Category: Today In Books

His Dark Materials Joins Fight Against COVID-19

In truly trying times it is nice to see people stepping up: the costume designers who worked on His Dark Materials, the BBC/HBO adaptation of Philip Pullman’s novel, are putting their talents to sewing scrubs for medics in the UK working to fight COVID-19. “The Helping Dress Medics initiative was launched by costume maker Dulcie Scott over the weekend and has raised more than £8,000 ($10,000) on GoFundMe to help supply protective clothing to local hospitals.”

Jennifer Weiner Fans Rejoice

If your life really needs a summer book escape, Jennifer Weiner wrote one of those, Big Summer, and is releasing it two weeks early so readers can escape quicker. You can escape with friendship and Cape Cod starting May 5th!

Don’t Miss Live Chat

Author Ibi Zoboi will be doing a live Instagram chat April 1st at 7pm with  Dr. Yusef Salaam, one of the exonerated Central Park 5, to discuss their upcoming co-written YA novel: Punching The Air. “We’re focusing our discussion & Q&A on young people who are having a really hard time with all this—when you’re scared, the future is uncertain, and all you want to do is be outside with your friends. This will be especially useful for Black & Brown boys living in urban spaces.” See you there!

And an update on yesterday’s news about Powell’s rehiring employees with a response from the union.

Powell’s Books Rehires Over 100 Employees After Surge Of Online Orders

Thanks to the power of the Internet and online ordering, some good news: Powell’s Books in Portland, OR has re-hired over 100 employees that they had originally let go due to COVID-19 closure, in order to fulfill online orders. The store warned that some orders may be slow to ship because they’re taking the proper health and safety precautions, but that’s good news for so many booksellers who are especially hard-hit during this time. Keep ordering from indie bookstores, and consider donating to BINC.

KILLING EVE Season 3 Premiere Moved Up By 2 Weeks

Look, this global pandemic is a total disaster, but if you’re stuck at home, here is a silver lining! Season three of Killing Eve, based on the books by Luke Jennings, is coming to your screen a couple weeks sooner. If you like murder and humor and two strong heroines, then you need to get on this show ASAP. The first two seasons are streaming on Hulu, and season three will be on AMC.

DC Details How Comic Book Retailers Will Be Supported Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

Like many industries, the comic book industry has felt the impact of COVID-19. With some major distributors halting shipping of new releases and ceasing publication of digital content, DC is supporting comic shops by making all releases between March 18 and June 24 fully returnable, and they’re covering shipping. This will help ease some of the financial burden that comes from loss of sales, and DC is looking into a more flexible distribution system to support brick and mortar retailers.

Liqueur Company Starts Virtual Book Club

The liqueur company Pomp & Whimsy has started a 10-week virtual book club, beginning April 2, at 8 p.m. EST. The first book chosen is When Life Gives You Lululemons and of course the book club hosts will be making an accompanying cocktail. It’s totally free to participate, and you can donate $10, which will go to New York City food pantry. Cheers!

Amazing Librarians

A lot of focus during the COVID-19 pandemic has been on the shortage of supplies, including protective face masks. Enter Columbia University librarians: Columbia University Cardiology Fellow Dr. Pierre Elias contacted Librarian Madiha Choksi about using the library’s staff and 3D printers. “Dr. Elias provided a design for a face shield visor posted by Budmen Industries. Choksi took the Budmen design and optimized it, cutting the printing time by one third.” And now there’s a guide for quickly making face shields using 3D printers and household items.

Books Move Over For Food

People are stocking Little Free Libraries with nonperishable food and goods for those who may be in need. Little Free Library’s executive director Greig Metzger, who used to be a food shelf executive director, supported the idea and even reminded members that this could be the first step in also helping food banks in their area. Keep being amazing helpers, you beautiful bibliophiles.

Hello bibliophiles! We made it through the week: let’s take a deep breath, release our shoulders from our ears, and when needed take it just one minute at a time. We collected this week’s COVID-19 pieces for you, with some staying informed and a lot of needed escape reading. Remember to check in on each other, help where you can, and be kind.

A Pennsylvania library created a Hogwarts digital escape room; boredom be gone, we’re headed to Hogwarts!

Wondering how your favorite PRIDE AND PREJUDICE character would react to COVID-19 related social distancing? Cue dream sequence.

If you want one less thing to think about, including which book to read next, take this quiz and find your next book series to read while social distancing.

School has closed and the kids are quarantined at home? We have the best educational comics to start your sudden homeschool journey (and save your sanity).

One reader takes solace in and shares some advice on social distancing from WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING.

Looking for a quarantine reading list? Book Riot contributors list the books they’re planning to read while they stay home and practice social distancing.

Dear Sugar is back! Cheryl Strayed is giving advice as Sugar this Friday on the first episode of Live Wire House Parties.

Creative ways to keep your book life alive during quarantine.

Readers Are Turning To Challenging Classics

Apparently people’s bucket list reads are classics and long novels–or maybe they just figure they finally have the time so why not. Either way, according to Waterstones, UK’s largest book chain, sales were not only up 400% but there was also a significant rise in sales of classics. “Titles including Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar.” And Nielsen BookScan backs this with also seeing rises in War and Peace, The Lord of the Rings, and In Search of Lost Time sales.

Dear Sugar Live!

Cheryl Strayed, the author of the memoir Wild (adapted into the Reese Witherspoon starring film) and writer of the Dear Sugar column, will grace us with some advice on Live Wire Radio’s Live Wire House Party on Friday the 27th. You can also catch it on the Live Wire podcast.

Fun!

