Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by Tryaudiobooks.com.
Listen While You Cook! While spending hours in the kitchen prepping meals for the holidays, put on a good audiobook and let the story help you along. Cooking for Picasso and The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living are great cooking memoirs or you can listen to WHERE AM I NOW? Read by Mara Wilson herself! Let audiobooks be your secret ingredient this holiday season.
Visit TryAudiobooks.com/cooking for a free download and get started!
It’s that time again! We’ve picked ten books from our mailbag to give to one lucky Riot reader. We’ve got the paperback of Brown Girl Dreaming, Meg Medina’s Burn Baby Burn, Bryan Cranston’s memoir, and more.
The giveaway is open internationally, and will close at 11:59 EST, Sunday, November 13th.
Go here to enter, or just click the image below. Good luck!
Happy Tuesday! Guess what today is? You got it in one: NEW BOOK DAY! We are fast approaching the end of 2016 (thank goodness) so the number of books being released will be slowing down, but there are still a lot of good ones left! And on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a lot of books in our life right now, including All Grown Up, Not Just Jane, and Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil.
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Heartless by Marissa Meyer.
Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine is one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. When Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker, she feels the pull of true attraction for the first time. Risking everything, they enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to defy her destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.
The Lost Property Office (Section 13) by James R. Hannibal
Looking to find a new series for your middle grade readers? This one is fun! When Jack’s father goes missing, Jack learns that he wasn’t who he claimed to be – he was actually a member of a secret detective society. And he was working to stop the Clockmaker, an evil genius in search of the legendary Ember. Now it’s up to Jack to help the society find the Ember before the Clockmaker does, or it’s curtains for his father.
Backlist bump: Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
The Way Things Were by Aatish Taseer
Now in paperback: A son travels halfway around the world to bury his father in this beautiful family saga. Toby was the Maharaja of Kalasuryaketu, a Sanskritist who had not set foot in India for two decades. When Toby dies, his son, Skanda, embarks on a journey to return Toby’s body to his birthplace, forcing him to confront the history of his family.
Backlist bump: Land Where I Flee by Prajwal Parajuly
Entanglement: The Secret Lives of Hair by Emma Tarlo
Lord, I love a microhistory. And I kept thinking about this bit by Jerry Seinfeld as I read this wildly interesting look at the history and business of hair:
“Now, I was thinking the other day about hair, and that the weird thing about it, is that people will touch other people’s hair. You will actually kiss another human being, right on the head. But, if one of those hairs should somehow be able to get out of that skull, and go off on its own, it is now the vilest, most disgusting thing that you can encounter. The same hair. People freak out.”
Backlist bump: Hair: A Human History by Kurt Steinn
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’!
Hope to see you at Book Riot Live! Please say hello if you see me. I had all my shots updated, so it’s totally safe.
Stay rad!
Liberty
Harry Potter Yoga Exists
Texan yoga instructors designed a Harry Potter-themed yoga class to boost attendance (which worked, the class sold out). It’s complete with Harry Potter-renamed posts like Slytherin Cobra and Downward Fluffy. Also, there are wands. And “invisibility cloaks” for savasana (those are just regular blankets). Yoga already has cultural appropriation issues, and this feels like taking that to a whole new level.
A Bookstore “Scream Room”
Bab Aldonia, a Cairo bookstore, is now providing a sound-proof Scream Room where customers can go and yell away the stress of daily life and of living in a large city (there’s also a drum set in the room, if banging on a thing makes you feel better). This is an excellent idea, and it seems like tomorrow is a good day for American bookstores to install something similar. We all have some stress to scream out.
The Most Valuable First Editions of 20th Century Literature
Keep your eyes peeled when you’re at used bookstores–these five books are the most valuable first editions of 20th century literature in existence. There aren’t many surprises here, though I would count the presence of the first James Bond novel and the absence of any books by women at all as a little eyebrow-raising. None of Virginia Woolf’s books are more valuable than a James Bond novel? Really? Ok then.
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.
Alexander Chee is an award-winning author of two novels. The Queen of the Night is set in Paris during the Second Empire and follows the rise of heroine Lilliet Berne from courtesan to diva. Called “spellbinding” by BuzzFeed and “brilliant” by the Washington Post, The Queen of the Night is a blazing portrait of a woman who creates her own fate. Edinburgh, newly reissued in paperback, is a coming-of-age novel that is “incomparable . . . because of its bravery, its wisdom, its vitality, and because it’s a novel that never stops haunting.” (Junot Díaz)
Ten lucky Riot readers will each receive a copy of The Queen of the Night and Edinburgh by Alexander Chee.
