All posts tagged: Books

What to read this week: Emma Chapman’s mind-expanding Radio Universe

What to read this week: Emma Chapman’s mind-expanding Radio Universe

Published by skeptic

ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, Chile ESO/C. Malin Radio UniverseEmma ChapmanJohn Murray When he was 16 years old, Albert Einstein imagined chasing after a beam of light and, as the story goes, this feat of imagination helped him develop the now-famous theory of special relativity. Physicist Emma Chapman also chases a light signal through the known universe and up to its very edges in her new book, Radio Universe: How to explore space without leaving Earth (in the US, its title is The Echoing Universe and it is out on 19 May). But while Einstein wanted to hop onto the light beam and experience the cosmos’s fastest speed, the light Chapman is after plays the role not of a carrier, but of an explorer, guide and messenger. “The universe already speaks the language of light,” she writes, and her book offers a wonderful insight into how humans have used radio telescopes to learn and become fluent in that language, too. As a wave of electromagnetism, light can have many different wavelengths. For example, ultraviolet …

How Elle Fanning Adapted Margo’s Got Money Troubles With a Few Key Changes

How Elle Fanning Adapted Margo’s Got Money Troubles With a Few Key Changes

Published by Sam Flores

But in the show, as in the book, Margo is moved by Shyanne’s retelling of her birth story and subsequently unplanned foray into single motherhood. “I don’t want him,” Margo tells her mother about the baby’s father, Mark, in the series. “But for whatever reason, I want this baby. I want it more than I’ve ever wanted anything.” Let’s Get Prosthetic Another necessary nip and tuck in the adaptation? The pair of prosthetic breasts Fanning wears as Margo, designed by Jason Collins, the special effects designer and prosthetics lead for Pam & Tommy (2022). “I needed bigger boobs, so I had these fake, prosthetic tits,” Fanning told VF last year. “I am friends with Margaret Qualley—she wore them in The Substance. I liked it,” she added. “It’s fun to squeeze them.” Although Fanning shares that Pfeiffer wore fake teeth for her role as Shyanne, she declined further enhancement. “They wanted to do prosthetic boobs on me in the beginning. And I was fine with that until I heard how long it was going to take …

The Books Everyone is Talking About in April

The Books Everyone is Talking About in April

Published by Jenni Sidey

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Let’s put a finger on the pulse of the publishing industry and check in with The Hot List, our monthly look at the books everyone is talking about, whether they’ve read them or not. Tongues are wagging about Lindy West’s new memoir Adult Braces, and they’ve been wagging about Jeanette McCurdy’s Half His Age since the former Nickelodeon star announced her debut novel last year. Headstrong women who know what they want are often controversial, and readers can’t get enough of these two. Abby Jimenez’s latest contemporary romance, The Night We Met, is also climbing charts, and the ceiling is extra high in a season without a new Emily Henry book. Also on the April Hot List: The Book Riot Newsletter Join over 300,000 readers who get the latest book buzz, smart commentary, and must-read picks delivered straight to their inbox. Subscribe to Selected No Thanks 🎧 Hear our conversation about these and more trending titles on Apple …

Spotify Partners With Bookshop.org to Offer Physical Books

Spotify Partners With Bookshop.org to Offer Physical Books

Published by José Betancourt

Spotify has quite a few new book offerings this spring. For starters, the streaming company is now officially offering physical books in the US and UK (available today on Android and iOS starting next week) through its partnership with Bookshop.org. Through the Spotify app, users can order physical books from Bookshop.org. As part of Bookshop.org’s mission, the books purchased will support local bookstores and authors. But this isn’t the only bookish expansion Spotify has announced. Since launching its audiobooks feature in 2022, Spotify’s catalog has grown almost five times—from 150,000 to 700,000 titles. And, since launching the Page Match feature in February, which allows readers to seamlessly switch between a physical book and its audiobook, Spotify has added 30 more languages (including French, German, and Swedish). Spotify has found that people who use Page Match “consume 55% more audiobook hours each week,” and “62% of Page Matched audiobook titles on Spotify are books the user had never streamed previously,” which means that people who were previously only reading the physical book are now moving between …

