6 Fictional Women Who Broke the Glass Ceiling
It has been long been prophesied that girls just want to have fun. What that age-old wisdom neglects to mention…
Roundups
5 Books That Blur the Line between the Novel and the Short Story
Definitions are funny things. In the publishing world, a work of fiction is often defined by its word count: a…
5 Great 2015 Books You May Have Missed
2015 has already been a great year for books. With so much to celebrate from big-name authors—Judy Blume! Toni Morrison! Nick…
Our Favorite Books from the 1990s
Bookended by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Y2K scare, defined by social change and economic prosperity, the…
17 Contemporary Reads Inspired by William Shakespeare
Today the literary world is honoring the life, and death, of William Shakespeare. While his exact birthday isn’t really known,…
10 Pastoral Reads For the First Day of Spring
Spring is here—or so sayeth the calendar—and that means lots of leg shaving, swimsuit buying, seed planting, and covertly snipping branches…
8 Great MLK Day Books For Every Kind of Reader
In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, we’re looking back on our nation’s history and rounding up great books…
Our Favorite Books Set on New Year’s Eve (and Day)
Humans are a funny lot; we invent a totally random way of keeping track of our existence, then assign special…
5 Marriage Thrillers, From Gone Girl and Beyond
How much should we trust a spouse? Can we ever know anyone, really? Marriage thrillers trigger our deepest fears because…
Bad Behavior is Academic in These 4 Great Reads
Believe it or not, summer is almost over. Even as you read this, students are shining apples (just kidding, they’re…
4 Gripping Works of Nonfiction for Readers Who Loved Unbroken
Since 2010 Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand’s white-knuckle account of the near-fatal plane crash and subsequent internment of World War II hero and…
4 Heartwarming New Books About Family, Togetherness, and Other Hazards
We read for pleasure of course, but also to help us understand the world around us—and what subject is more…
Our Favorite Fictional Feminists
From Jane Eyre to Janie Crawford, strong female characters make literature go round. All of the best authors seem to…
9 Indispensable Books for College Grads
It’s that time of year. All around the world, college grads are stepping out into the real world, squinting in…
6 Posthumous Books We Love
Before Franz Kafka died, he famously asked a friend to burn his unpublished writing, wishing for it never to see…
The Literary Doppelgängers of Mad Men
Last night Mad Men, everyone’s favorite dramedy about midcentury malaise, amazingly high-functioning alcoholics, fantastic clothes, questionable parenting choices, and reinvention…
Dining Out Alone with a Book is the Best Date You’ll Ever Have—Trust Us
Despite certain people kinda judging us for it (our own moms and the smug, newly in love come to mind)—there…
Literary Astrology: Aries
Born under the first sign of the zodiac and one of our personal favorites, Aries make excellent protagonists. Adventurous, outgoing,…
More Books to Make You Cry For Days
My public library just notified me that two recent YA insta-classics, Eleanor & Park and The Fault in Our Stars, are…