Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer Review – Fun in the Tuscan Sun
Pulitzer‑winning author Andrew Sean Greer’s latest novel, Villa Coco, is billed as a “charm novel” set amid the sun‑drenched Tuscan hills. The narrative follows a nameless young man hired as an adjutant to the eccentric 92‑year‑old Baronessa Lisabetta, navigating a cast of colorful staff, aristocratic friends, and whimsical mishaps. Greer’s prose paints lush Italian landscapes and offers sentimental humor, though the review notes the characters lack the sharpness of classic social satirists. The book aims to provide a soothing, hopeful escape for readers seeking light‑hearted literary fiction.
A British Childhood by Frank Cottrell-Boyce Review – Are We Raising a Bookless Generation?
Frank Cottrell‑Boyce’s memoir A British Childhood blends personal anecdotes with a stark look at Britain’s growing literacy gap. Drawing on his Waterstones Children’s Laureate work, he details the Reading Rights campaign that found nearly half of primary pupils have never...
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[Video] Sunday Book Review: June 7, 2026, The Top Books Ursula Le Guin Edition
In the June 7, 2026 edition of Sunday Book Review, compliance specialist Thomas Fox recommends four Ursula Le Guin classics—A Wizard of Earthsea, The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Word for World is Forest—as essential reading for compliance officers and business leaders....
An Edith Wharton Short Story Is Published About 100 Years Later
A previously unreleased Edith Wharton short story, “The Men Who Saved the World,” has been published posthumously in The Strand Magazine. Written no earlier than July 1918, the manuscript was held at Yale’s Beinecke Library and abandoned by Wharton. The...
Coastal Time: New Fiction by M. John Harrison
M. John Harrison, the acclaimed British science‑fiction author, releases his new novel *The End of Everything* on 18 June through independent publisher Serpent’s Tail. The narrative envisions a bleak, post‑apocalyptic Kent coastline after a mysterious “iGhetti” war, chronicling crumbling tourism villages, shifting...
Five of the Best Books About the World Cup
The article spotlights five standout books that explore the FIFA World Cup’s history, drama, and cultural impact. It notes that a YouGov poll predicts 42 % of adults worldwide—about 2.6 billion people—will follow the 2026 tournament. The selected titles range from tactical...
Make Thick My Blood by Toni Viola
Toni Viola’s third Meroni novel, *Make Thick My Blood*, thrusts detective Luca Meroni into a harrowing investigation set against Rome’s ancient landmarks. After journalist Teresa Conti is brutally attacked, Meroni is arrested as a suspect, forcing the narrative to unfold from...
Marjane Satrapi’s Masterpiece Persepolis Transformed the World’s Understanding of Iran
Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian‑French graphic novelist behind the memoir and film Persepolis, died at 56. Her black‑and‑white graphic memoir, first published in 2000, transformed how global audiences understand the Iranian Revolution and exile, selling millions and being translated into dozens...
The Best Recent Poetry – Review Roundup
The latest poetry roundup spotlights six new collections from leading UK and international presses. Anthony Joseph’s "Haunting the Black Air" expands his avant‑garde lyricism, while Leontia Flynn’s "Selected Poems" re‑asserts her sharp wit and political acuity. The anthology "You Must...
Here’s Everything ‘Infinite Jest’ Got Right 30 Years Ago About Life in 2026
David Foster Wallace’s 1996 novel *Infinite Jest* has turned 30, and its satirical vision of a hyper‑connected America mirrors many realities of 2026. The book imagined a single “teleputer” that blends computing, entertainment, and phone calls, gig‑economy grocery delivery, remote...
5 Questions with Erika Valdivieso, Author of “Empire’s Companion: Virgilian Epics From Colonial Iberoamerica.”
Erika Valdivieso’s new monograph, *Empire’s Companion*, uncovers a hidden corpus of Latin epic poetry written in sixteenth‑ to eighteenth‑century Spanish and Portuguese America. Drawing on archival research, she analyzes four colonial epics that emulate Virgil’s *Aeneid* while advancing the imperial...
‘The Story of Ferdinand,’ by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, Turns 90
In 1936 Viking Press released Munro Leaf’s children’s book The Story of Ferdinand, illustrated by Robert Lawson, which quickly became a bestseller, briefly outselling Gone With the Wind. The gentle bull’s refusal to fight sparked controversy, leading to bans by Franco’s Spain...
