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Like most gay men of the early to mid-twentieth century, Dr. Jake Friedman’s homosexuality is explained away as an embarrassing “tendency.” Thrilled to discover a woman with whom he can share intimacy, he proposes marriage early on, intending to fulfill his promise after the war. Jake feels drawn to volunteer after a tragic auto accident that kills a coworker and as a response to the fascist genocide in Europe and the Japanese invasion of the Pacific region that cast shadows across the free world in 1941. ... (read more)

The names Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky will forever be intertwined for all the wrong reasons. With the end of the twentieth century nearing, the world's eyes were seemingly on the sitting president’s extramarital affair. While this topic will undoubtedly be covered in the history books for generations to come, Lichtman's research, which includes speaking to many of the chief players, has resulted in a candid presentation of the content that is simultaneously insightful and entertaining. ... (read more)

Deeper View

When one thinks of President Richard Nixon, the Watergate scandal is usually the first thing that comes to mind. However, in this biography, award-winning author Paul Carter works relentlessly to bring the true essence of Richard Nixon to the forefront, a feat which he performs masterfully and with grace and simplicity. Audiences will gain exposure to Nixon’s humble roots in rural Whittier, California, and Yorba Linda, California—his birthplace—when it was just a fledgling Orange County city with hardly three hundred residents. What’s more, though, is that Carter truly shines a light on the kind of person Nixon was. The premise is that, for all intents and purposes, while the former president was a superb tactician, he transcended that and was a giant of a man. ... (read more)

Extraordinary Read

Four young Irish immigrants seek their fortunes in Denver, Colorado, filled with enthusiasm and dreams for their new futures. Emmett Kelly, the titular butcher, has meat-packinghouse experience in Chicago and longs to open his own butcher shop or grocery store. He may be considered the lead protagonist because the novel opens and closes with his predicaments, but the story is truly not Kelly’s alone. He becomes acquainted with Thomas Quinn on the train to Denver, a young carpenter who is quieter and much less brash. The young men soon find a wealth of job opportunities and female companionship in the rapidly growing city. Despite the era’s restrictions for women of all ages, Alice Butler and Maggie Sullivan are high-spirited young ladies with viable dreams of their own. More interested in romance than in making a headlong rush toward marriage and motherhood, they’re inclined to seek both adventure and respectability in their new environment. ... (read more)

Beyond the Usual

D’Agostino, a psychiatric and behavioral health expert, offers his personal and professional opinions about the differences between racism, prejudice, and tribalism in his book. He clearly explains in the introduction that he is neither a sociologist nor a scholar of racism, nor has he spent years researching and writing about this issue. His interest stems from his viewpoint as a mental health professional looking through the lens of psychiatric concerns with the complex of “motivations and emotionally important belief systems.” To this end, the author primarily examines the trajectory of race relations in his lifetime as he experienced the black-white racial divide, although he also cogently covers the topic historically. ... (read more)

Live Positive

In this intimate book, Davies shares a deeply personal story about reckoning with death, grief, and life after losing a loved one. The author recounts her story of losing her husband in daily journal entries. These entries help readers understand the process of acceptance that happens after someone dies. They also learn about how the support of one’s family and community can make the grieving process more navigable. Throughout the collection, poems appear with certain journal entries, and these poems help memorialize the author’s husband, Butch. However, the poems’ inclusion is also a testament to the healing power poetry and literature offer during difficult times. As readers progress through the journal, they learn that the author’s assertion, “Grief demands to be handled on its own terms and in its own time,” is an adage to adopt and live by when facing grief and trauma. ... (read more)

Jazzy & Gritty

This collection by Streitz is the first of four Bar Bibles of Poetry authored by him. In this volume, his attention falls on subjects ranging from bartenders to civil rights leaders, E.D. to selfies. Several poems deal with sex and love, from the lofty heights of romanticism to the street level of strippers and masturbation. He spends time on drunk writers hiding in their homes, dancers who should have been writers, beetles rolling balls of dung, and fathers who find themselves protective and uncomfortable. ... (read more)

A New Favorite

From the outset, Oscar and Otto are destined for confrontation. Oscar loves to fish, while Otto loves to trick fishermen. One day, Oscar’s fishing takes a turn. He keeps putting worms on the line, getting a nibble, but hooking no fish. He soon runs out of worms. While sitting in wonder in his boat, Otto approaches, thanks Oscar for all the worms, then splashes him and laughs as he swims away. Of course, this angers Oscar. He begins to plan and plot, but Otto still seems to get the best of him, and Oscar ends up falling out of the boat into the lake. Meanwhile, Otto is bragging more and more to his friends. Finally, Oscar comes up with a more devious plan and hooks Otto. Although Otto gets away, he is no longer bragging as he has a hook stuck in his mouth. When winter comes, Oscar is still fuming and making plans, while Otto has trouble eating. When Oscar forgets to be cautious and falls through the ice, Otto has a decision to make as he sees Oscar fighting fearfully to find a way back to the surface. ... (read more)

Clear Philosophy

The free will debate has raged for over 2,000 years. Do individuals have control over their own actions and decisions, or are these actions and decisions predetermined by the gods, logic, nature or nurture, or many other forms of determinism? In this new work by Kral, he takes the reader on an intellectual journey that attempts to provide an alternative to the free will question. Upon initial inspection, the question, at its heart, seems to imply either a yes or no with explanations while excluding other answers. However, Kral manages to create a compelling third option, which posits that the question itself is flawed. He argues that “will” cannot be considered free or not free. His reasoning breaks down what the word means in the context of this question, and his results lead him to create an additional theory about the source of human behavior. which he has titled procirclism. ... (read more)

The book opens with a bold declaration that all forms of perfectionism are unhealthy. Collins and Molitor denounce the concept of “normal” perfectionists who are more productive and achieve greater success. As perfection is inherently unattainable, its pursuit is an inevitable path to frustration, which adversely affects mental and physical health, relationships, creativity, and productivity. Inspired by Kintsugi—the Japanese art and philosophy of “golden repair”—the authors advocate rejecting perfectionism and adopting the “Flawsomism” mindset of celebrating imperfection, striving for excellence, and embracing failure as an opportunity for growth. ... (read more)

The Journey

Author Jeffries recalls his personal history, expanding it to a broad vision of his nation and the world. Born during World War II, he recognized early on that men in his parents’ “Greatest Generation” were spurred by the trauma that all warfare can evoke and, therefore, strove to achieve more once they returned home, building new neighborhoods and aiming for meaningful employment. Similarly, American women who had contributed industrial efforts to the nation’s defense, symbolized by the popular image of “Rosie the Riveter,” resolved to be conscientious wives and parents while also starting to seek outside employment. The postwar years thus wrought numerous upswings in ordinary American life. Meanwhile, citizens of central Europe, where whole cities had been obliterated, were still grappling with extremely challenging aftermaths. One ominous signal was the burgeoning of Russian communism and its concomitant movements of socialism and similar, politically far-left movements. ... (read more)

Transporting audiences into a riveting espionage thriller, Bornstein pushes the limits of science and technology to create a potentially cataclysmic outcome that is as plot-centric as it is character-driven. Loyalties are tested regularly, revealing the fortitude of the main characters and their determination to achieve their goals at all costs. Not your typical thriller, the narrative is tied to one’s roots, family, and being wronged in a way that can’t easily be forgiven. ... (read more)

Masterful Storyteller

This third book in Cannon’s enjoyable fantasy series continues the saga of Sillik. Having returned home to Illicia, “the most powerful and wealthy city in the land,” to learn of his father’s death, he becomes king. With his wife, Renee, by his side, Sillik surrounds himself with trusted advisors. The city is attacked by dragons and the horrible Schula—“green-skinned, long-tusked creatures.” As it becomes clear that the dragons and Schula are attacking other cities, war seems imminent. The Seven Gods and Illicia are pitted against the nine dark forces, which include the formidable gods Mind Breaker and Soulcrusher. As the two factions move toward war, it becomes clear that Sillik and his people will need to harness all their magical powers if they are to defeat the Nine. Will they succeed, or will all be lost in the final battle? ... (read more)

Juhani Murros made an unexpected discovery during his visits to art galleries when he worked for an organization in Ho Chi Minh City in 1990. A small still life in an unobtrusive gallery commanded the Finnish physician’s attention. “It was an unpretentious oil painting, yet its dark, mysterious colors and the emotional tension of its disciplined composition set it apart.” Thus began a long journey of discovering the art and life of Van Den, a frugal and kind Buddhist of mixed Chinese and Vietnamese ancestry who studied in Paris for less than two years during 1950-52, a volatile period during the first French Indochina War. ... (read more)

Cast of Characters

The relationships between instructors working in a dysfunctional sociology department at a fictional Florida university in the late 1980s are realistically explored in this novella by educator McNeill. While many workplaces, whether in government, the private for-profit sector, or even non-profit organizations, have these ego-driven, ideological clashes that create a hostile environment for some employees but provide unfair advantages to others, this story reveals the particular problems that arise in academic settings, and in this case, with dramatic, destructive results. The drama is also a cautionary tale determined by various departmental cliques that disregard the warning signs of trouble ahead for not only department faculty but for the entire university and the outside community as well. ... (read more)

Myths & Magic

Prince Khael Stratton is a mystic who seeks to deepen his knowledge of such arts to help those in need. Following a mission, he reports to the city of Cambridge—ruled over by his brother—and has a close encounter with a pickpocket who steals his signet ring. Alongside his bodyguard, Grant, the prince manages to track down the young woman, Vixen, who suffers from a foggy memory while demonstrating a great talent for skills associated with assassins. Prince Khael finds it an odd happenstance in a time when a terrorist group known as the Chelevkori are making active attempts to eliminate the royal family for a perceived wrongdoing by his grandfather, Loren, and it is further compounded by reports that tyrannical rule has seized the city of Skemmelsham over which he rules. Prince Khael forges a contract with Vixen, and with Grant, they go on a journey to liberate the city. ... (read more)

Transformation

Fred counts on his dad when his inability to keep a job and keep his weight in check causes conflict with his mom and sister. When Fred’s dad dies and his sister (his primary income buffer) moves away, Fred and his mom are on their own until Fred’s wrestling champion girlfriend, Mary Ellen, arrives, giving Fred the boost he needs to defend himself, literally and figuratively. ... (read more)

Fluid & Engaging

David and Tereza have been together since they were children. Both are progressive and intellectual thinkers. As young lovers, they believe they will change the world together. However, the circumstances of life end up taking them down separate paths. Each eventually marries and has children, although they are able to keep their families close and their more platonic love intact. When they leave a family barbecue together, a microburst brought on by advancing climate change brings down a jet that slams into the house, killing their loved ones. This leads to a terrible argument where they shut each other out, each one wallowing in their own destructive guilt. When they finally patch things up, they take their tested and, at times, confusing relationship to the Ashami Institute, a retreat for artists and intellectuals. The institute is in bad shape financially, and David and Tereza, along with David’s new girlfriend, formulate a plan to take over the leadership and turn the institute into an environmentally friendly, sustainable community. However, the increasing climate crisis and the ever-evolving complications of their relationships threaten to tear their lives apart again. ... (read more)