A bunch of DC middle grade authors and artists have joined together to curate an at-home activity program called DC Kids Camp! There’s previews of DC middle grade comics and superhero-themed activities like learning to draw your favorite heroes! And that’s just some of the fun–excuse me while I go pretend to be a kid.

Wonder Woman Will Wait

Instead of its June 5th theatrical release, Wonder Woman 1984 will now release August 14th. Diana would definitely want everyone to be safe so we will keep that popcorn warm until it’s time. You can check out other films that have also been postponed due to current closures. And, while you wait for the Wonder Woman film, you can check out The Secret History of Wonder Woman; Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Just War; Wonder Woman: Warbringer.

Calling All Trekkies

Or anyone who wants to maybe become a Trekkie: CBS All Access is now offering their first season of Star Trek: Picard, starring Patrick Stewart, for free. Sign up for the streaming service, get a digital coupon code, and then it’s all “live long and prosper.”

Found A Helper

In Massachusetts’ Springfield Public Schools, families have the option of stopping at 15 designated sites where breakfast and lunch can be picked up for students. They also get an individually wrapped book to take home thanks to Link to Libraries, a non-profit organization that regularly volunteers to read at elementary schools and provide new books to students.

Bookmobiles As Free WiFi Trucks

While many Americans are social distancing by staying home during the COVID-19 pandemic and streaming TV and surfing the internet, that is a luxury that at least 21.3 million Americans don’t have (the number is probably double) because they don’t have internet. The American Library Association wants the FCC to allow libraries to turn “16,557 public libraries into free, communal broadband Wi-Fi hotspots” allowing access to broadband to then be extended into communities that have none. ALA is needing permission because “libraries were worried that the Trump FCC—which has taken aim at the program in recent years—would penalize them for extending broadband access to users that are technically not on library property.”

“Men At Some Time Are Masters Of Their Fates”

The Globe, an Elizabethan playhouse replica where Shakespeare’s plays are performed, has had to close to the public like so many businesses during this time. However, they recorded many of their productions over the past decade and, thus, you can now rent or buy performances of their Shakespeare plays. You’re entertained and the theater gets some financial help.

It’s All Going Virtual

Wordplay is a book festival that was scheduled for Minneapolis in May but will now take place in April and May virtually. 100+ authors/participants are still on board (including some of our favorites!): “We’re going to be doing live video conversations, podcasts, visual arts, author Q&As, playlists, social media takeovers, and other creative content. So, folks will be able to access it a lot of ways.”

Apple Books Offers Free Audiobooks & Ebooks

A push notification went out to Apple Books app users letting them know that a selection of mysteries, kids read-along books, and audiobooks are now available for free. A variety of genres and the first books in series are available. There is, however, no information on how long these items are free, so you may want to download quickly if interested.

This Picture Book’s Sales Have Soared

Parents have turned to the picture book I Don’t Want to Wash My Hands! in order to convince their children to please-please-please wash their hands. The book, first published in 2001, has seen a 2,000+% hike in sales in the last month. Keep washing your hands, kiddos and adults!

188 Employees From The Strand Bookstores Have Been Laid Off

Major independent bookstores have been laying off staff due to the COVID-19 outbreak, now including the Strand Bookstores, which laid off the majority of their staff: 188 employees. “At present, all operations for the store are at a standstill. Bass Wyden wrote that she has requested approval from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office for the store to be designated an essential business so that the remaining employees can process and fulfill online orders.”

Frankie Shaw To Direct T Kira Madden’s ‘Long Live’ Memoir

Good news for fans of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden! Frankie Shaw will be directing the movie, and producers are attached. “T Kira’s story is a lesson in radical self-acceptance, an open-hearted love letter to our pain and our mistakes, and proof that while we are fundamentally shaped by our trauma, it does not have to define us,” Shaw says. Madden will write the screenplay.

Free Comic Book Day Has Been Postponed Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

It’s a bummer, but Diamond Comic Distributors have decided to postpone Free Comic Book Day, a nationwide event that traditionally occurs the first Saturday in May. “The severity and timing of the impact of the COVID-19 virus can’t be predicted with any certainty, but the safety of our retailer partners and comic book fans is too important to risk,” says Diamond. No new date has been set yet, but consider this a reminder to support your local comic shop online and from a safe distance during these tough times.

How Hilary Mantel Became A Publishing Phenomenon

This article’s title may be a little misleading as it doesn’t really dive deep into explaining how Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy got as famous as it is, but it does reveal some interesting details about sales numbers for her latest release, The Mirror & the Light, and compares them with other big literary releases. Spoiler: Female-written literary bestsellers have sold more than some literary bestsellers written by men!

Rufus Sewell Reads To Us In Cozy Sweater

Rufus Sewell has blessed us by reading one of Shel Silverstein’s poems from Every Thing on It while wearing a cozy sweater. Your move, Chris Evans, your move.

Bedtime Bonnet

After Nancy Redd’s three-year-old daughter didn’t want to wear a bonnet to bed, because she associated it with being old, Redd decided to write a children’s book: Bedtime Bonnet. “Du-rags, silk scarves, wave caps, and doobie wraps are all represented in its pages. Redd wanted to transfer her love of the self-care ritual onto her little girl and children around the world.” Beautiful!

Yes, Please

Gabby Rivera’s awesome novel, Juliet Takes a Breath, about a young adult finding her voice and place in the world is going to be a graphic novel! Publishing this November (so far away!), with art and color by Celia Moscote and James Fenner, Rivera says “Get ready for a Juliet Milagros Palante that’s gayer, chubbier, and more confident than ever before.” We’ve been ready!