Fresh Ink

When was the last time you sent someone a physical letter? I can’t remember the last time I did, but I have received a few holiday cards over the years, and they’re something I always look forward to. With everything becoming digital—even...

If you’re completing our Read Harder Challenge this year, Danika Ellis has some great recs that will also have you reading more Black authors. Meanwhile, Kelly Jensen has the latest on book bans—something that has greatly increased in frequency...

The best books coming out in in February include everything from literary fiction to romantasy and sci-fi. They may be future blockbusters, predetermined to move units, or well-written books by talented authors with smaller budgets. Some are by...

If you’re looking to boost your “read” pile for the year, or even get yourself out of a reading slump, K.W. Colyard has compiled a dope list of short books that include everything from the story of an author contending with her...

What’s new in the world of books? Well, apparently romance books stores. Last year, The New York Times’s Alexandra Alter wrote about how around 20 of them have popped up around the country since just 2020. Now, Boston is the latest...

I love it when my very specific interests meet, and that is exactly what happened with this roundup of items to use to make your bookish space like a Wes Anderson movie. And I know I’m also going to be adding a few books to my TBR from this...

Y’all, 2025 is already on some BS. Fable, an app that I had heard about a while ago (and low-key forgot about until now) has gone viral for something super cringey. They decided to “roast” the reading choices of their users, and...

New York City remains one of the best places I’ve ever lived, and it’s partially because I felt so at home there as a reader. Take, for instance, how, once I’d moved away from campus and had to commute a bit, I joined the many...

Man, we’re out here losing recipes. We’ve lost yet another literary giant—someone who, as Rebecca Joines Schinsky points out, was so iconic that she became famous, even as a poet. Kelly Jensen wrote up a great summary of her life here,...

The last few weeks have been interesting for new book releases. Fall is a big season in the book world, and the last few Tuesdays have had some very buzzy books come out by bestselling, award-winning authors, as well as some highly anticipated debut...

It’s a good day. NPR has released their huge, interactive list of their Books We Love, and we are geeking out. As usual, readers can sort the mega list by what they’re feeling, and are able to choose from options like “eye-opening...

There is just a teensy bit of mess in Booklandia—the streets (i.e. The New York Times and ProPublica) are saying that John Grisham didn’t properly attribute criminal justice reporter Pamela Colloff for his latest book. Jamie Canavés wrote...

I’m still in the self-soothing stage following last week, and I invite you to join me. There are cutesy cooking romances to get in the mood for Thanksgiving and diverse graphic novels to escape into. But, if you’d rather have pleasant...

Though we are 10 months into this year, the end still somehow feels like it’s coming too quickly. Mariah Carey has already officially dubbed it Her Season, I’m already seeing Black Friday sales, and, more relevantly, we’ve already...

October continues to be one of the heaviest-hitting months for new book releases of the year. Understandably, publishers want to avoid November—both so books don’t get lost in election coverage and so titles are out before holiday shopping...

Want to hear something ridiculous? “Thanks to a new proviso in the South Carolina state budget, at least one public library system in the state has made the decision to acquire no new books for those under the age of 18.” Yeah....

We’re getting at this fall thing from all angles. There are cozy books by BIPOC authors, dead boos in ghost romances, and a new book — The Complete Book of Origami: A Beginner’s Guide to the Most Popular Folded Paper Models by Shufunotomo...

September may have felt like it whizzed by—at least to me—but that doesn’t mean it was without event. A lot of stuff happened. As a bit of a recap, Danika Ellis has written up a list of the most read books on Goodreads in September. How...

The crisp air and longer nights make fall prime mystery and thriller reading time, and Addison Rizer has assembled a list of literary mysteries and thrillers with brilliant prose and a strong character focus. After looking through those, you can...

The longlists for the National Book Award trickled in one by one last week, and now we have a complete list. If you follow the awards, we’ve rounded the lists up here. And, to get you fully, absolutely in an autumnal spirit, there are must-read...