The Children by Melissa Albert Review – Intriguing Fairytale of Creativity’s Dangers
Melissa Albert’s debut adult novel, The Children, turns the spotlight on the dark side of a wildly successful children’s book empire. The story follows Guinevere Sharpe, who inherits her mother’s literary legacy while grappling with family tragedy, a haunted house,...
Over Half of Australia’s Bookshops Closed Within a Decade. Should the Government Help?
Australia’s independent bookshop sector has contracted dramatically, with the number of stores halving from 2,879 in 2013 to 1,457 in 2023 and at least 13 closures recorded in the last year alone. Rising rents, competition from discount retailers and online...
Alan Gribben, Twain Scholar Who Excised Slur From ‘Huck Finn,’ Dies at 84
Alan Gribben, a leading Mark Twain scholar, died at 84 from pancreatic cancer. He gained notoriety for replacing the racial slur "nigger" with "slave" in new editions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Gribben’s revisions...
Publishing Professionals Are Becoming Prime Targets for Impersonation
Artificial intelligence is turning literary‑agent scams into a mass‑production operation. Scammers now clone agency websites, spoof email domains and generate AI‑written query replies, then demand upfront fees or steal manuscripts for AI‑generated derivative works. The stolen content is quickly repurposed...
A Sense of Occasion: Brodie Crellin on Their Debut Novel
Brodie Crellin’s first novel, “A Sense of Occasion,” arrives from Jonathan Cape with high‑profile blurbs from Robert Glück, Mary Gaitskill and Chris Kraus. Set around a family funeral, the story follows the grieving daughter Patch, her cousin Jude, and their gay father‑actor...
Dominion by Addie E Citchens Review – Women’s Prize-Shortlisted Portrait of Patriarchy’s Horrors
Addie E Citchens’s debut novel Dominion, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, explores a Black megachurch family in a fictional Mississippi town. The story follows Rev. Sabre Winfrey Jr., his wife Priscilla, and their prodigious son Wonderboy, whose charisma masks escalating...
20 Nonfiction Book Recommendations To Jumpstart Your Summer Reading Season
Above the Law’s Jonathan Wolf curates a summer reading list of 20 nonfiction titles covering history, science, memoir, and cultural critique. The selections range from Thurgood Marshall’s legal legacy to Antarctic adventure, prairie ecology, and examinations of toxic masculinity. Wolf...
Stadtlichter Presse Makes My Heart Beat Stronger
Stadtlichter Presse, a German independent publisher, has built a niche around bilingual editions of Beat Generation poetry, now offering 41 titles in its "Heartbeat" series and 92 books overall. The catalogue spans iconic figures like Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs as well...
2026 Seiun Awards Winners
Japan’s 64th Science Fiction Convention, Hellcon 2026, announced the 2026 Seiun Awards, the country’s premier sci‑fi honors comparable to the Hugo Awards. Alastair Reynolds’s novel “Eversion,” translated by Naoya Nakahara, won Best Translated Novel, while Greg Egan’s short story “After...
Exclusive: Watch Andrew Raymond Reading From The Long Isle
Scottish crime writer Andrew Raymond is launching a new series set on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides, with the first novel featuring Detective Constable Mairead Maclean arriving on June 4 2026. The author provided an exclusive reading of a passage on Crime...
Trailblazing Gay Evangelical Activists
William Stell’s new Princeton University Press book, *Born Again Queer*, uncovers a hidden chapter of U.S. religious history: evangelical activists who, in the late 1970s, argued that gay Christians could belong fully within evangelical churches. The work profiles four key...
More Data Confirms Impressive Growth for Brazil’s Publishing Market in 2025
Brazil’s publishing sector posted solid growth in 2025, with nominal sales up 7.7% and real growth of 3.3% after inflation. Publishers sold 185 million books, generating roughly $891 million in revenue and releasing about 45,000 titles. Trade fiction, especially Young Adult, led...
From Cloning Romance Authors to YouTube Piracy, AI Is Transforming Audiobooks
AI is reshaping the audiobook market as Bolinda announced an exclusive AI clone of romance author Barbara Cartland’s voice, while Spotify launched an ElevenLabs‑powered tool that lets self‑published authors create AI‑narrated audiobooks on its platform. A New York Times investigation...
