Category: Today In Books

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Authors Think Outside The Bookstore

For many authors on book tours, bookstores are the obvious place to hold readings—too obvious, that is. Some writers are taking their events to other venues, hoping to capture potential readers who wouldn’t typically be found in a bookstore.

Audible Retreats Temporarily

Last week, we covered the lawsuit filed by several major publishers against Audible. The publishers allege that Audible Captions infringes on copyright. While the case proceeds, Audible has deactivated the Captions feature from the books put out by those publishers.

Classroom Library Gets A Grant Boost

Here are some back-to-school warm fuzzies for you! Jennifer Kieren is an educator who spent a month crafting a grant application that paid off big-time when she was awarded $2,000 to expand her classroom library. That translated into 263 books! Teachers all over the country are spending their own funds on making sure their kids have books they can get excited about, and the necessity for grants like this one isn’t something to celebrate. But I’m glad there are teachers out there like Kieren whose enthusiasm and dedication are so inspiring.

Pentagon Accused Of Holding Up Book For Other Book

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis’ former communications director and chief speechwriter is accusing the Defense Department of stalling reviewing his memoir’s manuscript (for final approval) in favor of Mattis’ memoir release. “The government is only permitted ‘to safeguard classified information,’ said Mark Zaid, Snodgrass’s attorney. ‘The reality appears to be that [Pentagon] officials were deliberately slow-rolling the process in order to ensure Mattis’ book is published first.'” I vote take it to Judge Judy!

How To Get Run Over By A Truck To Be Adapted

That’s a hell of a title even before you find out it’s a true story based on Katie McKenna‘s experience of being hit by an eighteen-wheeler and being “taken to the best trauma hospital in New York — the prison hospital at Rikers Island.” I know! Now the memoir will be adapted into a CW series thanks to Ellen DeGeneres and the team behind the Come From Away musical.

Social Media Blocks The Vagina Bible Ads

US publisher Kensington claims that Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter blocked promotions of The Vagina Bible if they contained the words ‘vaginal’ or ‘vagina.’ Twitter claims it was not the use of the words: “The rejection of some of the promoted content was due to a combination of human error and violations, including the use of profanity and adult products.” Not better, my dude.

Paranormal Bookstore!

It is never too early to start celebrating Halloween if spooky season is your thing. And with that in mind there are psychic readings, ghost hunts and tours, and 200 artifacts dedicated to the paranormal for your entertainment at Paranormal Books & Curiosities in Asbury Park, NJ. Check out a video tour here.

Author Under Attack

White supremacists have been targeting So You Want to Talk About Race author Ijeoma Oluo, including a terrifying swatting incident–callers called the police pretending to be her teenage son claiming to have murdered two people. Oluo has written a piece talking about the harassment, how she’s been advised to be quiet for a while, and how she won’t be silenced.

Emily St John Mandel’s Upcoming Novel To Be Adapted

Emily St John Mandel, author of Station Eleven, hasn’t even had her upcoming novel release yet (March 2020) but that hasn’t stopped NBCUniversal International Studios from acquiring the rights to The Glass Hotel. It’s a mystery about a missing woman, a huge ponzi scheme, greed, and pasts coming back. It sounds amazing and you can learn more about it and the adaptation here.

Is Amazon To Blame For Changes To E-Book Library Lending?

Tom Mercer, Bibliotheca’s senior vice president of digital products, thinks so. The new changes that publishers have begun to implement–restricting libraries purchasing/lending of e-books–is at least in part, according to Mercer, due to Amazon sharing its users’ book purchases and e-book library reading data with publishers. Basically, he thinks Amazon has been convincing publishers that all that library reading is what causes less book sales. You can read all the details here while I go check out some more e-books from my library.

More Miss Peregrine!

Did you know a fifth book in the Miss Peregrine series is coming? The Conference of the Birds will publish January 14th and the author, Ransom Riggs, had this, “The peculiars are in serious trouble,” and more to say about the release here. And if you’ve yet to read this imaginative series, four months should be enough time to marathon it in anticipation of the next book!

Renamed Award

During the 2019 Hugo Awards ceremony Jeannette Ng called out the John W. Campbell Award For Best New Writer’s namesake for his racist and fascist beliefs. The award’s sponsor has announced that, starting next year, the award will have a different name: Astounding Award for Best New Writer.

Most Used Adjectives For Men & Women

When data proves what we already know: 3.5 million books published in English were computer analyzed to see the difference in how men and women were described. “We are clearly able to see that the words used for women refer much more to their appearances than the words used to describe men. Thus, we have been able to confirm a widespread perception, only now at a statistical level.” Check out all the data here.

Marley Dias Rocks!

