Riot New Media – Page 14

New Books for the First Tuesday of July!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date July 1, 2024

Sponsored by

Hello, star bits! I hope you are all having a wonderful second day of the second half of the year. I had a great weekend, watching birds and squirrels in the yard and reading books. I have been enjoying the Hilo middle grade graphic novel series by Judd Winick (former Real World cast member!) about an alien boy and his Earth friends. I reread The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, too. It is such a tremendous book and possibly my favorite of the year. I wanted to reread it in preparation for its release today, but also because I have recently been seeing it being compared to The Secret History by Donna Tartt. It’s funny, I have read that novel every year since it came out, and I didn’t have that thought the first time I read the Moore. But I can see why it’s being said. It’s definitely going to be recommended for many years to come. It’s an instant classic. (Which is an oxymoron, I know. But still true.)

Now let’s talk about the books out now for new release day! At the top of my list of books to acquire are Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi, The Failures by Benjamin Liar, and Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna. On this week’s episode of All the Books!, Danika and I talked about great books we loved that are out this week, including God of the Woods, Cash Delgado is Living the Dream, and The Night of Baba Yaga.

Today, I am doing a round-up of several exciting books from the first Tuesday of July 2024. Below, you’ll find titles (loosely) broken up into several categories to make it easier for your browsing convenience. I hope you have fun with it! And as with each first Tuesday newsletter, I am putting asterisks *** next to the books that I have had the chance to read and loved. YAY, BOOKS!

Fiction

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore***

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

Mysterious Setting by Kazushige Abe, Michael Emmerich (translator)

Teddy by Emily Dunlay

Big in Sweden by Sally Franson

The World After Alice by Lauren Aliza Green

The Same Bright Stars by Ethan Joella

The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kọ́láwọlé

The Murmuration by Carlos Labbe, Will Vanderhyden (translator)

The Curse of the Flores Women by Angélica Lopes, Zoë Perry (translator)

Misrecognition by Madison Newbound

The Townsend Family Recipe for Disaster by Shauna Robinson

cover of The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kolawole. small black outline of a person standing on teal and red squiggles

Welcome to Glorious Tuga by Francesca Segal

The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan

More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, Eric Ozawa (translator)

Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna

The Entire Sky by Joe Wilkins

Learn something new, sharpen your skills, and expand your horizons with our Better Living Through Books newsletter. Better Living Through Books is your resource for reading material that helps you live the life you want. From self-help to cookbooks to parenting to personal finance, relationships, and more, Better Living Through Books has got you covered. If it’s part of life, it can be part of your reading life. Sign up for your free subscription to Better Living Through Books today, or become an All Access member starting at $6 per month or $60 per year and get unlimited access to members-only content in 20+ newsletters, community features, and the warm fuzzies knowing you are supporting independent media.

Middle Grade and Picture Books

cover of First Test Graphic Novel by Tamora Pierce, Becca Farrow; illustration of person with brown hair and hazel eyes wearing a brown cloak

Shark Night by R. L. Stine

The Ones Who Come Back Hungry by Amelinda Bérubé

Faker by Gordon Korman

First Test Graphic Novel by Tamora Pierce, Becca Farrow

Mystery and Thriller

The Night of Baba Yaga by Akira Otani, Sam Bett (translator)***

Broiler by Eli Cranor

The Haters by Robyn Harding

Breaking the Dark: A Jessica Jones Marvel Crime Novel by Lisa Jewell

May the Wolf Die by Elizabeth Heider

Nonfiction

Woe: A Housecat’s Story of Despair by Lucy Knisley***

The Untold Story of Books: A Writer’s History of Publishing by Michael Castleman

The Secret History of Sharks: The Rise of the Ocean’s Most Fearsome Predators by John Long***

Sharing Space: An Astronaut’s Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change by Cady Coleman

1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left by Robyn Hitchcock

Romance

Cash Delgado is Living the Dream by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Just Playing House by Farah Heron

