Want to read and laugh? From NPR’s yearly reading list, Books We Love, four NPR staffers offer their suggestions. Read more
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Author: GR
Grace Nichols’ ‘pioneering voice’ wins her Queen’s gold medal for poetry
The Guyanese poet Grace Nichols will be awarded the Queen’s gold medal for poetry for her body of work, in particular her first collection of poetry I Is a Long-Memoried Woman, her prose, and several books for younger readers. Read more
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Books make the best gifts. Here are seven surprising choices for the readers on your list.
The countdown to Christmas has begun, but as shopping desperation sets in, remember that books make the best gifts — and they’re easy to wrap and send! Here are some to consider. Read more
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Black authors on New York Times top 10 book list draw backlash
While The New York Times Books Review‘s annual Ten Best Books list has long [been] considered the gold standard of literary criticism, not nearly enough attention has been given to black authors on the list. This year’s list corrects that issue, but still drew a critical response from people who believe the list was “too woke” for their tastes. Read more
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The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age
Replete with accounts of Polly’s many court battles, newspaper headlines, mobster dealings and society gossip, “Madam” is a breathless tale told through extraordinary research. Indeed, the galloping pace of Applegate’s book sometimes makes the reader want to pull out a white flag and wave in surrender — begging for her to slow down. Read more
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How—and Why—America Criminalizes Poverty
Court fines and fees have been a part of the American court system since the beginning. Civil rights icon Rosa Parks, for instance, was fined $10, plus an additional $4 in court costs, when she was cited for a municipal ordinance violation in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 for sitting on a bus reserved for whites. After the Great Recession, lawmakers increasingly turned to fines and fees to fund court services and other elements of government. “Over time, lawmakers started to use the courts as a piggy bank,” Foster said. “The results are truly staggering.” Read more
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101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century
“As voted upon by the members of the Writers Guilds West and East, the list of the 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (so far) is both a celebration of the great writers and screenplays of the last 21 years and a study of how writing for the screen has evolved and diversified since the 20th Century.” Read more
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Millions of Followers? For Book Sales, ‘It’s Unreliable.’
Social-media fandom can help authors score book deals and bigger advances, but does it translate to how a new title will sell? Publishers are increasingly skeptical. Read more
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Unbound reprints 70,000 copies of TikTok hit Cain’s Jawbone
Authored by the Observer’s first cryptic crossword setter, Cain’s Jawbone was first published by Gollancz in 1934, under the pen name Torquemada. It was written with the 100 pages deliberately out of order, inviting readers to solve the murder mystery by re-ordering them. Only three people are thought to have solved the puzzle, including British comedy writer John Finnemore, who received £1,000 from the press after it reissued the book in 2019 and launched a competition. Read more
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Marjoleine Kars wins 2021 Cundill History Prize
Marjoleine Kars has been named winner of the 2021 Cundill History Prize for Blood on the River: a Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast (The New Press). Kars accessed a previously untapped Dutch archive to reveal the little-known story of a 1763 slave rebellion in Berbice, a Dutch colony in present-day Guyana. Drawing on nearly 900 interrogation transcripts – extremely rare verbatim accounts from suspected rebels, bystanders, and witnesses – she is able to provide a unique day-by-day account of the revolt, in the words of both colonists and, crucially, the slaves themselves. Read more
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