Category: Today In Books

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by How Long ‘Til Black Future Month – the “Dazzling” (NYT) first collection of short stories from three-time Hugo Award winner N. K. Jemisin.

Woman Finds $4,000 In Book!

Cathy McAllister, a book sale volunteer, found $4,000 inside a hollowed out copy of The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. The book had the owner’s address label inside and McAllister returned the money–in case you were wondering if honest people still exist.

Jill Abramson Responds To Accusation Of Plagiarism

“The notes don’t match up with the right pages in a few cases, and this was unintentional and will be promptly corrected,” Abramson wrote to the AP. “The language is too close in some cases and should have been cited as quotations in the text. This, too, will be fixed.” For more on how the story has been unfolding, information on Merchants of Truth, and statements all around, click here.

Bookstore Designed Entirely For People With Special Needs

In April Words Bookstore will open a second location in Livingston, N.J. that has been designed for people with special needs and will feature things like wider aisles and lights adjusted for sensitivity. For more info on this awesome store click here.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Bookclubbish.

Hurry, Hurry, It’s The Last Day!

Get your coloring on–for free!–thanks to 113 museums and the New York Academy of Medicine who initiated Color Our Collections. And of course there’s a hashtag so you can color up a storm and share your creations: #ColorOurCollections

Found More Helpers

SDSU Library is currently digitizing and archiving letters written by refugees seeking asylum from a letter-writing initiative some SDSU faculty members had started in 2018. More than 500 letters have so far been exchanged and “provide a detailed description of each person’s path to pursuing asylum, and the conditions inside detention centers.” Read more here, including how you can help the libraries efforts.

Leave The Drag Queens Alone!

The phobics are at it again: The GOP Politics of South Carolina and a councilman are trying to shut down an upcoming Drag Queen Story Hour at the Five Forks branch of the Greenville County Library System.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (Celadon Books).

Merchant Of Truth Author Accused Of Plagiarism

Former New York Times executive editor, Jill Abramson, wrote a nonfiction book meant to be the “definitive report on the disruption of the news media over the last decade”–at least according to the publisher, Simon & Schuster. Michael C. Moynihan, Vice News Tonight correspondent, claims he has multiple examples of plagiarism in the book, which published on the 5th of February.

New True Crime Book Reveals Stieg Larsson’s Investigation Of Swedish PM’s Assassination

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’s author, a journalist for most of his life, had been researching the unsolved 1986 assassination of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme up until his sudden death. Amazon’s literature in translation imprint Amazon Crossing, announced it had acquired The Man Who Played With Fire by Jan Stocklassa, translated by Tara F Chace, which has “new facts about the case and reveals the hitherto unknown research … in a fascinating true crime story.” For more on the upcoming book and Larsson click here.

More Michael B. Jordan Is Awesome News

His production company, Outlier Society, and Warner Bros have acquired the film rights to Marlon James Black Leopard, Red Wolf and OMG OMG OMG this is going to be amazing!

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik.

Free Black Panther Digital Comics!

Now through 11:59 p.m. ET on Sunday, you can download for free 2005’s Black Panther No. 1 by Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jr.; 2016’s Black Panther: World of Wakanda No. 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Roxane Gay, Yona Harvey, Alitha E. Martinez and Afua Richardson; 2017’s Marvel’s Black Panther Prelude No. 1 by Will Corona Pilgrim and Annapaola Martello; 2018’s Black Panther No. 1 by Coates and Daniel Acuna; and the same year’s Shuri No. 1 by Nnedi Okorafor and Leonardo Romero. All the info here.

Author/Publisher Accused Of Serious Ethical Transgressions

Twenty-two transgender men featured in Invisible Men: Inside India’s Transmasculine Network by Nandini Krishnan, published by Penguin Random House India, are accusing the author and publisher of using off the record conversations, being misgendered, not being given translated versions of the interviews in their language, and using their dead names. “Both Krishnan and Penguin Random House India have denied all wrongdoing.”

A Trailer Of Beautiful People

Ahhhhh the trailer for the adaptation of Nicola Yoon’s The Sun Is Also a Star is finally here! It stars Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton, and my heart already melted and yours can too–just watch the trailer here.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Flatiron Books.

French Writers Not Happy

Ahead of next month’s Scène Young Adult at the Salon du Livre in Paris, about 100 French writers have joined together and “issued a scalding rebuke to organisers over their use of ‘sub-English known as globish.‘” Ah, sub-English globish. What is that you may ask? It’s simplified English words used globally. They’re angry the French book festival is using words like “bookroom,” “photobooth,” and “bookquizz.”

The Annual PEN/Nabokov Award Goes To…

Sandra Cisneros! The author of The House on Mango Street, Woman Hollering Creek, Caramelo, and A House Of My Own, won the award created to honor “a living author whose body of work, either written in or translated into English, represents the highest level of achievement in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and/or drama, and is of enduring originality and consummate craftsmanship.” Huge congrats!

Angie Thomas Is On Fire!

The author of The Hate U Give will also have her second novel, On The Come Up, adapted to film. The novel follows a sixteen-year-old girl, Bri, who wants nothing more than to become a rapper, but ends up going viral for the wrong reasons. George Tillman Jr., the director of The Hate U Give will also be directing On The Come Up.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Doubleday, publishers of The Plotters.

The Real History Of Women In Science Fiction

Lisa Yaszek, a professor at Georgia Tech, is challenging the long held thought that women weren’t writing science fiction until the ’70s. Her look through old magazines not only shows that women were common sci-fi writers in the pulp era, but that “reading polls suggest that 40 to 50 percent of the readers were women.” Yaszek explains that women were cut out of history–raise your hand if you’ve heard this story before!– because the “first science fiction anthologies were published during a backlash against first-wave feminism.”

Gringotts Wizarding Bank Will Soon Be Open To The Public

If you’ve always wanted to bank at Gringotts Wizarding Bank your dreams are about to come true if you can make it to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London starting this April. Check out pics and info here.

Here’s What Publishing Is Reading This Morning

The New Yorker came out with a piece about Dan Mallory, the author who writes under the pseudonym A.J. Finn and, well, I can’t help but think that, more than it being a reveal of deception, the article shows a huge problem in publishing–and our society–of white men behaving appallingly and still getting promoted, praised, and all the advertising dollars.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff and Park Row Books. Available now.

Season 3 of “The Handmaid’s Tale” Is All Sunshine and Puppies

Just kidding! It’s The Handmaid’s Tale so of course it’s going to be grim to the max. There’s no release date yet, but you can ‘ that debuted during the Super Bowl.

“Avengers: Endgame” Is All Dusk and Raccoons

Or raccoon, singular, since Rocket is one of the heroes we get a quick glimpse of in the “Avengers: Endgame” trailer that debuted during the Super Bowl. You can see the whole thing on the big screen in April.

“Captain Marvel” Did Not Show Us The Cat

But I’m still getting excited for this movie, which hits theaters in March!

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Amazon Publishing, publisher of Smoke and Summons by Charlie N. Holmberg.

CBS Has Ordered The Drama Pilot Frankenstein

And I promise it’s not what you think: A homicide detective in San Francisco “is mysteriously brought back to life after being killed in the line of duty. But as he resumes his old life and he and his wife realize he isn’t the same person he used to be, they zero in on the strange man behind his resurrection – Dr. Victor Frankenstein.” I’d make a joke but it’s from the writer of Elementary so I’m willing to give it a try.

With 86% Of The Publishing Workforce Being White

What is it like to be one of the few women of color working in the industry? Here’s a great article where 10 women of color speak out about their experiences.

Detained Asylum Seeker Wins Australia’s Most Valuable Literary Prize

Mr. Behrouz Boochani, Iranian asylum seeker, has been held in Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island since 2013. Omid Tofighian, the book’s translator, worked with Boochani for over five years as Boochani sent him the book in pieces over the messaging app WhatsApp. No Friend But The Mountains: Writing From Manus Prison was awarded the A$100,000 prize and the A$25,000 prize for non-fiction.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne, published by William Morrow.

Get Your Potter And Beer On

Rock Star Beer Festivals is making your boozy Harry Potter dreams come true by decorating like the Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley, Hogwarts’ Great Hall and serving alcoholic butterbeer–plus 20 different ales. Click here if you want to see if one of the 11 events will be near you.

Only One Thing Here Is A Threat

The phobic white guy with a weapon: James “Doc” Greene Sr. Police were called when he refused to leave the Freed-Montrose Library, after previously being banned for filming children at the library. Greene was trying to disrupt the Drag Queen Storytime and was handcuffed, his concealed weapon taken by police, when he said his chest hurt and an ambulance was called for him.

Shrill Is Almost Here And We Can’t Wait

Hulu has released the trailer for their upcoming six-episode Hulu comedy series based on Lindy West’s memoir Shrill. Get the popcorn ready for March 15th.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Bookclubbish.

Medieval Merlin Manuscript Found

The University of Bristol’s special collections librarian has discovered seven hand-written manuscript fragments from the middle ages about Merlin the magician. “The newly-discovered text has longer, more detailed descriptions of various characters particularly during battles.” Cool–anyone else suddenly want to go watch The Sword in the Stone?

The Ghost Bride Gets Adaptation Series!

Choo Yangsze’s The Ghost Bride is being adapted into a six-episode drama for Netflix. The story centers an ancient custom of a living woman marrying a dead man and is set in 1890s Colonial Malacca. If you’re going nope-nope, don’t worry she is too. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the production underway.

The Handmaid’s Tale Sequel Has A Cover

You can’t read Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, which picks up 15 years after Offred’s final scene, until September but you can judge the book by the cover reveal now.