The bad news: the Hogwarts Express still isn’t coming to pick you up. But the good news is that we’ve got new tees to help you rock your Potter love. Treat yourself and your favorite wizard.
And the When In Doubt tees are back by popular demand as well! It’s the best advice, and now you can wear it.
While you’re shopping, don’t forget that when you buy any tote, you’ll get a pouch for $5 this week!
Holiday break is almost upon us! Pack your books and all your favorite reading accessories in style. Buy any tote and get a pouch of your choice for $5!
We’ve got a bunch of awesome choices for book lovers. Check them out!
Statistics About the “Girl” Book Title Trend
Over at FiveThirtyEight (take a break from election stats, y’all!), novelist Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven) takes a deep dive into the numbers–courtesy of Goodreads–to find out what, exactly, is going on with all these books with “girl” in the title. You’re not imagining it; they really are proliferating. Up from about 0.4% in 2008, when Lisbeth kicked off the trend with the US publication of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, nearly 1% (that’s a lot!) of all book titles this year will contain “girl.” Mandel presents several interesting findings, most notable among them the fact that the titular girl is three times more likely to be dead at the end of the book if the author is a man.
New Pricing Structure in Amazon’s Physical Bookstores
When Amazon first opened bricks-and-mortar bookstores last year, book prices in-store matched the discounts available at amazon.com. Now, though, Amazon’s discounts are available in-store only to Prime members, while non-members are charged the book’s full list price. It’s clear that Amazon wants to sell more Prime memberships, but any increase this in-store change yields will be a barely detectable drop in the bucket for the behemoth company. So what remains unclear is: what larger strategy are they trying to clarify with this small experiment?
Voting Opens for Goodreads Choice Awards
The first of three rounds of voting in the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards launched November 1. Each of the twenty categories includes fifteen books identified by Goodreads’ undisclosed statistical analysis method, and the results are indicative of not only trends in reading but ongoing systemic problems in publishing. At Book Riot, Jamie Canaves examines why not a single title in the Best Mystery & Thriller category is by a person of color.
A Party Game for the “Rude and Well-Read”
Electric Literature has launched a Kickstarter to fund Papercuts, a Cards Against Humanity-style party game for the bookish set. The deck contains prompt and answer cards, and when the Editor reveals a prompt, each player selects an answer from the eight cards in their hand. A random draw from the deck we received at Riot HQ revealed references to literary characters and events, industry trends, jokes about authors’ bad behavior (“incendiary Facebook post from Anne Rice,” LOL forever), and some deep cuts from the world of MFAs and writers’ colonies. Get your book club to chip in for a shared deck.
Thanks to Swoon Reads for sponsoring This Week in Books.
Swoon Reads publishes the latest and greatest in YA fiction with the help of readers and writers like you. We’re dedicated to the undiscovered, and we seek out the very best in bright, new bookish talent. From heroic epics, to alien adventures, to all-the-feels romance—if you’re loving it, we’ll publish it. We involve our community in every step of the publishing process, and work closely with selected writers to get their book ready for publication. Together, we bring new stories to life, because we believe that great books are better shared.
Kicking off your holiday shopping early? It’s the last day to get free shipping on all US orders with the code SHIPSFREE. Use the extra hour today to cross some gifts off your list (or treat yourself, we won’t tell).
While you’re at it, Save 25% on hoodies, hats, socks, scarves, and mugs.
Looking for a chill? The new YA Book Mail is filled with strange and peculiar reads. Get one before they’re gone!
Nothing to wear? Don’t panic! You still have today to Get leggings + any pair of socks for $20.
And don’t forget to accessorize! Pick up one of our new totes and be the coolest cat on campus and at book club.
So you love bookish mail but aren’t so big on surprises? The cat’s out of the bag, and the contents of our September Book Mail box have been revealed!
Want one? Snag it now! We have a limited supply of extras.
Theme: Magic and Myth
Book Mail boxes are available for one-time purchase, while supplies last. Treat yourself or a bookworm you love.
Want some YA? We’ve got that, too! The October YA Book Mail box is currently on sale, with strange and peculiar books and bookish items.
Whether you’re headed to work, school, or just the comfort of your couch, compose (hah!) an awesomely bookish look for the season of curl-up-and-read. Get leggings + any pair of socks for $20 this week only.
And have you seen these new totes? You’ll be the coolest cat at book club.
Declare your love for the classics or pack up your favorite books-and-booze pairing in one of our new totes! While you’re at it, compose a most literary look when you match leggings + any pair of socks for $20.
Whether you’re headed to work, school, or just the comfort of your couch, compose (hah!) an awesomely bookish look for the season of curl-up-and-read. Get leggings + any pair of socks for $20 this week only.
The new YA Book Mail box launched earlier this week, and it’s going fast! Now that the wait list has had a crack at it, we’re opening them up to all Book Riot customers. Get yours now!
Looking for adult fiction? The September Book Mail box was magical, and we have some extras still available! Peep the #bookmailbox hashtag on social or check out this unboxing video for a look at the contents.
We’ve also got some awesome additions in our collection of spooky tees. BUNNICULA, y’all!
And keep your toes nice and toasty in our new socks inspired by Sherlock Holmes, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and more.