The Match by Sarah Adams

cover of Cash Delgado is Living the Dream by Tehlor Kay Mejia; illustration of woman with dark hair holding a glass of wine across from a bartender, also with dark hair

The Villain Edit by Laurie Devore

The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood

What’s in a Kiss? by Lauren Kate

Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Horror

Midnight Rooms by Donyae Coles

The Night Ends with Fire by K. X. Song

The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen

The Gilded Crown (The Raven’s Trade, 1) by Marianne Gordon

Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi

Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías, Heather Cleary (translator)***

Briefly Very Beautiful by Roz Dineen

The Failures (The Wanderlands, #1) by Benjamin Liar

Young Adult

The Second Chance of Darius Logan by David F. Walker

We Don’t Have Time for This by Brianna Craft

Not About a Boy by Myah Hollis

Joined at the Joints by Marissa Eller

A Darker Mischief by Derek Milman

close up of an orange cat's face upside down on a desk; photo by Liberty Hardy

This week: I’m currently reading Anyone’s Ghost by August Thompson and The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika T. Wurth. I just finished season eight of my rewatch of The X-Files. I forgot how much I enjoyed Robert Patrick’s performance as the new FBI agent. He didn’t have an easy job, coming into a popular show to replace beloved actors who wanted to leave the series. (Related: Did you know his brother Robert is the lead singer of Filter, and was once a guitarist in Nine Inch Nails?) The song stuck in my head is “Return to the Moon” by EL VY. And here’s a cat photo: This is Farrokh’s pose when he wants you to give him whatever it is you’re eating. He pulls out all the cute for food.

That’s it for me today, friends. I am sending you love and good wishes for whatever is happening in your life right now. Thank you, as always, for joining me each week as I rave about books! See you next week. – XO, Liberty

Check Your Shelf

Heroes and Villains

Post author By Katie McLain
Post date July 1, 2024

Sponsored by

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Even though I’m working Monday and Tuesday, I am officially dubbing this “The Week of Katie,” as I am off for the rest of the week in honor of my birthday. And the first thing on my birthday to-do list is SLEEP.

Attention librarians, booksellers, and book nerds! You can apply to become a Bibliologist for Tailored Book Recommendations and get paid for your bookish knowledge! TBR is a subscription-based book recommendation service where customers receive three hand-picked recommendations per quarter that are tailored to their specific reading likes and dislikes. Of special interest: bibliologists who can recommend across a variety of genres. Click here to read more and fill out an application.

Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

This was the scandal that had Publishing Twitter in an uproar last week.

Why writers are forced to become brands, and why that’s bad.

Five years of reading with Jenna Bush Hager.

New & Upcoming Titles

Hillary Clinton is publishing a new memoir this fall.

Actress Uzo Aduba is also publishing a memoir.

Here’s the cover reveal for Alexis Hall’s re-released version of Pansies, which will come out in November.

And here’s the cover reveal for Cassandra Clare’s The Ragpicker King.

Buzzy new romances to add to your beach bag.

Weekly picks from Crime Reads, LitHub, New York Times, Parade, Wall Street Journal.

July picks from Epic Reads, Kirkus, New York Times, Time.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

Practice – Rosalind Brown (New York Times, Washington Post)

A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue – Dean Jobb (New York Times, Washington Post)

The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI – Ray Kurzweil (New York Times, Washington Post)

Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV – Emily Nussbaum (New York Times, Vogue)

RA/Genre Resources

The dark appeal of the assassin genre.

How Boston physician Freida McFadden conquered the thriller genre.

Emily Henry on writing best-sellers without book tours and TikTok.

“Monster smut” is the big new thing in publishing.

Where to start reading Timothy Egan.

On the Riot

The best historical fiction of 2024 so far.

The best new weekly releases to TBR, plus the best BIPOC and LGBTQ weekly releases.

Meet Ann Patchett, award-winning author and bookstore champion.

All Things Comics

Raina Telgemeier announces a new graphic novel for kids co-written with Scott McCloud.

8 books like Heartstopper your teen will love.

