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Riot Rundown

100416-Sourcebooks-TheOtherEinstein-Riot-Rundown

Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict.

other-einstein-200wMileva Maric has always been a little different from other girls. Most twenty-year-olds are wives by now, not studying physics at an elite Zurich university with only male students trying to outdo her clever calculations. But Mileva is smart enough to know that, for her, math is an easier path than marriage. And then fellow student Albert Einstein takes an interest in her, and the world turns sideways. Theirs becomes a partnership of the mind and of the heart, but there might not be room for more than one genius in a marriage.

Categories
Book Riot Live

Book Riot Live: One Month and Counting

Book Riot Live 2016 is only a month away! The schedule is aliiiiiiiiive (please read that in your best Frankenstein voice), we’re getting ready to launch the Sched site, and we’d still love for you to join us.

Since you came last year, use code CLASSOF15 at registration to take $30 off your Weekend Pass or $15 off a day pass, good through October 31. See you on November 12!

Reginald Wuz Here

Categories
This Week In Books

Elena Ferrante Unmasked: This Week in Books

The Exposing of Elena Ferrante

For the past several years, Ferrante has been the darling of literary fiction. Her quartet of books known has The Neopolitan Novels have sold exceptionally well, especially for fiction in translation. And her real identity (Elena Ferrante is a pen-name) has been the subject of rumor and speculation.

But last week, The New York Review of Books published an investigation that seems to have discovered her real identity. The tone and attitude, not to mention the intrusion into her financial records, though, have much of the literary world unhappy with the NYRB. I have to say I agree. Ferrante is now a genuine literary figure, and as such is part of history. In due time, I think knowing who she was would have been an inevitable part of literary history, but how and why and when we do history matters. In this regard, the NYRB doesn’t seem like an historian, it seems like paparazzi.
New Dan Brown Novel Coming in Fall 2017

Dan Brown announced last week that his next novel, called Origin, will be published in September 2017. It will again feature Robert Langdon, this time involving a plot that will center on humankind’s “two biggest questions.” Presumably, one of those questions will be about something in the area of the origin of the universe and/or humans. You don’t, however, need to be a symbologist to figure out that it will also be about history, art, and a series of delightfully implausible clues.

 

The National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35

Each year, the National Book Foundation honors five debut novelists under the age of 35 who show exceptional promise. The cash value of the award is only $1,000, but what it provides in status is incalculable. And it is always an extremely interesting list. This year’s honorees are:

Brit Bennett, author of The Mothers
Yaa Gyasi, author of Homegoing
Greg Jackson, author of Prodigals
S. Li, author of Transoceanic Lights
Thomas Pierce, author of Hall of Small Mammals

 

This week in books is sponsored by Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig.

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Categories
The Goods

30% Off Sale Ends Tomorrow!

Our birthday week is almost over! Tomorrow is the last day to get 30% off all Book Riot original designs.

And have you heard about our new #RiotRead book club? The first selection is still a secret, but you can get it before anyone else when you pick up a Book Mail box!

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Categories
Book Riot Live

Book Riot Live Panel Preview

We’re close to a month out from Book Riot Live, which means it’s time for some panel spotlights. A few of our favorites are below — check out the full schedule for maximum excitement! You can still get your tickets for $20 off with code BOOKNERD, so go forth and register.

Storytelling: Page, Screen, and Beyond
Sponsored by Bookwitty
Walter Mosley and Mara Wilson have worked on storytelling on stages, screens, and on the page. Join them for a discussion of their experiences, the pros and cons of different mediums, and more! Moderated by our own Rebecca Joines Schinsky.

Nerd Jeopardy
Sponsored by Unbound Worlds
Join trivia-master Ryan Chapman for the return of Nerd Jeopardy! Three of our speakers face off to determine who will be crowned the champion. Mark Oshiro returns to defend his title against Mara Wilson and Sara Farizan.

Truth and Lies and Adaptations
Sponsored by Blinkist
We’ve all read a translation, or listened to an audiobook, or picked up an illustrated edition of a favorite work. How does a story go from point A to point B, and what gets added — and lost — in the process? Find out from ghost-writer/author Joni Rodgers, translator/author Ken Liu, and audiobook narrator/author Tara Clancy.

Party Like a Booknerd

Book Riot Live is sponsored by Bookwitty and Unbound Worlds

 

Categories
New Books

October New Books Megalist

Holy catsssssss! It is a scientific fact (that I just made up) that there are more amazing new releases out this week than any other day this year. HOW LUCKY WE ARE TO BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW. I’m happy to share a BIG list with you right now, and you can hear more about some of them on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, such as The Wangs vs. the World, Ghostland, andYou Can’t Touch My Hair.

el-pasoThis week’s newsletter is sponsored by El Paso by Winston Groom.

