Category: Today In Books

And The National Book Awards Go To…

The National Book Foundation announced the National Book Award winners tonight. Without further ado, the winners are…

Fiction: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Nonfiction: The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia by Masha Gessen

Poetry: Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016 by Frank Bidart

Young People’s Literature: Far from the Tree by Robin Benway

The Foundation also honored Richard Robinson, Chairman, President & CEO of Scholastic, who was introduced onstage by President Bill Clinton, and Annie Proulx, introduced by Anne Hathaway.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Son Resigns As Director Of Tolkien Estate

On the cusp of Amazon and Warner Bros.’ Lord of the Rings series adaptation news, we learned that J.R.R. Tolkien’s son resigned as director of the author’s estate. Christopher Tolkien, the 93-year-old scholar of his father’s work, kept a firm grip on the estate’s property rights and reportedly hated Warner Bros.’ Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films. Tolkien Estate recently settled a dispute over the use of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movie characters in slot machines and video games, but now that Christopher Tolkien is out of the picture we may be seeing more of those characters and Tolkien adaptation news.

Authors Write Letters Of Solidarity To Imprisoned Colleagues

Neil Gaiman, Ai Weiwei, Kamila Shamsie, Madeleine Thien, and a whole host of international artists and writers have written letters of solidarity and hope to imprisoned writers around the world. The event marks PEN International’s Day of the Imprisoned Writer, which calls on governments around the world to stop silencing writers. On this day, PEN highlights the cases of five persecuted writers. You can read about the cases, and more about Day of the Imprisoned Writer here.

Thank you to The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty for sponsoring today’s newsletter.

As a con woman in the streets of 18th-century Cairo, Nahri does not believe in magic. She relies on her wits and her healing talents to survive. But when she accidentally summons a sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior during one of her cons, she’s forced to question everything she believes. He tells her that across the hot, windswept sands of the Middle East lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass – home of six djinn tribes, and simmering with old resentments threatening Nahri’s ancestral home. There’s a reason they say to be careful what you wish for…

CA Will Be First To Use LGBT-inclusive Textbooks

California will become the first U.S. state to use LGBT-inclusive history textbooks in primary schools. The California State Board of Education approved 10 textbooks for kindergarten through eighth-grade, and rejected two. The two rejected books didn’t meet the state’s 2011 FAIR Education Act, which requires that schools teach about historical figures who were LGBT or who had disabilities. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which published the two rejected textbooks, didn’t address the sexual orientations of historical figures who were, or were widely speculated to have been LGBT. The publisher told the commission that while LGBT people are “central to both United States history and culture,” they felt that “the terms lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer are contemporary terms that may not map well on past lives and experiences.”

The Handmaid’s Tale Returns To Hulu In April

Brace yourselves. Hulu announced that The Handmaid’s Tale will return for a second season in April, and Glamour gave us a first look at the season 2 teaser. The adaptation based on Margaret Atwood’s classic dystopian novel earned Hulu its first outstanding series Emmy. Also on the Hulu horizon, an adaption of Lawrence Wright’s Pulitzer-winning 9/11 exposé, The Looming Tower, will premiere as a 10-episode limited series on February 28.

The Most Popular Kindle Books Of All Time

Mashable published a list of the most popular Kindle books of all time, according to new data pulled from Amazon Charts. Kindle sales in fiction and nonfiction determined popularity. The chart toppers include E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games in fiction, and in nonfiction Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Cheryl Strayed’s Wild are listed. Mashable noted that the top 10 in fiction star female protagonists, and nine out of 10 were written by women (John Green was the sole male author on that list).

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Home Sweet Home by April Smith, new in paperback from Vintage Books.

This riveting epic drama follows the Kusek family from New York City to America’s heartland, where their dream life turns into a nightmare, as they are caught up in the panic of McCarthyism, a smear campaign, a sensational trial, and, ultimately, murder. From the widely praised author of the FBI Special Agent Ana Grey series and A Star for Mrs. Blake.

DC Comics Editor Fired Following Sexual Harassment Claims

DC Comics fired longtime editor Eddie Berganza after BuzzFeed News reported on years of sexual harassment allegations made against him. BuzzFeed published the accounts of female employees at DC Comics who alleged that Berganza tried to forcibly kiss or grope them, and wrote about how he was promoted despite multi-employee complaints about his behavior to Human Resources. He was later demoted to group editor after another woman said he kissed her without her consent. One day after the BuzzFeed News report was published, DC announced that the company was suspending Berganza and launching an investigation; he was fired two days later. Berganza’s DC Comics career spanned 25 years.

