Hello and happy Friday, readers! I would usually greet you as “fellow readers,” but I am in the middle of a massive reading slump that I don’t see ending any time soon. I just haven’t been in the mood to pick up a book since I got back from vacation, which is a bummer when your side hustle is all about talking books!
Luckily, not being able to read doesn’t mean I haven’t been paying attention to the nonfiction news that’s coming out this month. This week I’ve got a bubbling conversation on citations, an update on Elizabeth Holmes, and news about adaptations. Onward!
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I’m not really sure how to sum up this story, other than the great headline from The Lily: “A female historian wrote a book. Two male historians went on NPR to talk about it. They never mentioned her name. It’s Sarah Milov.” While this is a pretty shocking example of not giving credit, the more general issues it raises – obligations for citations, the way it results in erasing women’s work, to name just two – are really interesting. I’m still noodling on all of it. But for now, take a peek at Milov’s book, The Cigarette, due out in October.
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is set to stand trial for fraud and conspiracy in July 2020. In the interim, Holmes and her lawyers are looking to mount a defense that reporter John Carreyrou had “an undue influence on federal regulators” who forced the company to close down its labs. I cannot get enough of this story! I’m also required to tell you to read Bad Blood because it’s amazing.
Lakeith Stanfield will star in a film adaptation of Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef! The memoir follows “Onwuachi’s unprecedented journey from childhood in the Bronx with a mostly single mother to opening a fine-dining restaurant in Washington D.C. at the age of 26.” This is so exciting!
A book about “black athletes, a divided America, and the politics of patriotism” is set to be adapted for television. The Heritage by Howard Bryant is being made into a “multi-part docuseries.” According to Deadline, producer Sacha Jenkins will direct an episode and “each subsequent episode will be helmed by a different African-American filmmaker to provide a unique and personal perspective on the story.” The book, published in 2018, “is a powerful chronology of black athletes’ activism within a tense American political climate.”
And that, fellow nonfiction nerds, is all for this week! Until this reading slump ends, I’ll be spending a lot of time watching Veronica Mars, playing Wizards Unite, browsing knitting patterns for the fall, and checking out books wish I was in the mood to read from the library.
You can also find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim