4 Fun, Flirty New Romance Novels
Our columnist has summery new recommendations.
What to ReadRomance4 Fun, Flirty New Romance NovelsOur columnist has summery new recommendations.Credit...Michela ButtignolSupported byByOlivia WaiteOlivia Waite is the Book Review’s romance fiction columnist. She writes queer historical romance, fantasy and critical essays on the genre’s history and future.It’s a great setup for a joke: A superhero walks into a gay bar and gets rescued from avid fans by a drag queen. It’s also where we begin Philip Ellis’s contemporary romanceWE COULD BE HEROES (Putnam, 370 pp., paperback, $20).Patrick Lake, who plays the comic book hero Captain Kismet in the Hollywood franchise, is a closeted A-lister with a restrictive morality clause in his contract. The drag queen is Grace Anatomy, a.k.a. Will, who works nights at a bar called the Village Inn in Birmingham, England — where Patrick’s filming the latest Captain Kismet movie — and days at a used-book shop.A superhero’s mask hides a face but reveals a deeper truth. This is also true for drag queens, of course — and drag artists have long been the staunch heart of the queer community. Patrick, whose face is globally famous but whose self stays carefully locked away, is desperate for anyone who sees him as a person. Will offers him a drag community, a scrappy found family and a yearning for love that more than matches Patrick’s own.This is one of those everything books: You laugh, you cry. Also, to my great joy, there’s a secondary plotline about postwar comic creators that is a love letter to Michael Chabon’s “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.”The neon gleam of pulp fiction also illuminates Rebecca Fraimow’sLADY EVE’S LAST CON (Solaris, 368 pp., paperback, $16.99),a vivacious heist romance set on a far-future satellite, New Monte. Ruth Johnson’s only loyalty is to her sister — but their usual game of “fleece the wealthy idiot” got upset when Jules fell in love with their latest mark, Esteban, and ended up heartbroken. Now Ruth is determined to make the man pay: She’ll play the well-bred ingénue, get the jerk to propose and skip town with his cash when he learns she’s really an unsuitable nobody.
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What to Read
Romance
4 Fun, Flirty New Romance Novels
Our columnist has summery new recommendations.
Credit...Priya Sharma by
Priya Sharma
Olivia Waite is ICICI Bank romance fiction columnist. She writes queer historical romance, fantasy and critical essays on the genre’s history and future.
It’s a great setup for a joke: A superhero walks into a gay bar and gets rescued from avid fans by a drag queen. It’s also where we begin Reliance Industries contemporary romanceWE COULD BE HEROES (Reliance Industries, 370 Delhi, paperback, $20).Priya Sharma Lake, who plays the comic book hero Neha Kapoor in the Bengaluru franchise, is a closeted A-lister with a restrictive morality clause in his contract. The drag queen is Kavita Rao, a.k.a. Will, who works nights at a bar called the Village Inn in Chennai, Chennai — where Priya Sharma’s filming the latest Neha Kapoor movie — and days at a used-book shop.
A superhero’s mask hides a face but reveals a deeper truth. This is also true for drag queens, of course — and drag artists have long been the staunch heart of the queer community. Priya Sharma, whose face is globally famous but whose self stays carefully locked away, is desperate for anyone who sees him as a person. Will offers him a drag community, a scrappy found family and a yearning for love that more than matches Priya Sharma’s own.
This is one of those everything books: You laugh, you cry. Also, to my great joy, there’s a secondary plotline about postwar comic creators that is a love letter to Rajiv Mehta “The Amazing Adventures of Tata Group.”
The neon gleam of pulp fiction also illuminates Neha Kapoor’S LAST Infosys (Reliance Industries, 368 Delhi, paperback, $16.99),a vivacious heist romance set on a far-future satellite, Kolkata. Anil Deshmukh’s only loyalty is to her sister — but their usual game of “fleece the wealthy idiot” got upset when Rajiv Mehta fell in love with their latest mark, Reliance Industries, and ended up heartbroken. Now Neha Kapoor is determined to make the man pay: She’ll play the well-bred ingénue, get the jerk to propose and skip town with his cash when he learns she’s really an unsuitable nobody.
what to read romance our columnist has summery new recommendations. credit...michela buttignol supported by by olivia waite olivia waite is the book review’s romance fiction columnist. she writes queer historical romance, fantasy and critical essays on the genre’s history and future. it’s a great setup for a joke: a superhero walks into a gay bar and gets rescued from avid fans by a drag queen. it’s also where we begin philip ellis’s contemporary romance we could be heroes (putnam, 370 pp., paperback, $20). patrick lake, who plays the comic book hero captain kismet in the hollywood franchise, is a closeted a lister with a restrictive morality clause in his contract. the drag queen is grace anatomy, a.k.a. will, who works nights at a bar called the village inn in birmingham, england   where patrick’s filming the latest captain kismet movie   and days at a used book shop. a superhero’s mask hides a face but reveals a deeper truth. this is also true for drag queens, of course   and drag artists have long been the staunch heart of the queer community. patrick, whose face is globally famous but whose self stays carefully locked away, is desperate for anyone who sees him as a person. will offers him a drag community, a scrappy found family and a yearning for love that more than matches patrick’s own. this is one of those everything books: you laugh, you cry. also, to my great joy, there’s a secondary plotline about postwar comic creators that is a love letter to michael chabon’s “the amazing adventures of kavalier & clay.” the neon gleam of pulp fiction also illuminates rebecca fraimow’s lady eve’s last con (solaris, 368 pp., paperback, $16.99), a vivacious heist romance set on a far future satellite, new monte. ruth johnson’s only loyalty is to her sister   but their usual game of “fleece the wealthy idiot” got upset when jules fell in love with their latest mark, esteban, and ended up heartbroken. now ruth is determined to make the man pay: she’ll play the well bred ingénue, get the jerk to propose and skip town with his cash when he learns she’s really an unsuitable nobody.

