Rebecca Yarros took the world by storm this year with her romance fantasy Fourth Wing. The first book in her new Empyrean series, it became huge on BookTok and Bookstagram. Readers fell in love with the protagonist Violet, a young woman with a chronic illness who is attending Basgiath War College. Despite wanting to be a scribe, Violet is in her first year in the (much more dangerous) Rider Quadrant, training to be a dragon rider.

What do you love about Fourth Wing? Do you love a magical academy setting, an enemies-to-lovers romance, or are you simply obsessed with dragons? No matter why you like Fourth Wing, we have great romantasy (romance-fantasy) recommendations for you.

Galadriel (nicknamed El) is a headstrong student at Scholomance, a boarding school for young sorcerers. The pressure of doing well in classes is like no other, as the punishment for failing classes is certain death. But El isn’t scared and is set on graduating, until Orion comes along, killing all of the monsters in El’s path before she can even show everyone her slaying skills. Now the only monsters left to kill are the big baddies. El and Orion reluctantly team up to defeat the remaining monsters, graduate and above all, survive. The first in the trilogy, A Deadly Education fulfills your wishes for a black cat/golden retriever relationship set in a backdrop of a magical school.

In this historical fantasy based on the legend of George and the Dragon, Samantha Shannon's The Priory of the Orange Tree follows Ead, who is undercover as a lady-in-waiting to protect the queen Sabran the Ninth. Thousands of years prior, a dragon called The Nameless One terrorized their kingdom and Sabran's bloodline is inextricably bound with keeping the beast at bay (literally, the dragon is now condemned to live underwater). But Sabran has no children and the enemies are drawing near. Told from four different perspectives, this sweeping feminist fantasy is perfect for those obsessed with epic secrets and dragon lore.

Five years before the start of Chloe Gong's Immortal Longings, Princess Calla killed her parents and went into hiding. Now she’s back with a plot to destroy the king. Her reasoning is noble: she must disrupt the monarchy in order to end poverty. To do so, Calla aims to win a gladiator style tournament, where she must compete with Anton (an exiled noble) and Crown Prince August. The enemies-to-lovers theme and incredibly high stakes reign supreme in this Hunger Games-esque high fantasy for adults. Bonus: this book is loosely based on the Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, for all the theater buffs out there.

The Atlas Six follows six students of the Alexandrian Society, a secret society of magicians. Only five will be initiated into the society and one will be eliminated through a series of tests and trials. The students each have their own specialty: Libby and Nico are masters of the physical realm, Reina is a naturalist, Parisa is a telepath and Callum is an empath. But it is Tristan who possess the rarest trait of all: the ability to conceptualize a new structure of reality. This fantasy book oozes with dark academia (full of plotting and scheming), reminiscent of The Umbrella Academy with a touch of The Secret History.

What is your favorite romantasy book?

Over the past few years, a renaissance of new Indigenous horror and thriller fiction has emerged on the top of the bestseller lists. Many of these books depict Indigenous characters trying to survive both a supernatural evil and the real evil of colonialism. Some authors even use their books to speak on issues specific to Indigenous populations, using critical topics within their fiction to draw attention to important subjects. While the horrors take many forms, one thing is certain: Indigenous horror and thriller fiction is here to stay.

Chicago-based author Nick Medina’s debut novel Sisters of the Lost Nation follows Anna Horn, a Takoda teenager who is trying to solve the mystery of her missing sister. While Anna is convinced that her sister Grace was taken by a monster, the cops seem to think that Grace ran away. But Anna is determined to find out what happened to her sister, and she’ll do whatever it takes. Medina (Tunica-Biloxi) notes in his afterword that the fictionalized Takoda Tribe draws awareness to the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit in so many different communities. 

Lucky St. James is living in Canada, acting as a caregiver for her grandmother who suffers from dementia. One day, she finds a silver spoon from a company called VenCo. This spoon is revealed to be one of seven in the world, belonging to a coven of witches. Now Lucky must find the seventh spoon, avoid witch hunters and take care of her grandmother all at the same time. Author Cherie Dimaline (Empire of Wild, The Marrow Thieves) is a Métis author who intertwines Indigenous culture in her characters’ journeys. 

