The $65 billion dollar allotment for broadband access is especially noteworthy for how it impacts public libraries across the country. Where the bill will help build the infrastructure to ensure broadband is available for all Americans — like the government did for electricity a century ago — it will also ensure that access is affordable. This is especially important in rural areas where little competition exists and families don’t have the opportunity to comparison shop for the best plan for them....

I spend too much money on books, so sometimes it’s nice to read free stuff, and the internet is not lacking in places to find great stories that are free to read on your computer, tablet, or phone. I’ve compiled 20 different websites where I regularly find free short stories. Narrative Magazine Narrative Magazine is a free space for readers to enjoy some of the best short stories, essays, and poetry written by both established and emerging writers....

The solution? A new quiz to find out which literary lady is your bookish soulmate. I won’t give away all the outcomes, but let’s just say whether you love classics, fantasy, or science fiction, there are literary ladies on this list perfect for you. Truly, these heroines are hard to beat. From going to war for their loved ones to traversing dangerous lands just to be together, these ladies know love: the good, the bad, and the ugly....

If you’re, for example, reading Boys of Alabama by Genevive Hudson, a novel about a boy who moves from Germany to Alabama and has to navigate the brutal adaptation to a new language, a new culture, a new life, it makes sense that the writing style would reflect that difficulty, that needing to go back and determine if something really was dialogue after all, much like the character needs people to repeat themselves, to clarify, throughout his transition....

To clarify, I’m not talking about heroes who change their identity on a long-term or permanent basis, like when a sidekick grows up and eliminates the “kid” or “girl” from their name. This article is just for those times when superheroes adopt a secondary identity for just one story — just long enough to solve an acute problem — and then put it away forever, never to be spoken of again....

Over that time, I saw the bookish internet grow and evolve, allowing for more niche spaces (like a sapphic book blog, for instance), for different formats, for new personalities. I loved the passionate debates happening on Tumblr around representation, separating the art from the artist, and more prickly fandom disagreements…and then I loved those conversations significantly less when they popped up again and again, on Twitter and Tumblr and YouTube and TikTok, with absolutely no progress made over time....

A Little Background I first learned about reading journals from one of my professors. He recommended we keep a notebook to use as a field book of sorts during the expeditions we took through the worlds of books. The journal was not intended to keep track of every book we read with our reviews—I find Goodreads more enjoyable for that. Rather, any memorable quotes we came across while reading could go into the notebook....

At least one fan noticed something odd about this image: This is Connor Hawke, the second Green Arrow and son of the original Green Arrow, Oliver Queen. On the left is an example of what he looked like in the ’90s, when he first debuted. On the right is what he originally looked like in the promotional art. — Neb | 🏳️‍🌈 (@NebsGoodTakes) February 8, 2022 The artist, Daniel Sampere, quickly responded to apologize for the mistake and to assure readers that the art will be corrected for print and future digital use: Sure enough, if you look up more recent iterations of the splash page, like the one I posted at the top of this article, Connor’s skin has been darkened....

Bestselling authors Natalie D. Richards and Darcy Coates bring us stories that chill us to the bone and keep us up all night reading—haunting reads perfect for Halloween! A hitched ride home in a snowstorm turns sinister when one of the passengers is plotting for the ride to end in disaster in New York Times bestseller Five Total Strangers. From USA Today bestselling gothic horror author Darcy Coates comes The Haunting of Leigh Harker, a chilling story of a quiet house on a forgotten suburban lane that hides a deadly secret… My story of how I discovered Stephen King begins with my brothers trying to scare me with this Indian horror show called Woh, which translates to It in English....

So of course I was so excited to hear about the new Netflix show! I had high hopes, but I tried to temper them. After all, I am keenly aware, as an adult, of the books’ faults. And I wasn’t sure how well the books would translate to 2020 as they kept the core concepts but modernized. I am so happy to say after blazing through the entire first season, that I think Netflix The Baby-Sitters Club series is even better than the original books....

There’s a strange disconnect between the chaotic nature of real life and the consistency that we expect from fiction. Our suspension of disbelief doesn’t extend to certain inconsistencies or “errors” — even when life and our memories are riddled with them. When we’re reading, we expect a certain consistency from the plot, the world, and the characters, that real life does not always comply with. When I visited Barcelona in early 2020 (before the pandemic led to shutdowns), I made a bunch of friends in an unexpected conversation over absinthe at Bar Marsella....

They will tell me about books they’ve liked and books they have not, and they will also tell me that what they’re reading now is boring them. When I ask why they are still reading something they’re not enjoying, they tell me they’ve already started it and won’t allow themselves to abandon it—they’re committed, for better or for worse. And while on some level I find that an admirable quality, I no longer have any tolerance for it with books....

But a new emotion has been building up inside me these past few years, coating my insides with acid and leading me to isolate myself from others: rage. The source? Manifold. There’s the growing resentment that comes with being a woman who engages in a huge amount of emotional labor, who makes sure things are running smoothly before she attends to her own career and mental health. There’s the fear and frustration that come from seeing entire communities controlled and silenced and erased via fascism, the fall of Roe v....

Huge congratulations to our six shortlisted authors: https://t.co/8mJGCgPKsJ pic.twitter.com/7LEPWosLsk — Women’s Prize (@WomensPrize) April 28, 2019 This is a stellar list of finalists, among them huge Book Riot favorites. Circe by Madeline Miller is on the shortlist, and if selected, will be the second Women’s Fiction Prize for Madeline Miller, who won in 2012 for Song of Achilles. In another foray into Greek mythology, we have Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker....

This list is a suggestion of World War II books suitable for book clubs. It’s a mix of fiction and nonfiction, and aims to consider some perspectives that are less well known. I’ve added possible book club questions for each one to help get the conversation going. There are so many books about World War II that nobody could read them all in a lifetime — and not all books are equal in this space....

Fall 2019 September First out of the gate for Agora will be John Vercher’s Three-Fifths. I’ve read this one personally, and…damn, y’all. David Joy (author of The Line That Held Us) called it “Feverishly entertaining. Resoundingly important. A book treading this kind of ground should not be able to move this fast. THREE-FIFTHS is an honest, fearless page-burner.” And I’m not sure I can word it any better than that. Three-Fifths centers a biracial man passing as white, who is confronting the lies of his past....

From award-winning author Kip Wilson comes this fascinating historical novel in verse. Hilde, a former orphan, lives in Berlin on the cusp of World War II. When she lands a job at a cabaret she discovers her own voice, sexuality, and also finds a family. But Berlin is in turmoil, and between the elections, protests, and the beginning seeds of unrest, Hilde will have to decide what’s best for her future ....

Instagram Poetry Is Real Poetry Humans don’t always deal well with change, especially changes we haven’t planned for. It is, therefore, no surprise to see older generations challenging the value of what younger people are doing. As a Millennial that likes to be “down with the kids,” I am actually fascinated by how fast Gen Z understands technology, how much fun they are having online, and how they often use these tools to actually fight for causes, and educate themselves....

Best Nonfiction Roxane Gay Books What Gay is most well known for is her essay writing. She has a sharp insight that cuts through much of the drivel. Unafraid to tackle difficult topics such as racism, sexism, and class, she is constantly monitoring the culture to provide commentary from an often disregarded perspective. Her essay collections are proving to stand the test of time and are just as relevant today as when they were published....

“I’m a school librarian,” I said. “Is that all you do? Don’t they let you do anything else?” they asked. I had a million responses to this, none of them very polite, but I did what Canadians do and just smiled and shrugged and said something like “well, we’re really busy here.” It got me thinking about how insular a school librarian position can be, specifically in schools where there are so many departments and things going on....