The Guardian has done a great profile on Marley Dias–the girl who started a movement for Black girl lead books after being assigned too many books in school “…about a white boy and his dog.” From the hashtag #1000BlackGirlBooks to the White House, she’s still inspiring girls to find their passion and help others–and she even has a memoir: Marley Dias Gets it Done: And So Can You!

Andrew Carnegie’s Money And Public Libraries

In a time where there is a lot of discussion about wealth and not being able to take it with you when you’re 6 feet under, this is a really interesting article from The Atlantic about how much money Andrew Carnegie gave to public libraries. Starting in 1883, and for around 35 years, Carnegie donated money that helped build about 1,700 libraries in the U.S. and 800 around the world.

Above The Clouds Bookstore!

On the 52nd floor of Shanghai Tower–Shanghai’s tallest building!–is Duoyun Books’ flagship store called Books Above Clouds. Because literally it is. And this bookstore is ridiculously amazing and gorgeous and who do I speak to so I can live inside it?! Check out the photos, and fantasize about living there with me, here.

Heartbreaking

The National Immigration Detention Hotline–“free and confidential resource offering legal assistance to people who are in immigration detention since 2013”–was featured on this final season of the Netflix show Orange Is The New Black and then ICE shut it down. “It is concerning that ICE’s response to criticism is to block avenues of free and safe communication.” You can read the full story here.

Well This Is Violent

Netflix’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry The IV and Henry V has a trailer. And heads will roll. Literally. The King, starring Timothée Chalamet as the I-don’t-want-to-be-King, will hit theaters and stream on Netflix starting September 2nd.

15 Frequently DNF’d Popular Books

Wondering if it was just you? Or want a reading challenge? Here are 15 books you certainly know the titles of–or at least the authors–that get started and abandoned most often. I was expecting the list to be all classics but there are some surprising books on that list!

Jenny Slate Announces One-Time Show

If you’ve been eagerly anticipating Jenny Slate’s upcoming book Little Weirds (*raises hand*), she just announced a one-time show for the book launch! Learn more about her Nov 5th show at The Town Hall here and you can check out her tweet here.

A Look At Publishing’s Regrettable Rejections

Toby Faber, grandson of the 1944 director of Faber and Faber who rejected George Orwell’s Animal Farm, is now recommending that Faber publish the novel (when it comes out of copyright) with a new edition, including its rejection letter. It’s Monday, find encouragement in these other novels that had to hurdle rejections before finding their place in the world.

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Lunella Lafayette Is Coming To The Disney Channel

D23 has been one wild ride we’re still catching up on. But we’re pausing to appreciate the news of a Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur animated adaptation in the works! Read more here.

Audible Captions Prompt Lawsuit

The courts are getting into the ontological weeds with this one… A group of major publishers is suing Audible over a new feature that presents listeners with transcripts of audiobook narration, potentially infringing on publishers’ rights to the original written books.

Books Above Clouds

Take a virtual tour of a newly designed bookshop in Shanghai’s tallest building. These photos are quite stunning!

Online Archive For Largest Occult Library

Amsterdam’s Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (AKA “The Ritman Library), the largest occult library in the world, has begun to digitize the core of its collection, The Hermetically Open Archive, thanks in part to Dan Brown. Yes, that Dan Brown. See some scanned pages and learn more here.

Women Making Waves In Japanese Literature

Modern Japanese fiction has long established itself as a male dominated arena, but recently women have finally been getting recognition: For the first time–in 85 years!–the Naoki Prize has nominated all women. While still more men are published than women in Japan the movement of change has started including “Translations of half a dozen prize-winning works by female authors from Japan were published last year in the United States…” If you haven’t read a great Japanese novel recently, check out the authors and books mentioned in the article.

Chidi Anagonye!

For fans of William Jackson Harper on The Good Place, you’ll get to see more of him–albeit certainly in a different role–in Amazon’s upcoming series adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad. Learn more about Barry Jenkins’ adaptation and the role Harper will play here.

The Great Book Scare

Have you ever heard about the Great Book Scare? With the death of librarian Jessie Allan, who died from tuberculosis in 1895, many began to believe that library books could spread deadly diseases. Read all about the panic and its effect on libraries here. I’ll be over here hugging a library book.

Must-Read Forgotten Classic

Here’s a super interesting piece about a short story many don’t know about but should: Address Unknown by Kressmann Taylor. First published as a short story in a magazine, and then a novel, it tells the tale of a Jewish person in San Fransisco and their German business partner’s letters to each other in 1933. Read about the novel, why the author was made to use a pseudonym (SPOILER she’s a woman!), and more here.

Motherless Brooklyn Trailer

Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, and Leslie Mann star in Motherless Brooklyn, an adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s novel, where a detective with Tourette Syndrome sets out to solve the murder of his mentor. In classic detective fashion he must fight his way to the truth and “save the woman who might be his own salvation.” Mmhmm.