Just go here to enter, or click the cover image below:
Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by Book Riot on Instagram.
We’ve got a sweet little Instagram account. Books, recommendations, and a whole bunch of reader-nerd stuff. Come check it 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.
Giveaway time, folks. Up for grabs: a $100 Visa giftcard for one lucky winner.
This giveaway is sponsored by Early Bird Books. Early Bird Books is a free newsletter that brings you amazing ebook deals, special offers, and stories about the books and authors that inspire and excite us.
This giveaway is open to residents of the 50 US States plus the District of Columbia. We’ll pull a winner and email them a digital giftcard.
Go here to enter, or just click the image below. Good luck!
We’re just a week away! Which means it’s time to answer all your burning questions. We came up with a lot of potential ones, so let’s get right to it.
Q: How/where/when do I get my badge?
A: Your badge is available for pick-up at the registration/check-in desk at Metropolitan West (635 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10036). Please have your confirmation email either printed out or pulled up on your phone! You’ll show your government-issued ID, get checked in, and get your badge, your welcome bag, and (if you ordered one) your t-shirt. If you’re one of the lucky folks who’s getting a water bottle, you’ll get it then as well!
Q: I didn’t get to order a t-shirt, can I still get one?
A: You can! At the Out of Print/Book Riot store on the first floor, they’ll have a variety of sizes available for purchase (along with other fine merchandise).
Q: What about water bottles? Can I buy one?
A: Nope, those were a limited edition item.
Q: What do I pack?
A: Assuming the weather gods look favorably upon us, it should be mid-50s and mostly sunny. Can’t hurt to have an umbrella, though. You might also want to bring an extra tote for the books you’ll get at the convention bookstore, run by WORD.
Q: I pre-ordered books, how do I get those?
A: Head on up to the 2nd floor once doors open and check in with the bookstore, they’ll have your books there for you.
Q: Where will I put my jacket and luggage and stuff?
A: There will be a coat-check, not to worry.
Q: What will I eat?
A: Thanks to sponsor Andrews McMeel, there will be a coffee and donut hour first thing Saturday and Sunday! Our bookstore will be bringing some snack-foods available for purchase, and there are several good food options very close to the venue — we made you a list.
Q: Can I still get tickets to the parties at the Strand?
A: There are still a few spots left for Friday — get one here!
Q: What other things will I be able to do at Book Riot Live, in addition to attending all those panels?
A: So glad you asked. There will be a zine table for you to contribute to, a Reading Lounge to take a break (and maybe crack open a book) in, and meet-ups in The Commons. You can also get recommendations on what to read next from the Brooklyn Public Library’s excellent BookMatchers!
Q: What exhibitors and vendors will be there?
A: Another excellent question — we’ve got a whole section of the site dedicated to them.
Q: How will the signings work? When are they even?
A: They occur immediately after the panels in most cases, but we’ve got a full schedule of them up on our Sched.org site. You should have received an invite so you can create your customized schedule (and even print it out ahead of time, if you roll that way); if you didn’t get it or you think it got lost in the inter-tubes, let us know and we’ll resend. While we’re here, the signings will work as follows:
Outside books are permitted. Those with multiple books may be asked to wait ’til the end of the line. Non-book items are permitted within reason. Books will be available for sale at the convention bookstore on the 2nd floor, courtesy of WORD.
Q: I am not going to know anyone! How will I find friends?
A: We got you! Head on over to Facebook, where we’ve got an active Book Riot Live event group. Or you can chat with folks on Twitter using the #brlive tag.
Q: You didn’t answer my question, though! How do I find out the answer?
A: If it’s about an evening event, you’re getting a separate email early next week! Otherwise, hit reply and ask — we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Q: How excited are you guys about this??
A: THIS EXCITED.
Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by Bookwitty.
Bookwitty is a new discovery platform which combines eCommerce, knowledge-sharing and social media functionalities. There’s nothing quite like it.
Bookwitty has been around for some time now and has partnered with book enthusiasts, indie bookstores, publishers and other professionals around the world. Because of this large network of partners, Bookwitty can get any book – even the most inaccessible – into the hands of people anywhere in the world, at very reasonable prices.
Bookwitty.com is about allowing you to find content and books relevant to your interests, languages and location. You can also interact with other members or even authors, write your own posts, create reading lists, and share useful articles about subjects that interest you.
