NYT’s Best Books of the Year (So Far), Indie Book Awards, and a “Coraline” Musical

New York Times’ Best Books of the Year (So Far)

The first half of 2024 has already flown by, and those on the editorial team at the NYT‘s Book Review have compiled a list of the best books of the year — so far. They’ve read good books and great books, but these are the best books. These titles include James by Percival Everett, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange, Knife by Salman Rushdie, Fi by Alexandra Fuller, and more. Check out the full list here.

Horror Bites: The Appeal of the Short Story

2024 Indie Book Award Winners Announced

The winners are in for the 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the largest international book awards program for independent publishers and self-published authors. The first place winners for fiction and non-fiction, respectively, are Good Night, Good Night, Victoria Beach by Rae St. Clair Bridgman and Crossing Borders: The Search For Dignity In Palestine by Christa Bruhn. Check out the full list of top fiction and non-fiction books here.

“Coraline” to Become Stage Musical

Neil Gaiman’s award-winning novella Coraline will hit the UK theater circuit in 2025 as a musical. The creepy fairytale follows 11-year-old Coraline through a portal to the far side, where the evil other mother resides. Expect songs that are “dark, spangly, clever, quirky and beautifully melodic”.

Not Your Childhood Library: Changing How We Treat Homeless Library Patrons

Social workers serve the most vulnerable members of society — and, in many ways, that has also become true of librarians. In The Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness, author and Chicago-area shelter director Ryan Dowd notes that “staff at public libraries interact with almost as many homeless individuals as staff at shelters do.” Learn how staff at the Minneapolis Central Library are changing how librarians work with their homeless patrons and challenging how we share public space.

2024 International Booker Prize

Kairos has been named the winner of the International Booker Prize 2024, with equal recognition going toward author Jenny Erpenbeck and translator Michael Hofmann. The novel, originally in German, follows a destructive affair between a young woman and an older man in 1980s East Berlin, and poses complex questions about freedom, loyalty, love and power.

YA Fantasy “Ink Blood Sister Scribe” To Be Adapted as Series

The fantasy thriller series, titled Ink, will follow estranged half-sisters Esther and Joanna, who grew up immersed in magic and raised by a father who dedicated his life to protecting an ancient library of spells. When their paths cross with Nicholas, the world’s last living scribe, they’ll realize that the business of magic is much bigger and more sinister than they ever expected.

Modern “Hamlet” in the Works, Starring Riz Ahmed

Starring Oscar winner Riz Ahmed, Morfydd Clark and Joe Alwyn, this modern film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet follows a man who is haunted by his father’s ghost and moves from elite London to the city’s underground, from Hindu temples to homeless tent cities. He embarks on a violent journey to avenge his father’s murder, ultimately questioning his own role in the family’s corruption. The film has wrapped up production, but there is no release date yet.