Category: Today In Books

This edition of Today In Books is sponsored by Flatiron Books, publishers of Frankie.

The Satanic Temple Wasn’t Bluffing

Netflix and Warner Bros. is being accused of having a statue in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina that bears a striking resemblance to the Satanic Temple’s statue of Baphomet. The Temple filed a $50 million copyright suit alleging “its copyrighted artwork has been hijacked in service of a stereotypically evil representation.”

In Honor Of Michelle Obama’s Memoir Becoming

Gal-dem’s upcoming pop-up bookshop will exclusively stock books written by women and non-binary people of color. “Gal-dem is an online and print magazine written by women of colour and non-binary people of colour for all to explore. We want that sentiment to translate to this fantastic pop up.” It’ll open for a week starting November 23 at 2 Bury Place in Bloomsbury–if you’re in the U.S., you’ll have to cross the pond!

Star Wars And Black Panther Stars Unite For Sci-Fi Adaptation

Katie Khan’s sci-fi love story Hold Back the Stars is being adapted and in OMG YES, BEST CASTING IS BEST news: it will star Letitia Wright and John Boyega! You may know them as Shuri (Black Panther) and Finn (Star Wars: The Last Jedi).

This edition of Today In Books is sponsored by Automated Books, publisher of Divining Another Dream and creator of Google Play app Multiplicity.

New App Brings Books To Life

Well this is super cool: Bookful is a new app that uses AR (augmented reality) to bring books to life, which is bound to get even the most reluctant reader on board. Imagine the dinosaurs in a kid’s book coming to life–or Peter Rabbit! It gives you two options: read, which is an immersive experience; play, which are themed games to the book. Check out more information, including images.

Protests Work, Y’all!

Remember yesterday when I told you about all the booksellers protesting Amazon’s AbeBooks? Well it seems 600 booksellers withdrawing 3.5m books from sale hit the company where it hurt–$$$–because AbeBooks has walked back its decision to pull its business out of countries including Hungary, the Czech Republic, South Korea, and Russia. “Arkady told us that Abe are very well aware of the mistake they have made. He stated that it was a ‘bad decision’ and that they deeply regret the hurt and harm they have caused.”

Veronica Mars Casts Delightful Actress

If you’re a fan of Killing Eve, Barry, and/or The Good Place then you know Kirby Howell-Baptiste is a fantastic actress who needs to star in all the things. And she’s just landed a recurring role in the upcoming Veronica Mars revival on Hulu.

This edition of Today In Books is sponsored by Flatiron Books, publishers of Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty.

We Have Our 2018 Word Of The Year

At least according to Collins Dictionary who has selected the word Single-use. The term refers to products which are made for one use before being disposed, and are usually made of plastic. The BBC’s Blue Planet II and public awareness of environmental issues related to single-use products are contributors to the increase use in the term.

Hundreds Of Booksellers Protest Amazon’s AbeBooks

Amazon’s secondhand books marketplace AbeBooks announced its withdrawal from sellers in certain locations including Hungary, the Czech Republic, South Korea and Russia because the “third-party payment service provider is closing at the end of the year.” Aware of how devastating this can be to many booksellers, many of them are protesting by taking a vacation from using AbeBooks: “Now, around 2.6m books from more than 460 booksellers in 26 countries are now listed as temporarily unavailable.”

Twitter User Finds Unsent Fan Letter & J.K. Rowling Responds

Twitter user @SYatigammana found a fan letter they’d written Rowling, back when they were 11, tucked in the back of their Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. They may not have ever mailed it, but thanks to a Twitter post that fan letter got a response from J.K. Rowling. You’re never too old for a dream to come true–or something like that.

This edition of Today In Books is sponsored by Epic Reads.

Pride And Prejudice In Atlanta By Lifetime

Seems about time for a new Pride And Prejudice adaptation, so Lifetime has stepped up with Pride and Prejudice: Atlanta. It’s set in modern-day Atlanta and stars Jackée Harry, Tiffany Hines, and Keshia Knight Pulliam–plus, an entirely Black cast. No official air date other than 2019, but count us in for a night on our couches with lots of popcorn.

An Open Letter By Latinx Authors In The Kidlit Community

After news broke that educators from the Middleton Heights Elementary School wore xenophobic costumes to school for Halloween, Latinx authors have written an open letter with an offer to the school in hopes of countering the damage done.

Alyssa Cole Cover Reveal!

Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series will have a new addition in January: Once Ghosted, Twice Shy. The novella will reveal the story behind Likotsi’s heartbreak in A Princess in Theory. *Insert all the heart emoji eyes for that cover!

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by our $250 All the Books Barnes and Noble gift card giveaway! Click here for more info.

The Color Purple Is Getting A New Musical Adaptation

Alice Walker‘s novel is getting another film adaptation following its 2015 Broadway revival success. And it looks like the producers from the original play and revival (Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones, Scott Sanders) plus Stephen Spielberg (who adapted the 1985 film version) are all joining together for this one. That’s a lot of producing star power!

The 2018 World Fantasy Award Winners Announced

While Charles de Lint and Elizabeth Wollheim were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards, awards were also handed out for various categories including novel, short fiction, long fiction, anthology… Congrats to all the winners! And muppet arms for former Rioters Justina Ireland and Troy L. Wiggins for their FIYAH Literary Magazine award.

Haruki Murakami Creating Archive At Alma Mater

Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami is planning on creating an archive at Waseda University “that will include drafts of his best-selling novels, his translation work and his massive collection of music, a personal passion that has been a key part of his stories.” Who else is wondering how much flights to Japan are?

This edition of Today In Books is sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio.

National Novel Generation Month Is A Thing

Coders are writing programs in a bid to generate the best 50,000-word novel. I’m not sure how they measure “best,” but you can follow along here to see how their projects are going. A couple are already completed!

Pennsylvania Prisoners Can Request Books Again

Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections had previously announced new restrictions on how inmates may receive books, making the process confusing and expensive. Book donation organizations and others advocating on behalf of inmates made themselves heard, and the DOC is once again allowing book donations.

Katie Paterson’s Future Library

This is an amazing project that is difficult to sum up in a few sentences. There is a a clearing one hour outside of Oslo. In that clearing, a thousand spruce trees will grow until 2114. At that time, the trees will be made into the paper on which 100 previously unpublished novels will be printed (including one donated by Margaret Atwood).

Enter to win a $250 gift card to Barnes and Noble to celebrate our All the Books! podcast:

We Have A New, Ridiculous, Sherlock Holmes Adaptation

Somehow it had escaped our attention that Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly have a new movie coming out where they take on the iconic roles of Holmes & Watson–not coincidentally the title of the film. You can see the trailer here.

Governor General’s Literary Awards Announced

And Jillian Tamaki joins only a handful of Canadians in winning her second one! They Say Blue has won for Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Book category. “Wonderfully uplifting and imaginative, it spans an entire range of emotions and colours and makes one’s heart sing.” Well that sounds delightful!

Ewan McGregor Is A Villain

Or will be in the upcoming DC adaptation Birds Of Prey as he’s been cast to play the Gotham City mob boss, Black Mask. He joins Rosie Perez, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Margot Robbie, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Sponsored by: Penguin Teen

A New Dolly Parton Single For Dumplin’ Has Been Released

Being that we’re equally excited for the album and the adaptation of Dumplin‘ coming to Netflix, we had to share that the second single is out! Listen to Girl in the Movies, now available to purchase.

Library Of Congress Poetry Prize Announced

The Library of Congress’s 2018 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry goes to Jorie Graham for her 2017 poetry collection: Fast. You can read more about Graham, the poet and Harvard professor, here.

F. Scott Fitzgerald Adaptation Coming To Hulu

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1934 novel Tender is the Night is in early development as a limited series at Hulu. While previously adapted in the ’60s and ’80s it will be interesting to see an adaptation about a psychiatrist who marries a sixteen-year-old with Schizophrenia in our current climate. Or maybe not? Time will tell!

Sponsored by Waterhouse Press.

Gabriel García Márquez’s Great Niece Kidnapped For Ransom

The 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature’s great niece, Melissa Martínez García, was kidnapped in August in Santa Marta, Colombia. According to the national police’s anti-kidnapping unit the kidnappers are asking for 5 million dollars. A reward of $33,000 has been offered for information leading to her location and safe release.

Margaret Atwood, Lee Child, and More Are Auctioning Character Names

We found another helper: A bunch of authors are auctioning off the chance to name a character in their next book for charity to aid survivors of torture. “As well as naming rights, the lots on offer will include a signed screenplay and other memorabilia donated by Helen Mirren, the chance to commission a large work of art by Quentin Blake and a portrait by political cartoonist and former children’s laureate Chris Riddell.”

Wondering What The Obamas Are Up To At Netflix?

They’ve just acquired the rights to The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis for a possible Netflix series in hopes of showing the inner workings of the government. Lewis described his book as “A civics lesson…I did three departments, because it would be the work of many lifetimes to do the whole government, but you could do this in a fun way across the entire government.”

Sponsored by Devil’s Day by Andrew Michael Hurley

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Moving A Bookstore?

A human chain of course! October Books in Southampton, England, cleverly put out a call for volunteers in order to move its bookstore down the street. Two hundred people showed up, lined up, and created a 500-foot long human chain that passed books like a conveyor belt from the old store to the new store.

Awesome Celebrities Joining Michelle Obama’s Book Tour!

If you were looking forward to seeing Michelle Obama on her book tour for her memoir Becoming, you’re now going to probably do double the squealing as moderators for the tour have been announced. Some of the names you’ve probably heard of: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Valerie Jarrett, poet Elizabeth Alexander, Phoebe Robinson, journalist Michele Norris, and Tracee Ellis Ross! What a time to be alive!

Disney’s Upcoming Streaming Service Is Making Moves

Malcolm Spellman, executive producer/writer for Empire, has been hired to write a limited series that would team Marvel’s Falcon and Winter Soldier. We’ll have to wait until the end of 2019 for the service launch but sounds like exciting things are coming.