Spoken Right

At some point, everyone has experienced the feeling of being misinterpreted, either in words or intentions. Often this causes the listener to feel defensive or offended, leading to a conflict even in situations where the speaker felt they were being considerate or even caring. In this book, the author draws upon his experiences of both working within the New Mexico correctional systems as well as years spent in ministry and in support groups to help readers communicate clearly and considerately with people from all walks of life. At the end of the day, when one has a message that one wants to be heard, but ultimately, being heard is not the goal, the focus should be more on being understood. As the title implies, wanting to say what one means can lead to conflict, but with practice and empathy, it is possible to express fully transparent feelings without ignoring the other person’s situation. ... (read more)

Beautiful Bar Talk

Streitz dives into an impressive and expansive range of topics, tackling them head-on rather than tiptoeing around them as most normally do. In the process, audiences get to reflect on how they interact with their own lives and the stimuli they are constantly surrounded by. Above all else, however, it is the poet’s ability to use language, particularly metaphor, imagery, and satire, to create a remarkably relatable and universal connection with his readers. ... (rea d more)

Learning Now

In his capacity as a counselor for those facing life-threatening illnesses, the author pulls upon what he deems “teachable moments” that have emerged through his work. He divides the book into three sections or themes which he sees to be of the most importance to those with whom he has worked. Each section begins with an introduction to the theme. He uses the Bible and examples from his practice and personal experiences to discuss each concept. Each chapter closes with a few questions to enhance one’s understanding of the material by applying concepts to one’s personal life. Lessons cover common interests and concerns of his clients, such as forgiveness, taking revenge, and how to achieve serenity. The lessons are short, and the book can be used effectively in individual or group Bible studies. ... (read more)

Nadia lives in the Soviet Union with her parents and sister Nastya. The Soviet empire has begun to crumble as the Cold War is reaching its apex. The reign of President Mikhail Gorbachev is in full swing, and perestroika has shifted the political and economic landscape. Nadia is intelligent and has a bright future ahead of her. As she is in her mid-teens, her parents opt to have Nadia live with her grandmother. Nadia is crestfallen at leaving Nastya, but she gets to learn more about Gramma in her new home. Gramma was a soldier during the Second World War, and her spirit has never wavered. Nadia returns home to discover that Nastya is married and expecting a child. The world is changing, and Nadia ponders her own place in it. ... (read more)

Revealing Truths

Author Chavarría has created an epic journey for her central characters—from birth to lives on earth to death and beyond. The central focus is Belinda, whose emergence from the restrictions of the womb to “quiet, cooing voices” forms the first chapter. Raised strictly by her grandmother, intelligent Belinda proves too shy, sometimes too outspoken. She experiences genuine regret and guilt about a rowdy incident in her early college years. Seeking normalcy and structure, she marries a self-seeking entrepreneur and, after a miscarriage, has a daughter, Gloria, whose name belies the child’s deep-seated mental and physical disabilities. ... (read more)

This diverse collection of lyric poetry opens with an introduction to key terms from the Yorùbá religion Ifá. Written in styles ranging from free verse to elegies, odes, prose form, and visual poetry, this volume explores a wide variety of topics with a recurring underlying theme of spiritual reverence. The powerful imagery in the poem “Lepidoptera” compares a dancing moth surrounded by other bugs to people seeking spiritual enlightenment: “traveling into the night in the dense bush…risking green mambas and killer ants.” The combination of visual design elements and written expression in “Dawn” lends a creative flair and challenges readers’ interpretation of the author’s artistic intent. ... (read more)

Plot Twists

A police officer named Travis Holiday is heading home to his family when a truck driving aggressively sideswipes his vehicle over a cliff. Miraculously, Travis survives but is somewhere other than where he expected to be. A mysterious man says that God is calling him to travel to a strange city named Carnage Coast, where he is expected to fight on God's behalf in what appears to be the final battle between God and Lucifer. In this strange city that exists seemingly between worlds, the citizens are no strangers to corruption and crime, though there are some who still keep their faith and simply try their best to make life better. In his quest, Travis has been bestowed with the powers of the Iron Warrior, a superhero-like figure who has strange powers and superhuman strengths so long as he keeps steadfast in his faith in the Lord and his mission to protect God’s creation from evil influences. ... (read more)

Beginning with a train arrival and ending with a plane landing, the novel follows an East Coast family through the WWI era. Like the train brings mail to Andrew and Alice Croft on their farm “chateau” on Maryland’s eastern shore after the war, the middle of the story brings their past into the present. How Alice and Andrew met in China, their sons Rory and Autie’s military and business careers, and their adoptive daughter, Laura’s, romantic pursuits lead the novel to a surprise barnstormer landing at the farm just before a new beginning: a wedding. While each character travels around the globe, Crofts’ home base becomes a microcosm of the world at one dynamic point in time. ... (read more)

Faith & Endurance

Elisa McVeigh’s earliest memories were traveling as a toddler from England to Scotland to visit her husband. During Elisa’s infancy, her parents arranged her marriage to three-year-old Ian, Laird of the McVeigh Clan. Elisa’s childhood was filled with brutal abuse at the hands of her parents for the slightest infraction, real or imagined. At the tender age of seven, Elisa lost her mother and was forced to assume responsibility for managing her father’s estates and caring for her younger siblings. Traumatized by sexual abuse and determined to become self-reliant, Elisa trained in self-defense while planning her escape to her husband’s homeland. ... (read more)

Discernment

Building off his twenty years in the Marine Corps, Bell delivers a work that is essentially a guide for resolute Christians to have the tools to sift through much of the fodder being presented to them and understand their role in end-time events. With so much of the world in flux, be it political, economic, or otherwise, Bell approaches his warrior mission in the same manner as his marine service: unconditional devotion to saving souls through prayer and trust in their Savior. ... (read more)

Outstanding & Moving

A writer loses his friends, family, and home because of his writer’s block. With the help of a familiar stranger, he finds a table by the window at a coffee shop that changes everything for him. The table gives him back his creativity and his life. However, like everything in life, there is a catch. He can only write at that table and nowhere else on Earth. The familiar stranger soon comes back to haunt him. The writer flees to another town, starts to work at a coffee shop, and meets Tristan. Tristan is also suffering from writer’s block and finds his own table but with tragic results.

Leon’s prose is poetic and unnerving to the end. His referencing of the Bible and Dante's "Inferno" throughout the story makes it all the more brilliant. This is a psychological look into the writer’s mind and what a person will do to keep their career from failing. Tristan, for instance, tells the main character that his family is rich, but they are going to cut him off because he left his Ivy League school to become a writer. Like the main character, Tristan’s writing career is a life-and-death situation. If he can’t write, he won’t have a family or a home to go to. ... (read more)

Youthful Turmoil

Tom Pierson enrolls in Abbott College in the 1960s with an ambition to distinguish himself as a student of literature. He soon falls under the sway of Dr. Duke Becker, who, impressed by Tom’s essays, invites him to attend an upper-level seminar on American literary naturalism. Dr. Becker’s abiding passion is Jack London, a lonely pursuit in an era when London’s books are dismissed as trivial fiction by the literary establishment. As Tom devotes himself to the study of London, he becomes enmeshed in campus drama. He repulses one girl with his fondness for Lewis Carroll but wins the attention of the beautiful Sherri Redding, who works in the dean’s office. Dean Cody is investigating Dr. Becker, who was recently accused of blasphemy by a wealthy lady whose donations are essential to the survival of the college. Tom struggles to navigate the intricate social dynamics of this new environment, torn between his loyalties to Dr. Becker and his relationship with Sherri, as one secret after another spills into the open. ... (read more)

Evangelical View

Written as a series of letters in 2001, 2002, and 2020, this book argues that America has been specially blessed by God but that the nation has rejected its spiritual heritage by removing God from the public square. The 1962 Supreme Court decision barring sectarian prayer from public school classrooms is presented as the watershed of a long spiritual decline, downstream of which has come a rise in violent crime and premarital sex. Compounding the matter, eleven years later, the Court effectively made abortion legal, which, in Ervin’s view, makes Americans complicit in state-sanctioned murder. The result, he writes, has been the deaths of some fifty million unborn babies, an atrocity without parallel that merits the swift judgment of God. Ervin is hopeful, though. He believes that the people of America are, by and large, decent Christian folk and that it’s time to take our nation back from unelected elites. ... (read more)

More Nice Than Naughty

This book offers up a modern-day twist on the traditional holiday song “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” Griffin uses colloquial language, phonetic spellings, and pseudowords in an attempt to deliver an updated version that readers will find relatable. The book cleverly compares Santa Claus’ famous annual trek from the North Pole in a reindeer-drawn sleigh to an alien spaceship or double-decker jet aircraft flying through the air and traveling across the sky. ... (read more)

Defining Situations

Many people who claim to have had a spiritual experience often talk about “answering the call” or being receptive to God and his message. In this autobiography, the author retells the major events of his life, from growing up in the California projects before the civil rights era to serving in Vietnam and returning home to find his place. Early on, he reveals a vision he received pushing him toward military service but kept hidden from others for fear of being ostracized. On top of this, he continued to live his life in a secular, worldly fashion, believing that before he could give to others and serve, his needs had to be addressed first. And given the general attitudes and racial tensions at this time and beyond, there was much he felt was deserved in order to balance the scales. ... (read more)

Life Well-Lived

Fortenbaugh’s collection of cartoons always depicts the characters as tigers. This arises from the fact that Fortenbaugh was an undergrad at Princeton University, which has a tiger as a mascot. The cartoons he captions and illustrates are mostly dominated by happenings at Princeton or family matters. The Princeton issues cover many things ranging from campus life, wrestling (and the near termination of that program), and reunions. The family memories include his marriage to his wife, Connie, the births and accomplishments of their children and grandchildren, their own anniversaries, and recent Christmas cards. Fortenbaugh mentions that many of the early drawings, particularly in relation to Christmas cards, have been lost over the years. Through the comics, readers see the Fortenbaugh couple travel together through the changes that come from raising a family and growing older together. What is learned is that this is a loving family, with their own ups and downs, who have a lifelong connection to Princeton, display a sense of humor, and enjoy time visiting with former classmates. ... (read more)

The Vocation

For many children, teachers are figures in their lives who they see and spend time with on par with their own families. The impact that teachers have on the development of the children who become their students is immeasurable, and so it is important that the members of this profession come to work every day with inspiration and enthusiasm in the face of what can be truly difficult challenges. This book includes several personal anecdotes, memories, and methods for success collected by the author over her career as a teacher with the intent of helping other teachers make each day of class exciting and engaging. Dealing with the unique requirements each student brings to school, difficult parents, burnout, and administration can be overwhelming for any teacher, but by sticking together and reminding themselves of why they teach, they can find joy in every lesson. ... (read more)

Unconditional Love

A teen with drug-addled parents and a rare mental illness experiences her first taste of familial strength and loyalty in this young adult metaphysical thriller. Sixteen-year-old Ashlee Sutton believes she’s transcending her physical body and has occasional clairvoyance. Because of her parents’ addictions, Ashlee almost raises herself and is often forced to act as the sober adult in the family. Her father quickly embraces the possibility of acquiring a fortune using Ashlee’s psychic abilities to gamble. But the large financial windfall from their one and only casino jaunt fuels his accidental overdose. ... (read more)