A Startup, Everand, Is Now Bundling E-Books, Audiobooks, and Book Clubs in Challenge to Amazon
Everand, the Scribd‑owned reading service, has launched a bundled subscription that combines its 1.5 million‑title audiobook and e‑book catalog with the Fable social book‑club app. The three pricing tiers – $11.99, $16.99 and $28.99 per month – let users access one,...
The Best New Popular Science Books of June 2026
June 2026 sees a wave of popular‑science titles that blend rigorous research with vivid storytelling. Alice Roberts curates *Humans: The Evolution of a Species*, offering illustrated chapters on body‑part evolution. Endocrinologist Saira Hameed demystifies hormone signaling in *Signals*, while Rowan...
Book Review: ‘Stolen Revolution,’ by Yeganeh Torbati and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin
In "Stolen Revolution," journalists Yeganeh Torbati and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin deliver a meticulously reported chronicle of Iran’s half‑century of protest movements, from the early 20th‑century constitutional push to the 1979 overthrow of the Shah and the subsequent crackdown on dissent. The...
Book Review: ‘The Fire Agent,’ by David Baerwald
David Baerwald’s debut novel, The Fire Agent, dramatizes his grandfather’s life as a German‑Jewish spy who traverses Europe and Japan during the rise of fascism. The story follows Ernst, a multilingual cultural chameleon, from Frankfurt to Milan and then Tokyo,...
A Plot to Die For by Ardal O’Hanlon
Ardal O’Hanlon’s debut novel A Plot to Die For follows TV gardener Finn O’Leary as he returns to the fictional Irish town of Abbeyford, only to become entangled in a murder investigation sparked by a death at a choir practice....
Food Industry Exposé Fast Food Nation Predicted Today’s Chronic Illness Epidemic, 25 Years Ago
The 25th‑anniversary edition of Eric Schlosser’s *Fast Food Nation* revisits the book’s warning that a hyper‑processed, factory‑style food system would spark a chronic‑disease epidemic. Recent research now links ultra‑processed foods to more than 30 serious health conditions, confirming the author’s...
Books in Brief: July 2026
July’s “Books in Brief” roundup spotlights a wave of new titles that argue positive societal change is rooted in mindfulness, compassion, and Buddhist practice. Rebecca Solnit’s “The Beginning Comes After the End” frames recent social victories as long‑term seeds, while...
Book Review: ‘Whistler,’ by Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett’s tenth novel, Whistler, follows Daphne as a chance encounter at New York’s Metropolitan Museum leads her husband to reveal a man who is actually her long‑absent stepfather, Eddie Triplett. The story weaves a Hitchcock‑style mystery with a decades‑old...
Queer Lives and the Ideas That Shape Them Books for Pride Month 2026
A curated Pride Month 2026 reading list spotlights new scholarship that bridges personal narrative and political analysis across gender history, law, and culture. Titles such as *Napoleon’s Closet*, *The Lavender Bans*, and *By the Power Vested in Me* unpack the...
Issue 785 Table of Contents, June 2026
The June 2026 issue of Locus (vol. 96, no. 6) features in‑depth interviews with Robert Jackson Bennett and Isabel J. Kim, a visual spotlight on artist Dante Luiz, and a comprehensive roundup of genre awards. Highlights include the 2026 Locus Awards winners, Daniel Kraus’s...
Land by Maggie O’Farrell Review – an Ambitious Story of Mapmaking in Ireland
Maggie O’Farrell’s tenth novel, Land, launches in June 2026 as an expansive tale set in the wake of the Irish famine. It follows surveyor Tomás and his son Liam as they chart a remote peninsula, weaving together family drama, Celtic...
Some Fiction, Some Exposition: On Lynne Tillman’s Flaneurial Stories and Essays
Lynne Tillman’s 2026 releases – Thrilled to Death: Selected Stories (336 pages) and Paying Attention: Essays on Art and Culture (480 pages) – showcase a four‑decade span of fiction and criticism. Both volumes echo Stanley Fish’s dialectical model, where texts consume...
Booker Winner Douglas Stuart Reveals Flashes of Tenderness in His Violent Working-Class Men
Douglas Stuart’s third novel, *John of John*, returns to the working‑class Scottish world that earned him the Booker Prize, setting the story in the fictional island town of Falabay. The narrative follows Cal Macleod, a young artist forced back into...