On the Riot

9 action-packed books like Helldivers 2.

9 graphic novel heroes from around the world.

Superheroes who are literally gods.

Audiophilia

US audiobook sales hit $2 billion in 2024.

Celebrating the best audiobook narrators.

The best audiobooks for road trips of any length.

AudioFile’s best audiobooks of June.

Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

Eating the rainbow: 10 picture books about fruits and vegetables.

9 patriotic books for kids to celebrate Independence Day.

Adults

What your favorite authors are reading for Pride Month.

9 experimental books that break narrative norms.

7 books that unpack a complicated family inheritance.

5 of the best books about Turkey.

A neo-Western reading list.

Great novels of subtle espionage.

5 books for people who really love books.

Toxic wellness fiction.

On the Riot

YA twists on Sherlock Holmes.

The best heroes in YA fantasy.

Science fiction books that would be impossible to adapt.

9 of the best books about menopause.

Books where the villain is the hero.

Books about everyday heroes.

BIPOC final girls in recent horror fiction.

Historical fiction set in Ireland.

Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in Library Reads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen has a guide to discovering upcoming diverse books, and Edelweiss has a new catalog dedicated to diverse titles, which is managed by Early Word Galley Chatter Vicki Nesting. Check it out!

a brown tabby cat and a black and white cat sitting on a table and looking suspicious

The title of this portrait is “WHAT?! We ain’t doing nothing!”

All right, friends – back on Friday! Have a good 4th of July and enjoy your (hopeful) day off!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Bookish Goods

Bookish Good of the Week: June 30, 2024

Post author By Erica Ezeifedi
Post date June 30, 2024

Bookish Glassware 16oz by ChaptersandFlowers

‘Tis the season for iced coffees! And other iced beverages, which you can easily tote around with you in this glassware. $19

Giveaways

062924-JuneEACHouse-Giveaway

Post author By Vivek Patel
Post date June 29, 2024

We’re teaming up with Macmillan Audio to give away a $250 donation to the library of the winner’s choice!

Enter here for a chance to win, or click the image below!

Here’s a bit more from our sponsor: Macmillan Audio’s Listening Librarians Newsletter is dedicated to highlighting all things audiobooks to the library community, including new releases, narrator spotlights, behind-the-scenes content and phenomenal media hits. This quarterly newsletter will help librarians stay up to date on upcoming titles, access early audio programs, and hear personal recommendations from the Macmillan Audio team. Join us!

Kissing Books

Hello, July

Post author By P.N. Hinton
Post date June 28, 2024

Sponsored by

Welcome, or welcome back, to the Kissing Books newsletter. I’m PN Hinton, your guide to all things romance-related. Thanks for taking time from your day to give this a read! I hope this newsletter helps to brighten up your day just a little bit more.

It’s the beginning of July and, per the Council of Spooky Bitches, the start of Halloween season! I’m a total Halloween girly and am here for all those vibes. As such, I am planning to share bookish goods and recommendations to celebrate. However, I know that some people prefer Christmas in July and will be sharing things that channel those vibes as well. After all, both can exist peacefully.

Just wanted to give another reminder that Thursday is a holiday for us in the USA, meaning there will not be another send until next Monday.

Bookish Goods

Bookish Rearview Decal by SeasideSorcery

This little decal is adorable and so tiny that it won’t be considered a driving hazard. Plus, it’s a nice way to get a little boost of serotonin if you’re ever stuck in traffic by reminding you of the physical or digital book you have waiting for you at home, since you’re likely already listening to an audiobook in the car. $5.00

New Releases

Down South Bayou by Aricka Alexander

After breaking up with her boyfriend of five years and angrily leaving their apartment, Cheyenne is almost hit by a car. At the last minute, she’s pulled to safety by WNBA player Harley. When they cross paths again at one of Harley’s matches, they enter into a friends-with-benefits relationship. However, things get complicated when real feelings begin to develop. Is there a chance for them to find true love together, or will their respective trauma from failed past relationships prove too insurmountable?

