Here's our monthly newsletter from Goodreads

Here's our monthly newsletter from Goodreads—giving you the latest and greatest in our quest to help you find your next favorite book!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS

Toni Morrison The celebrated author of Beloved talks about her latest novel, the taut and unflinching God Help the Child, the business of color in modern America, and why she has to write. More

David McCullough The two-time Pulitzer winner chronicles the daredevil ingenuity of two bicycle mechanics destined for greatness in his new work of narrative history, The Wright Brothers. More

BOOK LOOK

Balancing Acts: Three Prima Ballerinas Becoming Mothers

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GOOD MINDS SUGGEST

Clive Barker's Favorite Books About Good vs. Evil The master of supernatural gore offers a hell-raising top five in honor of his new work of horror, The Scarlet Gospels.

Clive suggests:

    

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Paolo Bacigalupi's Favorite Books About the Future Water is scarce in his sci-fi thriller,The Water Knife, which peers into our possible future, along with these five recs.

Paolo suggests:

    

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DEBUT AUTHOR SNAPSHOT

Sarai Walker Both a subversive feminist journey and an immersive character study—and definitely not a book about dieting—the new novel Dietland packs a surprising punch. More

BEST BOOKS OF THE MONTH

Girl at War by Sara Nović (Goodreads Author) A child in a battle zone, ten-year-old Ana navigates the streets of 1991 Zagreb as Croatia erupts in war. This haunting literary novel bears witness to her violent coming-of-age and, later, her struggles as a student in New York. More

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery How does an octopus think or feel? In this nonfiction account, naturalist Sy Montgomery describes her special friendships with octopuses, including one sweet and intelligent animal named Athena. More

Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton (Goodreads Author) A marine biologist plotting murder. Her best friend racked with guilt. An insular community seeking justice for a missing child. This dark thriller, set on the remote Falkland Islands, asks, How far would you go for revenge? More

The Ingenious Mr. Pyke: Inventor, Fugitive, Spy by Henry Hemming (Goodreads Author) This rollicking biography tells the life story of an unsung genius. A British journalist who escaped the Germans during WWI, Geoffrey Pyke became a military adviser famous for his zany ideas...and possibly a Soviet spy. More

The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy (Goodreads Author) After another miscarriage, Eden investigates a porcelain doll head she finds in her new house, a clue that links her to the incredible true story of Sarah Brown, a mapmaker for the Underground Railroad whose life is told in parallel. More

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (Goodreads Author) Humans and faeries live apart in this epic fantasy for teens. When a young huntress is taken to the faerie kingdom as payment for a blood debt, she grows close to her beastly captor but learns that a coming evil threatens all faerie life. More

DO GOOD WITH GOODREADS

The Rocky Mountain Land Library Imagine a peaceful spot to read, surrounded by books and sweeping alpine views—a nature-loving bibliophile's dream! Find out how you can support a library in the making. More

GOODREADS POETRY CONTEST

Want your words to reach millions of people? Goodreads and the¡POETRY! group have partnered to host an ongoing poetry contest. Join the ¡POETRY! group and vote each month to pick a winner from among the finalists. You can also submit a poem for consideration. Here is our May winner!

I Am Finished with Being Dead

by Jane Ellen Glasser (Goodreads Author)

Pushing through gray sheets, 
the sun teases the world
into being:

a few clouds, rooftops,
a neighbor's dog
loosened into the yard,
yipping, the starting up
of engines purring
to go somewhere,
do something.

Does it really matter
what the crow in the crown
of the cherry tree
is plotting?

Black feathers in pink snow!

I remember the hours
of love's holding,
sleeping and waking—the same.
I remember the fog and the pain
of love's fumbling,
sleeping and waking—the same.

I let go, abandon dreams
of being abandoned
the way, now, the egret
sweeps white wings
across the clearing sky.

At the river's rim, a goose
tucks the black snake
of its neck 
along its soft spine.

Like an eye
awake in its sleeping—
the white cheek-patch.

Like time stalling—the river
in its fullness, still.

Still in their clothes,
layered like the homeless
in everything they own,
a man and a woman
hiding inside their history.

There is no memory that can undo me!

Weightless without wanting,
a man undressing
before a woman, 
a woman undressing 
in the presence of a man.

There is no nakedness that can kill me!

There is only this:
the moving in and moving out
of water, of light;

the beating and the resting,
black wings, white wings—the same;

the wind breathing
into the day and the day's
receiving mouth. 

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