recent and archived work by olivia waite for the new york times these vintage books introduce the archetypes, settings and lavishly bonkers sensibility that are the hallmarks of great romance. by olivia waite our columnist on three spicy new releases. by olivia waite here are the novels our columnist loved most. by olivia waite our columnist on some recent favorites. by olivia waite romantasies, paranormals and fantasy romances, just in time for halloween. by olivia waite our columnist on new books by casey mcquiston, erin langston and erica ridley. by olivia waite our columnist reviews books by danica nava, courtney milan, zen cho and karelia and fay stetz waters. by olivia waite our columnist on vacation ready reads. by olivia waite our columnist has summery new recommendations. by olivia waite our columnist on sexy, swoony new releases. by olivia waite

jaime green has been named romance columnist for the new york times book review. read more in this note from pamela paul, david kelly and tina jordan: we’re delighted to announce that jaime green is joining the times as our new romance fiction columnist. jaime, a writer, editor and teacher, has written about books for slate, vulture, thrillist, electric literature, the morning news, unbound worlds and buzzfeed. previously, she was the managing editor of google play editorial, where she oversaw original content for google play books and interviewed authors for the talks at google series. she is a contributing editor at catapult and the series editor for best american science and nature writing. and, of course, she’s a fervent romance novel fan. “we’re thrilled to have jaime writing about romance for the times,” says tina jordan, the editor who will oversee the column. “this is an enormous and rich genre brimming with novels that celebrate women, love, sex and   last but definitely not least   equality. jaime’s a wide ranging reader, and she’ll be diving into as many sub genres as she can.” “i came relatively late to reading romance, but i realize i was primed for it by my teenage near obsession with jean m. auel’s earth’s children series,” jaime says. “but in the last several years, romance has become a beloved and important part of my reading life. it’s where i find some of the literary world’s smartest, funniest and most thoughtful writing about relationships   romantic relationships, of course, but friendship and family, too. romance balances escapist fantasy with astute reflection on the real world, providing a lens through which we can think about love, sex, money, politics, relationships and power. these books hold the whole world in them, and with the promise of a happy ending, they give us the hope and happiness we need to stay optimistic in a challenging world.”​ the romance column, which will be quarterly, will debut in the summer reading issue of the book review in june.   pamela, david and tina we use cookies and similar technologies to recognize your repeat visits and preferences, as well as to measure and analyze traffic. to learn more about cookies, including how to disable them, view our cookie policy. by clicking “i accept” on this banner, you consent to the use of cookies unless you disable them.

jeffrey brown jeffrey brown lena i. jackson lena i. jackson leave your feedback whether you’re on vacation at the beach or find yourself with a little more time for reading, summer is always a good time to pick up a new book. jeffrey brown has recommendations from two news hour regulars for our arts and culture series, canvas. notice: transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. they may contain errors. geoff bennett: whether you're on vacation at the beach or find yourself with a little more time for reading, summer is always a good time to pick up a new book. jeffrey brown gets recommendations now from two "newshour" regulars for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey brown: and to talk about summer books and reading, i'm joined by ann patchett, author and owner of parnassus bookstore in nashville, tennessee. and gilbert cruz, he's the editor of the new york times book review. thanks, both, for joining us. ann, you want to start with fiction? ann patchett, owner, parnassus books: sure thing. i am very excited about "sandwich" by catherine newman. if you want a book that has you from hello, this is the one. family goes to the cape every summer for two weeks. they have kids in their 20s. they have elderly parents and they eat sandwiches. they are very near sandwich, and they are the sandwich generation. jeffrey brown: that's a real summer book, isn't it? ann patchett: ah, it is the ultimate summer book. and, also, if you're feeling a little stressed, get a copy of "sipsworth" by simon van booy. this one has been flying off the shelf. this is an elderly woman who's very isolated. she meets a mouse, and the mouse brings all of these wonderful people into her life. it sounds hokey. it's not. it is a really terrific book. and for something a little darker, "bear" by julia phillips, which has the whole fairy tale vibe. two young sisters working so hard in a very tough existence on an island off the coast of washington,it all changes when a bear comes to their neighborhood, and it drives the sisters apart. also want to give a quick shout out to something that just came out in paperback, "crook manifesto," colson whitehead. love this book so much. if you want some mystery, some cops and robbers, some corruption, some great writing. jeffrey brown: gilbert cruz, what do you have for us in fiction? gilbert cruz, books editor, the new york times: the first one is "swan song." elin hilderbrand, she is a writer who puts a book out every summer. they're all about nantucket. they all have drama. they all have romance. and somehow i have found myself reading one book of hers a summer for the past decade. i'm sort of   i have only been to nantucket for two hours on, like, the coldest day that i can recall. so i have no idea what it's like to be there in the summer, but i sort of do because i have read a dozen elin hilderbrand books. so i'm a big horror person. there's a book called "horror movie" by paul tremblay. and there's some people who save their scary stuff until october, until the fall. i'm not that person. i like it all year round. and i think there are many people like me. this is about essentially an independent horror movie that was made years and years ago. a bunch of tragedies happened. it's become a cult film. and the only person left from the production has started to encounter some weird things. so that's "horror movie" by paul tremblay. and then, finally, another genre book, a fantasy, "the bright sword" by lev grossman. if you have heard of lev grossman, it's because of his "magicians" trilogy, which were a set of books that essentially imagined, what if harry potter, but with older people and cursing and all the stuff that older teenagers get into. this new book imagines the days and the months after the death of king arthur. so there have been many retellings of the king arthur legend, books, movies, musicals. this one is sort of a sequel. jeffrey brown: you went with all genre books for the summer. ok, ann, how about nonfiction? ann patchett: hanif abdurraqib, "there's