Saving the Day

Merna is a mermaid. After getting injured in the ocean, she receives help from a fisherman named Mark. They build a relationship, get married, and have a daughter together. Moving to a coastal town in Maine, Merna becomes well known as a doting mother, helpful neighbor, and community volunteer. No one outside Merna’s family knows that she is a mermaid who changes back to her original form by getting wet, and it proves to be a costly mistake for a burglar who breaks into her home. Merna fills the whole house with water, knocks out the thief, ties him up, and calls the police. She drains the house to hide any evidence of her being a mermaid before the authorities arrive. Just like that, she has saved the day. ... (read more)

Journey In & Out

In this novel, Young Carlie is the victim of her father’s sexual abuse. As she endures adolescence and keeps what her father does to her a secret, she develops a plan to reclaim her life. When she finds herself with seemingly unlimited access to her parents’ funds, Carlie determines that she will have her revenge. However, what she quickly learns is that no dollar amount can compensate for all that she has lost as a victim of her father’s abuse. ... (read more)

Transcendent Tone

Divided into three movements to mimic an actual concerto, this book’s poems create a representation of the human emotional experience that makes its complexities accessible. Poems like “Early in Morning in Bethesda” examine a relationship’s tenderest moments. “Little Box” embraces an experimental form that is both peaceful and chaotic. “Grief at Full Moon” captures where loss compounds one’s interactions with not only the physical world but also the emotional one, and the memory of a loved one becomes a haunting force that controls one’s being. In other poems, the sanctity of nature becomes a healing, cleansing entity, while “the first grace of snow” offers a turning point in the speaker’s grief cycle. Fueling the musicality inherent in these poems are the experimental structures of lines and stanzas that form a concerto unlike any other. ... (read more)

Pandemic Struggles

In 2020, any plans for summertime fun have seemed to come to a complete halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Young Emma dreads that thought, even as she loves spending time with her grandmother, who encourages her to enjoy the wonders of a pond nearby. While there, Emma spots a blue heron and becomes so fascinated by him that she later gushes about the encounter to her grandmother. She decides to name the blue heron “Big Blue.” The next day, she brings out a fishing pole and begins catching fish that she shares with Big Blue. This begins a relationship between the two that is built up throughout the summer. Emma has a wonderful time with her new friend, and even after going home, she continues to think about him. Eventually, she discovers that Big Blue comes to the pond every year in the spring so the friends can continue to enjoy each other’s company. ... (read more)

Within this poetry collection, Australian writer Rodden has arranged forty-one contemporary poems reflecting both urban and rural experiences. Within the first selection, the poem’s speaker is driven to “make for the trees,” an attempt to avoid indoor offices where everyone else seems to be. There arise suddenly throughout these poems vivacious, invigorating lines, such as “In the library I try and try / to cram in all the poets and storytellers ….” Other poems tell of the writer’s experiences working among crews fighting bushfires in the wild. And some selections—such as the slightly eccentric, dry-humored “dead chicken-meat day”—paint a rather zany picture in which “the sign says / two skinned chickens for 6 dollars” as the speaker finds herself panting past KFC en route to work. In “The Loaded Dog,” a rustic pub sporting “Depression swaggy” photographs of “romantic gold miners / in classic beards” offers Devil’s Choice beer—with raspberries. ... (read more)

Award-Winning

The two authors—one, a retired physician, the other, a professional chef—have developed a compilation of meals and exercises to regulate blood sugar and promote health overall. Poothullil has written extensively that the cause and exacerbation of complications from type 2 diabetes is glucose from the ingestion of too much food from grains. He maintains that type 2 may be cured by greatly reducing the intake of grains and following practices that the author has devised based on his twenty-five years of research in and observation of type 2 diabetes. Chef Cackowski has created appropriate recipes for meals and snacks. The philosophy of eating includes permitting one's body to determine what it needs nutritionally and to choose foods that contain the appropriate nutrients to answer those needs. Low-impact exercises for relaxation and circulation include deep breathing and toe-tapping. ... (read more)

Set in Chicago, this story is a Cinderella meets Pride and Prejudice romance. Orphan Genevieve Davidsley is sent on a path to become a nurse in a convent. However, when she is kicked out due to her penchant for running, she has no choice but to return to abusive aunts who seem determined to make her life a living hell. A chance encounter while running with the family dog leads to a collision that alters the trajectory of her fortunes. ... (read more)

Fascinating Figure

Though much has been written and recorded about the Hollywood actors who helped make the motion picture industry what it is today, less is known about the artistic contributions of other countries, particularly in the West. For China, one of the most breathtaking yet tragic figures is that of Ruan Lingyu, a dramatic actress of the silent film era who seemed capable of portraying the full scale of feelings effortlessly, thanks in part to her challenging upbringing. Though her performances drew significant acclaim and attention, her life did not become any simpler or easier for her to bear with. That life and her career were cut short at the early age of twenty-four when she committed suicide. Her memorable roles, obvious ability, and tragic downfall made her a legend in early Chinese cinema. ... (read more)

Ruthless People

With a prologue that opens up with a deluge of insightful facts about Joseph Stalin, Mefford sets the tone early for what is to come: a narrative rooted in suspense and lore, one that is so consumed by the chaos and death that Stalin unleashed on his own people that its ripple effects are felt all the way to America, where the story is set. When he was at the height of his powers, Stalin’s mantra was that death was the solution to all problems. Yet in this work, it is the aura of mystery that his death is shrouded in that becomes the backdrop of the plot. ... (read more)

Patriot'ing

Born at the American military hospital in Linz, Austria, in 1948, Lowe’s early childhood was spent in Braunau. His father was employed with the American government, and Lowe spent a lot of days surrounded by both local children and the children of American and international servicemen. Braunau was somewhat infamous as it was the birthplace and childhood home of Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany shattered the lives and homes of many of Lowe’s Jewish relatives leading up to and during WWII. As a child and young man, Lowe was a constant witness to the destroyed cities and broken, despondent families trying to reconstruct lives after the war’s destruction. ... (read more)

Children Thinking

Most children adore a good animal story. This one will likely be fought over if there is only one copy on the home, school, or public library shelf. This true tale of a rescued baby otter shares concepts of kindness, hope, healing, and the life cycle. ... (read more)

Dichotomy of Tone

Jill, a young woman full of curiosity and chutzpah, is a graduate student from Princeton who is visiting India to study the local gypsies. She has close contact with Venkie, a great friend of her father. Strange occurrences soon take place. Someone ransacks their apartment, planting a stink bomb. It happens again when they move. Jill learns that Venkie is not only a scholar but has also worked for years in the intelligence agency. Venkie’s former-friend-turned-enemy. Kebab, has links to the Taliban and is threatening to unleash a large, weaponized stink bomb on India if Venkie doesn’t meet him within a certain time using only land travel. Jill is fascinated with the story and recruits two of her gypsy contacts to accompany them on their journey to stop Kebab. ... (read more)

Daily Trials

While the book begins with the murder of Professor Johnny Wharton, the murder itself is almost superfluous to this brilliantly written novel of intrigue that is primarily set in the mid-1980s. It explores the lives of five women. Four of the women are connected to Wharton, while the fifth becomes an integral part of the book later in the story. These four women include the following: Wharton's wife, Liz, who is an accountant and who volunteers at a dog rescue; their estranged and troubled daughter, Jenny; his grad student Jane (with whom he’s having an affair); and his closeted lesbian coworker, Maddie, who he holds in disdain, and who is the lover of Roz, the fifth woman. The book takes readers through the lives of these women, from the joy and beauty of existence to the trials and tribulations of daily life. ... (read more)

In the opening pages of this novel, what commences with a charade aboard a cruise ship where neither person is who they claim to be culminates with the ruthless murder of a prolific climate scientist. The names Ingrid Halverson and Mark O’Mara, while both aliases, set the stakes quite high for what is to come. Nothing is off limits, secrets abound, and yet there is an Orwellian Big Brother-type presence that seems to have eyes on all the happenings, however discreet. ... (read more)

Working Character

On the surface, Heidari’s children’s book is incredibly sweet and heartwarming, a feel-good story in every way. However, probing further reveals that it is much more than that. Heidari’s work is a crafty and creative educational piece that is both entertaining and a tailor-made way to help young minds understand the concept of time. ... (read more)

A Pastor Emerges

Author and pastor Garcia has created a memoir of a boy gone bad melded with the revelations of a young man searching for life’s higher meaning. He is both. His tale begins when he is in solitary confinement in prison, punishment for participation in his street gang’s attack on a law officer. He bears the nickname “Tony Roam,” given to him by his gang mates to denote his apparent inability to escape his life of crime and poverty. What can he do in this depressing atmosphere? He pulls up memories from his childhood as the son of a loving, hardworking Puerto Rican mother and his early upbringing in an urban New Jersey slum. He recalls hearing as a small child that his beloved father was dead, with no details given by his grief-stricken mother. ... (read more)

Enduring Family

Paul Davidson relives the nightmare every night in his mind. The trauma of his son Ryan’s final moments on earth plays on a loop. The consumption of alcohol and drugs only postpones the inevitable nightly event. The abduction and murder of Ryan was a tragedy that tore a hole through the hearts of Paul and his wife, Ellen. Since then, Paul has become consumed with rage, a man waiting to be triggered. His brother Joe is concerned with Paul’s downward spiral, his emotional descent on display for all to see. Joe wants to reach out to his brother but doesn’t know how to approach him. Soon, a third party reaches out to Paul with an offer of revenge that may be too good to refuse. Paul may have found an outlet for his fury. ... (read more)

Depravity Afoot

A riveting prologue introduces this action-packed saga of money, corruption, kidnapping, and the search for family. When beautiful Ursula escapes the clutches of her criminal husband and father-in-law, she does not anticipate that Molly, one of her twins, will be torn from her side. A long journey ensues to reclaim what is hers, involving international crooks, depravity, deception, and murder. ... (read more)

Impending Danger

Smithson, a dangerous criminal, kills a fellow associate named Biggs. He does not want the murder to be traced back to him. Unfortunately for him, Lauren Hull unknowingly has incriminating evidence in her camera that can send Smithson to prison. Smithson feels he has to retrieve the camera and the SD card because, for obvious reasons, he does not want it to be posted on a social media website or seen by the authorities. He does some research on Paul and Lauren Hull and finds out that Paul is retired from the Air Force. One day, Smithson breaks into the Hull's home when no one is there. He searches everywhere for the camera but does not find it. Now, he must devise a plan to locate the camera before law enforcement gets ahold of it. ... (read more)

Imagine being a fly on the wall in the brain of a cold-blooded murderer. What prompts someone to kill? What catalyst led them down that path? What was their story? In Cope’s crime narrative, there is less glorification of the mobster life and more character construction. Using the first-person point-of-view of the main character, Joey, the novel gives audiences a direct seat into the mind of a killer.... (read more)

Friendship & Responsibility

Meier’s debut work is an endearing tale inspired by her granddaughter Ellie. It is the story of a gray kitten named Alexander, whose white eye patch and big ears set him apart from other kittens. Alexander and his mother, brother, and sister live on a farm owned by Mr. and Mrs. Fremont, a kind older couple. But when the Fremonts relocate, they only take the kittens’ mother with them. Alexander and his siblings are taken to a shelter to be cared for until they find new homes. ... (read more)