Just Playing House by Farah Heron

When Marley has the opportunity to become a celebrity private shopper, she is ecstatic. That is, until she finds out that her client is Nikhil, the boy who took her to prom, slept with her…and then ghosted her. Despite their past, Nik seems eager to have her as his stylist. He even offers to move in and help her while she recovers from an elective double mastectomy and breast reconstruction surgery. Marley is about to see a different side of Nik she never expected and is left wondering if she should take another chance on him.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

For today’s recommendations, I have two books that show what happens when grumpy/sunshine people are put in close/forced proximity. What can I say — it sounded like something fun going into a holiday weekend. Enjoy!

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

When Eve’s parents tell her she needs a sense of direction in her life, she does the only sensible thing and drives away in anger. The impromptu road trip leads her to Jacob’s B&B where she interviews for the chef position. She’s promptly turned down and then “accidentally” hits him with her car when leaving. Left with little choice, Jacob begrudgingly accepts her help. The more time he spends around the sunny optimistic, the harder it is for him to keep up his frosty exterior or ignore their simmering shared attraction.

Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare

After being raised on her father’s fanciful tales of romance, Izzy can’t help but have a rose-tinted outlook on life. When she finds she’s inherited a castle, she’s even more convinced that there is a happily ever after in her future. But then she discovers that Ransome, Duke of Rothbury, already inhabits the castle. And, he isn’t interested in sharing the castle with anyone, least of all someone with fanciful notions of love. However, he still finds himself unable to remain impervious to her smiles and is soon rethinking his outlook on love.

In more Bridgerton drama, Julia Quinn herself came to tell the fandom as a collective whole to calm down. Regardless of how anyone feels about said change, this is not a good look for Romancelandia at all.

After rumors circulated for months, Spotify finally announced that their Premium plan, which includes 15 hours of audiobooks, will change from $10.99 to $11.99 this month. While a dollar may not seem like a lot in the long run, if you’re like me and forget to use those hours, then downgrading may be a good thing to consider.

Brynne Weaver did the cover reveal for the final book in the Ruinous Love Trilogy. I know that news, plus the one about Butcher & Blackbird being optioned for a movie adaptation, have all the dark romance lovers super stoked.

And that’s all she wrote for today. If you’re ever interested in what I do between the sends, you can always give me a follow over on Instagram under @pns_bookish_world. Until then, happy reading and stay hydrated!

Book Radar

AMC Renews INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE for Season 3 and More Book Radar!

Post author By Emily Martin
Post date June 28, 2024

Sponsored by

Dear Book Friends,

Welcome to July! It’s hot as heck, and all anyone can do at a time like this is stay indoors and read all the books. So let’s talk about all of the books. Stay cool out there.

Book Deals and Reveals

Is youth a blessing or a curse? This is the question asked in Renee Schaeffer’s genre-bending novel Ageless, which hits shelves on December 3. And Nerd Daily has given us a cover reveal!

SciFiNow has a cover reveal and an exclusive sneak peek at the dark fantasy The Thirteenth Child by Erin A. Craig. This one’s out on September 24.

Emmy-award-winning actress Uzo Aduba is publishing a memoir called The Road is Good, which will reflect on Aduba’s relationship with her mother. This one is also coming out on September 24.

Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire has been renewed for a third season on AMC. The season 2 finale aired on June 30.

Chris McKay, director of The LEGO Batman Movie, is set to direct the film adaptation of Brynne Weaver’s bestselling serial killer romance Butcher and Blackbird.

Director Osgood Perkins says his upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s The Monkey might be funnier than people are expecting. “[My] next movie is called Stephen King’s The Monkey, and it’s a comedy,” Perkins told IGN. “I will play the asshole uncle who adopts the kids, and I have a couple scenes and it’s fun.” The Monkey is scheduled to release in February 2025.

Arundhati Roy has been awarded the PEN Pinter Prize, which celebrates writers whose work display an “unflinching, unswerving” look at the world.