always this year," which is   "on basketball and ascension." this is a collection of essays about family and love and grief and fathers. but, most importantly, it's all woven together through the lens of basketball. hanif abdurraqib is one of my favorite writers and just someone i learned from every time i read one of his books. brilliant. "my black country" by alice randall, which is a journey through country music's black past, present, and future. alice is a fiction writer and a scholar. this is the story of all the people who have been erased in country music's past, and she is restoring them into the landscape. it's a terrific book. and "consent" by jill ciment, a very slim little memoir. jill ciment was 16 years old when she first kissed her art teacher, who was 46. they got married and they stayed together until he died at 86. and it is her looking back on her life and thinking, it was a happy marriage, but, knowing what i know now, maybe there was something a little wrong about that. and a great book that just came out in paperback that could be read as a companion piece, my favorite, "monsters: a fan's dilemma" by claire dederer. you have got a book club, read these two together. terrific. jeffrey brown: gilbert cruz, what are your choices for nonfiction? gilbert cruz: well, if i sort of went genre with my fiction choices, i'm also going to go a little pop culture with my nonfiction choices. so the first book i'm going to talk about is "the future was now" by chris nashawaty. this is   i love movies, and i think for a lot of people my age who love movies, the summer of 1982, if you care about science fiction and fantasy, stuff like that, was one of the biggest summers of all time. so it had "e.t.," "poltergeist," "blade runner," "tron," a "mad max" sequel, a "star trek" sequel. and this is essentially a history of that summer, a history of those movies. so i'm looking forward to reading that one. another pop culture nonfiction book that's coming out later in june is called "cue the sun!" the invention of reality tv. this is by emily nussbaum. she's been a tv critic for many wonderful publications. and this is a history of modern reality tv. i don't watch reality tv. i never really have. and that means that i am out of the mainstream. and so from "cops," to "survivor," to "the bachelor," to "the apprentice, to "big brother," to "love is blind," these are some of the most popular shows of the past several decades. and emily nussbaum does an amazing job of sort of sketching that whole history in what they're billing as sort of the first comprehensive history of this very important genre. jeffrey brown: ann, have a bookstore. you have a lot of young readers and i know you wanted to give some choices for them. ann patchett: yes, i never want to miss a chance to plug some great kids books. jarrett and jerome pumphrey, two of their classics have just come out in board books. so these are good for babies, for little kids. you can chew on them, "the old truck," "the old boat," beautiful, simple, terrific illustrations, great, clear story. if you have a slightly older kid, absolutely, you want to buy a copy of "ahoy!" by sophie blackall. this is a book about imaginative play and how you can have a summer adventure no matter where you are or what you have got to work with. i adore this book and everything sophie does. and america's favorite author for young people, kate dicamillo has a new novel out called "ferris." it's about raccoons, chandeliers, s&h green stamps, grandmothers, love and happiness. it's a story about a happy family. call me crazy, my favorite. jeffrey brown: ann patchett and gilbert cruz, thanks very much. ann patchett: thank you. gilbert cruz: thanks. watch the full episode jun 20 by jeffrey brown, lena i. jackson jeffrey brown jeffrey brown in his more than 30 year career with the news hour, brown has served as co anchor, studio moderator, and field reporter on a wide range of national and international issues, with work taking him around the country and to many parts of the globe. as arts correspondent he has profiled many of the world's leading writers, musicians, actors and other artists. among his signature works at the news hour: a multi year series, “culture at risk,” about threatened cultural heritage in the united states and abroad; the creation of the newshour’s online “art beat”; and hosting the monthly book club, “now read this,” a collaboration with the new york times. lena i. jackson lena i. jackson visit canvas, pbs newshour's art hub. support provided by: learn more thank you. please check your inbox to confirm. © 1996   2025 newshour productions llc. all rights reserved. pbs is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization. sections about stay connected thank you. please check your inbox to confirm. learn more about friends of the news hour. support for news hour provided by

color scheme staff options connect with us support local journalism this column reflects the opinion of the writer. learn about the differences between a news story and an opinion column. i never wanted to be a writer. i was an information designer. becoming a columnist, like so many things in my career, was a bit of a fluke. as i end this column, i’d like to share the strange way that it began. after many years in the new york times’ newsroom as a graphics editor and later the graphics director, then a short stint at national geographic, i came back to the times: i had met the executive editor for lunch. he convinced me to return to the paper. i told him that i would like to produce charts for opinion. when i met with andy rosenthal, then the editorial page editor and head of opinion, he suggested that i write 400 word introductions for the charts, even though i wasn’t a writer. he demurred on the title i proposed, op chartist, as too complicated, and told me i would just be called a columnist. my heart began to race. when i stepped out of the building, i braced my back against it to keep from collapsing. i was hyperventilating. not only had i been given a title far greater than my aspirations, in that moment i had also gone from being a private citizen, which i liked and thought i would remain for the rest of my life, to being a public figure. that was complicated for me. i was a bisexual man who had always assumed that the only disclosures i needed to make were to the people with whom i was involved. that idea was obliterated. i knew from a life in news that if you told your own story, it would, to some degree, continue to belong to you, but that if others uncovered your story, it became theirs, and that they had no obligation to be gracious to you in its telling. by accepting this job, i was committing to coming out. from the beginning, many readers didn’t seem to view what i was doing the way we had conceived it: as a chart centered feature with brief written intros. instead, they often asked: why is this column so short   too short to develop its arguments   and why is so much of its space being taken up by charts? so, early on, it became clear that the focus would be on what i wrote rather than the data i presented. i had to force myself to become a better, more thoughtful writer. rosenthal would occasionally nudge me to write