Kind-Hearted Soul

Young Emmeline dreams of becoming a veterinarian or a biologist in the future. She is inspired by her father, who works as a naturalist and travels all over the world. When she convinces him to let her meet up with him on an expedition to the Falkland Islands, Emmeline travels on the Maria Christina , where she becomes friends with a crew member’s son named Demetrio. Disaster strikes when the boat comes under attack and sinks, leaving Emmeline alone when she washes up in the strange land of Pletonia. But she soon makes friends with many of its inhabitants, learning it is natural for them to get reincarnated as various animals. Further, during her journey to visit its rulers, Emmeline discovers that she has personal ties to this fantastical land. However, Pletonia comes under attack by the exiled Valdrimos Pish, who unleashes creatures that kill and stop the reincarnation process. Emmeline and her new friends must work together to find solutions to the crisis. ... (read more)

Intuition Connection

This book begins with an introduction to intuition, the author’s own process, and the development of this book through manifesting her own intuition. It examines definitions of terms that are used throughout the book, including spiritual terms. The work explores the challenges one may have in looking at intuition. It looks at time-space reality, letting go of the need to control outcomes, allowing change to happen, discernment, relaxation, and the law of attraction. It examines the problems of book learning to the detriment of utilizing one’s inner guidance and ways to listen to one’s intuitive guidance. Looking at destructive beliefs vs. unconditional love is seen as a way of reframing and focusing on one’s soul, as intuition can be viewed as unconditional love. The text also explores how understanding who we have a vibrational match with is a valuable component in understanding our relationships with others, as is shifting our “bad” energy to more positive energy. ... (read more)

Bedtime Stories

This is a joyful children's fairytale about a mythical creature named Fiokla who lives in an Amanita mushroom. At the beginning of the story, Fiokla lives with her pet caterpillar, Varya. Inspired by the size of her home, Fiokla decides to open it up to guests of all types. After two little blue alien creatures referred to as "fu-fus" move in, Fiokla welcomes a hamster and a mouse. ... (read more)

It's common to have investment fears about buying into the stock market. After all, life is complicated enough. But Demmert is extremely optimistic about investing in stocks and has the numbers to back it up. He explains that even given the higher risk and troughs in the market, stocks historically give the best return on your money. ... (read more)

Sculpted Art

Everyone’s got a story, though many look a lot less like your average fantasy story or hard-boiled crime drama. For many of us, it’s the pain of loneliness, adapting to difficult situations, or moments of elation at personal victories dashed down by the smallest of inconveniences or unfortunate turns. Like events in the life of an average person, these stories are not tales of dashing heroism and sacrifice but accounts of people trying to find normalcy in routine after a divorce, indulging in their hobbies, and looking for work. These are the kinds of stories that get shared around Sunday brunch or over coffee, not to brag or embellish, but because we need others to recognize the work of survival, whether it becomes painful or a point of pride. ... (read more)

New Perspective

Poothullil emphasizes that his book does not address type 1 (juvenile-onset) diabetes but the type that usually occurs in older humans—although it may occur in children, as well. The main dietary culprits are grains: wheat, rice, potatoes, rye, etc. The way to improve overall health and significantly reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes is to adopt the doctor's guidance to changes in diet and attitudes about eating. ... (read more)

Classroom Tool

This book sets out to teach young children the alphabet. Each letter comes with a photograph, often associated with an animal, a treat, a scenic location, or something else fun to give kids a visual representation. Small rhymes accompany each letter and picture, which flow together into a song. The title page also includes a link to the full song for families to sing together, which provides yet another way to help children remember the contents. After the main content in the book, a stylized version of the alphabet appears where animals are solely used to represent each letter. Through the song and some additional lyrics, children are encouraged to always be curious and spend their time learning more about the world. Instilling a love for learning in children is important. ... (read more)

Empowering & Magnificent

One of the primary roles of a parent or grandparent is to summarize all of the hard lessons and important truths learned over a life well lived and pass them down to the next generation(s). This book is written for the author’s own family, but as the lessons contained within are universal, he is sharing his insights and reflections with any who are willing to sit at the metaphorical fire with him and have a conversation. Topics range from managing one’s finances responsibly to taking life at a slower pace and learning to appreciate the process of doing as much as the potential result. Each lesson is told with a mixture of directly addressing the subject and sharing various stories and anecdotes that help to fully expand on thinking about the issue from as many angles as possible. ... (read more)

Extraordinary Woman

The year was 1893, and a young woman was wending her way through the streets of New York City for the first time. A determination to help provide for her family drove Rose O’Neill to approach various publishing companies to sell her sketches. She had a talent for drawing beautiful images on paper and believed they could generate profits for the periodicals they were placed in. Her talent and her moxie convinced some publishers to buy various drawings from her portfolio, and her ascent to prominence began. The stubborn male chauvinism of the times initially kept her identity camouflaged, but eventually, she revealed herself to the world, and people took notice. Her creation of the Kewpies would garner her more attention and money, but she maintained an altruistic nature that funneled her money to family, friends, and causes. ... (read more)

Every writer harbors a hidden fear that the ability to write may escape them someday. And what is a writer who cannot write? This is the central predicament that Leon explores in this slim thriller, where a bestselling writer grapples with the inexplicable loss of creativity. Fallen into despair, the forlorn, nameless writer wanders the city in gloomy contemplation of his plight. It is soon revealed there is a coffee shop table with the word W-R-I-T-E etched into it that offers hope. It is at this table where the writer can write again, due to a shadowy figure who prompts a kind of deal with the devil. But what seems like salvation is really a trap, and the writer must navigate this harrowing, dreamlike existence. After a chance encounter with another young, struggling writer and a moment of spiritual awakening, the narrator finds the strength to regain control of his creativity. This determination sets in motion an ultimate battle of survival between man and demon. ... (read more)

Many Lessons

In this delightfully imaginative tale, Luke and his friends have an adventurous day with dinosaurs. The book shows young readers how much fun education can be as the children learn new vocabulary and interesting dinosaur facts while having the “best-osaurus” day ever. ... (read more)

Seeking Justice

C.W. Blakenship and his wife, Jessie, attend the annual picnic at the Hazel Lake Fire Department. They are having a good time with their friends and colleagues until gunshots ruin everything. Everybody takes cover, unable to figure out from where the gunshots originate. It is a total disaster and one in which the shooters manage to get away. This awful event results in three dead and thirty injured. Blakenship is of the CBI, so he ends up investigating the mass shooting. Understandably, he takes this case very personally. Although he and his friends with the sheriff's department, are trying to find the perpetrators, so far they mainly know that the assailants used assault rifles. As Blakenship digs deeper into the case, it becomes more complex than it originally looks like. ... (read more)

Controversy Continues

A hundred years from now, the Great Pandemic has ravaged Earth’s population, and climate changes have rendered much of the planet’s surface uninhabitable. The majority of survivors have been evacuated to underground shelters in the Moon Colony. Those who refused relocation are presumed to have perished. High-ranking officials in the Moon Colony’s governing body, the Assembly, are given access to Earth’s retreat locations no longer in the quarantine zones. ... (read more)

Historic Helper

Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was a teenage French aristocrat and military officer inspired by the American colonies’ fight for liberty. American diplomat to France Silas Deane gave Lafayette a commission as a Yankee major general. Despite his family's objections and the persuasive tactics of England’s King George, Lafayette remained dedicated to the cause of American independence. He bought a ship in secret, sneaked aboard, and sailed to the American colonies. ... (read more)

Set against the backdrop of Vladimir Putin’s grab for power in Russia and a rash of global terrorist attacks in the late twentieth century, the novel delves into the complex world of covert counterterrorism. At the age of six, Maxym (Max) Mikhailovich Ivanov suffers an unbearable loss when his parents are killed and ten-year-old sister brutally raped and murdered by religious extremists. Escaping the cruel fate of his family, Max hides in a cupboard. He is rescued by the Russian army after being discovered by a Russian soldier, Leonid. The desire for revenge ignites in young Max after seeing the brutalized bodies of his family. Vowing to his rescuers to kill as many of these terrorists as possible, Max, at the young age of six, begins with those who murdered his family. Praised for his execution of the captured terrorists, Max is admired by the soldiers and given a home with Leonid. ... (read more)

Remarkable Woman

This is the inspirational testimony of the author’s deliverance from twenty-five years of substance abuse and the amazing feats she has accomplished since. Although a preacher’s kid and raised in the church, sixty-eight-year-old Anding found herself at rock bottom—addicted to crack cocaine, devoid of all self-esteem, and estranged from family and friends. Her last chance came in the form of a free ninety-day drug rehabilitation program that encouraged participants to fall in love with Jesus. In the program she affectionately nicknamed “God’s repair shop,” she found healing and forgiveness for a past littered with adultery, promiscuity, deception, domestic violence, failed marriages, drugs, and political scandal. ... (read more)

Wealth of Scripture

This is one woman’s testimony of faith, endurance, and spiritual growth. At the tender age of ten, Hannah made a confession of faith and accepted Jesus Christ as her personal lord and savior. Afraid to be viewed as different by her peers, Hannah kept her newfound faith secret. Early on, she was called to be a missionary nurse, but fear and low self-confidence held her back. Instead of heeding the Holy Spirit’s call on her life, Hannah rebelled, ran away from God, and married a nonbeliever. ... (read more)

Author Ring has created a colorful, readable tale of the noted female disciple of Jesus, Mary Magdalene. Presented in simple, vivid prose with powerful and evocative pictures on each page, she recounts the early years of Jesus’ life, including his baptism by his cousin John. The incident is depicted with the two men standing in the Jordan River as a pure white dove hovers overhead. Jesus then began to gather what would become his group of twelve disciples. His miracles and preaching also attracted many women, with Mary Magdalene becoming the most prominent in biblical lore. ... (read more)

Auto Enthusiast

In this anthology of forty-one short stories and nine poems, one enters a realm where a love for automobiles abounds. In these stories, readers discover automobiles that change and transform lives as well as vehicles with which their owners share a range of emotional attachments. Stories like “Final Frederic” capture the tragedy some vehicles bestow on others. Others, such as “Built to Last,” rely on personification and give the automobiles they feature human emotion. The anthology’s poems also contribute greatly to the collection. Poems like “69 Firebird Convertible” celebrate the freedom and nostalgia vehicles offer their owners. “Chester and the Model T” is a clever narrative poem uplifting the simpler times when vehicles were not synonymous with American transportation, and horses were still the main transportation method for many families. ... (read more)

Emotional Moments

In this third book in Collins’ Love That Does Not Die trilogy, readers are returned to Larissa in a state of survivor’s guilt. Her family is growing, and new opportunities to love and care for her reunited children and grandchildren fill her with hope. However, the pain of losing her daughter and not wanting to be overbearing and chase her son Everett away has her walking on eggshells. Set amidst the pandemic of 2020, a series of events unfolds that leads to Larissa taking care of her granddaughter Beth while Everett is away in Europe on business and then forced to stay there during lockdown. More connections from a musician to Everett’s biological father begin to appear in surprising and unexpected places as Larissa’s family continues to thrive despite past and present hardship, tragedy, and loss. ... (read more)

Turbulent Times

In Brantner’s narrative, a chance encounter between a nomadic Gypsy community and an injured man, Ernest Beebe, sets the tone for the theme of boundless compassion and empathy that is prevalent throughout the novel. Though many see the gypsies as primitive, they ensure that Ernest honors his commitments when he impregnates Ercyline. While he himself is morally corrupt in nearly every way, the one good thing he does is give birth to Mary Alice, whose journey throughout life becomes a testament to living a life of faith and resilience. ... (read more)