Elatsoe can raise the ghosts of dead animals, like generations before her, in her Lipan Apache family. In a world full of magic and monsters, this is still a pretty unusual trait! Ellie’s cousin Trevor is killed in a car accident but comes to Ellie in a dream to let her know that he was murdered. Ellie then must harness the power of her ancestors of strong women to fight ghosts, monsters and vampires to get to the truth. Darcie Little Badger (Lipan Apache) writes for a teen audience, but adults should certainly pick up her books!

Stephen Graham Jones (Blackfeet) is one of the most prolific authors in horror literature alive today. In one of his recent books, My Heart Is A Chainsaw, Jade Daniels, a part-Indian teenager from Proofrock, Idaho, obsesses over horror movies. Jade desperately wishes that a slasher would come to Proofrock, which is quickly gentrifying. In the aftermath of a murder, Jade quickly realizes that her wish came true and now she must find the perfect “final girl” to help her town survive this massacre. Fans of '80s horror will love this book, as it is peppered with references to many classic slasher franchise films. This book is the first in the Indian Lake Trilogy, which smartly deals with gentrification and mental health.

You can find stories by all of these authors (and more!) in the new anthology Never Whistle At Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology. Edited by author and educator Shane Hawk (Cheyenne-Arapaho, Hidatsa and Potawatomi), this anthology encapsulates horror, fantasy, sci-fi and thriller short stories.

The One Book, One Chicago title for 2023 is There There by Tommy Orange. While not a horror or thriller, Tommy Orange (Cheyenne, Arapaho) writes about complex themes pertaining to urban Native communities in present-day California.

The 95

This comes as a surprise especially because female-driven films like The Power of the Dog and Nomadland have received such acclaim from the Academy recently, and the latest Sight and Sound magazine poll named Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles directed by Chantal Akerman, as the best movie ever made. If you’re looking to watch some recent women-led films, here are a few from a variety of genres.  

Unlike other box office hits such as Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water, which were nominated for several awards including Best Picture, The Woman King received no Oscar nominations. Set in the 1820s in West Africa, the Agojie, an all-female warrior unit led by General Nanisca (Viola Davis), protect their kingdom of Dahomey. Though the film was not without historical inaccuracies, this powerful female-led movie deserved more love from awards groups, especially for director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball, The Secret Life of Bees). 

Based on the popular book (a CPL Best of the Best selection), She Said stars Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan as the New York Times journalists who broke the story of Harvey Weinstein’s abusive history in the film industry. Jodi Kantor (Kazan) begins investigating allegations against movie producer Weinstein from female actors and asks Megan Twohey to assist in her story. Much like The Woman King, She Said was led by a primarily female-identifying cast and crew, directed by Maria Schrader.

Till tells the devastating true story of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black child who was lynched while visiting his relatives in Mississippi. This movie mostly focuses on his mother, Mamie Till-Bradley (played by Danielle Deadwyler), and her relentless activism to receive justice for the murder of her son. Deadwyler’s performance gained widespread acclaim, while director Chinonye Chukwu masterfully edits the film to not exploit the story of Emmett Till, leaving the violence offscreen in order to center a portrait of a courageous grieving mother. 

While animated films rarely (if ever) get recognized in the Academy Awards outside of the Best Animated Film category, Turning Red was one of my favorite films of last year, simply because of the writing and direction by Domee Shi. Inspired by Shi's own childhood, the movie follows Mei, a Chinese Canadian girl, obsessed with the boy bands of the early 2000s. However, Mei has a secret. When she becomes emotional, she turns into a giant red panda. Turning Red is the first Pixar film directed solely by a woman.

While Women Talking won best adapted screenplay at this year’s Oscars, director Sarah Polley was not nominated for Best Director. The film is based on the book by Miriam Toews and is inspired by a sad but true story. The film follows a group of Mennonite women gathering to discuss what to do about the repeated assaults by the men of the colony. Their choices are stay and do nothing, fight or flee. Polley’s star-studded cast includes Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley and Ben Whishaw.  