Looking for some good summer reads? These are the books that are popular on BookTok this summer. And a few that should be.

Book Riot Recommends

Hi, welcome to everyone’s favorite segment of Book Radar called Book Riot Recommends. This is where I’ll talk to you about all the books I’m reading, the books I’m loving, and the books I can’t wait to read and love in the near future. I think you’re going to love them too!

Prepare Your Shelves!

Hum by Helen Phillips (Marysue Rucci Books, August 6)

Friends, did you read Helen Phillips’ book The Need? If not, I need you to jump on that right away because, wow, it was such an incredible brain teaser of a book. Think home invasion story…but also not? You’ll see. Anyway, Phillips has a new book coming out next month, and you’d better believe I’m lining up to get my hands on this one. And you should, too!

Hum follows May, who has just lost her job to AI (I know, horrifyingly relatable). The city in which May lives has been completely transformed by AI, climate change, and intelligent robots called “hums.” Desperate for money and hoping to help resolve her family’s debt, May agrees to undergo an experiment that would change her appearance, making her unrecognizable to surveillance.

Now, looking for an escape, May decided to take her family on what should be a relaxing trip to a beautiful Botanical Garden. But her family doesn’t share her desire to unplug, and the Botanical Garden doesn’t end up being the calming place May anticipated. When all hope seems lost, help comes to May from an unexpected source: a hum.

What I’m Reading This Week

Portrait of a Shadow by Meriam Metoui

Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen

A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon

Here for the Wrong Reasons by Annabel Paulson and Lydia Wang

I Was A Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones

Monday Memes

I love that 2024 has brought us “This is going to ruin the tour.” “What tour?” “The World Tour!” So here are some bookish world tour memes. Enjoy.

And Here’s A Cat Picture!

I love how cats go through phases where they just constantly nap in the exact same place. And then after a while, they tire of that spot and then move on to somewhere new. Right now, Remy is all about this little hammock area in the cat tree. He pretty much lives there. Must be nice.

That’s all for today, friends! Thanks for joining me, and I’ll see you Thursday!

Emily

Giveaways

062824-JuneEACHouse-Giveaway

Post author By Vivek Patel
Post date June 28, 2024

Celebrate Pride year-round with Penguin Random House! Enter for a chance to win a collection of 25 new LGBTQ+ books!

Enter here for a chance to win, or click the image below!

Here’s a bit more from our sponsor: Check out the Pride in Your Words website for hundreds of queer book recommendations. Books offer community, even when we’re alone. And seeing yourself represented in the pages of a book is something everyone should be able to experience. Find your next read at prh.com/pridereads, this month and every month.

Swords and Spaceships

All Hail the AI Goo

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date June 27, 2024

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and here’s your last set of new releases for June! (What the heck? Where did this month even go?) I’m making this one a double dose, with the second set of new releases series enders that have come out this week. I hope you’ve stayed cool this week, and that you’ve got a relaxing weekend ahead of you! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here are two places to start: Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, which provides medical and humanitarian relief to children in the Middle East regardless of nationality, religion, or political affiliation; and Ernesto’s Sanctuary, a cat sanctuary and animal rescue in Syria that is near and dear to my heart.

Bookish Goods

Spilled Coffee Bookmarks by ChameleonPrinting

Okay, these are hecka cute: little 3D coffee cups with the pretend spilled coffee to act as a bookmark! And I love that you can get a variety of coffee colors, so you can pick your favorite brew. $8

New Releases

Saints of Storm and Sorrow by Gabriella Buba

María Lunurin is, to all appearances, a mild-mannered nun who serves the colonizers of her land of Aynila. She’s hiding her true nature as a stormcaller, the chosen of the goddess Anitun Tabu, desperately avoiding witch hunts and the ire of her patron goddess alike. She wants only to keep her people safe and protect the family she has built at her convent, but she cannot change the march of armies alone, nor can she ignore her goddess’s calls for vengeance forever.