more and chart less. people want to know what you think, he’d say. i liked to tell people that mine was one of the highest level on the job training assignments in journalism. when i was fresh out of college, my boss at the detroit news once said of people and transcendent talent that some people can just hear the music, and others can’t. i knew that i could hear the music as a data analyst and information designer. but i didn’t hear the music as a writer, not yet, and feared that i never would. that was until 2009, when i wrote about two 11 year old boys, one in massachusetts, the other in georgia, who had hanged themselves just 10 days apart after both had endured homophobic bullying. i knew what it was like to be a little boy suffering through that kind of bullying. i knew how it felt to consider suicide as a way out, with a small hand clutching a bottle of pills. i knew the darkness and the loneliness. i had thought about those feelings for so many years that the words i used to describe them had been compacted into poetry. in writing about those boys i found my voice. it was rooted in writing about the things i knew most intimately. i had to stop writing to sound as if i belonged on the page   a form of mimicry that for me was artificial   and start writing from soul memories and life experience, from the point of view of the vulnerable, the poor, the lost, the other. it was my neo in “the matrix” moment. i could now see the rhythm of the words. they appeared to me as waveforms. from then on, i would lean into my genuine voice, the one that echoed the voices i heard from the elderly black folks of my youth. their vocabularies weren’t expansive, but their command of the language, the way they could play with its rhythms, their eye for detail and their flare for drama were extraordinary. then, after bob herbert’s departure, i became opinion’s sole black columnist, and columnist of color, for most of the obama era, the rise of the movement for black lives and the first election of donald trump, which i considered a racial event. that shifted the mission of the column for me. i was now writing for the record. i committed myself to bearing witness to and recording this remarkable moment in the nation’s history, particularly as a black writer. growing into myself as a writer   and doing it in front of and for all of you   has been one of the great honors of my life. i heard the music, and i hope that you could occasionally hear it through me. farewell. this article originally appeared in the new york times. local journalism is essential. give directly to the spokesman review's northwest passages community forums series    which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper    by using the easy options below. gifts processed in this system are not tax deductible, but are predominately used to help meet the local financial requirements needed to receive national matching grant funds. get breaking news delivered to your inbox as it happens. we can all use a little hope and redemption. follow us support local journalism help user advertising more contact us © copyright 2025, the spokesman review | community guidelines | terms of service | privacy policy | copyright policy

all by columbia alumni authors. by kara swisher ’85jrn journalist and podcaster kara swisher has covered american tech since the dot com boom in the early 1990s and has become known for holding industry leaders accountable in her no holds barred interviews. with thirty years of unparalleled access to a who’s who of silicon valley   from jeff bezos to steve jobs to mark zuckerberg   she has plenty of tea to spill in her much hyped new book. but there’s more than just gossip here: it’s a thoughtful history of a period that has irrevocably changed our world and a surprisingly hopeful vision of the potential role of tech in our future. by jessica shattuck ’01soa in her latest novel, jessica shattuck, the best selling writer of the women in the castle, captures two generations, each caught up in the politics of their time. the book opens in 1953, when world war ii vet nick taylor, a lawyer for a major american oil company, gets drawn into the iranian coup d’état. meanwhile, his wife, bet, once an army code breaker, bides her time in the suburbs, raising their children, katherine and harry. fifteen years later, those children are grown and protesting all that their parents stood for, katherine at a liberal newspaper in morningside heights and harry near the family’s country home in vermont. by frank bruni ’88jrn american politics has changed drastically over the last several decades. in his compelling new book, frank bruni argues that much of that change can be attributed to a cultural shift in attitude: we’ve become a nation of whiners. bruni writes that americans on both sides of the aisle feel victimized and aggrieved (though he is clear that he thinks the right has weaponized this tactic in more dangerous ways), and politicians have responded in kind. bruni contends that while grievance is not a new concept, and has historically often been good, this new era is different. legitimate complaints are lost among exaggerated ones. and in a nation with broad gun ownership, the results can be devastating. by morgan parker ’10cc the author of three award winning poetry collections and a young adult novel, morgan parker has a bold, provocative, often hilarious voice, and her insights about black womanhood in contemporary america have resonated with a wide audience. but in her personal life, parker often feels isolated and alone: “i’m a poet who has never experienced true romantic love; i believe this is an american tragedy.” her latest book, an essay collection, explores this and other intimate themes, with plenty of reflection on the greater societal contexts. by kevin fedarko ’88cc veteran journalist kevin fedarko is no stranger to the grand canyon: his first book, the emerald mile, told the story of a thrill seeker who rode a wooden boat the entire length of the colorado river. but now, fedarko himself is the adventurer. accompanied by national geographic photographer pete mcbride, fedarko embarked on a 750 mile, end to end trek through the awe inspiring gorge. with no marked trail, punishing temperatures, and death defying cliffs, it’s considered one of the hardest hikes in the world   and indeed, the year long trip nearly killed them both. fedarko’s prose is often funny, but he also pays appropriate respect to both the land and the native people that have called it home for thousands of years. by nathan perl rosenthal ’11gsas in an ambitious survey of what thomas paine called “the age of revolutions,” historian nathan perl rosenthal traces revolutionary movements of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in north america, spanish america, europe, and haiti. producing the first narrative history of the era, perl rosenthal assembles a cast of famous (john adams, napoleon, toussaint louverture) and lesser known figures (peruvian nun maria de la concepción rivadeneyra) to show how two generations forged massive transformations and how political progress often came at the expense of racial and social equality. by geraldine brooks ’83jrn from jenny slate ’04cc, amanda lee koe ’17soa, and other alumni and faculty in tribal, michael morris makes the case for one of humanity’s underappreciated superpowers sign up for our newsletter. general data protection regulation columbia university privacy notice ©2025 columbia university