An episodic novel, El Paso pits the legendary Pancho Villa against a thrill-seeking railroad tycoon known as the Colonel, whose fading fortune is tied up in a colossal ranch in Chihuahua, Mexico. But when Villa kidnaps the Colonel’s grandchildren and absconds into the Sierra Madre, the aging New England patriarch and his adopted son head to El Paso, hoping to find a group of cowboys brave enough to hunt the Generalissimo down. Replete with gunfights, daring escapes, and an unforgettable bullfight, El Paso is an indelible portrait of the American southwest in the waning days of the frontier.

public libraryPublic Library and Other Stories by Ali Smith

Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson

Last Look by Charles Burns

The Trespasser by Tana French

By Gaslight by Steven Price

Yesternight by Cat Winters

Patricide by D. Foy

Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig

Stranded by Bracken MacLeod

My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg

the angel of historyThe Angel of History by Rabih Alameddine

The Best American Essays 2016 by edited Jonathan Franzen

The Ramblers by Aidan Donnelley Rowley

Angels of Music by Kim Newman

You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson

The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang

Wonder Woman: The True Amazon by Jill Thompson

Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey

all that man isAll That Man Is by David Szalay

I’ll Tell You in Person by Chloe Caldwell

Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives by Tim Harford

Refugees, Terror and Other Troubles with the Neighbors: Against the Double Blackmail by Slavoj Zizek

There Now: Poems by Eamon Grennan

Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down by Anne Valente

Nicotine by Nell Zink

Private Novelist by Nell Zink

Aerie by Maria Dahvana Headley

when the seaWhen the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin

Ghost Songs by Regina McBride

Spare and Found Parts by Sarah Maria Griffin

The Motion of Puppets by Keith Donohue

Brief Histories of Everyday Objects by Andy Warner

The Mortifications by Derek Palacio

Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz

Breaking van Gogh: Saint-Rémy, Forgery, and the $95 Million Fake at the Met by James Grundvig

Adolfo Kaminsky: A Forger’s Life by Sarah Kaminsky

Fractured by Catherine McKenzie

we know it was youWe Know It Was You by Maggie Thrash

The Best American Comics 2016 edited by Roz Chast and Bill Kartalopoulos

The Secrets of Roscarbury Hall by Ann O’Loughlin
Cruel Beautiful World by Caroline Leavitt

Rolling Blackouts: Dispatches from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq by Sarah Glidden

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

A City Dreaming by Daniel Polansky

The French Chef in America: Julia Child’s Second Act by Alex Prud’homme

Corsets and Codpieces : A History of Outrageous Fashion, from Roman Times to the Modern Era by Karen Bowman

dog yearsDog Years (Pitt Drue Heinz Lit Prize) by Melissa Yancy

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

Hamstersaurus Rex by Tom O’Donnell and Tim Miller

Crosstalk by Connie Willis

The Rift Uprising: The Rift Uprising Trilogy by Amy S. Foster

Blood, Bullets, and Bones : The Story of Forensic Science from Sherlock Holmes to DNA by Bridget Heos

Replica by Lauren Oliver

The Big Book of Jack the Ripper (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Original) by Otto Penzler

YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

Categories
The Goods

New #RiotRead Book Club Will Feature Book Mail Picks!

This week, we’re celebrating Book Riot’s fifth birthday (!) with the special announcement that we’re bringing the #RiotRead book club back with a new form.

We’ll reveal the first selection on Friday, 10/14. And here’s a pro tip: you can discover it in our latest Book Mail box. That’s right, one of the books in the September Book Mail box is also our inaugural #RiotRead pick. Supplies are limited, and they’ve been going fast, so don’t wait!

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As you read, look for posts on Book Riot and across our social media, and share your own posts about the book wherever you hang out online. Use the #RiotRead tag to connect to other readers, and we’ll be there too. It’s gonna be magical. Get your box, and be among the first to know what the Riot will be reading.

Categories
The Goods

Banned Books 2 days left

Banned Books Week is over, but we’re not done celebrating yet! Tomorrow is your last chance to get our banned books tote, socks, and notebook for just $25!

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Speaking of last chances, the new Book Mail box is flying off the shelves! Get yours before they’re gone.

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Book Riot Live Letterhead

Get Your Book Riot Live T-Shirts!

It’s only 44 days till Book Riot Live! Which means that we’ve got to start printing this year’s t-shirts. You’ve got until this Friday, September 30th to pre-order yours, in our super-comfy unisex crewneck.

Other things you can (and should!) preorder:
– Your favorite speaker’s books, from conference bookstore WORD!
– A Book Riot Live 2016 water bottle — hydration for all.
– Your ticket to Booze & Books at the Strand, which includes drinks and a $15 gift card. Certified sommelier Diane McMartin will be pairing wines with speakers’ books, and will you just look at the selected authors!?

See you in November!

Book Riot Live is sponsored by Bookwitty and Unbound Worlds

Categories
Riot Rundown

092716-Macmillan-CrookedKingdom-Riot-Rundown

Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo.

crooked_kingdom_200wFrom #1 New York Times–bestselling author Leigh Bardugo comes the much-anticipated sequel to Six of Crows.

Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets—a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.