What are your favorite recent films directed by women? 

This year, Chicago Public Library turns 150 years old, and we are celebrating all year 'round. How well do you know Chicago Public Library branch history?

Test your knowledge on some of our 81 locations with this quiz! Visit chipublib.org/150 for more information on our anniversary celebrations.

Junji Ito started drawing horror manga as a hobby, while he practiced dentistry as a career. Now, he’s one of the world’s most respected horror manga artists with a knack for the grotesque. Focusing mainly on cosmic horror and body horror, Ito takes unsettling everyday occurrences and makes them catastrophic.

What if you had to dream an entire lifetime each time you fell asleep? How about if a stranger ran up to you on the street and licked you on the face? These are just a few questions posed in Ito's terrifying tales. New to Junji Ito and not sure where to start? Try any of these top picks this Halloween season.

Uzumaki is one of Junji Ito’s most well-known stories. The manga takes place in a small town where residents are haunted by all-consuming visions of spirals. This is one of the only standalone collections on this list, as Ito often writes in a short story format. However, each chapter of Uzumaki centers on a different character’s encounters with a clay pot, ringlets of hair, a snail shell and other spiraled things. Will our main characters be able to escape the power of the spiral?

The short story collection Shiver is a terrifying assortment of some of Ito's best short stories. In the first story, a haunted song hypnotizes all who listen. In another, student filmmakers get more than they bargained for when casting a ghastly looking actress in a supporting role. This collection also features a story about Tomie, a beautiful model with a sinister secret: death seems to follow her. Tomie is a recurring character in Ito’s work and even has her own collection.

Venus in the Blind Spot is another short story collection by Ito. One of the standout stories from this collection is The Human Chair, a story originally by the Japanese author Edogawa Ranpo and adapted for manga by Ito. In this story, a woman becomes tormented by the idea that someone is living inside her easy chair. Another great story in this collection is The Enigma of Amigara Fault, in which a group of explorers are inexplicably drawn to a rock formation in the mountain after an earthquake. Claustrophobia and dread run rampant in this collection!

Recent release The Liminal Zone includes four short stories about different forms of suffering. Religious guilt, anxiety, depression and grief are just some of the heavy themes explored in these scary stories. But of course, because it’s Ito, The Liminal Zone takes these concepts and creates horrific monsters, supernatural energies and murderous mayhem. While it is one of the newer Ito short story collections, it ranks very high on my list of favorites. 

Even if horror isn’t your thing, Ito has something for you. In Junji Ito's Cat Diary, Ito describes his adventures in adopting two furry felines, and the hijinks that ensue. Think: drawn in a horror style, but about cats. Every cat owner will be able to see themselves in Ito and his wife’s funny reactions to their precious felines, Yon and Mu!

Do you have a favorite Junji Ito story? 

Heard! Behind! Yes, chef! These are some phrases you’ll hear working in the kitchen of a restaurant. As a former service industry person myself, hearing that lingo feels like coming home. That's why I found myself drawn to the crass and lovable Chicago TV series The Bear.

The series follows Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White from Shameless), a James Beard Award-winning chef who moves back to Chicago to run his late brother’s Italian beef joint. The show perfectly depicts what running a restaurant looks like behind the scenes. If you crave more, check out these books! 

If you haven’t read any of Anthony Bourdain’s books, you simply must. Kitchen Confidential is cited as his most popular and the book to launch him into fame, but I recommend The Nasty Bits. Though he is classically trained at the Culinarily Institute of America and has worked in a variety of high-end restaurants, Bourdain's respect and knowledge of fine dining in unexpected places sets him apart from the rest. Check out our Top Picks blog post for more Anthony Bourdain. 

In the memoir Notes From A Young Black Chef, chef Kwame Onwuachi writes about his culinary endeavors, from working on a Deepwater Horizon cleanup ship, to being a contestant on TV’s Top Chef, to running a James Beard Award-winning restaurant. Onwuachi’s honest take on his journey into the restaurant industry, particularly the harm that the industry creates for people of color, may inspire you to check out his cookbook and try a few of his award-winning recipes. 