J.K. Rowling Bolsters Aspiring Writer

When a frustrated aspiring writer sent a sorrowful tweet into the void where one imagines tweets from random people to J.K. Rowling exist, something miraculous happened: the author responded. Not only did she respond, she did so with encouragement. “I want to write like @jk_rowling or @StephenKing but it’s too hard for me. I’m demotivated. I’ll never finish my book,” tweeted the writer. In response, Rowling advised, “Write like you,” and told her to finish the book. What a perfect story for NaNoWriMo season.

Wonder Woman 2 Gets Earlier Release Date

Happy news for Wonder Woman fans impatient for the second film: Wonder Woman 2 will be released November 1, 2019, a month and half earlier than originally announced. Patty Jenkins will direct and Gal Gadot will reprise her role as Wonder Woman. If that’s still too long a wait, you can catch Diana Prince at the theater in Justice League this weekend.

Thanks to Unbound Worlds for sponsoring today’s newsletter.

Build your library with a collection of classic science fiction and fantasy novels from Unbound Worlds! Fall is in full swing, and it’s the perfect time to cozy up with some classics. Unbound Worlds is giving away thirty-two books from timeless sci-fi and fantasy authors like Philip K. Dick, T.H. White, Anne McCaffrey, and Samuel R. Delaney, plus some bookish swag from Out of Print! Enter for a chance to win.

#MeToo Says Half Of Book Industry Professionals Surveyed

More than half of the almost 400 respondents surveyed on sexual harassment within the book industry said they have experienced harassment. The Bookseller conducted the trade survey and reported on the results. The 54% of women and 34% of men who stated they had suffered abuse are spread throughout the industry. They include booksellers, agents, authors, and event organizers. The experiences ranged from crude or demeaning language used about women in the workplace to rape. The Bookseller also reported that harassment was often carried out by more senior or high-status male professionals, and that “the targets are often young, in junior roles, new in the workplace or working freelance.”

Edwidge Danticat Wins 2018 Neustadt International Prize for Literature

World Literature Today announced that Edwidge Danticat is the 25th laureate of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature. Danticat will be awarded $50,000 as a winner of the Prize, which recognizes outstanding literary merit in literature worldwide. Of the Breath, Eyes, Memory author, Neustadt Prize panel juror Achy Obejas said in her nominating statement that Danticat’s work “addresses how the specter of history haunts the unresolved present” and undermines the future unless people find a way to redeem it.

Ellen Page Will Star In The Umbrella Academy

Ellen Page will play Vanya in Netflix’s series adaptation of The Umbrella Academy. The graphic novels, written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá, follow the estranged members of a dysfunctional family of superheroes. In the series, Vanya is the black sheep of the family–the only one without superpowers. Gerard Way will serve as co-executive producer on the show, which is set for a 2018 premier.

We’re giving away $500 to spend at the bookstore of your choice! Click here, or on the image below to enter:

Coloring Books For Adults Benefit Mental Health

New Zealand researchers have found that there are mental health benefits for adults coloring-in at least 10 minutes a day. These benefits include reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety. The researchers say they began the project to see if coloring in would live up to they hype. While questions still need to be answered about how or why the activity is effective, the results show definite mental health gains.

All 8 Harry Potter Films Are Coming To HBO

The Wizarding World is coming to HBO on New Year’s Day. On January 1, all eight Harry Potter titles will air on HBO. This will be the first time that all nine films, including Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, will air unedited and without commercial interruptions on a television network. You can start the new year by watching the entire series from start to finish–the marathon begins January 1 at 9 a.m. ET/PT and ends in the early morning of January 2.

Uber Whistleblower Gets Book Deal

Susan Fowler is releasing a book about her experiences with harassment and discrimination. Fowler’s viral accounts of harassment led to the ousting of Uber’s CEO and 20 other employees. Her book will reveal what it’s like to be a female, entry-level employee in Silicon Valley, and will offer advice to women in similarly challenging work environments.

Thank you to Unbound Worlds for sponsoring today’s newsletter.

Build your library with a collection of classic science fiction and fantasy novels from Unbound Worlds! Fall is in full swing, and it’s the perfect time to cozy up with some classics. Unbound Worlds is giving away thirty-two books from timeless sci-fi and fantasy authors like Philip K. Dick, T.H. White, Anne McCaffrey, and Samuel R. Delaney, plus some bookish swag from Out of Print! Enter for a chance to win.

