If you’re looking to change up your bedtime story routine, this Alexa skill can help. Short Bedtime Story will read a, you guessed it, short bedtime story to your child, using his or her name.

What’s the name of that book again? You know the one. From when we were kids. It was a children’s chapter book about a family that moves into an old schoolhouse?

Every week, our friends at Booktopia highlight an exclusive book deal for Lifehacker readers. This week: 37% off Art of Atari by Tim Lapetino!

Android/iOS: I have a reasonable but not overwhelming amount of media: Mostly books, followed by video games, followed by some collectable vinyls and CDs that I keep around. I also have friends who have rooms full of stuff: Stacks of books and floor-to-ceiling bookcases that are nearly bursting from overuse.

All of us could benefit from checking out Libib, a free service you can use to scan and catalogue your books, movies, music and video games.

Every week, our friends at Booktopia highlight an exclusive book deal for Lifehacker readers. This week: 23% off Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Visual History by Daniel Wallace!

How much do you read? A book a year? A month? A week? A day? It probably won't surprise long-time bibliophiles to hear this, but reading can make you smarter in a lot of different ways. From emotional intelligence to giving your brain a full on work out, here's why you should think about picking up a book (or even some poetry) a little more often.

For those who read for pleasure, finding time to engage with a book can be difficult to fit into a day filled with endless tasks: Work, exercise, kids' activities and chores take up most of our time; fitting in one good book can mean sacrificing another.

When it’s time to choose books to read, kids will often reach for old favourites. This isn’t a bad thing — there are benefits in repeating the same stories over and over. But it’s possible they just don’t know what else is hidden deep in the shelves.

In theory, reading an e-book is an easy proposition. You can access e-books on your phone (as well as a gazillion other devices) so you should be able to pick them up and read a page or two whenever you feel like. Except when you don’t.

Right now, the Australian comics community is producing some of the best original work in the world. Australian comics punch above their weight globally. Many have been picked up by international publishers and nominated for international and national literary awards - yet remain little known at home. Some are directed at an adult audience; some are for all ages. They tackle issues ranging from true crime to environmental ruin to life in detention.

In the hallowed words of US poet Gertrude Stein, whoever said "money can't buy you happiness" was shopping at the wrong store. However, building wealth takes a considerable amount of skill - especially if you don't have tons of disposable income.

These personal finance books provide strategies for everything from creating a budget, to clawing your way out of debt, to teaching your kids how to be wealthy.

Video: Lawrence O’Donnell, television pundit and author of the recently rereleased book Deadly Force: A Police Shooting and My Family’s Search for the Truth, visits the Lifehacker studio to talk about why his book was rereleased now, how police brutality is hardly new news, and what you should do if you witness an event in which a police officer commits a crime.

The Great Gatsby is overrated. It’s a good book! A great book! It’s just not the very best book ever, especially not the best book to teach teenagers about the power of literature. If it were, then teens wouldn’t celebrate the glamour that the book tries to deconstruct. But it’s stuck in the high school literary canon, along with Catcher in the Rye and Of Mice and Men. And at this point it seems like the main reason it’s taught to every high schooler is because it was taught to all the teachers, and no one’s bothered to check if it’s still the best choice.

The first weekend I lived in San Francisco I found a local used bookstore in my neighbourhood, where I promptly bought half a dozen books that were set in San Francisco. That wasn’t my intention when I walked in the store, but it was a great decision.

There is magic in stories. We all remember hearing them as children, and we loved them. Imaginary adventures set in faraway places. Tales about how the dishwasher isn’t working. It doesn’t matter! Whether made up by parents or read from books, kids love to hear stories.

Jamia Wilson grew up reading books from the Feminist Press, so she’s proud to be the literary publisher’s executive director (the youngest person, and the first woman of colour, to lead the 47-year-old press). When she became director, Wilson was already an outspoken activist and writer whose work had appeared in the Feminist Press titles Slut and I Still Believe Anita Hill.

We talked to Wilson in print and on video about her work habits, her inspirations, and the concrete ways the Press fosters teamwork.

Picture books can be magical for readers of all ages, even adults. But when it comes to reading aloud to young kids, I've learned not to ignore chapter books and novels. It may seem daunting to open up a hundred-plus-page tome when your audience has an attention span the length of a Peppa Pig episode, but the experience of making it through the story can be deeply rewarding.

You’re excited for a new HBO show, but the trailers look pretty violent. You can stand some fighting, but you really hate torture scenes. Or you hate puke shots. Or you need to avoid strobe effects. Or your actual dog just died, and you’d rather not be reminded by a movie. Look up the title on Does the Dog Die?, a site that collects warnings about anxiety triggers and unpleasant elements in over 6000 movies, TV, books and video games.

Every week, our friends at Booktopia highlight a fantastic book deal for Lifehacker readers. This week: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart By Holly Ringland. For a limited time you can save 26% on the RRP.