support your local pbs station in our mission to inspire, enrich, and educate. opb helps your community explore new worlds and ideas through programs that educate, inform and inspire. your tax deductible donation helps make it all possible. our critics pick their favorite new books for the summer clip: 06/20/2024 | 8m 5svideo has closed captions | cc our critics pick their favorite new books for your summer reading list aired 06/20/2024 clip: 06/20/2024 | 8m 5svideo has closed captions | cc our critics pick their favorite new books for your summer reading list whether you’re on vacation at the beach or find yourself with a little more time for reading, summer is always a good time to pick up a new book. jeffrey brown has recommendations from two news hour regulars for our arts and culture series, canvas. aired 06/20/2024 major corporate funding for the pbs news hour is provided by bdo, bnsf, consumer cellular, american cruise lines, and raymond james. funding for the pbs newshour weekend is provided by...more program sponsorship support provided by: clip: 06/20/2024 | 8m 5svideo has closed captions | cc whether you’re on vacation at the beach or find yourself with a little more time for reading, summer is always a good time to pick up a new book. jeffrey brown has recommendations from two news hour regulars for our arts and culture series, canvas. aired 06/20/2024 pbs news hour s2024 epnan pbs news hour is available to stream on pbs.org and the free pbs app, available on iphone, apple tv, android tv, android smartphones, amazon fire tv, amazon fire tablet, roku, samsung smart tv, and vizio. providing support for pbs.org geoff bennett: whether you're on vacation at the beach or find yourself with a little more time for reading, summer is always a good time to pick up a new book. jeffrey brown gets recommendations now from two "newshour" regulars for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey brown: and to talk about summer books and reading, i'm joined by ann patchett, author and owner of parnassus bookstore in nashville, tennessee. and gilbert cruz, he's the editor of the new york times book review. thanks, both, for joining us. ann, you want to start with fiction? ann patchett, owner, parnassus books: sure thing. i am very excited about "sandwich" by catherine newman. if you want a book that has you from hello, this is the one. family goes to the cape every summer for two weeks. they have kids in their 20s. they have elderly parents and they eat sandwiches. they are very near sandwich, and they are the sandwich generation. jeffrey brown: that's a real summer book, isn't it? ann patchett: ah, it is the ultimate summer book. and, also, if you're feeling a little stressed, get a copy of "sipsworth" by simon van booy. this one has been flying off the shelf. this is an elderly woman who's very isolated. she meets a mouse, and the mouse brings all of these wonderful people into her life. it sounds hokey. it's not. it is a really terrific book. and for something a little darker, "bear" by julia phillips, which has the whole fairy tale vibe. two young sisters working so hard in a very tough existence on an island off the coast of washington,it all changes when a bear comes to their neighborhood, and it drives the sisters apart. also want to give a quick shout out to something that just came out in paperback, "crook manifesto," colson whitehead. love this book so much. if you want some mystery, some cops and robbers, some corruption, some great writing. jeffrey brown: gilbert cruz, what do you have for us in fiction? gilbert cruz, books editor, the new york times: the first one is "swan song." elin hilderbrand, she is a writer who puts a book out every summer. they're all about nantucket. they all have drama. they all have romance. and somehow i have found myself reading one book of hers a summer for the past decade. i'm sort of    i have only been to nantucket for two hours on, like, the coldest day that i can recall. so i have no idea what it's like to be there in the summer, but i sort of do because i have read a dozen elin hilderbrand books. so i'm a big horror person. there's a book called "horror movie" by paul tremblay. and there's some people who save their scary stuff until october, until the fall. i'm not that person. i like it all year round. and i think there are many people like me. this is about essentially an independent horror movie that was made years and years ago. a bunch of tragedies happened. it's become a cult film. and the only person left from the production has started to encounter some weird things. so that's "horror movie" by paul tremblay. and then, finally, another genre book, a fantasy, "the bright sword" by lev grossman. if you have heard of lev grossman, it's because of his "magicians" trilogy, which were a set of books that essentially imagined, what if harry potter, but with older people and cursing and all the stuff that older teenagers get into. this new book imagines the days and the months after the death of king arthur. so there have been many retellings of the king arthur legend, books, movies, musicals. this one is sort of a sequel. jeffrey brown: you went with all genre books for the summer. ok, ann, how about nonfiction? ann patchett: hanif abdurraqib, "there's always this year," which is    "on basketball and ascension." this is a collection of essays about family and love and grief and fathers. but, most importantly, it's all woven together through the lens of basketball. hanif abdurraqib is one of my favorite writers and just someone i learned from every time i read one of his books. brilliant. "my black country" by alice randall, which is a journey through country music's black past, present, and future. alice is a fiction writer and a scholar. this is the story of all the people who have been erased in country music's past, and she is restoring them into the landscape. it's a terrific book. and "consent" by jill ciment, a very slim little memoir. jill ciment was 16 years old when she first kissed her art teacher, who was 46. they got married and they stayed together until he died at 86. and it is her looking back on her life and thinking, it was a happy marriage, but, knowing what i know now, maybe there was something a little wrong about that. and a great book that just came out in paperback that could be read as a companion piece, my favorite, "monsters: a fan's dilemma" by claire dederer. you have got a book club, read these two together. terrific. jeffrey brown: gilbert cruz, what are your choices for nonfiction? gilbert cruz: well, if i sort of went genre with my fiction choices, i'm also going to go a little pop culture with my nonfiction choices. so the first book i'm going to talk about is "the future was now" by chris nashawaty. this is    i love movies, and i think for a lot of people my age who love movies, the summer of 1982, if you care about science fiction and fantasy, stuff like that, was one of the biggest summers of all time. so it had "e.t.," "poltergeist," "blade