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Spooky Season is finally here! But with it comes the question, how do you throw the finest, most fabulous, most frightening Halloween party of the year? Anyone can throw on “Monster Mash” and put some pumpkin ale on ice. But what if you want to go to the extra mile? Here’s how to make a party that will be burned into your friends' minds for all eternity!

The International Day of Friendship is here and we can’t think of a more wholesome and delightful holiday. How often do we have the chance to celebrate our best friends and our chosen family? Well, if we’re lucky, every day. But today is still really wonderful. In honor of this international celebration of friendship, we’re helping you find a literary BFF right in your own city.

(Beacon Press)

So you love Octavia E. Butler. We get it. We love her too.

But now what?

You’ve read Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred (1979), and you loved the time travel plot that wove seamlessly with slave narratives of the pre-Civil War South. You’ve read Fledgling (2005) too, or maybe you enjoyed Butler’s other shorter fiction like “Bloodchild,” her novelette which won the Nebula and Hugo Awards in 1985. Perhaps the current political climate had you racing towards her dystopian novels Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998), which presented a view of the future that includes environmental horrors, walls erected around the middle class, and a terrifying fundamentalist leader whose rally cry is “Help Us to Make America Great Again.”

If you’ve enjoyed reading Butler’s fiction, we have some other writers whose work you should add to your reading list.

It’s German chemist Robert Wilhelm Eberhard von Bunsen’s 207th birthday on March 31—aka National Bunsen Burner Day. To commemorate the birth of the man who invented that instrumental piece of laboratory equipment, we’re highlighting some of our favorite scientists from Sam Maggs’ Wonder Women – women who broke down barriers, made significant contributions to the field, and, in a couple of cases, didn’t even get credited for their work. Today is for them.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is back this week and to say we’re excited would be a serious understatement. We spent the better part of the first season pouring over the biographies of Lenny Bruce (who inspires Midge Maisel) and Joan Rivers (who inspires Rachel Brosnahan), this season we’re taking a more contemporary approach. These are our absolute favorite humor books by women – just in time for you to start craving season three.

Back to school shopping is the best. It’s so incredibly satisfying to buy a new backpack and sharpen a new set of pencils. Life feels infinite and the possibilities feel endless! But what about those of us who’ve been out of school for a while now? Where’s our September satisfaction? Well, just you wait. Today we’re showcasing six of our favorite literary school supplies – perfect for work, your home office, or a trip to the library!