of a mysterious stranger who brings more questions than answers.
Hollows Bend, New Hampshire, is a picture-perfect New England town where weekend tourists flock to see fall leaves and eat breakfast at the Stairway Diner. The crime rate --- zero --- is a point of pride for Sheriff Ellie Pritchett.
The day the stranger shows up is when the trouble starts. The sheriff and her deputy investigate the mysterious teenage girl. None of the locals can place her. She can’t --- or won’t --- answer any questions. She won’t even tell them her name.
While the girl is in protective custody, the officers are called to multiple crime scenes leading them closer and closer to a lake outside of town that doesn’t appear on any map.
Audiobook available, read by a full cast
Editorial Content for The Spellshop
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Beloved fantasy author Sarah Beth Durst releases her coziest, most romantic novel to date. From its cottage–adorned cover to its lavender-sprayed edges, THE SPELLSHOP is a package every bit as luscious and magical as the story it contains. Starring a lonely librarian, her spider plant sidekick and the strapping neighbor who comes to their rescue, this cozy romantasy invites readers into a kingdom of magic, centaurs and true love. Read More
Teaser
As a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, Kiela and her assistant, Caz --- a magically sentient spider plant --- have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers a nosy neighbor who keeps showing up to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home. In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have --- jam --- and her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries. She risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much-needed secret spellshop.
Promo
As a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, Kiela and her assistant, Caz --- a magically sentient spider plant --- have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers a nosy neighbor who keeps showing up to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home. In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have --- jam --- and her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries. She risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much-needed secret spellshop.
About the Book
A gorgeous hardcover edition featuring lavender sprayed edges! THE SPELLSHOP is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut --- a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams and even sweeter love.
Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz --- a magically sentient spider plant --- have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.
When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy --- and very handsome --- neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.
In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.
But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.
Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, THE SPELLSHOP will heal your heart and feed your soul.
Audiobook available, read by Caitlin Davies
Editorial Content for Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Shadow
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
The Prologue is set 10 years before the present action. A young man is racing in a motor car through treacherous, winding roads to his destination --- a Swiss-style A-frame house somewhere in the mountains. Upon arrival, he is met by another gentleman, Gunther, who vets him and does a weapons check. Gunther then passes him off to Mario, who leads him inside the secluded mountain home. Read More
Teaser
It's been over a decade since Nash Rollins recruited a brilliant and talented, but disaffected, young man named David Webb to join Treadstone. Webb became the agent known as Cain --- and later took on the identity of Jason Bourne. That violent winter --- which included Cain’s first mission for Treadstone --- was also a story of betrayal in ways that David never knew. So after the injury that erased Bourne’s whole life, Nash lied about the circumstances of David’s recruitment to Treadstone. He was afraid that learning the truth might drive Bourne out of the agency forever. But now, when Bourne meets a woman who recognizes him as David Webb, the secrets of those days begin to come out --- and Bourne is forced to confront the dangerous ghosts of a past he doesn’t even remember.
Promo
It's been over a decade since Nash Rollins recruited a brilliant and talented, but disaffected, young man named David Webb to join Treadstone. Webb became the agent known as Cain --- and later took on the identity of Jason Bourne. That violent winter --- which included Cain’s first mission for Treadstone --- was also a story of betrayal in ways that David never knew. So after the injury that erased Bourne’s whole life, Nash lied about the circumstances of David’s recruitment to Treadstone. He was afraid that learning the truth might drive Bourne out of the agency forever. But now, when Bourne meets a woman who recognizes him as David Webb, the secrets of those days begin to come out --- and Bourne is forced to confront the dangerous ghosts of a past he doesn’t even remember.
About the Book
When secrets from Bourne's past come to light, he may be the next thing that's buried in this latest entry in the legendary New York Times bestselling series.
It's been over a decade since Nash Rollins recruited a brilliant and talented, but disaffected, young man named David Webb to join Treadstone. Webb became the agent known as Cain --- and later took on the identity of Jason Bourne.
That violent winter --- which included Cain’s first mission for Treadstone --- was also a story of betrayal in ways that David never knew. So after the injury that erased Bourne’s whole life, Nash lied about the circumstances of David’s recruitment to Treadstone. He was afraid that learning the truth might drive Bourne out of the agency forever.
But now, when Bourne meets a woman who recognizes him as David Webb, the secrets of those days begin to come out --- and Bourne is forced to confront the dangerous ghosts of a past he doesn’t even remember.
Audiobook available, read by Scott Brick
Editorial Content for The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
When thinking about children’s literature, it is impossible to overlook or overstate the accomplishments and influence of Judy Blume. The author of more than 25 books, including those for children, teens and adults, Blume changed the storytelling and publishing landscape for young readers and remains both controversial and beloved. In THE GENIUS OF JUDY, Rachelle Bergstein explores Blume’s books and impact over the many decades of her career. Read More
Teaser
Judy Blume’s books have garnered her fans of all ages for decades and sold tens of millions of copies. But why were people so drawn to them? And why are we still talking about them now in the 21st century? In THE GENIUS OF JUDY, her remarkable story is revealed as never before, beginning with her as a mother of two searching for purpose outside of her home in 1960s suburban New Jersey. The books she wrote starred regular children with genuine thoughts and problems. But behind those deceptively simple tales, she explored the pillars of the growing women’s rights movement, in which girls and women were entitled to careers, bodily autonomy, fulfilling relationships and even sexual pleasure. Blume wasn’t trying to be a revolutionary --- she just wanted to tell honest stories --- but in doing so, she created a cohesive, culture-altering vision of modern adolescence.