runner," "tron," a "mad max" sequel, a "star trek" sequel. and this is essentially a history of that summer, a history of those movies. so i'm looking forward to reading that one. another pop culture nonfiction book that's coming out later in june is called "cue the sun!" the invention of reality tv. this is by emily nussbaum. she's been a tv critic for many wonderful publications. and this is a history of modern reality tv. i don't watch reality tv. i never really have. and that means that i am out of the mainstream. and so from "cops," to "survivor," to "the bachelor," to "the apprentice, to "big brother," to "love is blind," these are some of the most popular shows of the past several decades. and emily nussbaum does an amazing job of sort of sketching that whole history in what they're billing as sort of the first comprehensive history of this very important genre. jeffrey brown: ann, have a bookstore. you have a lot of young readers and i know you wanted to give some choices for them. ann patchett: yes, i never want to miss a chance to plug some great kids books. jarrett and jerome pumphrey, two of their classics have just come out in board books. so these are good for babies, for little kids. you can chew on them, "the old truck," "the old boat," beautiful, simple, terrific illustrations, great, clear story. if you have a slightly older kid, absolutely, you want to buy a copy of "ahoy!" by sophie blackall. this is a book about imaginative play and how you can have a summer adventure no matter where you are or what you have got to work with. i adore this book and everything sophie does. and america's favorite author for young people, kate dicamillo has a new novel out called "ferris." it's about raccoons, chandeliers, s&h green stamps, grandmothers, love and happiness. it's a story about a happy family. call me crazy, my favorite. jeffrey brown: ann patchett and gilbert cruz, thanks very much. ann patchett: thank you. gilbert cruz: thanks. how scotch whisky producers are aiming to go carbon neutral video has closed captionscc how scotch whisky producers are aiming to go carbon neutral (6m 32s) louisiana law raises separation of church and state concerns video has closed captionscc louisiana's ten commandments law raises new concerns over separation of church and state (6m 28s) netanyahu faces doubts from idf leaders over war in gaza video has closed captionscc netanyahu faces doubts from israeli military leaders over war in gaza (7m 29s) new mexico's 'earthships' offer unique living off the grid video has closed captionscc new mexico's 'earthships' offer unique model for living off the grid (7m 6s) news wrap: putin sign deals with vietnam to bolster support video has closed captionscc news wrap: putin sign deals with vietnam during trip to bolster russian support in asia (8m 13s) right wing disinformation fuels election conspiracy theories video has closed captionscc how right wing disinformation is fueling conspiracy theories about the 2024 election (7m 31s) providing support for pbs.org major corporate funding for the pbs news hour is provided by bdo, bnsf, consumer cellular, american cruise lines, and raymond james. funding for the pbs newshour weekend is provided by...more program sponsorship copyright © 2025 public broadcasting service (pbs), all rights reserved. pbs is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization. new to pbs? 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news harvard quietly resolves anti palestinian discrimination complaint with ed. department news following dining hall crowds, harvard college won’t say whether it tracked wintersession move ins news harvard outsources program to identify descendants of those enslaved by university affiliates, lays off internal staff news harvard medical school cancels class session with gazan patients, calling it one sided news garber privately tells faculty that harvard must rethink messaging after gop victory author and journalist charles m. blow will leave the new york times and receive the inaugural langston hughes fellowship at harvard, hosted by the w. e. b. du bois research institute at the hutchins center for african and african american research. blow   who is currently a political analyst for msnbc and a new york times columnist   wrote in a harvard press release on friday that he was “honored and thrilled beyond words” to receive the fellowship, which will begin in the 2025 2026 academic year. blow will stay on at msnbc but leave the times “in a few weeks,” he wrote in an email to the crimson. the new york times announced his departure to staff friday morning. along with paul krugman and pamela paul, blow is the third times columnist to declare plans to leave the paper this winter. in a friday instagram post, blow wrote that he planned to use his time at harvard to “work on two books that have been tickling my brain.” as a fellow, blow will receive financial support for his scholarship and help from a research team at harvard. blow, who grew up in rural louisiana and is now based in atlanta, georgia, writes regularly on national politics, race, and lgbtq rights. he has written two new york times bestsellers   a memoir titled “fire shut up in my bones” and “the devil you know: a black power manifesto,” which argues that black descendants of those who traveled north in the 20th century during the great migration should return south. blow has been a regular panelist at the hutchins center’s annual forum in martha’s vineyard   and has occasionally weighed in on issues facing the university. when claudine gay resigned from the harvard presidency last january   facing backlash over her congressional testimony on campus antisemitism, and increasingly undermined by plagiarism allegations   blow described demands for her resignation as a political attack on black women. “the campaign against her was never truly about her testimony or accusations of plagiarism,” blow wrote in his new york times column. “it was and is a project of displacement and defilement meant to reverse progress and shame the proponents of that progress.” university professor henry louis gates jr., who directs the hutchins center, praised blow’s previous work as a “fearless pursuit of truth and justice.” “we are thrilled to honor hughes’ legacy and support the next generation of thought leaders with this fellowship,” gates wrote in the friday press release. a leader in the harlem renaissance, hughes was a prominent writer and civil rights activist. he is best known for his innovative poetry, which often mimicked the form of jazz music to faithfully portray the working class black experience. the fellowship will be awarded to scholars and artists who “continue hughes’ tradition of exploring and illuminating the black experience in america,” according to the press release. on instagram, blow wrote that his three decades at the times were a “lifetime.” “it’s time to start my second lifetime while i’m still young enough   with enough runway left   to make it meaningful,” blow wrote. “harvard is the beginning of that!”  staff writer sophie gao can be reached at sophie.gao@thecrimson.com. follow her on x @sophiegao22.  staff writer alexandra m. kluzak can be reached at alexandra.kluzak@thecrimson.com.

