Books

It’s about the middle of the year — and the middle of Pride Month — and Esquire has blessed us with a roundup of 20 of the best queer books out this year so far. In this list, you’ll find trans memoirs, illuminating nonfiction, poetry, and a variety of genres written by well-known authors as

The same day Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed a ban on book bans in public libraries and schools into effect this week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that bans “sexually explicit” books from schools. House Bill 900, the “parent empowerment” bill, has spent the legislative season picking up ground in Texas’s

It’s time to pause, take a step back, and review the books we’ve read and enjoyed this year so far. Other booksellers — Amazon and Barnes & Noble — have already shared what they think are the first half of the year’s best books, but the advantage of this list is that it’s the most

I admit that dystopian comics are not generally my thing. I mean, we practically live in one: if I want to read about pandemics, the disastrous effects of climate change, increasing restrictions on human rights, and the seemingly unstoppable global rise of authoritarianism, I’ll go look at the news. There are exceptions, of course. When

To paraphrase the good sis Lizzo: It’s about that time! Time to take stock of books that have come out so far this year that have left an impression. Amazon has joined Barnes & Noble as the latest bookseller to share their list of books that we should all give more attention to. The list

Pageboy, Elliot Page’s long-awaited memoir, gives a fragmented but close-up perspective of Page’s life and experiences growing up as someone who has always known that he was a boy even when everything in society told him otherwise. We follow him from childhood through close to the present day and he is unflinching in the detail

Cormac McCarthy, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Road, No Country for Old Men, Blood Meridian, and more, has died at the age of 89. He passed away from natural causes in his Sante Fe home, according to his publisher, Knopf. McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for his bleak dystopian novel, The Road.

Illinois became the first state in the United States to pass legislation to end book bans. Signed by Governor JB Pritzker June 12, House Bill 2789 takes effect January 1, 2024. Introduced by Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who serves at the State Librarian, the bill received significant support both in the House and

The 2023 Lambda Literary Award winners have been announced! This year’s winners were selected by a panel of over 60 judges from the literary world and from more than 1,300 book submissions from over 300 publishers. Now in its 35th year, the Lambda Literary Award is considered one of the most prestigious awards in LGBTQ publishing. The

First lines done well can convince you to read a book. I’ve certainly been won over by my fair share. Sometimes it’s reading the first page at a bookstore to see if you want to actually read the entire book; sometimes it’s stumbling across a first line on the internet and going “I absolutely have

That’s right, dedicated reader. There’s a new collection and reading tracking app on the literary block: Bookworm Reads. Need to make sure you’re not purchasing the same book for a second or third time? Love reading challenges and seeing what your friends are reading? Then you’re probably already using an app like Bookworm Reads. After

Swimming books have been on my mind a lot lately. This is genuinely odd. Until fairly recently, I had a major fear of deep water and generally avoided water-based activities like the plague. After months of well-tailored swim lessons and DIY exposure therapy in a pool without a deep end, I can now enter a

Have you always wanted try a real Belgian waffle? What about borscht? Perhaps you’re missing a favorite dish that your neighbor’s grandma made when you were growing up? Cooking is always an adventure, especially without a good recipe. A quick google search might pull up an okay recipe but you might have to weed through

Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and speculation about the possible ending of The Flash, based on the comic Flashpoint. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was, like its 2018 predecessor, a masterpiece. A breathtaking visual feast, it is a love letter to comics, animation, New York City, Spider-Man, superheroes in general,

If you’ve been on social media over the last week, chances are you’ve seen the Shiny Happy People documentary series trending. Whether you have seen that, ignored that, or did not know about it at all until this moment, this Amazon Prime limited docuseries is a must-view in order to understand the roots of today’s

I blame Book Riot for my obsession with fanfiction and the natural progression I have made into doujinshi (also known as dōjinshi). It’s often mistaken for a genre of manga when really it is a sub-category of the publishing world. Do you like manga? Do you like fanfiction? Then smoosh them together and fall in

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a list of actions it will take to better protect LGBTQ+ Americans. Among them was a plan to address the rise in books bans, which disproportionately target queer and BIPOC- centered books. An anti-book ban coordinator will be appointed by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights on the

There are plenty of things to dislike about the intranet and “being online” in general. In a world where we have access to more information than ever before, we also have access to more unsettling information. We have the ability to happen upon more lies, more falsehoods, and more manipulation than we previously did. We

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has labeled Moms for Liberty a hate group. In their latest Year in Hate & Extremism report, the nonprofit civil rights advocacy group described Moms for Liberty as “one of the most recognized names in the anti-student inclusion movement.” The report also mentions the group’s willingness to “fight tooth and

Davis School District in Utah–a 70,000+ district north of Salt Lake City–has officially removed the Bible from elementary and middle schools. This may be the first official removal of the religious text from schools in the country following a district’s review process. The decision comes after a parent complained about its vulgarity and violence. That