Edge of the Wire by Scott Kenemore

The Goo, an AI network that anticipates all human wants and needs, has become an all-encompassing reality for humanity; no one can really remember a time before its existence. So when a new planet is discovered, the first order of business is for a crew of astronauts to be dispatched to wire that world into the Goo. But when the crew leader, Rowe, finds mystery after mystery barely buried under the planet’s surface, he begins to doubt his mission — and the Goo itself.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Time for some love for new sequels…in this case, series capstones!

children of anguish and anarchy book cover

Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi

It’s here: the conclusion to the Legacy of Orïsha series! Zélie has the palace, but it didn’t end her battles like she thought it would. The maji rose again, and now she and her people are being sold across the sea to the Skulls. But what she finds is beyond slavery — the ruler of the Skulls has been pursuing her in particular, wanting to harness her power to make his own bid at taking over Orïsha.

The Bound Worlds by Megan E. O’Keefe

Seventh Cradle was to be Naira and Taquin’s home, their place of peace at last. But all too soon, Naira begins to see visions of a terrible future, and the settlement is attacked by mysterious forces. There is a plot to end the universe, and Naira may be the key to destruction or salvation.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Check Your Shelf

How I Accidentally Bought a Bookstore

Post author By Katie McLain
Post date June 27, 2024

Sponsored by

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. One of the things I enjoy about freelance work (aka this newsletter) is the freedom I have in choosing how and when to get my work done. Sometimes it’s at Starbucks with an iced tea, and sometimes (like tonight), it’s on the couch with a movie and a glass of pinot grigio!

Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

Librarians aim for better eBook accessibility.

Union workers at the Cuyahoga County Public Library (OH) have voted to strike if an agreement isn’t reached by next month. Staff have allegedly not seen a growth in their wages over the last 15 years.

Budget cuts have left NYC libraries unable to fix their air conditioners during the recent heat wave.

Cool Library Updates

Baltimore County libraries implement a summer meal program to help families in need.

How Britain’s libraries provide much more than books.

Worth Reading

New York’s first Black librarians changed the way we read.

Book Adaptations in the News

Netflix has optioned Happy Place by Emily Henry for a series adaptation by Jennifer Lopez’s production company.

Julia Quinn reacts to the changes made in the Bridgerton series.

Chris Whitaker’s new novel, All the Colors of the Dark, is being adapted as a series.

Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi is being adapted as an animated film with Travis Knight to direct.

Percival Everett’s James is being adapted by Universal, with Taika Waititi in talks to direct.

We Were Liars adds Rahul Kohli to the cast (!!!).

Patrick Dempsey has joined the cast of the Dexter prequel, Original Sin.

First reactions to the film adaptation of It Ends With Us.

Trailer for Lady in the Lake.

A look back at The Notebook, which turns 20 this year.

Censorship News

Here come the public school closures.

Your 101 guide to fighting a local book ban.

Midwest Tape/hoopla “clarifies” their new ratings system.

Winning the culture war against queer kids’ books.

LGBTQ+ librarians grapple with attacks on books — and on themselves.

The truth and lies behind one of the most banned books in America.

How ALA president Emily Drabinski is on a mission to protect LGBTQ+ librarians.

Books teach and inspire us. Banning them is anti-democratic.

(Publisher’s Weekly, so possibly paywalled): Librarians celebrate comics in the face of censorship.

A small-town Texas librarian’s big stand against book bans.

(Paywalled): Cypress-Fairbanks ISD (TX) school board takes aim at the district’s library book challenge policy.

(Paywalled): Conroe ISD (TX) removed On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. Was it due to low circulation, as the district claims, or is it due to the book’s LGBTQ content? It’s unclear. But Conroe ISD also recently voted to remove 19 books from classrooms while admitting that they didn’t actually read the books, so I’m not inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Ron DeSantis vetoed all arts and culture grants in the state of Florida. This amounted to $32 million in grants that had already been approved by state lawmakers, and unsurprisingly, he gave no explanation for this move.

A recap of The New Republic’s Right to Read celebration in Miami.