Connections

Paying homage to his late wife, Dr. Pamela Samms, the author takes inspiration from her four decades as a marriage educator and his own extensive experience in pastoral marriage and family counseling to deliver a guide to building fundamentally strong marital relationships while weaving in biblical principles that can be applied to practical, day-to-day experiences. In creating paradigms that are both personal and easily relatable, Samms essentially takes the science out of marriage so couples can internalize and then execute upon the models of a rock-solid relationship foundation. ... (read more)

Major Events

When considering the potential for alien visitation or UFO sightings, many people would lump these phenomena into either fictional or occult status. Yet in this nonfictional, measured account of his own personal experiences, the author of this book reveals how his encounter with an unidentified flying object mysteriously pushed him from a secular life to one of faith. Studying scripture with intense focus, he not only came to understand many of the events in the Bible to have ties to extraterrestrial experiences but also had surprising realizations about the feminine nature of the Holy Spirit and a solution for Jesus’s feeding of the masses with only scant amounts of both fish and loaves of bread. Taking passages from Genesis all the way to Revelation and then combining them with a modern understanding of the typical UFO sighting, things that seemed to be lacking context or explanation suddenly seemed clearer to the author. ... (read more)

Faith Within

Staff Sergeant Dan Mastik is returning home, wounded and weary, yet resolute in his love and faith in God’s plan for him. The narrative opens up with a chilling scene. Dan may be coming home, but the four flag-draped coffins of his fallen fellow soldiers leave him torn. Dan’s introspective nature allows audiences to naturally enter his mind and experience his feelings in their most raw state. Additionally, from the very beginning of the novel, civilian audiences are made privy to a snapshot of how the right equipment, especially aircraft, makes all the difference. Yet there is an inherent dichotomy to the machinery. The C-17, for instance, is utilized as a pivotal tool for medical units. Although it is designed as a tool to take lives, it also becomes instrumental in life-saving measures. ... (read more)

Selena's mother controlled much of her life while grooming her to be the perfect fashion model, but now Selena feels she has finally walked away from living under someone’s dominance. Selena is smitten when she falls for Victor LaRoche. Their relationship is both loving and passionate. However, it only takes a short time for cracks to appear in Victor’s facade. The inconsistencies in his behavior morph into a daily barrage of emotional and physical abuse after Selena and Victor wed. Selena knows she needs to escape and travel a great distance to be free of her husband’s control. She believes she has found liberation in the small city of Andersonville, Georgia, along with a shot at normalcy. Unfortunately, chaos soon re-enters Selena’s life, and bodies start to fall. Selena will need to figure out Victor’s next move before it's too late. ... (read more)

The Creative Mind

This book is an exploration of different views regarding what is commonly referred to as “objectivity.” It is influenced by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, from whom the author has derived the concept of “flux” or constancy of change alone as “reality.” This is combined with a neo-Kantian or, by Nova’s own interesting account, the lesser-known logician George Berkeley, who introduced the concept of the “thing in itself,” for which both he and Kant asserted was impossible for humans to perceive or know. ... (read more)

Sage is the head of a group of intellectuals from various disciplines who developed artificial and crystal-powered bots that saved the earth from the ecological crisis humans created. It was a rogue and rebellious move that got her into trouble, but the end results worked. Not only have her bots helped heal the earth and remove most diseases, but their use has also led to the unexpected development of psychic abilities in some people and animals. Now, her teenage twins, Cali and Kalen, along with their friends, are embracing their rebel sides as they set out to expose the dangers of their mother’s institute's newest work. The EthosBot is attempting to heal mental health issues. However, there are individual side effects and area-wide occurrences which pose a real threat. While navigating this new danger, the teens also deal with first loves, betrayal, and terrorists. ... (read more)

Living Women's History

In Steenkamp’s latest nonfiction work, the author looks at twenty-five women who changed the world by taking risks. The book is divided into three parts. The first part looks at women in war, such as popular figures like Joan of Arc in the Hundred Years’ War, Clara Barton tending the wounded in the American Civil War, and lesser-known figures such as World War II spy Virginia Hall and eighth-century African Queen Al-Kahina. The book's second part examines women who made great strides in politics, while the last part looks at women who were human rights activists. ... (read more)

Color & Tale

Ford’s work holds true to the spirit of children’s books, personifying animals and imbuing them with human qualities and emotions. In this story, the main character, an unnamed pup, and Todley, his German shepherd best friend, have planned an epic fishing outing. The surreal autumn weather, as depicted poignantly in the illustrations, certainly is a harbinger of a successful afternoon and a bonding time. However, the story takes a turn when Tiger, the tomcat, and Thumpee, the elephant, join the party, leaving the main character in a sour mood, yearning to have alone time with his best friend. ... (read more)

A Modern Look

An inspiration to believers and nonbelievers alike, the biblical story of David is central to trekking the pathway to success while navigating life’s highs and lows. As Lea makes clear, this work does not claim to be a self-help guide. On the contrary, it shows how David is an archetype of the successful individual and how there are many elements that resonate with society in their journey. ... (read more)

Trauma is often a catalyst for finding one’s way to faith and the Lord. However, in Cannata’s work, the abuse she experienced as a child is so deeply repressed that it creates a disconnect between the mind and body, creating an identity dissonance that can leave an individual feeling lost as they meander through life. In this work, the author’s trials and tribulations are brought to the forefront. More specifically, Cannata makes astute observations regarding the difference between a visible physical injury and invisible, mental scarring. Just because one can’t see pain does not mean it doesn’t exist. As she works through this convoluted web of conformity to carve her path toward thriving in God’s Kingdom, audiences learn about therapies like EDMR and concepts like brainspotting, where the visual field is instrumental in processing trauma. ... (read more)

God's Creation

To heal is a process that ranges from the spectrum of one’s own choices to prayer itself. In an effort to provide a platform to better understand the self, Grant creates a three-pronged approach to her work: a section on choices goes deeply into personal introspection, which segues into a segment on changes, followed subsequently by a portion on verse. This unique structure represents the cycle of healing, of change agents that can take a mere ripple and transform it into a full-fledged tsunami of change through scripture. From letting go of one’s ego to creating change brick by brick, the focus of the work is on the simplification of life to create an internal homeostasis that is focused on self-evaluation and humility. Each idea that Grant dissects in this work ultimately serves to derive a sense of appreciation and provide the tools to build a strong foundation. ... (read more)

Better Health

Tomen reviews 102 of the most common nootropic supplements that naturally treat ADHD, anxiety, depression, brain fog, and many other mental and emotional disorders, along with those that boost learning and memory retention. The author struggled with remaining focused on the job and was subsequently diagnosed with adult ADD/ADHD and PTSD. Originally prescribed Ritalin, he found that eventually, the drug didn’t work as well over time. He researched the matter and found that L-tyrosine and two other supplements boosted dopamine levels in his brain, an essential component of mood maintenance and focus. As a result, his Ritalin began to work again. Eventually, Tomen reached another plateau when he became ill with brain fog and fatigue, the symptoms of hypothyroidism. ... (read more)

Nature Connection

A tiny dandelion seed attaches itself to the sleeve of a little girl. The child, out walking with her beloved grandmother, observes, "A gentle wind blows and dances with the crows," personifying the breeze poetically. The seed, clinging to her sleeve, even seems to tell a story—that of grit and a rolling stone all in one. The love between the main character and her grandmother as they share a hug on a park bench is a perfect children's scene, complete with a bit of rhyme: "They share a big hug beside a ladybug...." The grandmother-granddaughter outing is heartwarming and a wonderful example, without lecturing or pedantic lessons, about how one should feel about their elders. ... (read more)

Precise Detail

The Bible describes in great detail the collapse of powerful empires that strayed from God’s commandments and blessings, establishing a pattern that can be measured and observed. Using this tendency, the same events can be applied to modern global superpowers, namely the United States. The author of this book lays out the timelines of Israel’s fall in biblical times and compares it to recent American history to ask the question of whether current events are meant as a warning to be heeded before the time of the Tribulation draws nearer and becomes unavoidable. Informed by the book's use of scripture, visual aids, and recent headlines as data points, it falls to the reader of this observation to decide for themselves if this is a mere coincidence or a sign of things to come in the following years. ... (read more)

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You may have heard about books that are letters to God, but what about books that are letters to the devil? In a non-creepy-cult-y-horror-y way, I mean. If you can't think of an example, Ananda Lima's...

Beyond the Book

The Devil Personified: How He Shapeshifts in Literature

The Hebrew word 'Satan' can be translated as 'adversary,' or 'accuser,' so in his nomenclature, he wasn't exactly set up for success. Satan, or the devil, is a figure who has origins in Abrahamic ...

The Great Abolitionist

A decade before Confederate troops fired upon Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, initiating the Civil War, Charles Sumner entered the United States Senate. A political career had never been an ambition...

Is Separate Equal? The Sarah Roberts Case

At the age of four, when Sarah Roberts was ready for school, her father Benjamin was insistent that she have the best education. It was the late 1840s in Boston. Benjamin Roberts had been ...

One of Our Kind

When Jasmyn Williams and her husband King move with their young son Kamau from an apartment in the diverse neighborhood of Mid City Los Angeles to Liberty, an exclusive suburb outside the city, they ...

Black Utopias

As Jasmyn Williams and her husband King arrive in the fictional Black utopian suburb of Liberty, California in Nicola Yoon's One of Our Kind, Jasmyn reminds her husband 'that Black utopias ha[ve] been...

Enlightenment

Following two friends three decades apart in age who hail from the Bethesda Church Baptist community in Aldleigh, Essex, Sarah Perry's Enlightenment opens with the older: bookish, middle-aged writer ...

A Shooting Star of American Astronomy: Maria Mitchell

The central mystery of Sarah Perry's Enlightenment concerns an astronomer, Maria Văduva, and Thomas's uncovering of her hidden scientific contributions. Many real-life historical women ...

The cover image of Kellie Carter Jackson's We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance is designed to provoke a response. A Black woman in an ankle-length white ruffly dress with dreadlocks ...

Desegregation Activist Daisy Bates

In We Refuse, Kellie Carter Jackson recalls the courageous and tireless efforts of civil rights activist Daisy Bates and her husband, L.C., to integrate schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Bates...

In the first few pages of K-Ming Chang's bizarre yet engrossing novella Cecilia , Seven, the repressed chiropractor's assistant who serves as our narrator, discusses the respective urine streams of the...

The Symbolism of Urine

From the first pages of K-Ming Chang's novella Cecilia, narrator Seven is preoccupied with urine. She describes overhearing the strong flow of a chiropractor's urine in the toilet, and remarks upon ...

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6 of the Best Ways to Get Paid to Read Books

Arvyn Cerézo

Arvyn Cerézo is an arts and culture writer/reporter with bylines in Book Riot , Publishers Weekly , South China Morning Post , PhilSTAR Life , the Asian Review of Books , and other publications. You can find them on arvyncerezo.com and @ArvynCerezo on Twitter.

View All posts by Arvyn Cerézo

It’s true that reading books is beneficial in so many ways, including improving our mental health . But there’s an unpopular benefit that reading books can also provide: money. Indeed, reading can become an income stream, turning passion into profit. Ever wondered how to get paid to read books?

