Wait, How Did This Woman “Accidentally” Buy a Bookstore?

Print sales are up. Celebrity picture books. Instagrammable Bookstores. These and more on Book Riot today:

The 10 Most Instagrammable Bookstores in the World

 If you are on Bookstagram, you might recognize a few recurring settings: a particularly beautiful staircase, hand-written recommendation cards, stained glass windows behind the shelves — these are the bookstores that have really honed in on being the most Instagram-friendly backdrops.

With Print Sales Up, These Were The Bestselling Books in May 2024

Book sales in May 2024 were up over the same time in May 2023, thanks in part to a large increase in the adult fiction print market. Unit sales increased by 3 million, thanks to demand for books by authors like Stephen King and Kristin Hannah. Despite a bump in sales for Julia Quinn books, thanks to Netflix’s release of the next season of Bridgerton, her books did not make the top ten in sales for May.

The Most Interesting People in the Book Publishing World

On this episode of the Book Riot podcast, Jeff O’Neal and Rebecca Schinsky talk about the people in the publishing world doing the most interesting stuff. Publishers, editors, influencers, agents and more.

Hey, I Recognize that Name: 8 Celebrity Picture Books Worth Reading

My choices aren’t about the figures personally—some famous folks whose acting work I love have written kids’ books that I’ve read but won’t revisit. While some of the books on this list are by celebs I’m indifferent to in general, I love their books because they come from storytellers with genuine charm, insight, and panache.

10 Excellent Black Historical Audiobooks

These Black historical audiobooks, set in the U.S., Canada, France, Uganda, and Nigeria, feature stories both incredible and heartbreaking, and oftentimes both. Courageous characters, wronged men, willful women, and communities fighting back against injustice fill these stories to the brim. They are hard and hopeful and honest, even when reality is not always as it seems. So sit back, and let these stories be told.

My Favorite Book Titles of 2024 (So Far)

Really, the book title and cover work together to market books, but titles can also grab you by themselves. This is what happened with me and all the books listed below. Whether they made me skeeved out, feel inspired, or gave me questions, each of the book titles below intrigued me and had me wanting to learn more about the contents of the book. And, I suspect they’ll have a similar effect on you.

A Showgirl in a Darkly Magical 1930s Shanghai — Read an Excerpt of DAUGHTER OF CALAMITY by Rosalie M. Lin

Tour the dark corners and dangerous underbelly of a magical Shanghai with Jingwen, a showgirl determined to root out what or who is behind a gruesome series of thefts.

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