It’s a familiar story heard around the United States: the steady decline of malls and restaurant chains. But when the mall shuts down, what happens to the employees? In Last Night at the Lobster, Manny DeLeon, the manager of a soon-to-be-closed Red Lobster, is already tired at the start of his shift. Not only is his restaurant closing and he's moving to a new location, a blizzard is on the way. Half of his staff don’t show up, but the demanding customers do. Author Stuart O’Nan paints a realistic portrait of working-class life, all taking place over the duration of a single work shift. 

From the author of the Scott Pilgrim series, Seconds follows a restaurant manager named Katie who dreams of someday opening her own place. Until then, it seems like Katie’s life is a series of big mistakes... that is, until the house spirits at the restaurant give her the ability to turn back time. This graphic novel takes the beloved “be careful what you wish for” and makes a magical story out of the stressful restaurant industry.

Watching The Bear made me really hungry and really in love with Chicago. Luckily, the library has a ton of books about Chicago restaurants, including Iconic Chicago, which details the history behind iconic Chicago dishes like Green River soda, Crackerjack and the jibarito. This book celebrates Chicago as a culinary city and a destination for foodies everywhere. 

Which books do you think pair best with The Bear? 

Buzz buzz buzz! The tv show

The year is 1989 and the Danvers (MA) High School field hockey team is on a losing streak. The players decide to call on their ancestors of the region, which is the same area as the Salem Witch Trials, to turn their luck around. When they start winning, the team must confront the question: is magic real or is it just placebo? Packed with '80s references, humor and teen angst, We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry explores surprisingly complex topics of identity and belonging.  

Alma Katsu re-tells the story of the Donner Party with a supernatural twist. The Donner/Reed Parties are heading to California in 1846 through an uncharted path. Food is running out and bad weather looms before them, but is there something else lurking out in those plains? Based heavily on the sad history of the Donner Party, The Hunger is an inventive re-imagining filled with suspense and dread. 

Being a new mother is hard, and the pressure to make it all look easy is even harder. But what if being a new mother means shapeshifting into something else, something no one is actually talking about? In Nightbitch, a stay-at-home-mom gives up her job as an artist and begins to believe that she's turning into a dog. Rachel Yoder's debut novel is more of an odd and funny read than some of the scarier picks on this list, but it uses magical realism in both a dark and feminist way.

In The Return, Rachel Harrison's debut novel, four best friends from college discover that one of them, Julie, has disappeared on a hike through Acadia National Park without a trace. Elise knows that Julie can’t just be gone forever, and she’s right. Julie shows up two years later with no memory of the incident, but she’s... different. When they decide to reconnect on girl’s trip to a hotel in the Catskills, things get even weirder. 

Considered highly acclaimed in Australian literature, Picnic at Hanging Rock follows classmates from the Appleyard School on a field trip to Hanging Rock near Melbourne on Valentine’s Day, 1900. When a few of the girls and a teacher go missing, the school is forever changed. Picnic at Hanging Rock focuses on the aftermath of the disappearance and the impact of living with an unresolved tragedy. 

What are your book recommendations for folks who liked Yellowjackets?  

Like many moviegoers, Dune was my favorite film of 2021. I loved the storytelling, the special effects and the fantastical world coming to life on the big screen (plus, I love a good on-screen monster and wow — the sandworms sure delivered!). The “un-adaptable” story was brought to theaters once before, by David Lynch in 1984, but director Denis Villeneuve is known for challenging source material, such as creating a sequel to the critically acclaimed film Blade Runner. Either way, after watching a movie adaptation like Dune, you might want to settle in with a good book. If you love immersive science fiction like Frank Herbert’s series, try checking out one of these books.

If you like the world building of Dune, then hard sci-fi novel The Three-body Problem by Cixin Liu (translated by Ken Liu) is where you should start. Initially, the novel takes place during the cultural revolution in China, where the military makes secret contact with aliens, but the aliens have a different plan. The expansive and complex award-winning series explores the question of if we actually want to make contact with extraterrestrials, and why.