A New Harry Potter Augmented Reality Game

Niantic, the creators who brought us Pokémon GO, announced a new augmented reality game, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. With Wizards Unite, players will get the chance to experience the Wizarding World, learning spells, exploring “their real world neighborhoods and cities to discover & fight legendary beasts and team up with others to take down powerful enemies.” Niantic is partnering with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and WB Games. I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

The Haunting Of Hill House Gets A Netflix Adaptation

Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House is getting the Netflix treatment. The adaptation will be a 10-episode limited series. Netflix is taking a different approach to the classic horror story–the series will focus on Steven Crane, an author who became famous for his books about growing up in Hill House. Michel Huisman (HBO’s Game of Thrones) will play Steven Crane, but little else, including a release date, has been announced.

Amazon’s Best Books Of 2017

Amazon listed their editors’ 2017 top 100 picks in print and Kindle books, and their picks for the best books of the year in literature and fiction, mystery, thriller, and suspense, romance, children’s books, and more. The top 20 includes Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere and Exit West by Mohsin Hamid.

Don’t forget, we’re giving away $500 to the bookstore of your choice! Click here to enter.

Thank you to Ever After Box, a book box for romance readers, for sponsoring today’s newsletter.

Ever After Box is a subscription book box for romance readers that delivers romantic reads and unique gifts centered around a fun theme each month. Each box contains at 1-2 print books, one or more ebook download plus 3-5 gift items. Items include exclusive designs, author merchandise, cool product finds and more. Check out our monthly plans and special packages at: www.everafterbox.com

Currently ships to US and Canada only. Additional shipping charges apply for Canada.

The Real-Life Harry Potter Study Abroad

The dream of every Potterhead has seemingly come true. A real-life Harry Potter themed study program exists. Twenty students at DePaul University are participating in a two-week Potter themed study abroad. The program will be held in England and Scotland and will focus in some part on literature. It’ll also include trips to visit Platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross Station, the “Harry Potter Experience” at Warner Bros. Studio, Edinburgh Castle, and Greyfriar’s Cemetery. Read on for an interview with one of the program’s creators. (Next, let’s build a real Hogwarts.)

2017 World Fantasy Award Winners

The 2017 World Fantasy Award winners have been announced! And the award for Best Novel went to The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North. Best Long Fiction went to The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson, and “Das Steingeschöpf” by G.V. Anderson won Best Short Fiction. I’m pretty surprised Victor LaValle and N.K. Jemisin didn’t get a win, but there you go. Check out the full list of winners.

Tom Hanks Being So Very Tom Hanks

One unplanned event that took place at last week’s Texas Book Festival was Tom Hanks’ assist with a marriage proposal. Hanks was in attendance to promote his new book Uncommon Type: Some Stories. As the story goes, “Hanks … took out a piece of paper and announced that there was a man in the crowd, Ryan McFarling, who had a question for a woman in the crowd, Nikki Young.” McFarling popped the question and got a yes. Adorable story is adorable.

Don’t forget, we’re giving away $500 to the bookstore of your choice! Click here to enter.

Thank you to The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew for sponsoring today’s newsletter.

Nazi England, 2014. Jessika Keller is a good girl — a champion ice skater, model student of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, and dutiful daughter of the Greater German Reich. Her best friend, Clementine, is not so submissive. Passionately different, Clem is outspoken, dangerous, and radical. And the regime has noticed. Jess cannot keep both her perfect life and her dearest friend, her first love. But which can she live without? Haunting, intricate, and unforgettable, The Big Lie unflinchingly interrogates perceptions of revolution, feminism, sexuality, and protest. Back matter includes historical notes from the author discussing her reasons for writing an “alt-history” story and the power of speculative fiction.

Amazon Considering a Lord of the Rings Series

Talks are very early, so we don’t know much, but Amazon is reportedly talking to Warner Brothers about bring Middle Earth to the internet as a series. Every streaming service is looking for their Stranger Things or Game of Thrones, and a sprawling epic like Tolkien’s masterpiece certainly has the scale. But are we ready for a new adaptation? It’s been just 14 years since The Return of the King won the Academy Award for Best Picture. What about Dune instead, Jeff Bezos?

Canada’s Indigo Bookstore Coming to America

I’m really interested in this. Canada’s largest bookstore chain, Indigo, has totally revamped its business by combining books with an extensive selection of sidelines to create what they call “a cultural department store.” I think there is room in the U.S. for an innovative and aggressive book chain, and Indigo sure seems like they have an idea that could work. They currently have 89 stores in Canada, and they say they will try opening 4 or 5 stores in the U.S. to see how it fares. Here’s hoping it goes well.

