Hello, fellow literature lovers, this is Christa! Welcome to another installment of Book Beat: your source for what’s happening in the bookish world. Intimate Correspondences I want to start this week with something that makes me smile – the new unseen Harper Lee letters. These thirty-eight letters, which she wrote between 2005 and 2009 to…
IFOA: Around the World with Hideo Furukawa
I recently had the honor of reviewing Slow Boat by Hideo Furukawa. It is a fun, remastering of a short story written by Haruki Murakami titled A Slow Boat to China. In Furukawa’s book, as well as the original short story, the main protagonist meets three people who help him understand his place in life….
Five Atmospheric Reads for Halloween
I don’t know about you, but as soon as the calendar turns to September 1, I’m just about ready for sweaters, fuzzy socks, and a few spooky stories to pass the evening. With Halloween only a few short weeks away, your bookshelf might be in need of some creepy new additions as the days gets…
Book Beat: 2017 Man Booker Prize and More Genius Grant Winners
Hi all, Stephanie here! This week’s Book Beat may seem to be all over the place, but there are two themes that a lot of this news shares: diversity and change. I’m a pretty outspoken supporter for diversity, but I’m less enthused about change in general. I’ve especially been trying to embrace change in my…
Teaching Diverse Lit: Cinderella meets New Beijing
We are fully immersed in the era of adaptations. Fiction fans need not wait more than a week to hear that a favorite novel or comic will soon to make its way to the big or small screen. Old television shows and movies are earning reboots left and right. Stories are getting second and third…
Book Beat: Genius Grants and the Accidental Belle Sauvage
Welcome, fellow readers! This is Paige, one of the junior book section editors here at WWAC. I’ll be filling in on Book Beat this week, so forgive me in advance for any shortcomings in my reporting. The book world moves a mile a minute, yet our Book Beat writers always capture the most exciting industry…
Sparks and Tarts: F*** you, romance is awesome
I am a reader, and I am happy that there are so many of us out there. I am totally part of the You Do You category of reading, where I expect you to like what you like and leave the rest for the ones who like it. I know that there are people who…
Lady Killers: The Women Who put Jack the Ripper to Shame
Lady Killers Tori Telfer Harper Collins Publishers October 10, 2017 A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Lady Killers is for anyone who treats themselves to the occasional morbid indulgence. It plugs a lot of the gaps traditionally left out of roundups of history’s most brutal murderers.
Book Beat: Kazuo Ishiguro Wins Nobel Prize in Literature
Hello all, Stephanie here! There’s been a lot going on in the book world lately, from more award announcements to surprising industry collaborations. So, let’s get right to it with this week’s Book Beat! Double Book Birthdays for Nnedi Okorafor Fans of Dr. Nnedi Okorafor have a lot to celebrate right now. Her latest novel Akata Warrior, the…
Finding the Way Home: An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
An Unkindness of Ghosts Rivers Solomon Akashic Books October 3, 2017 During a particularly tumultuous phase of my early undergraduate career, marred by angry confusion at the unfamiliar metamorphosis of my identities, I stumbled upon a class about slavery. Of course, on my predominantly white, liberal-ass college campus, at the dawn of Obama’s second presidency,…
Hearts on Fire: Diverse Romance for Fall 2017
Welcome once again fellow readers! We’ve already shared some of our most anticipated science fiction and fantasy reads, and now we’re back for round three of our recommendations. This time around, we’ll focus on the brighter side of life and indulge in a little romance for the remainder of 2017. Out of the many, many…
Book Beat: Alias Grace Fairies and Banned Books Week
Hi book lovers! Ashley here again! The most exciting thing I read this week were the corporate policies I have to edit at my new internship, sigh. It’s during the fall that I curse myself for not taking advantage of leisurely reading in the summer. For example, this weekend I missed my local Word on…