Into stunning visuals? Saga is a sweeping space opera about the birth of a new baby to two parents from different species. Inside this comic, you will find beautiful artwork by Fiona Staples and emotionally driven storytelling by Brian K. Vaughan, plus an interesting cast of characters. Ghost babysitters, talking cats, angsty royals with TV heads! While it is a sprawling story spanning much more than this first volume, it doesn’t feel too confusing to people unaccustomed to science fiction or comics. I recommend this as a good first comic for any adult wanting to dip their toes in.

Didn’t get enough sand in Dune? Well, you’re in luck, because this next pick is full of it. Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson is a classic in the climate sci fi (or cli-fi) subgenre. The year is 2026 and sandstorms have swept Mars for as long as we can remember. Four brave colonists are up for the adventure to terraform the red planet, creating hospitable living conditions for the first 100 people who may move there. If you want to think about what it means to adapt a dangerous and sandy landscape so human life can thrive, this is the book for you.

Speaking of climate emergencies, The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells is a nonfiction book about how we are basically headed for the future of Dune. This book describes the inevitable dangers of global heating: an inhabitable planet, wars, economic strife — all because of the climate crisis. The most interesting sections of this book shows how environmental impacts will influence the socio-cultural and political impacts, just like in Dune. The book also features a periodic check-in with the reader, congratulating them for still reading despite the terrifying and anxiety-producing information.

And if you still can't get enough of the movie, The Art and Soul of Dune is all about Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 masterpiece, from costume and creature design to ambitious international film shoots. Written and compiled by the producer of Dune, Tanya Lapointe, this insightful and beautiful book is a perfect companion for the Dune-obsessed.

What would you recommend to people who loved Dune?

This event was in conjunction with the exhibit From Swamps to Parks: Building Chicago's Public Spaces, on display at Harold Washington Library Center in the 9th floor Exhibit Hall.

While feelings of dread and anxiety are universal, different cultures have different takes on what scares us the most. If you're a horror lover, you've probably seen a few horror movies from other parts of the world, but have you read any horror books from other countries? To get you started on your scary armchair travels, here are a few of the most frightening books translated into English.

Rene Depestre’s novel Hadriana in All My Dreams is a Haitian tale set in the 1930s during carnival season. On the day of her wedding, Hadriana drinks a mysterious potion and collapses at the altar. When her corpse goes missing from her grave, the townspeople are split on theories about her disappearance, revealing much about class and racial politics between Christianity and Vodou. This book, translated by Kaiama L. Glover, also has a forward by Edwidge Danticat.  

The Hole is a psychological thriller about a man, Oghi, who becomes paralyzed in a car accident that kills his wife. Oghi's mother-in-law becomes his primary caregiver. Much of the story is told through Oghi’s conscious thoughts; he is aware of what is going on around him but he cannot move or speak. Oghi contemplates his life, marriage, and relationships as his mother-in-law slowly destroys his late wife’s beloved garden. Author Hye-young Pyun of Seoul, Korea expertly crafts this inventive and claustrophobic tale, translated by Sora Kim-Russell.

If you like unrelenting dread in your horror novels, I Remember You takes Scandinavian crime stories to a new level. Three friends purchase a guest house in remote Iceland, and it might be haunted. Elsewhere in the country, a doctor is grieving the disappearance of his young son and investigating the suicide of an elderly woman. These stories intersect and intertwine in surprising ways. Translated by Philip Roughton, Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurdardottir takes cues from Stephen King and Let The Right One In's John Ajvide Lindqvist in this thrilling nailbiter.

Tender Is the Flesh is not for the faint of heart. As a seasoned horror fan, I cite it as being one of the most disturbing books I've ever read. Written by Argentinian author Agustina Bazterrica, and translated by Sarah Moses, the story follows a dystopian society where animals and plants are inedible, leaving cannibalism as the only option. It’s a hard book to recommend to just anyone, but the originality can’t be beat and the brutality will stick with you forever. If those things appeal to you and you can handle graphic depictions, definitely read this book. 

What translated horror books do you recommend?