Drinking Booze, at least a little, Helps with Foreign Language Proficiency

In a boon to leisure travelers everywhere, a recent study found that drinking a moderate amount of alcohol improves foreign language proficiency. Here’s how the test went: Germans students who were studying Dutch were split into two groups, some getting water and some getting beer. Then, they were recorded having conversations in Dutch, then those recordings were scored by native Dutch speakers who didn’t know which recordings were by which group. The result? The slightly-tipsy Germans scored better.

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Today in Books is sponsored by Unbound Worlds.

Build your library with a collection of classic science fiction and fantasy novels from Unbound Worlds! Fall is in full swing, and it’s the perfect time to cozy up with some classics. Unbound Worlds is giving away thirty-two books from timeless sci-fi and fantasy authors like Philip K. Dick, T.H. White, Anne McCaffrey, and Samuel R. Delaney, plus some bookish swag from Out of Print! Enter here for a chance to win.

News From Roxane Land

This morning, Roxane Gay posted an image of the cover for her next book! And the Table of Contents, which reveals a stellar list of contributors, including Gabrielle Union and Ally Sheedy. Not That Bad is an anthology of first-person essays tackling rape, assault, and harassment, edited by Gay (she also contributes an essay). The anthology is out May 2018 so keep an eye out, and be ready to put it on hold because it’s going to fly.

Haruki Murakami “Barn Burning” Adaptation Picked Up By Finecut

Finecut picked up international sales right to Burning, Lee Chang-dong’s adaptation of Murakami’s short story “Barn Burning.” The story about a Japanese writer who has a strange encounter with a mime/model, her boyfriend, and arson was originally published in The New Yorker. Yoo Ah-in stars as Jong-soo, a temporary parcel man, alongside Steven Yeun of The Walking Dead, and newcomer Jong-seo.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor Working On 3 Books For Young People

Sotomayor will adapt her best-selling memoir My Beloved World for middle-graders. She’ll also collaborate with illustrators Lulu Delacre and Rafael Lopez on a picture-book autobiography about important books she came across in her life and a picture book about “childhood differences,” respectively. You can pick up the first two books next fall, and her collaboration with Lopez will be out in 2019.

Don’t forget, we’re giving away $500 to the bookstore of your choice! Click here to enter.

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Audible’s Most Popular Titles From The Past 20

Audible just released its most popular titles from the past 20 years (how has it been around that long?). It’s an interesting, though not altogether surprising list. Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson at the number two spot what? Guess what spot The Girl on the Train holds. You probably guessed correctly. You’ll also find old standards Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and George R.R. Martin there. It’s worth a look and maybe even a listen.

Condé Nast Will Shutter Teen Vogue In Print And Lower Magazine Frequencies

Teen Vogue has been killing it lately, but anyone following their political coverage, think pieces, and activism by way of print will have to transition over to digital. Condé Nast is ending print runs of the teen magazine and lowering the frequencies of many of their other magazines. The publisher is cutting 80 jobs and slashing the budgets of low performing mags. No comment on these recent cuts and the end of Teen Vogue’s print run from Condé, but this is the latest in what has been a turbulent phase of reorganization for the publisher.

Marvel Cut A Thor: Ragnarok Scene Confirming Valkyrie’s Bisexuality

Tessa Thompson who plays Valkyrie in the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok movie said a scene showing a glimpse of a woman walking out of Valkyrie’s bedroom was cut from the film because it distracted from vital exposition. Thompson, who has been vocal about how important it is that her portrayal of Valkyrie stay true to the character’s bisexuality, had pitched the scene to Marvel Studios and director Taika Waititi. The thing is, representation is important. And in my experience as a Marvel moviegoer, those films could do with a little less exposition. I’m sorry, that was some shade.

Don’t forget, we’re giving away $500 to the bookstore of your choice! Click here to enter.

Thank you to Chicago Review Press, publisher of Pinball Wizards by Adam Ruben, for sponsoring today’s newsletter.

Pinball Wizards: Jackpots, Drains, and the Cult of the Silver Ball by Adam Ruben tells the dynamic story about America’s quintessential arcade game. By visiting pinball museums, gaming conventions, pinball machine designers and even pinball factories, Adam attempts to discover what makes the world’s best players so good. The book also explores the history of the game, as well as its invention, defeat and recent resurgence in American culture today.