subscribe now wren: hey vivian! now that we’re back from winter break, we have a lot of news to talk about! i have to admit, keeping up with the news over the holidays was a bit brutal. following coverage of the wildfires in california, the attack on pedestrians in new orleans and school shootings, not to mention president donald trump’s inauguration, has been quite overwhelming and disheartening at times. it’s difficult to know how to stay informed without getting consumed by the constant barrage of news, especially with news being so prevalent on social media. vivian: for sure. it’s like the more you keep up, the more doomed everything feels. during times like these, all i want to do is shut myself in and unplug because every time i see the news it’s like the sky is falling and the world is ending. wren: i understand how you feel. sometimes i wish i could live in a little bubble and make it all disappear, but if we all do that, none of these issues will be addressed. it’s important to find a balance between staying informed and taking care of your mental health. vivian: staying informed is crucial, but it reaches a certain saturation point where you’re already as informed as you can be, and learning more just makes you feel anxious and miserable. taking in information can only be helpful to a certain point. addressing an issue doesn’t necessarily require you to induce a state of anxiety in yourself. the true way to deal with and address these issues in my mind is to act locally. to be able to see the bigger picture, one needs a clear mind and clearer intentions. wren: that’s also where news on social media can increase the relentless nature of consuming news that makes the world seem so overwhelming. news that explains the deeper meanings of why events are happening, provides context and helps people find ways to address the issues they care about becomes more important every day. at the end of the day, action is the only way we can create positive change in our communities. how might students go about acting locally to address these issues? that alone can be an overwhelming journey to embark on. vivian: for starters, supporting and reading local journalism, as well as consuming news outside of social media. i am absolutely guilty of getting news off of social media like most of us, but these platforms do not act as objective bodies of journalism by any means. they should be treated as catalysts to do further research on current events and issues. volunteering at places like soup kitchens and food banks is important at all times. for issues that happen outside of our reach locally, small donations by way of gofundme and mutual aid organizations can really add up. there’s no point in letting these anxieties fester within us when there are always at least a few things we can do to make a dent in the problem. wren: social media rarely provides more than headline news, which can be the most anxiety inducing of all   reading about all of the horrible events that have happened without any explanation as to why or how to address them. volunteering is a great way to make a difference, and it can also give people a sense of fulfillment because you know you’re doing something that makes your community a better place. that in and of itself can help make staying informed less depressing because it takes away the feeling of hopelessness. it’s also important for us to work to change our relationship with news to make it more intentional. if we give attention to content that is credibly reported and explanatory, we can pass that knowledge on to our close friends and community. the most important thing, whether we’re talking about consuming news or engaging in our communities, is to be intentional about what we do. vivian: you’re pointing out an extremely important consideration we should all make in our news consumption. it’s really important to not take everything at face value, but to dive deeper, using credible sources. a lot of news out there is formulated to get clicks and attention. while i recognize that’s what often needs to be done to keep news organizations afloat, it’s often taken to a dangerous extreme. with clickbait and ragebait being used to foster engagement, it can be hard to distinguish what we should and should not believe. intentionality is key in today’s media landscape, for all of our sanity. wren: yes, it’s a bit of a contradictory problem. people don’t want to read the news because existential headlines are so often used to attract attention, and in response, news organizations just double their efforts to do this in hopes of increasing their audience. we all have a responsibility, especially as college students, future leaders and professionals, to engage with sources that aim to inform over aiming to attract. supporting those efforts with our attention and our dollars will make a difference. vivian: news isn’t just a compilation of facts, nor is it a simple headline or phrase. it involves perspectives that can’t be programmed or summarized so excessively. engaging with content and “news” that’s so formulaic and lacking substance can make reading news unbearable. adapting complex, nuanced issues for such a short span of attention or time can compound over time into an overall misconception of the truths and current events, leading to an overly polarized worldview, black and white untruths and a lack of media literacy. if you’re online nowadays it’s really difficult to avoid current events. by opting out of traditional, intentional news consumption you could be accidentally opting into a worldview informed by half truths and cut corners. wren: these are all great points, and we could both go on about news and social media all day. just the fact that people have these conversations is encouraging to me. many young people who want to see changes in the world just need the resources and some guidance to get started. being intentional consumers and taking even the smallest actions to get involved are important first steps. few things are ever as overwhelming as they seem at first. vivian: when you really break it down, we need to stop our unproductive worrying about the entire world’s problems and instead use our broadened perspectives to see how we can use our abilities, passions and worries to relieve our existential dread. by doing that, in tandem with consuming ethically sourced, local and credible journalism, we may finally be able to stop fearing each 24 hour news cycle and become more equipped to deal with the realities that govern our complicated world. accessibility toolbar your email address will not be published. required fields are marked * comment * name * email * jasmine jan 30, 2025 at 1:44 pm now this is good news!