From Heated Rivalry to I Want Your Sex, Smut Is Here to Stay

From Heated Rivalry to I Want Your Sex, Smut Is Here to Stay

Published by Sam Flores

Once upon a time, smut was shorthand for tattered ­copies of Fabio-fronted, horny and corny romances snuck under the covers, secreted into bedside tables by harlequin housewives. But now, the popularity of Heated Rivalry, salacious fairy books, and OnlyFans has revived and redefined the genre. Not unlike the “I know it when I see it” definition of obscenity, smut is the difference between a sex scene that cuts from a kiss to the next morning and a scene that builds to real…climax. The term dates back centuries and originates from the verb smutten, “to soil, smear, or stain with dirt” (a Yiddish word, schmutz, has a similar meaning). Books like Lady Chatterley’s Lover—D.H. Lawrence’s scandalous 1928 novel about a married upper-class woman who has an affair with her estate’s gamekeeper—helped bring smut to the fore when uncensored versions began to circulate in ’60s Britain. Ever since, smut has long been in the mainstream—from the boom of ’80s and ’90s erotic thrillers like Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction to Fifty Shades of Grey’s pop culture dominance …

Why Are We So Obsessed With Dead Girls? These Books Explore if True Crime Is Ethical

Why Are We So Obsessed With Dead Girls? These Books Explore if True Crime Is Ethical

Published by José Betancourt

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. What’s the deal with True Crime? That’s the question we recently asked ourselves over on Book Riot’s mystery and thriller podcast, Read or Dead. My cohost, Katie McLain Horner, and I took an episode to read some recent(ish) titles about true crime and how the genre is evolving. For far too long, true crime has thrived on our obsession with these violent acts. We can’t look away, mesmerized by someone else’s worst day of their lives. But in the last decade, more and more voices are speaking out against our culture’s voyeuristic treatment of violence towards women and girls. They ask big questions like, what are the ethics behind consuming this content? Who is allowed to tell the story of these crimes? And whose stories AREN’T being told? The books below answer these questions and more. Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving American Culture by Alice Bolin Why are we so obsessed with dead girls? When I first read …

A Sapphic Summer Romance, Necromancy, and More New YA Books for April 15, 2026

A Sapphic Summer Romance, Necromancy, and More New YA Books for April 15, 2026

Published by Jenni Sidey

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Spring has sprung, and whether or not you’re able to spend time reading outside, hopefully you’re at least getting some fresh air through open windows as you sink into a good book. It’s a very big paperback release week in the YA world, which you’ll soon see below. Some of them are paperbacks that are following hardcover releases, while others are paperback originals–something that I continue to think we need more of, as they offer the same kind of direct appeal to teen readers that books which release simultaneously in hardcover and paperback do. There’s a really nice range of genres and voices represented this week, too. We’ve got a take on Chinese folklore, a house haunted by missing teens, inventions that conjure demons, and so much more. New Hardcover YA Releases This Week A Song for the Dark by Brooke Archer Blackridge isn’t a safe town. For the past 20 years, a kid has disappeared over the …

LA Times Festival of Books: What to know about tickets, parking, speakers

LA Times Festival of Books: What to know about tickets, parking, speakers

Published by Sam Flores

Close the novel and open your tote bag. The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is here. This weekend, the festival will be returning for its 31st year. Held at USC, the event honors storytellers across genres, hosting readings, screenings and performances. It kicks off with The Times’ Book Prizes ceremony Friday night, followed by two days of literary fervor. What is the Festival of Books? The Festival of Books is a yearly celebration of authors in California. It began in 1996 and has evolved into a staple of spring in Los Angeles. The event includes panels and booths featuring artists, publishers and authors; book signings; musical performances; film screenings; and poetry readings. It showcases content across genres, from storybook readings at the Children’s Stage to cooking demonstrations at the Food Stage. Who will be speaking? The festival will host more than 550 storytellers, with “Ask a Reporter” panels and interviews with celebrities like multihyphenate businesswoman (and Beyoncé’s mother) Tina Knowles. On Saturday, actor Sarah Jessica Parker will join author Alexandra Oliva at the festival …

Michael Rosen wins Hans Christian Andersen award | Books

Michael Rosen wins Hans Christian Andersen award | Books

Published by Sam Flores

Michael Rosen, the poet and author known for books such as We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and Chocolate Cake, has won the 2026 Hans Christian Andersen award for writing in recognition of his lifelong contributions to children’s literature. The former children’s laureate is the fourth Briton to win the award, following Eleanor Farjeon, Aidan Chambers and David Almond. Rosen’s writing “reflects the rhythms of children’s language and thought, combining playfulness with emotional depth and social awareness”, said the the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), who announce a winner every other year. “Across poetry, novels and non-fiction, his work invites children into literature, encourages empathy and opens space for discussion about history, family, loss, identity and society.” IBBY also announced the winner of the Hans Christian Andersen award for illustration. Chinese illustrator Cai Gao, whose work “demonstrates outstanding artistic quality and a unique visual language that expands the possibilities of illustration for children”, took the prize. Previous winners include Quentin Blake, the former children’s laureate best known for illustrating Roald Dahl’s children’s …