Promo
Judy Blume’s books have garnered her fans of all ages for decades and sold tens of millions of copies. But why were people so drawn to them? And why are we still talking about them now in the 21st century? In THE GENIUS OF JUDY, her remarkable story is revealed as never before, beginning with her as a mother of two searching for purpose outside of her home in 1960s suburban New Jersey. The books she wrote starred regular children with genuine thoughts and problems. But behind those deceptively simple tales, she explored the pillars of the growing women’s rights movement, in which girls and women were entitled to careers, bodily autonomy, fulfilling relationships and even sexual pleasure. Blume wasn’t trying to be a revolutionary --- she just wanted to tell honest stories --- but in doing so, she created a cohesive, culture-altering vision of modern adolescence.
About the Book
An intimate and expansive look at Judy Blume’s life, work and cultural impact, focusing on her most iconic --- and controversial --- young adult novels, from ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET to BLUBBER.
Everyone knows Judy Blume.
Her books have garnered her fans of all ages for decades and sold tens of millions of copies. But why were people so drawn to them? And why are we still talking about them now in the 21st century?
In THE GENIUS OF JUDY, her remarkable story is revealed as never before, beginning with her as a mother of two searching for purpose outside of her home in 1960s suburban New Jersey. The books she wrote starred regular children with genuine thoughts and problems. But behind those deceptively simple tales, Blume explored the pillars of the growing women’s rights movement, in which girls and women were entitled to careers, bodily autonomy, fulfilling relationships and even sexual pleasure. Blume wasn’t trying to be a revolutionary --- she just wanted to tell honest stories --- but in doing so, she created a cohesive, culture-altering vision of modern adolescence.
Blume’s bravery provoked backlash, making her the country’s most-banned author in the mid-1980s. Thankfully, her works withstood those culture wars, and it’s no coincidence that Blume has resurfaced as a cultural touchstone now. Young girls are still cat-called, sex education curricula are getting dismissed as pornography, and entire shelves of libraries are being banned. As we face these challenges, it’s only natural we look to Blume, the grand dame of so-called dirty books. This is the story of how a housewife became a groundbreaking artist, and how generations of empowered fans are her legacy, today more than ever.
Audiobook available, read by Mia Barron
Editorial Content for The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Here I thought, all this time, that the biggest challenges in my personal gardening universe were persistent weeds, plant-eating bugs, scary invasives like bamboo and Japanese knotweed, bark-gnawing rabbits, assorted animal droppings, and the almost inevitable Canadian surprise frost.
I also thought, all this time, that I’ve done not badly over the past few decades in carving out a one-fifth acre space of foliage and blooms in which I, along with pollinators and birds, can enjoy the color and aroma of my labor and imagine a Monty Don voiceover describing it. Read More
Teaser
In 2020, Olivia Laing began to restore an 18th-century walled garden in Suffolk, an overgrown Eden of unusual plants. The work brought to light a crucial question for our age: Who gets to live in paradise, and how can we share it while there’s still time? Moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton’s PARADISE LOST to John Clare’s enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth. But the story of the garden doesn’t always enact larger patterns of privilege and exclusion. It’s also a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams.
Promo
In 2020, Olivia Laing began to restore an 18th-century walled garden in Suffolk, an overgrown Eden of unusual plants. The work brought to light a crucial question for our age: Who gets to live in paradise, and how can we share it while there’s still time? Moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton’s PARADISE LOST to John Clare’s enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth. But the story of the garden doesn’t always enact larger patterns of privilege and exclusion. It’s also a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams.
About the Book
Inspired by the restoration of her own garden, “imaginative and empathetic critic” (NPR) Olivia Laing embarks on an exhilarating investigation of paradise.
In 2020, Olivia Laing began to restore an 18th-century walled garden in Suffolk, an overgrown Eden of unusual plants. The work brought to light a crucial question for our age: Who gets to live in paradise, and how can we share it while there’s still time? Moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton’s PARADISE LOST to John Clare’s enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth.
But the story of the garden doesn’t always enact larger patterns of privilege and exclusion. It’s also a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams. From the improbable queer utopia conjured by Derek Jarman on the beach at Dungeness to the fertile vision of a common Eden propagated by William Morris, new modes of living can and have been attempted amidst the flower beds, experiments that could prove vital in the coming era of climate change. The result is a humming, glowing tapestry, a beautiful and exacting account of the abundant pleasures and possibilities of gardens: not as a place to hide from the world but as a site of encounter and discovery, bee-loud and pollen-laden.
Audiobook available, read by Olivia Laing