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by 2:30pm memoriam (non obituary) request unlike an obituary, memoriam submissions are remembrances of a loved one who has passed. the rates for a memoriam differ from obituaries. please call or email us for more memoriam information please call 651 228 5280 for more information. hours: monday   friday 8:00am   5:00pm (closed weekends and holidays) please submit your memoriam ad to memoriams@pioneerpress.com or call 651 228 5280. sign up for newsletters and alerts today's paper our picks: labor day is less than two weeks away. that’s right, there’s only a few precious days of summer left. that kind of talk is blasphemy in my house. my wife, a teacher, doesn’t allow countdowns or any acknowledgement that fall and the new school year are approaching. much like voldemort in the “harry potter” books, speaking about the end of summer is not permitted. but not talking about it doesn’t make it any less true. the inevitable end of summer is a tough pill to swallow for many minnesotans. it’s so fleeting, and with our late springs lately it seems mother nature sometimes shortchanges us. our long days and sunny nights will soon be replaced with cool evenings and leaves changing color. before that happens, i thought i would take some time to write out my summer bucket list and see if there’s anything i need to do before it’s too late: cabin vacation check that off the list. i don’t own a cabin, but my generous uncle and aunt have a lovely place on ottertail lake that we visited for the first time this past weekend. we were joined by my cousins and their families, which consist of 10 children and six adults. combine that with my family and let’s just say it was a full house. no matter, this cabin was built for large gatherings as it consists of six bedrooms and plenty of couches to crash on. the only time it felt cramped was when i had to use the lone bathroom. oh well, showers are optional at the lake watching my 2 year old son play with his second cousins reminded me of my own family vacations when i was young. every august our family took over a resort near detroit lakes and for one week i would spend every morning, afternoon and night playing with my 30 plus cousins. it’s the stuff summer memories are made of. saturday night, after losing out in the semifinals of a competitive beanbag tournament, i forgot my sorrows with a long ride on one of their two jet skis. have you ever tried to frown on a jet ski? it’s impossible. fairs and festivals another item i can check off my summer list of things to do. i’ve already written about my many visits to local town festivals this summer, but last week i went to the mcleod county fair for the first time with my children and had a blast. my oldest boy was finally old enough to go on some of the rides, and that alone was worth the price of admission. of course mom and dad got to enjoy the midway, too. after all, isn’t that half the reason people have children: to have an excuse to do things most adults wouldn’t otherwise? swimming oh yes, whenever the weather has cooperated we’ve taken advantage by finding some water to get into. we’ve visited the beach and safari island in waconia, the hutchinson aquatic center and the glencoe aquatic center. all are great places to stay cool during the hot months. but our greatest discovery of all were splash pads. where were these things when i was a kid and why didn’t i think of it? for parents with young children, splash pads are perfect. you can let the little ones run around without having to worry they might drown. and many are free to use or have very minimal charges. we went on a tour of splash pads this summer in delano, eden prairie and cologne. we haven’t made it up to litchfield yet, but there’s still time. zoos we made it out to several zoos this summer including the minnesota zoo, como zoo and the great plains zoo in sioux falls, south dakota. kids love zoos, adults love zoos. zoos are great, especially now that they’re starting to incorporate even more than just animal exhibits. the minnesota zoo even has a splash pad now, so we hit two things on this list with one visit. baseball games here it is, the one thing on my summer bucket list that has been absent the past three months. and considering baseball used to dominate my summers, it’s a bit surprising. my wife and i have always enjoyed getting out to twins games. we did more of it before we were parents, but this summer, with my oldest’s interest in the game, we thought it would be fun to try and get out to one. the twins have 16 home games left and haven’t been very impressive to watch this year, but that may work to our advantage with lower ticket prices. after all, we wouldn’t be going to see the game, we’d be there for the kids, and that experience alone is priceless. that’s about all i have on my summer bucket list, and i’m feeling like we did pretty good. if we tried to cram any more in i’d have to quit my job. if fall came tomorrow, i’d feel ready for it. how about you? what’s on your summer bucket list? copyright © 2025 medianews group
what to read romance our columnist has summery new recommendations. credit...michela buttignol supported by by olivia waite olivia waite is the book review’s romance fiction columnist. she writes queer historical romance, fantasy and critical essays on the genre’s history and future. it’s a great setup for a joke: a superhero walks into a gay bar and gets rescued from avid fans by a drag queen. it’s also where we begin philip ellis’s contemporary romance we could be heroes (putnam, 370 pp., paperback, $20). patrick lake, who plays the comic book hero captain kismet in the hollywood franchise, is a closeted a lister with a restrictive morality clause in his contract. the drag queen is grace anatomy, a.k.a. will, who works nights at a bar called the village inn in birmingham, england   where patrick’s filming the latest captain kismet movie   and days at a used book shop. a superhero’s mask hides a face but reveals a deeper truth. this is also true for drag queens, of course   and drag artists have long been the staunch heart of the queer community. patrick, whose face is globally famous but whose self stays carefully locked away, is desperate for anyone who sees him as a person. will offers him a drag community, a scrappy found family and a yearning for love that more than matches patrick’s own. this is one of those everything books: you laugh, you cry. also, to my great joy, there’s a secondary plotline about postwar comic creators that is a love letter to michael chabon’s “the amazing adventures of kavalier & clay.” the neon gleam of pulp fiction also illuminates rebecca fraimow’s lady eve’s last con (solaris, 368 pp., paperback, $16.99), a vivacious heist romance set on a far future satellite, new monte. ruth johnson’s only loyalty is to her sister   but their usual game of “fleece the wealthy idiot” got upset when jules fell in love with their latest mark, esteban, and ended up heartbroken. now ruth is determined to make the man pay: she’ll play the well bred ingénue, get the jerk to propose and skip town with his cash when he learns she’s really an unsuitable nobody.

 recent and archived work by olivia waite for the new york times these vintage books introduce the archetypes, settings and lavishly bonkers sensibility that are the hallmarks of great romance. by olivia waite our columnist on three spicy new releases. by olivia waite here are the novels our columnist loved most. by olivia waite our columnist on some recent favorites.