Riot Headline The Best Books of 2024

Leila Roy

After a lengthy stint as a children's bookseller, Leila Roy took a step sideways into the library world. There, she does the same thing she did as a bookseller—matching people with stories in any and all formats, whether print, audio, film, comic, or some newfangled hybrid—but doesn't have to deal with changing the tape on the cash register. She lives in Maine with her husband, where she runs her small-town library and occasionally tries to rescue wildlife from her cat, who is a murderer. In addition to talking books at her long-running blog, Bookshelves of Doom, she's a weekly columnist at Kirkus Reviews. Blog: Bookshelves of Doom Twitter: @bkshelvesofdoom

Talking About Censorship: A Primer

According to a recent survey conducted by the Harris Poll, Americans are more comfortable with the idea of banning books ...

SOME GIRLS ARE Removed from Summer Reading List in South Carolina

“…an unflinching look at the intricacies of high school relationships and how easily someone’s existence can change. Fans of the ...

Prisms and Bon-Bons: (Re)Reading V.C. Andrews’ MY SWEET AUDRINA

THE HORRORRRRRRRRRR

My Fictional Childhood Best Friends

While we at the Riot are taking this lovely summer week off to rest (translation: read by the pool/ocean/on our ...

Old Doesn’t Equal Boring: Our Favorite Page-Turner Classics

Classic literature elicits a lot of complaints: “It’s boring!” “Nothing cool happens!” “None of that stuff has any bearing on ...

The Great Debate: Book Before Movie, or Movie Before Book?

Do you avoid seeing a movie until you’ve read the book it’s based on, or do you consume whichever you ...

“I expected Batman and Robin, not pornography”: Two Recent Book Challenges

As a reader, librarian, and all-around fan of the written word, I take issue when someone tries to tell me ...

Discoveries from the Book Expo Floor: 4 Upcoming Crime Novels with Female Leads

I am still slowly recovering from the Book Expo Plague—if you were at BEA and managed to avoid catching it, ...

Book Recommendation Website Cage Match

This is a guest post from Leila Roy. Leila has a regular weekly column about YA fiction at Kirkus Reviews, ...

My Fictional Childhood Best Friends

This is a guest post from Leila Roy. Leila has a regular weekly column about YA fiction at Kirkus Reviews, ...