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Ordinary-looking shoes float in on the tide and wash up on a Florida beach—each one with a crudely severed human foot inside. FBI Special Agent Pendergast—a “modern-day Sherlock Holmes (Associated Press)—gets called away from his own Florida vacation and reluctantly agrees to visit the crime scene, but is quickly drawn in by the incomprehensible puzzle. An early pathology report only adds to the mystery. With an ocean of possibilities confronting the investigation, no one is sure what happened, why, or from where the feet originated. And they desperately need to know: are the victims still alive?
Welcome to Check Your Shelf! This is your guide to help librarians like you up your game when it comes to doing your job (& rocking it).
It’s Friday! Did we all make it in one piece?
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
- Syracuse librarians are warned to watch out for “First Amendment auditors” who have threatened to test the library’s free speech policies and the rights for citizens to film in public.
- What public libraries need to know about the Coronavirus.
- (TW: violence) A library security guard was killed after being stabbed repeatedly by a patron, seemingly without provocation.
- Two teens have been arrested on suspicion of starting a fire in a public library that left one firefighter dead and another missing.
- Someone filmed a porn movie around and inside a public library during business hours. Just…please…don’t do this. Library employees have enough to deal with.
- California senator proposes a bill that would provide free library cards to all K-12 school children in California. (Finally some good news this week!)
Cool Library Updates
- Israeli librarians win a global Wikipedia competition.
Worth Reading
- This library hosted a “Bad Romance” event on Valentine’s Day. I really don’t like the thought of librarians making fun of someone’s reading material, but this romance author says she doesn’t see a problem with poking fun at the same tropes that romance authors themselves make fun of. Thoughts?
- The NYPL releases its list of “125 books we love” in honor of its 125th anniversary.
- Legal advice for librarians about service and support animals, book displays, and video recording.
- Do you have any patrons who wish that the card catalog system was still in use? Well, there are some rural Maine libraries that still let patrons search for books the old fashioned way!
- Play musical bookcases in your school library to get more books in students’ hands.
Book Adaptations in the News
- Missy Elliott and John Mulaney are now starring in the upcoming Cinderella movie, which will also star Pierce Brosnan, Minnie Driver, and Billy Porter as the Fairy Godmother. Sign. Me. Up.
- Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne are starring in the film adaptation of the true crime book The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber. (Great true crime book, btw!)
- Director & casting updates for the adaptation of A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, which is one of my favorite horror novels!
- An Aladdin sequel is in the works.
- HBO Max is adapting More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera.
- Maggie Gyllenhaal makes her directorial debut with an adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter.
- You no longer need a Netflix subscription to watch To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before!
- Disney’s probably going to censor the F-bombs in the upcoming film release of Hamilton. (I doubt that will stop everyone who will probably be singing along in the theaters though…)
- Teaser trailer for Dev Patel in The Green Knight.
Books & Authors in the News
- Charles Portis, author of True Grit, dies at 86.
- Hallie Rubenhold, author of The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, is planning a Whitechapel mural to celebrate the lives of these women.
- A Harvey Weinstein juror was almost kicked off the trial for reading My Dark Vanessa.
- Essence does a great profile of Jason Reynolds.
- How Agatha Christie’s The Pale Horse may have inspired a murderer.
American Dirt
- Myriam Gurba, one of the leading voices speaking out against American Dirt, has revealed death threats against her.
- Roxane Gay, Myriam Gurba, and other authors discuss the publishing crisis after American Dirt.
- There’s been a jump in sales for Latinx authors following American Dirt’s publication.
- An open invitation to Oprah Winfrey from #DignidadLiteraria.
- The American Dirt backlash has book publishers reviewing their diversity efforts.
Award News
- Missed this in last week’s newsletter, but an especially big shoutout to Hair Love for winning Best Animated Short Film at the Oscars! Here’s a brief history about how the story went from Kickstarter to an Oscar winner.
- Longlist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the British Book Awards.
- Winners of the 2019 Ripped Bodice Awards for Excellence in Romance Fiction.
Pop Cultured
- Billie Eilish co-wrote and recorded the theme to the upcoming Bond film, No Time to Die. Have you heard it yet? It’s pretty awesome.
- Rian Johnson says “all bets are off” when it comes to casting the sequel to Knives Out.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- British booksellers that are fighting back against digital algorithms with personalized subscription services. Plus a look at how indie bookstores can beat Amazon at the bookselling game.
- Arizona bookstores have partnered in a drive to register Arizona voters and hopefully persuade them to vote blue in the upcoming election.
- After J.K. Rowling’s transphobic comments last month, this bookstore announced plans to donate to the trans children’s charity Mermaids every time they sell a book by J.K. Rowling.
- 5 things this writer learned from tearing through a 50-book crime series over the span of 5 months.
- 9 Airbnbs with libraries that would make Belle jealous.
- Take yourself and a favorite book on a book date.
- If you’re not familiar with book nooks, prepare to meet your newest obsession.
Found on Book Riot
- Unexpected roles and amazing feats of librarianship.
- A day in the life of a public librarian.
- The importance of diversity in school libraries.
- Book Riot, Library Journal, School Library Journal, and the Horror Writers Association release the 2020 Summer Scares reading list.
- A reading guide and book club questions for The Underground Railroad.
- Does anyone actually know how to raise a reader?
- Toward a philosophy on book collecting.
Thanks for hanging! Catch you next time!
Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.