Today's Featured Books

LitNuts features books you probably won’t see elsewhere. (Scroll down to see our current selections.) What have you been missing? A lot of great indie books for one thing. Also, collections of short stories, essays and poetry - and even recent releases and award winners that other newsletters systematically exclude! How and why do they do that? Read more... 

This week is Banned Books Week, an annual celebration of the freedom to read. Banned Books Week unites the entire book community - from readers to librarians, booksellers to teachers - in shared support of the freedom to read books of all types.

In high school, I wore a denim jacket with multiple buttons on the collar and front pockets. One of my favorites was a pin that said, "I read banned books." It was my way of quietly rebelling. (I was a pretty good kid.)

Then and now, I read banned books, and I believe it made me a better person. Sure, I encountered uncomfortable subject matter, curse words, derogatory terms. But I understood enough to know that there was more to take away from books like To Kill a Mockingbird and 1984 than what landed them on the banned books list.

Celebrate this week with your favorite banned book.

~Kathleen, LitNuts Cofounder

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” ~Haruki Murikami

PS: Last chance to enter for a chance to win a signed, print edition of one of the sci-fi novels of the year. Enter now! (Deadline 9/28/21)

"These mesmerizing vignettes possess an uncanny power" -Devorah Baum. The interrelated short prose pieces in Ben Berman’s Then Again explore a life outside of chronological order, bounce back and forth between foreign adventures and domestic routines. One moment we’re in a Mommy and Me yoga class, the next we’re gutting a goat in rural Zimbabwe. "This collection captivates and uplifts" -Michelle Elvy From $2.99 SHOP NOW / 

"Her talent for creating atmosphere rivals Daphne du Maurier." -Christopher Rice, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Heavens Rise. Two New Orleans families are blessed by magic—and cursed by it. From bestselling paranormal author Sarah M. Cradit comes The House of Crimson & Clover Volumes IX-XII, the final four novels in the twelve-installment House of Crimson & Clover series. "Cradit's writing is poetic prose." -Becket, Author of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles: An Alphabettery From $0.99 SHOP NOW / 

"Readers of Stephen King will find it engaging; a haunting, occult thriller with a twist. It left me wanting to read more of their exploits." -Number 9. Exmoor is darkening. Lorne Turner feels it aching in his bones. His instincts, honed on the battlefield, scream in warning. Or is it the monster in his head? The ancient spirit line wakes and he must battle unseen forces. The whispering dead are seeking justice. "I HAD to know what was going to happen next. Get a copy of this book!" –Amazon review From $0.99 SHOP NOW / 

For ages 5-7, your child will get to know, explore, and fall in love with space and the solar system with the help of fascinating and age-appropriate scientific explanations, which will encourage exploration, curiosity, and love for science. Includes 75 activity pages. From $6.97 SHOP NOW / 

September 24 is the birthday of F. Scott Fitzgerald, an advertising copywriter who went on to write the Great American Novel and to influence generations of writers.

No doubt some of those writers are represented at this week's "The Word on the Street" Toronto Book & Magazine Festival. You can be there (virtually) to hear the finalists for the 2021 Trillium Book Award, Ontario's leading award for literature. Deborah Dundas, Books Editor for the Toronto Star, will moderate a discussion among authors Craig Davidson, Farzana Doctor and A.F. Moritz on Saturday, September 25 at 11:30 a.m. ET. 

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." ~F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Crack-Up"

“Money Honey by J. Manfred Weichsel is a short story done in Weichsel’s signature style of biting political satire with over-the-top absurdity.” –Benjamin Espen, Amazon review. The girl he loves is money, but money isn’t free. “This was so fun to read. J keeps setting them up and knocking them out of the park. Such a clever and smart idea for a story. Highly recommend this one.” Todd Love, Godless.com. FREE SHOP NOW / 

Happy Hobbitt Day! September 22 is the birthday of hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. 

We regularly featured fantasy novels, including several in today's newsletter. If you don't get sci-fi/fantasy in your newsletter, you can see all of today's featured books on the LitNuts website.

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ~J.R.R. Tolkien,  The Fellowship of the Ring