This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton.
2018 Kirkus Prize Finalists
The 2018 Kirkus Prize Finalists for Fiction, Nonfiction, and Young Readers’ Literature have been announced. They include Lauren Groff for Florida (Fiction), Nafissa Thompson-Spires for Heads of the Colored People (Fiction), Rebecca Solnit for Call Them By Their True Names: American Crises (Nonfiction), Kiese Laymon for Heavy: An American Memoir (Nonfiction), Meg Medina for Merci Suárez Changes Gears (YA), and Jacqueline Woodson for Harbor Me (YA). Three winners of the $50,000 prize will be announced on October 25.
300 New Words Added To Scrabble Dictionary
Three hundred new words have been added to the official U.S. Scrabble Dictionary. Add sriracha, aquafaba, beatdown, zomboid, twerk, sheeple, wayback, bibimbap, botnet, emoji, facepalm, and more to your game. Grab the new edition, study up, deploy, and prepare your smuggest pity-smile for the inevitable challenge.
Hunter S. Thompson Letters To Be Auctioned
Letters from Hunter S. Thompson to a childhood friend will be sold at auction, with bidding set to open at $110,000. The letters begin when Thompson is 17, covering the period when the journalist was writing his novel The Rum Diary, and detailing his experiences while penning Hell’s Angels.