Tennessee’s Latest Attempt At Banning – This Time Of Roots – Has Failed, For Now
Knox County, Tennessee, temporarily removed Alex Haley’s Pulitzer‑winning novel "Roots" from its school libraries under the state’s Age‑Appropriate Materials Act, joining a wave that has seen 124 titles banned locally. The ban is part of a broader Tennessee effort that has...
Book Review: ‘Rabbit, Fox, Tar,’ by P.C. Verrone
P.C. Verrone’s debut novel “Rabbit, Fox, Tar” reclaims the Black folklore behind Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus by recasting its trickster figures in a contemporary Midwestern setting. The story follows Baby, a dark‑skinned woman, and the political rivalry between Black councilman...
Book Review: ‘Girl’s Girl,’ by Sonia Feldman
Sonia Feldman’s debut novel *Girl’s Girl* follows three 15‑year‑old friends in a humid Ohio summer as they navigate queer desire, friendship, and the performative pressures of social media. The narrative intertwines selfie culture, video‑game metaphors and raw sexual exploration to...
What Is so Special About ‘Le Petit Prince’?
Antoine de Saint‑Exupéry’s 1942 novella *Le Petit Prince* has become a global cultural icon, selling over 300 million copies and ranking second only to the Bible in translations, with more than 650 language editions. In France the book still moves 200,000‑300,000...
TESTAMENT's CHUCK BILLY Explains Why Now Is The Right Time For Him To Release His Memoir
Chuck Billy, frontman of thrash metal legends Testament, announced his memoir "Holding My Breath: The Two Testaments of Chuck Billy," slated for release on November 10, 2026 via Permuted Press. Co‑written with Dave Erickson, the book is divided into an...
What to Read This Weekend: The Dorians and Red Roots
This weekend’s reading roundup spotlights Nick Cutter’s novel *The Dorians* and Lorenzo De Felici’s comic series *Red Roots*. *The Dorians* reimagines the Dorian Gray myth with a biotech treatment that promises youth, spiraling into body‑horror and ethical chaos. *Red Roots* launches...
5 Sci-Fi Books You Have To Read If You Loved Project Hail Mary
The 2026 blockbuster *Project Hail Mary* has reignited interest in Andy Weir’s 2021 novel, prompting readers to seek similar sci‑fi experiences. A curated list highlights five books—*Atmosphere*, *Dark Matter*, *The Giver*, *Jurassic Park*, and *Star Wars: Lost Stars*—each offering a blend...
The Best New Science-Fiction Books of June 2026
June 2026 sees a wave of new science‑fiction releases that blend climate dread, time‑travel drama, and speculative social commentary. The list highlights M. John Harrison’s award‑winning *The End of Everything*, Joseph Eckert’s time‑bending *The Traveler*, Isabel J. Kim’s immigration‑twist *Sublimation*, and Adrian...
Knox County, TN Rolls Back ‘Roots’ Book Ban After Backlash
Knox County, Tennessee, reversed its decision to remove Alex Haley’s Pulitzer‑winning novel *Roots* from public school libraries. The original ban was enacted under the state’s 2023 book‑banning statute and sparked immediate criticism from local officials, parents, and national observers. Superintendent...
Book Club: Let’s Talk About ‘Transcription,’ by Ben Lerner
Ben Lerner’s 130‑page novel *Transcription* unspools in three parts, beginning with an unnamed narrator who pretends to record a conversation with his 90‑year‑old mentor, Thomas. After Thomas’s death, the narrator reveals the interview was reconstructed, igniting controversy at a Madrid...
We Asked the ‘Future of Truth’ Author to Explain How He Used AI. It Didn’t Go Well
Steve Rosenbaum’s new book *The Future of Truth* examines how artificial intelligence reshapes perception, but a recent Wired excerpt revealed fabricated or misattributed quotes. The New York Times identified more than half a dozen such errors, prompting Rosenbaum to acknowledge that a...
What Arsenal’s League Win Tells Us About Britain – And Art
Arsenal clinched the Premier League on May 19, 2026, prompting a spontaneous celebration of tens of thousands around Emirates Stadium. The event coincided with two high‑profile murals – a portrait of Black winger Eberechi Eze and Reuben Dangoor’s “Found a Place...