Regional School Unit 73 (ME) is seeking legal advice after one of the board members made a hurtful comment in response to the high school robotics team suggesting that they celebrate Pride Month on Facebook. Hope that comment was worth the cost of legal fees.

How Massachusetts libraries are navigating challenges to reading materials.

(Paywalled): The Great Barrington (MA) teacher who was the victim of a police search of her classroom and has filed a lawsuit against the town and the school has (unsurprisingly) resigned from her position.

The director of the D.R. Evarts Library in Athens, New York resigned after eight months due, in part, to the board president’s pushback against a Pride Month book display. Here’s an illuminating quote from the director: “‘They’ve been consistently resistant to my input. None of them use the library. They don’t interact with the community the way that I do, and for them to make a blanket judgment call like this for the book on behalf of the community, was…that was it for me.’”

“In direct conflict with Souderton Area School District Policy 706.1, Disposal of School District Property, the Republican controlled school board directors quietly disposed of 3,224 books from the high school library in June 2023.” This is in Pennsylvania.

How the Virginia Beach school district’s book review guidelines have impacted their partnership with the city library.

It looks like the Frederick County School District (VA) will be keeping Crank in school libraries.

South Carolina is poised to impose a draconian censorship regime on school libraries.

The Alabama Public Library Services director sent an email with guidance on how to comply with the likely new administrative code changes, but it hasn’t done much to assuage concerns. The Alabama Library Association has outlined their specific concerns here.

Related: The Ozark-Dale County Library (AL) will be reviewing their children’s collection for sexually explicit material in order to receive state funding. What a waste of staff time and funds.

The Prattville Library (AL) is poised to rescind their ban on LGBTQ+ books for minors.

(Paywalled): The plans to close three branches of the St. Charles County Library system (MO) has been officially scrapped.

“Francis Howell School District board members [MO] plan to introduce measures prohibiting classroom discussions on gender identity and require the board to approve every book purchased or donated in the district.”

“Members of the Alpena County Library board [MI] say moving or removing books in the children’s and teen sections that contain sexual content isn’t as easy as some believe and, at least for now, the books will remain where they are.”

Iowa Senator Sandy Salmon has been advising schools to use Moms For Liberty’s BookLooks and Book of Books for guidance in removing specific titles.

Idaho libraries brace for the new law restricting “harmful” materials.

Idaho Senator Scott Herndon, along with a half dozen other people, are pushing for the East Bonner County Library District to remove or relocate the Saga graphic novel series. However, the series will stay put, for now.

The effects that House Bill 710 will have on one-room libraries in Idaho.

(Paywalled): The privatization company that was bidding to take over the Huntington Beach Public Library (CA) has withdrawn their bid.

Books & Authors in the News

Acclaimed actor Donald Sutherland has died at 88. His memoir, Made Up, But Still True, is scheduled for a November release.

Numbers & Trends

With print sales up, these were the best-selling books in May 2024.

The best-selling books of the week.

The most-read books on Goodreads last week.

Award News

The 2024 Locus Award winners were announced.

The Outsiders won Best Direction of a Musical at the Tony Awards.

The 2024 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards were announced.

10 Nebula Award winners to put on your TBR.

Pop Cultured

Season 2 of Mare of Easttown is in early discussions.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

Meet the woman who accidentally bought a bookstore.

Why do we have a voice in our heads when we read?

a brown tabby cat looking at the camera and being unbearably cute

Again, I ask how on earth we’re supposed to get anything done at home when this little guy is around??

Well, that’s all folks! I’ll be back next week!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

Giveaways

062724-JuneEACHouse-Giveaway

Post author By Vivek Patel
Post date June 27, 2024

We’re teaming up with Bookperk to give away $250 gift card to Powell’s Books to one lucky winner!

Enter here for a chance to win, or click the image below!

Here’s a bit more from our sponsor: Bookperk is the place for readers! Fantastic deals, exclusive giveaways, bookish finds & more – delivered daily for free.