While there are several, broad avenues to do that — such as getting a job in the publishing industry , becoming a book editor or proofreader , narrating an audiobook , developing ebooks for a living, or becoming an audiobook proof listener — I’d narrow in on the easiest route, something that could be done right away: book reviewing.

I’m a writer and journalist regularly reviewing books for Publishers Weekly , and I’ve been doing this for four years now. Although the pay isn’t that great, it helps me hone my writing and reviewing skills. It also helps me build connections within the publishing industry. But a gig such as this might as well be a full-time job itself; reading a book for review purposes is a different thing from reviewing a book for leisure. There’s a lot of things to consider, and it might not seem that enjoyable at it appears.

But if you’re interested to become a book reviewer and get paid to read books along the way, I have a list of six ways for you to try below. The list includes writing for traditional magazines and publications that are proven to pay freelancers after a published review. Maybe after trying these gigs out, you might get interested in working in publishing. So, to test the waters, a book reviewing side hustle might be ideal.

Here’s how to get paid to read books through reviewing gigs:

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Writing Book Reviews for Publishers Weekly

PW , the industry magazine, pays $25 per review that runs about 180–200 words. You can choose how many books you can review in a month. In my case, I recently switched to one book per three weeks because of my schedule. But before, I used to do two books a month. In addition to that, you can decline a book if you don’t feel like it, but I’m not sure if it’s the case with every editor.

There are also opportunities for other kinds of writing, such as a Q&A and an author profile, which you can pitch to your editor.

Publishers Weekly accepts reviewer applications occasionally. All you have to do is send a CV and a sample review à la PW . They don’t assign a byline, however.

Writing Book Reviews for Kirkus Reviews

This magazine also accepts applications for freelance reviewers . However, it won’t be for traditionally published books, unlike with PW . Instead, reviewers would be working on self-published books for the indie section of the magazine called Kirkus Indie.

The review runs about 350 words and is due two weeks after the book is assigned. They pay $50, but it could go upwards to $75 if they see some great writing. For picture books, they pay $40 for a review of 250 words. As with PW , they don’t give a byline.

“Reviewing for Kirkus Indie was fun. I got sent a steady stream of books to recommend, usually 1–2 per month,” shares Sarah S. Davis, former Kirkus Indie reviewer and a Book Riot contributor. “I did have an opportunity when I first started to list what genres were my preferred genres to recommend. You don’t get to choose which book you get, but they will often give you a sub-genre or category that you connect well with. For example, for me that was books about health, psychology, and spirituality. My friend who reviewed for Kirkus, however, ‘specialized’ in geotechnical thrillers.”

To be considered, submit a sample review in the style of Kirkus.

Reviewing for Booklist

Booklist is a magazine catered toward librarians. They also occasionally publish reviews in their print and online versions. Just like the magazines aforementioned, Booklist is also constantly looking for reviewers.

For a word count of 150–175, the pay is a meager $15. If you reject a book, you get $5. Nonetheless, the best thing here is that the reviews are signed. That means you get to have a byline attached to the review, whether in print or online. In some instances, however, the payment could be delayed because the review is scheduled for a later issue. But once it gets published, you get to be paid.

Here’s how to apply as a Booklist reviewer . Once accepted, you’d become an apprentice reviewer.

Writing Audiobook Reviews for AudioFile Magazine

AudioFile is a magazine that regularly reviews audiobooks. If you’re an avid audiobook listener and feel like recommending best new titles, then this is for you.

AudioFile assigns a couple audiobooks in a month, and you have to write a review of about a hundred words. They pay $10 apiece, which is disbursed twice a year. Because of this payment scheme, it would take a long while to receive the payment. Still, you have the freedom to choose the genre of audiobook you want to review, such as young adult, fantasy, classics, literary fiction, etc. In the review that appears in print and online versions, you get to have initials as your byline, but you don’t get to have your name printed in full.

Reviewing an audiobook, however, is an altogether different realm. Make sure to read the magazine to get familiarized with the style.

Writing Book Reviews for Online Book Club

This is a forum that publishes book reviews, and they always accept reviewers. Since it’s a forum — not a magazine or a publication — you get to choose what appears as your byline. Pay varies per book, but it usually ranges from $5–60 per review according to their website.

“Reviewing books for the Online Book Club was a good experience because I got to read books and give my opinion about them, which I enjoyed,” says Yolimari Garcia, a former reviewer. “You can choose which books you want to review from a list. However, you can only pick the books with higher payments if you have a high reviewer score. I reached the highest level, which was six. A level-six reviewer is allowed to be an editor, which I was too.”

According to Garcia, the reviewers receive feedback from the editors, who also assign ratings based on the Review Team Guidelines. The objective is for the high-quality reviews to receive a high score and those with low quality to receive a low score. Some reviews cannot be published because it is clear that the writer did not read the book or adhere to the rules, according to Garcia.

“You can review as many books from the list as you can in a month as long as you follow the Review Team Guidelines and meet the deadlines…The payment is lower if you are a low-level reviewer and higher if you are a high-level reviewer,” she adds. As with other publications that publish book reviews, Garcia says that “don’t expect to make a salary” and “see it as a hobby, a side gig, or a medium for gaining experience writing professional book reviews .”

Here’s how to apply as a reviewer for Online Book Club .

Pitching Directly to Magazines and Publications

This is the recommended option if you’ve already gained an experience writing professional book reviews or if you have a stellar writing portfolio. Many publications allow unsolicited pitches to editors; The New York Times , The Guardian , and other major outlets may accept such pitches.

The rate is significantly higher, reaching as high as $800 for a 1,000-word review . However, since this is the high-paying path, it’s also the most difficult one. It takes a lot of effort to craft the perfect pitch to an editor, and sending the pitch doesn’t even guarantee an assignment. It might depend on the quality of the pitch, the publication’s editorial calendar, the strength of the writing portfolio, relevance of the book, etc. To get paid to read books in this manner, one must already be an established literary critic. Think of it as the be-all and end-all of reviewing.

For more tips on how to pitch an article to a major publication, here’s a guide .

There are several ways to get paid to read books, but book reviewing seems to be the easiest path. Because of the nature of this gig, though, you might want to supplement it with other book-related jobs. Here are audiobook narrator jobs for beginners and other jobs for book lovers !

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5 New Books We Recommend This Week

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It’s Independence Day, when Americans traditionally gather to grill meat and blow things up while they celebrate the nation’s founding — but in our recommended books this week, we’re casting an eye on more recent history: Tom McGrath’s “Triumph of the Yuppies” looks back to the “greed is good” era of the 1980s and shows how it marched unimpeded to the present day, while John Ganz’s “When the Clock Broke” finds the roots of today’s culture wars and ascendant right wing in the seemingly quieter politics of the early 1990s. Also up: the biography of an influential book editor, a novel set on a small Welsh island in the 1930s, and a graphic novel that explores themes of independence and self-invention. Happy reading, and Happy Fourth. — Gregory Cowles

TRIUMPH OF THE YUPPIES: America, the Eighties, and the Creation of an Unequal Nation Tom McGrath

In this breezy history, McGrath sets out to explain why the United States suddenly fell in love with finance while inequality skyrocketed in the 1980s. He follows a series of colorful figures in their pursuit of crass materialism, including the junk bond king Michael Milken and the former yippie activist Jerry Rubin.

“Graduating from an elite college and moving to the city to try to get rich has become so common that we barely notice it. The ultimate triumph of the yuppies is that we don’t even call them yuppies anymore.”

From Jacob Goldstein’s review

Grand Central | $32

WHEN THE CLOCK BROKE: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s John Ganz

The 1990s marked the end of the Cold War and the beginning of Clintonian “triangulation,” giving the impression of a bland consensus coalescing around a political middle. But as Ganz shows, the early part of the decade was also a time of social unrest and roiling resentments. His vibrant narrative account captures an emerging “politics of despair” that would eventually benefit the far right.

“Captures the sweep of the early ’90s in all its weirdness and vainglory.... Ganz recounts all of this with a formidable command of the history. But he also has the skills of a gifted storyteller — one with excellent comedic timing, too — slipping in the most absurd and telling details.”

From Jennifer Szalai’s review

Farrar, Straus & Giroux | $30

WHALE FALL Elizabeth O’Connor

Brief but complete, blunt but exquisite, Connor’s debut is set in the fall of 1938 on an unnamed Welsh island with a population of 47, including the bright and restless 18-year-old Manod, her mysterious younger sister and her lobster fisherman father. Unsettling disruptions to the landscape include a whale corpse washed up on the beach and English ethnographers who enlist Manod’s help but woefully distort island life in their work.

“An example of precisely observed writing that makes a character’s specific existence glimmer with verisimilitude. … Understanding is hard work, O’Connor suggests, especially when we must release our preconceptions.”

From Maggie Shipstead’s review

Pantheon | $27

THE EDITOR: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America Sara B. Franklin

This essential if adulatory biography argues that Jones has been given short shrift, credited mostly as the culinary editor who championed Julia Child, but who did much more to burnish Knopf’s exalted reputation in the book business.

“Jones’s contribution to the history of regular old literature has often been minimized or outright erased. … She burnished and sustained Knopf’s reputation as the most prestigious publishing house in the country while also earning it piles of money.”

From Alexandra Jacobs’s review

Atria | $29.99

VERA BUSHWACK Sig Burwash

In this graphic novel debut, Burwash transports the reader to Nova Scotia by exploring the lives of a nonbinary protagonist named Drew and their alter-ego, Vera Bushwack (a chainsaw-wielding, chaps-wearing nonbinary hero of sorts), as they work to clear land in order to build a cabin in the woods, exploring gender, independence and several other big themes along the way.

“Burwash gives the book’s art a lovely personality. It is surprisingly plastic; sometimes their renderings of Drew and her environs are simple contours, sometimes the images are drawn from such a height that they’re almost maps.”

From Sam Thielman's graphic novels column

Drawn & Quarterly | $29.95

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July 18, 2024

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Savior Complex

July 2, 2024

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Joe Biden walking offstage after the first presidential debate at CNN studios, Atlanta, Georgia, June 27, 2024

Those who define themselves by the thing they are not eventually find themselves more and more like their imagined opposite. To be someone’s antithesis is also to be their alter ego. Watching the disintegration of Joe Biden in his CNN debate with Donald Trump, I was reminded of Hans Christian Andersen’s chilling story “The Shadow,” in which a man’s shade comes to life, gradually infiltrates his existence, takes over his entire persona, and kills him off. Biden’s shadow is Trump and we got to watch in real time as it inhabited and displaced him.

This happened at a point in the debate when Biden had already alarmed viewers with his weak, raspy voice, his looks of stricken confusion, his fragmentary or unintelligible answers, his claim that “we created 15,000 new jobs” (he meant 15 million), and his boast, which Trump pounced on with relish, that “we finally beat Medicare.” The horrifying feeling of watching a president in freefall had been firmly established when the cohost Dana Bash raised the obvious concern that both men would be well into their eighties at the end of a putative second term. Biden, a man capable of dignity and even of grace, morphed, before our eyes, into a bargain-basement Trump. The contest for the future of the American republic became two crabby old men in the clubhouse shouting “My swing is bigger than yours.”

