The Week’s Best New Book Releases
It’s Tuesday, and you know what that means: new books! Here’s a round-up of the week’s best new releases, or maybe you’d prefer some under-the-radar picks?
Horror Stories to Read in Your Basement This Summer
Today we’re going a bit eerie with the new releases and recommendations. An odd choice in the summer, perhaps, but the summer slasher is a staple of film — and also, with the current heatwave, we’ve got the horrors of global climate change hanging over us anyway. Something a bit… chilling might be in order. Stay cool, stay hydrated, and definitely read these books in a cold, faintly creepy basement if that’s an option for you.
A Gay Spin on Narnia & More New LGBTQ Books Out This Week
Here are seven of the most exciting new LGBTQ books out this week, including a whole lot of new fantasy novels, a gay take on Narnia, a sapphic historical fantasy featuring a very queer Shakespeare, bisexual YA horror, and an exploration of being a queer woman in Guyana. Let’s get into it!
p.s. Did you know that Book Riot has a TikTok? we’ve started posting there recently, like this one recorded at the Big Gay Dog Walk and this one about reading Casey McQuiston’s upcoming bi4bi romance The Pairing, highly recommended.
What is a Scream-of-Consciousness Book?
This spring, Swedish American author Alvina Chamberland released her English-language debut, Love the World Or Get Killed Trying, a brilliant, fiery work of autofiction about a transgender woman on the cusp of 30 traveling alone through Iceland, Paris, and Berlin. The publisher’s marketing copy describes the book as “an urgent wildfire scream-of-consciousness, cry-of-love manifesto,” which certainly got my attention. After reading and sitting with the novel for a while, I kept returning to this turn of phrase, “scream of consciousness.” It’s a visceral, irreverent term that perfectly encapsulates Chamberland’s narrative voice. But what is a scream-of-consciousness book? Where did the phrase come from? Are there others like it? I spoke with Alvina Chamberland about Love the World Or Get Killed Trying, scream-of-consciousness prose, and other works to which it might apply.
For something on the gentler side, check out these essential board books with photography.
