Today's Featured Books— Events

Free online: Readings from the Room. Join host Spencer Johnson of the Writers Room of Boston for an event featuring the work of authors Lesley Wheeler and Beth Armstrong. Tuesday, October 22, 6-7 PM CDT.

“Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can.” ~Louisa May Alcott

Free online: What's New in Historical Fiction, a regular panel series featuring historical novelists with new and upcoming titles. This week, Colin Mustful, founder of History Through Fiction, moderates a panel discussion with Anna Rasche, author of The Stone Witch of Florence: Lynda Cohen Loigman, author of The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern; Rose Sutherland, author of A Sweet Sting of Salt; and Jillian Forsberg, author of The Rhino Keeper. Sunday, October 20, 12 - 1 PM CDT.

"You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore." ~Madeline Miller, Circe

Free online: Bellevue Literary Review Fall Reading. BLR’s latest issue is on “Body Politic,” featuring stories, essays, and poems on the intersection of our bodies and society. Join BLR's Fall Reading to meet three writers from this special issue—Mehr-Afarin Kohan, Laura LeMoon, and Sean Sam—who will read from their work, as well as be interviewed by BLR editors. Thursday, October 17, 7 PM ET. 

"Your body is not who you are. The mind and spirit transcend the body." ~Christopher Reeve

Free online: Join the New York Public Library Grand Concourse staff for a discussion of Robert Heinlein's short story "And He Built a Crooked House," in which a mathematically inclined architect thinks that he has a brilliant idea to save on real estate costs by building a house shaped like a tesseract, a four-dimensional cube. The story is available to read free online ahead of time. Wednesday, October 16, 11 AM EDT. 

"I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do." ~Robert Heinlein

Free online Sunday: The Magic of the Spoken Word. Join AudioFile for a dynamic LIVE Zoom discussion pairing two Maine authors (Paul Doiron, author of Pitch Dark, and Morgan Talty, author of Fire Exit) and the narrators of their audiobooks (Henry Leyva and Darrell Dennis). This event is part of the Maine Lit Fest, presented by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Sunday, October 13, 7 - 8 PM EDT. 

"I write about Maine because it's the place I love best....You have to spend a lot of time in a place before you start to catch the beat of the people's voices, their dialects, and the way they live." ~Stephen King, Maine author

Free online: Poetry Lit! - Online Reading Series. Explore the world of poetry from the comfort of your own home via this online reading series featuring international poets. This week, join poets JL Williams and Anne-Laure Coxam for an inspiring reading followed by Q&A. Friday, October 11, 1 PM CDT.

"Love is surreal, surreal is love." ~Anne-Laure Coxam

Free online: Edgar Allan Poe Mondays. Join Storylink Radio for a full hour of Edgar Allan Poe stories read by great storytellers, every Monday in October starting with October 7. (Poe died on October 7, 1849.) Monday, October 7, 5 PM CDT.

"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality." ~Edgar Allan Poe

Free online: Larksong Writers Place book talk and reading with Terese Svoboda, author of The Long Swim (Winner of the Juniper Prize) and the speculative novel Roxy and Coco. Friday, October 4, 12 PM CT. 

"I come from patriarchy, and I would like to have written myself out of it." ~Terese Svoboda

Free online: B&N Book Club. Author Danzy Senna discusses her novel Colored Television, a brilliant dark comedy about love and ambition. Tuesday, October 1, 1 - 2 PM CDT. 

“Much privilege leads to bad manners.” ~Danzy Senna, Caucasia

Free online literary event: The Back Room. Join authors Rose Carlyle (No One Will Know), Madeline Martin (The Booklover's Library), Mansi Shah (A Good Indian Girl), and Marybeth Mayhew Whalen (Every Moment Since) as the discuss their work, play a game of 20 Questions, and meet in online breakout sessions for informal conversation with book lovers. Sunday, September 29, 7 PM ET.

"Autumn…the year’s last, loveliest smile." ~William Cullen Bryant

Free online: A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages. If you are interested in the history of the Middle Ages, you won't want to miss this free online event! Join British historian, professor, and author Anthony Bale as he discusses his new book, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World through Medieval Eyes. Thursday, September 26, 6:30 - 8:00 PM EDT. 

“Travel opens the mind in unpredictable ways.” ~Anthony Bale, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages

Free online: Staff of the New York Public Library Grand Concourse Branch discuss "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" by Ernest Hemingway. The registration page includes a link to the story so you can read it ahead of time. Wednesday, September 25, at 11 AM and 3 PM EDT. 

“How should a woman act when she discovers her husband is a bloody coward?" ~Ernest Hemingway, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"

Free online: B&N Midday Mystery Event. Join Barnes & Noble and international bestselling author Stephanie Wrobel for a live discussion of her suspenseful new novel, The Hitchcock Hotel. Monday, September 23, 3PM ET. 

“We all make mistakes. You can always start fresh.” ~Stephanie Wrobel

Today, we are sharing a friendly reminder about a forthcoming Reading Retreat in New York. The event will take place September 27 - 30 at Birdy's House in Delhi, NY. The cost to attend is $100. Learn more at Who Could Use a Reading Retreat?

"Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul." ~Joyce Carol Oates

Today, we are launching a new giveaway, but first...congratulations to Maureen Beisel of Canada, winner of the LitNuts Summer Giveaway, which offered the winner a choice between silver resin octopus bookends or a $75 Amazon.com gift card.

Didn't win the Summer Giveaway? Don't fret! The LitNuts Fall Giveaway is here, and the prize is a genuine stained glass table lamp or a $75 gift card, winner's choice. Good luck! 

“There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.” ~Leonard Cohen

You're invited...to a Reading Retreat!

Today we are writing to share news about a unique opportunity for booklovers: a Reading Retreat in Delhi, New York, being organized by LA Bourgeois, an avid reader who also happens to be an author and LitNuts subscriber. Read on to learn more!

A Reading Retreat for Everyone

We've all heard about writing retreats for authors. But LA's idea is for booklovers to come together to enjoy time reading and talking about books. She selected the small town of Delhi, New York, as the location for the Reading Retreat, a peaceful oasis a few hours drive from New York City, and also easily accessible from Ithaca, Albany, Binghamton, and other locations. (LA lives in Ithaca, and invites attendees from other locations to fly into Ithaca and travel to Delhi together.)

Here are some of the details:

• Event: Reading Retreat
• Location: Birdy's House, Delhi, NY
• When: September 27 - 30
• Cost: $100

To learn more, click here: Who Could Use a Reading Retreat?

Photos of Birdy's House and Delhi, New York

  

  

Free online: B&N Midday Mystery. Join Barnes & Noble and author Renée Knight for a live, virtual discussion of Disclaimer, a deeply unsettling psychological thriller about the desire for revenge and the terrible price we pay when we try to hide the truth. Thursday, Sept. 12, 2 p.m. CDT. 

“It is extraordinary how much strength anger gives one.” ~Renée Knight, Disclaimer

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo. They are currently offering two free online exhibitions: Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women (ends Jan. 5, 2025) and Reckoning with Remembrance: History, Injustice, and the Murder of Emmett Till (ends Sept. 15, 2024). 

We have two great options for free literary events this weekend. If you happen to be in or near Chicago, we recommend Printers Row Lit Fest, a two-day book fair with lots of in-person readings, lectures, and book signings. All events are free, no tickets required. Saturday, Sept. 7 & Sunday, Sept. 8, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. CDT.

Can't make it to Chicago this weekend? Check out The Back Room discussion of "Big Fall Books" with authors Ally Condie, David Ellis, S.C. Lalli, and Thomas E. Ricks. For our money (actually, it's free!), this is one of the best online reading/discussion series around. Sunday, Sept. 8,  7 p.m. ET.

"Going to Chicago was like going out of the world." ~Muddy Waters

Free online: First Friday Book Talk & Reading with Shanan Ballam, Poet Laureate of Logan City, Utah, and a Senior Lecturer for the Utah State University's Department of English. Shanan survived a massive stroke in January 2022 that left her without speech and without the use of her entire right side, but she never quit writing poetry. Friday, September 6, 12 p.m. CDT. 

"Every year, about 800,000 Americans have strokes. But it seems that, unlike Shanan Ballam, few people found poetry in it." ~Peter Rosen, KSLTV.com

Free online: Abraham Lincoln's "A House Divided" Speech. Join the staff of the New York Public Library's Grand Concourse Library for a discussion of one of Lincoln's most consequential speeches. The NYPL provides a link to a free copy of the speech if you'd like to read it ahead of time. Wednesday, September 4, 12 - 1 PM EDT. 

"A house divided against itself cannot stand." ~Abraham Lincoln

Want a weekend getaway and the opportunity to learn more about other cultures...without getting on a plane or spending time in traffic? MyTourOnline offers free online tours of London, Paris, Barcelona, and Lisbon, with plans to add virtual tours of Amsterdam, Athens, Madrid, and Rome. 

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” ~Henry Miller

Free online: Poetry at the New York Public Library. Want to read more poetry but don’t know where to start? Not sure you know how to really read poetry? Join the staff of the Mulberry Street branch of the NYPL on the last Thursday of every month to discuss a few poems! (The poems to be discussed are available to read free online.) Thursday, August 29, 10 a.m. EDT. 

“You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what’s in your heart.” ~Carol Ann Duffy

The Smithsonian Libraries include 21 specialized research libraries that support the Smithsonian Institution’s museums and research centers. Individually, each of these libraries is among the world’s greatest repositories of knowledge for the specialized fields they support. Collectively they are among America’s greatest scientific and cultural treasures. 

The Libraries are currently offering two free online exhibits: Nature of the Book explores early handmade books, and Music HerStory focuses on women and the music of social change. 

"Sing from your heart, and the world will listen." ~Mahalia Jackson

Free online: Perugia and Raphael. Along with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (known simply as "Raphael" to the English-speaking world) was one of the great painters of the High Renaissance. Perhaps best known for The School of Athens (shown above), young Raphael spent years in Perugia where he painted seven of his works. Join Partizia Blanquart, archaeologist, art historian, and licensed tour guide in Italy, for this live stream tour of the places once visited and the roads once treaded by Raffaello in Perugia. Thursday, August 22, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. CDT. 

"When one is painting, one does not think." ~Raphael