Trump boasted that he had won two club championships. He could “hit the ball a long way” whereas Biden “can’t hit a ball fifty yards.” To any opponent who was fully present, this pitiful bragging would have been manna from heaven. Trump was inviting the one thing he cannot withstand: mockery. He had left himself wide open to a quip of the kind that would have shown Biden to be quick-witted and endeared him to viewers: “Did you win those championships at your own clubs? How do we know they weren’t rigged?”  

Instead, Biden shanked his response out of bounds, way beyond the outer limits of intelligent political debate into the mire of idiocy: “I’d be happy to have a driving contest with him. I got my handicap, which, when I was vice president, down to a six. And by the way, I told you before I’m happy to play golf if you carry your own bag. Think you can do it?” That’s a ball that will never be found again. It will always be out there, lodged in some dark hollow of American history—the final proof that Biden really has lost it.

Not only did the debate come down to this level of mutual fatuity; Trump, rather than Biden, was the first to realize that it was all too embarrassing to be endured. It was the man whose shamelessness knows no limits who grasped how mortifying it was that the past and future leaders of the free world were uttering lines like “I’ve seen your swing, I know your swing.” Trump moved to end it: “Let’s not act like children.” Even then Biden was too slow to grasp what was happening, to understand that Trump had just established himself as the adult in the room. Biden continued in playground mode: “You are a child.” It seems that he thought he was winning, that this puerile comeback was somehow a point being scored for democracy.

As in some gothic movie, the two men were switching identities. Trump had enough self-awareness to put on a little show of restraint, to demonstrate to viewers that he understood how pathetic this episode of reality TV was becoming. He may have sensed, too, that he had already delivered a knockout blow by luring Biden into his own swamp of malicious triviality and spiteful juvenility. For that crucial minute, Trump seemed vaguely presidential—and Biden, as he blundered on with the insults, seemed more than vaguely Trumpian. He needed to remember the old adage: “Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.” Biden surely knew that debating with Trump is pig-wrestling. The job is to make sure that the pig is not allowed to enjoy it and that you don’t get too soiled. Trump clearly liked it and Biden got the mud of a debased and infantile politics all over him.

This contamination was a matter of substance as well of style. Biden’s task was to differentiate himself as radically as possible from Trump. Yet he failed to stake out the clear dividing lines on crucial policy questions. On immigration, he largely capitulated to Trump’s characterization of migrants as a threat to be kept out of America. On women’s reproductive rights—arguably the single issue most likely to help the Democrats win November’s elections—he was muddled to the point of incoherence. He actually framed a vital point (that women who have been raped by family members are being denied abortions in some states) within Trump’s talking-point about alleged rapes by immigrants: “Look, there’s so many young women who have been—including a young woman who just was murdered and he [Trump] went to the funeral. The idea that she was murdered by—by—by an immigrant coming in and (inaudible) talk about that.”

This in turn allowed Trump to shift back from the area in which he is most uncomfortable (reproductive rights) to the vile trope he has been using since he launched his presidential campaign in 2015: dark-skinned immigrants as rapists. Even on a question as visceral as the consequences of rape, Biden could not make his own case without reinforcing Trump’s. By focusing so exclusively on presenting himself as not-Trump, he placed himself in a position where all he could do was react (in most cases inadequately) to his opponent’s lurid narratives. Trump was the actor; Biden the audience member heckling in ineffectual exasperation from the stalls. In such situations, the actor always wins.

Ever since Biden announced that he was running again, it was always clear that this decision would allow Trump to set the terms for the election. At a campaign event in Boston last December, Biden admitted that “If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running.” It is not that Biden does not have a story of his own to tell. The successes of his administration are real and tangible: reflating a devastated economy, making the first serious attempt in the US to address the climate crisis, improving access to medicines and childcare, reversing the long-term neglect of America’s infrastructure. It is that Biden does not have the vigor, the articulacy, or the charisma to embody that story.

Political campaigns are embodied narratives—the medium for the message is the candidate’s physical and linguistic presence. Like it or not, Trump’s looming, swaggering, domineering mien personifies his insistence that America needs a giant to stand between it and the forces that are about to destroy it. He must surely be the first presidential candidate to draw specific attention to his own body in a formal debate: “I think I’m in very good shape. I feel that I’m in as good a shape as I was twenty-five, thirty years ago.” The corporeal Trump, in his telling, is almost ageless. He has arrested the ravages of time on his own body—just as he will stop the decline and decay of the American body politic.

Biden can’t do this. His political story is not one of time arrested but of time renewed. He wants (and needs) to evoke a sense of future possibility, a rebirth of social and racial justice and a bold adaptation of the economy to meet the climate crisis. Yet his body is not in sync with this message. Unable to exemplify an idea of progress, he is forced to play Trump’s game by pretending to have stopped his own physical decline. The little running motions, the aviator sunglasses, the protesting-too-much displays of youthful energy are failed efforts to do what Trump is so good at: appearing ageless. But time will not play along. It is all too easy to look at a photograph of Biden in 2020 and compare it to his present, more withered self. 

Thus, even in this most obvious physical sense, it is Trump who has set the terms and Biden who has allowed himself to be sucked into accepting them. In 2020 the pandemic saved Biden from the consequences of this mistake. It wiped out Trump’s advantage in physical presence. Trump held in-person rallies, but this may have worked against him by sending, to unaligned voters, messages of recklessness. (One subsequent study suggested that Trump’s rallies led to seven hundred additional deaths from Covid.) Biden at first campaigned virtually, losing the excitement of a physical campaign but sending a reassuring signal of safety and responsibility. When he did start holding rallies, they were either small-scale affairs or “drive-in” events, with supporters staying in their cars, creating a peculiarly disembodied experience that made the physical contrast between himself and Trump less relevant. Biden’s actual demeanor did not matter nearly as much as it does now.

All of this helped Biden to establish himself as the anti-Trump. This was what he needed to be in 2020. Trump was the incumbent. The US had experienced almost four years of his chaos, his incompetence, his relentless egotism. Biden’s personal sorrow was consonant with the grief-stricken mood of the pandemic, and his weariness matched that of the majority in a nation that was weary of death, weary of disruption, weary of Trump. Biden’s personal appeal was not that of a savior. It was that of a survivor—he had been through so much and was still standing. It was possible to hope that the same might then be true of the country.

The great problem, and the one that now threatens to engulf American democracy, is that Biden began to think of himself as indeed a savior figure. There was, of course, a certain immediate and literal truth to this: Biden not only saved the US from a second Trump term but also saw off an attempted coup. Yet Biden’s mindset is also deeply religious, and specifically Christian. In his inaugural address, delivered just two weeks after the invasion of the Capitol on January 6, he offered to stake both his earthly body and his immortal soul on the defense of democracy. He repeated Abraham Lincoln’s words at the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863: “My whole soul is in it.” Biden echoed this commitment: “Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this.” This is not rhetoric for Biden—it is prayer.

What, though, was the “this” to which he committed his immortal essence, the part of him that is beyond the ravages of time and age? It was “Bringing America together. Uniting our people. And uniting our nation.” This may be a gallant ambition. It is also an impossible one. Biden was completely sincere in his belief that reuniting a fractured nation is more than a political program—it is a sacred duty. But it was a duty he could not possibly fulfill. America has no interest in being brought together. It is not Biden’s fault that what had been sundered could not be made whole, but it is a reality that grates on his whole nature as a politician steeped in ideas of comity and consensus.

From the wreckage of this aspiration, Biden’s sense of divine mission was rescued by Trump’s reemergence, not just as the Republican candidate-in-waiting but as the defining figure of American politics. When Biden gave his inaugural address it might have seemed reasonable to assume that Trump was over, that the grotesque efforts to overturn the results of the election had made it impossible for him ever to return to power. But Trump was undead and his malign potency again established him as the major predator in the American political jungle.

This in turn gave Biden a second chance at achieving something worthy of his eternal soul. He had saved America from Trump once—now he could do it again. He could banish Trump, and Trumpism, not for now but forever. If thoughts of eternity gather round the aging Catholic believer, this is Biden’s political equivalent of an undying achievement. In his inaugural address, he evoked the struggle of light against darkness. He sees the delivery of a final, fatal blow to Trump as the ultimate vanquishing of the American darkness.

This is noble. The difficulty is that it also endorses a kind of personal exceptionalism. Biden, because he has suffered so much pain, is deeply inclined toward the Christian message that suffering is redeemed by a self-sacrificing savior. This is where being the counterpart in the world of light to Trump’s presence in the world of darkness takes on that eerie sense of transference. For Trump, too, presents himself as a savior. He conjures the vision of an American apocalypse. In the debate he ranted about immigrants: “people are coming in and they’re killing our citizens at a level that we’ve never seen.” He used the word “killing” eleven times. The fascistic vision of eternal ethnic war is now fully integrated into Trump’s rhetoric. And its point is the same as it has always been: only an exceptional man can save the real Americans from the carnage that otherwise awaits them.

This is Trump’s most visceral appeal. As he put in his speech accepting the Republican nomination in 2016: “I alone can fix it.” At the heart of authoritarianism is this notion of indispensability. The leader is unique, unparalleled, irreplaceable. God has chosen him to rescue and revive the nation. That is why he cannot be constrained by laws or even by the ordinary calculations of rationality. Only in his infallible instincts and indomitable will does salvation lie.

Biden’s tragedy is that he has come to take on this same conviction, to feel that he alone can save America. In mirroring his archenemy, he has created an equal and opposite belief in his own indispensability. On a rational level, he knows that this does not make sense. In December he responded off the cuff to a reporter’s question about whether he thought another Democrat could defeat Trump: “Probably fifty of them.” Yet he has also boasted in a social media video that “I’m still the only person that ever beat Donald Trump.” Even after the debacle of the debate, Senator Chris Coons, the Biden campaign’s co-chair, insisted that “the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump” is Biden. This has always been a circular argument: no one but Biden can beat Trump because no one but Biden can be allowed to stand against him because no one but Biden can beat Trump…

Biden’s motivations are infinitely more benign than Trump’s, but he has ended up in the same place: with the great delusion of “I alone.” This is a face-off that Trump will always win. His supporters really do believe in his exceptionality—as the miserable performance of Ron DeSantis in the Republican primaries showed, they do not care for Trumpism without Trump. Few of Biden’s supporters think likewise about their candidate. The valorization of the lone savior suits reactionary politics—it is not a good fit for democracy. It is the ultimate case of the anti-Trump forces operating on Trump’s terms.

The Democrats cannot defeat Trump by trying to play on a course he already owns. Those who want to stick with Biden whatever happens are engaged not in rational politics but in magical thinking, the belief that Biden’s victory in 2020 has imbued him with powers that only he can wield. But this fantasy is becoming a horror story in which the dark shadow of America’s democracy threatens to usurp its life.

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Blog – Posted on Monday, Apr 20

The 21 best places to find free books online.

If you’re anything like us, you go through books fast . Sometimes it seems like an addiction you can’t keep up with — and if there’s one thing any bookworm can tell you, it’s that this habit can quickly get expensive.

Luckily, the savvy reader knows there are plenty of places online to legally download books without spending a single penny. In this post, we’re giving you 21 of the best places to find free books online, so that you can satisfy even the most debilitating of book addictions, guilt-free.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of great books out there, you can also take our 30-second quiz below to narrow it down quickly and get a personalized book recommendation  😉

Which book should you read next?

Discover the perfect book for you. Takes 30 seconds!

1. Project Gutenberg

2. The Online Books Page

If that’s not enough books for you, The Online Books Page , hosted by the University of Pennsylvania, boasts a staggering list of over three million free ebooks! Unlike Project Gutenberg, they don’t actually host any of the books themselves, instead providing links to where you can download them. And their website does look like something straight out of 1996. Still, when we’re talking about this many ebooks at our fingertips, can we really complain? This is a great source for classics and obscure titles that offer deep dives into arcane topics, though some newer books can also appear.

3. Kindle Store

4. Smashwords

Like Amazon, Smashwords has a page where you can easily see all the books authors have chosen to give away for free . With the ability to browse by categories such as “newest,” “bestseller,” and “highest-rated,” as well as filtering by the book’s length and genre, this is an easy way to instantly find free books. (Just remember to re-select the “free” category at the top if you choose to browse by genre!) The best part? Most stories are available in a wide range of file formats, and you don’t even need an account to download them.

6. Robin Reads

A book promotion service in the vein of BookBub, Robin Reads is another great way to stay in-the-know on all the hottest new titles and discounts. With everything from romance to horror to nonfiction, there’s sure to be something interesting in nearly all of their daily emails.

7. eReader News Today

8. FreeBooksy

Most of the other book promotion services focus on both free and discounted books, but FreeBooksy is the biggest site that’s dedicated solely to ebooks you don’t have to pay for. Unlike some of its competitors, it seeks out deals from all the major retailers, so even if you’re totally loyal to Kobo or Nook, you’re bound to find some great books gratis . (Can you tell we’re desperately trying not to use the word “free” too much?)

9. Manybooks

10. Goodreads Free Shelves

Sometimes the easiest way to find free books is to crowdsource for them, and Goodreads shelves make this process easy. Browsing by shelf collects all the books that users put in shelves of the same name, and you can easily find shelves marked as “ free-ebooks ,” “ free-ebook ,” “ free ” and more. Now, because this is dependent on users marking ebooks themselves, it is possible that some of the books were shelved during a period when a book was once being given away free and now comes with a heavier sticker price. They may also shelve books in the public domain that you can find through sites such as Project Gutenberg, but it’s not a guarantee that you’ll find these for free if you follow the link to them on Amazon. Still, it’s a rich resource that may easily give you titles you don’t find on other sites, so it’s definitely worth a look.

11. Reedsy Discovery

Love indie books and want to read them for free, before anyone else does? That's exactly what you get if you sign up to become a Reedsy Discovery reviewer , as indie authors provide free ebooks in exchange for an honest review. Simply take notes of your thoughts as you read, and use them to write up a coherent review when you've finished reading. You'll be helping out the author as well as would-be readers, while getting a free read! Writing book reviews can also be an excellent way to break into the publishing industry if you're at the start of your career, but most of all they're great fun to write and read alike.

12. Riveted by Simon Teen

13. Harlequin Online Reads

The leading publisher of romance novels, Harlequin’s website also offers a huge collection of serialized stories from some of their best authors — for free. New chapters are posted every week, or you can browse a massive back catalogue of completed works. With filters such as “Fall in Love,” “Walk on the Dark Side,” and “Take a Trip Down the Aisle,” plus the ability to show titles based on how much time you have to read at the moment (yes, really!), this collection is sure let you zero in on the exact romance fix you’re craving.

14. Tor.com

15. Libby / OverDrive

In the wise words of Arthur the Aardvark, “Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card!” So it is with Libby , the new app by OverDrive. OverDrive allows libraries to purchase ebooks for lending out to their patrons. Each “copy” of the ebook can only be checked out by one patron at a time. Loan lengths and the total number of titles you can have at once varies by library. Books may be checked out and downloaded directly through Libby, or downloaded for reading via Kindle. Because only one person can check out each copy at a time, though, there are often hold lists on popular titles — sometimes significant ones — so be sure to keep an eye on that when you’re picking your next read. However, the catalogue available to each library is quite extensive, and if there’s ever a title your library hasn’t purchased yet, there’s an easy button to request it right in the app.

17. Wattpad

Lovers of fanfic have long been familiar with sites where users can upload stories one chapter at a time, but Wattpad brings that idea to life in the original fiction world — with a few additional benefits as well. Started in 2006, Wattpad is perfect if you’re looking for a wide range of diverse voices and unconventional stories that might get overlooked by big publishers. Chock-full of talented writers and enthusiastic readers, it’s a community unlike anything else in the reading landscape. Leave comments, follow your favorite authors, and upvote the stories you love. With the free app, you can even keep up with all the best stories right from your phone.

18. PaperBack Swap

19. Open Culture

In Open Culture’s own words, they scour the internet for the “audio books you need, the language lessons and educational videos you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.” As a curator of free online learning resources , this sounds great to us! Their audiobook selection is top-notch as well, including some surprisingly high-profile narrators . ( The Wizard of Oz as read by Tituss Burgess? Where do they even find these treasures?)

20. LibriVox

21. Storynory

Lastly, in all the rush to find free books, let’s not forget about the littlest readers among us! Storynory offers free audiobooks for kids, featuring everything from classics to brand-new originals exclusive to the Storynory site. While not as extensive a collection as some of the sites on our list, the stories are charming and offer a welcome distraction when someone just won’t settle down.

Still can't get enough books? Check out our list of the 115 Best Books of All Time . Or why not get paid to read, by applying to some of the legitimate sites that pay reviewers ?

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• E-Reader Reviews

Kobo’s great color e-readers are held back by lock-in

They’re more colorful than anything amazon offers and have built-in support for overdrive, but the ui feels more focused on selling books than reading them..

By Alex Cranz , deputy editor and co-host of The Vergecast. She oversaw consumer tech coverage at Gizmodo for five years. Her work has also appeared in the WSJ and Wired.

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The problem with most e-readers is they’re not really intended for reading books. They’re meant to sell you books. Amazon, which has the biggest market share in the US, is especially notable for doing this, but Barnes & Noble is guilty of the same thing. Kobo is perhaps the least offensive about this — it’s got Pocket and Overdrive integration! But oftentimes, when I found myself totally enamored with Kobo’s gorgeous new color e-readers, I’d suddenly get slapped with the reminder: this thing is here to sell me books.

Which is a shame because Kobo’s new Libra Colour and Clara Colour are the closest we’ve gotten to a perfect e-reader lately. Both the $219.99 Libra Colour and $149.99 Clara Colour are ridiculously light, but with a sturdiness that makes them feel comfortable and not flimsy. Both include Kaleido 3 displays, which means book covers are rendered in actual color. Both flip pages and navigate stores much quicker than the $249.99 Boox Page (the bigger, slower sibling of the Palma ) — impressive, given the fact that the Kaleido 3 display is a little slower than a more traditional monochromatic E Ink display found in the Page.

I did find myself liking the more expensive Libra because I prefer asymmetrical e-readers with dedicated buttons to ones that function more like traditional tablets. That it also has stylus support for note-taking is a plus. Yet, either one is a charming and enjoyable-to-use e-reader, and over the last couple of months, I repeatedly found myself reaching for the Libra over the Boox — which, until now, has been my primary e-reader. I just like the feel of reading on it more. Sure, Boox gives me every reading app available (it’s an E Ink Android tablet), but the Libra doesn’t have any of the weird little hiccups typical of Android on E Ink.

Kobo Libra Colour

The Libra Colour is one of the newest e-readers from Kobo and one of the first with color. With both Overdrive and Pocket support it give readers considerably more options that e-readers from bigger brands like Amazon.

Both Kobo e-readers also support highlighting text in color, and their touchscreens feel much snappier and more responsive than the Boox Page. Those highlight colors aren’t particularly vibrant, though. The Kaleido 3 display found in both gets you color, but the color is akin to what you see in a newspaper left in the sun for a few days. Plus, that color comes at the cost of both making the black-and-white reading experience a little less crisp. It’s still infinitely better than previous color E Ink technologies, which often gave the whole display a green cast .

My real issue with these devices isn’t the color displays. It’s the lock-in.

Kobo’s e-readers feel built more for buying books than reading them. They’re tied to the Kobo bookstore, which is powered by Rakuten, a Japanese retailer that is often called the “Japanese Amazon” or the “Japanese Barnes & Noble” when people want to quickly summarize the company. Rakuten is very good at moving books, and Kobo’s built-in bookstore is similar. It doesn’t have quite the same library as Amazon; Amazon has more self-published books and carries more niche content from boutique publishers. Yet, Kobo’s bookstore has a decent spread. If it’s a remotely popular book, you’ll find it on the Kobo.

Unlike other non-Android e-readers, Kobo e-readers also have a more traditional library built in via Overdrive. If you’ve got a library card from a library that works with Overdrive you can borrow ebooks. Unfortunately, this is when you start to run into Kobo’s bookselling business butting heads with its e-reader business. To borrow books, you either have to use your phone to find them on an app like Libby, or you have to use the Discover tab, then choose the Overdrive tab, and hope you can browse for the book you want. Or you have to search for the book on Kobo’s store, and when you find the book, you have to tap the More Options button next to the much larger Buy Now and Wishlist buttons and then actually tap the Borrow From Overdrive button to see if the book is borrowable from your library. It is miserable, and when I asked a generally very clever friend to try to borrow a book, she couldn’t even figure out how.

You also can’t have more than one library card active on the Kobo at a time. Instead, when you finish a book and want to read another one that’s tied to a different library card, you have to log out and log in with the other card. I had to switch repeatedly between my New York Public Library and Jersey City Public Library cards and was left deeply annoyed. I don’t have to do this when I use the Libby app on my Page or iPad.

• The Boox Palma is an amazing gadget I didn’t even know I wanted
• The best ebook reader to buy right now

You run into the same issue using the built-in “experimental” web browser Kobo has. I can navigate to websites just fine, and if I want to try and read a book over the web, I can theoretically do that. No app necessary. Only the browser is painfully underdeveloped. It would be nice if I could scroll or paginate using the Libra’s built-in buttons as I can with the EinkBro browser on Android e-readers.

Getting ebooks from other stores onto the device is also a hassle. You have to plug the e-reader into your computer and drag and drop files (though Calibre, the ebook management app, does make it a scootch easier). But that problem isn’t unique to Kobo. Amazon and Barnes & Noble also insist you sideload books. But after years of the Boox ecosystem (and the iPad), it feels weird that these systems all insist you stick so closely to their bookstores. It’s a degree of lock-in that seems absurd, and with Kobo’s ecosystem, it feels more absurd because in so many other respects it really seems like the company is trying to do e-readers right.

The Kobo Libra Colour and Koko Clara Colour are fast and nearly perfect for getting out of your way when you just want to read a book. Their color displays aren’t as sharp as an iPad Mini’s LED one — or even a monochrome E Ink display — but the color gives a welcome zest to the experience that black and white cannot. The fact that they even offer things like a web browser and Overdrive and Pocket support is very welcome when compared to what Amazon is doing. But the lock-in, man. The lock-in might be the norm in the e-reader world, but it shouldn’t be.

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I renewed my us passport in a single week with the government’s speedy online beta, it’s another busy summer of streaming sci-fi, here’s how qualcomm’s new laptop chips really stack up to apple, intel, and amd, the playdate makes a surprisingly good e-reader.

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