Sponsored by Body Talk edited by Kelly Jensen.
We all experience the world in a body, but we don’t usually take the time to explore what it really means to live within one. Just as every person has a unique personality, every person has a unique body, and every body tells its own story. In Body Talk, 37 writers, models, actors, and artists share essays and comics about everything from size to scoliosis, from eating disorders to cancer, from gender identity to makeup. They contribute a broad variety of perspectives on how their bodies have helped to inform who they are and how they move through the world.
Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I’m playing hooky* on Thursday to visit Starved Rock State Park for some socially distanced hiking, which I’m really excited about! Weather’s going to be cold and drizzly, but I’m dying to get out of the house a little.
(*Not actually playing hooky – am using approved PTO that was properly requested through all the appropriate channels.)
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
- The REALM Project announced yet another update on their COVID test results.
- Libraries in California have largely been spared from fire or smoke damage, but curbside pickup services have been severely curtailed.
- (TW: violence) A 26-year-old man has been charged in a violent attack on two Wilmette (IL) Public Library employees.
- The New York Public Library wants to record your COVID pandemic stories.
- A report on the drive for Little Free Diverse Libraries.
Cool Library Updates
- Libraries tackle literacy through practical programs.
- ALA is hosting a Scary Stories documentary watch party on Friday, October 2nd.
Worth Reading
- How libraries can save the 2020 election. So, you know…no pressure.
- Get to know your school librarian from a safe distance.
- The right and wrong way to make decisions in a crisis.
- Libraries are emerging as partners in city-wide climate action plans.
- The inconvenient truth about library digital collections.
Book Adaptations in the News
- Nickelodeon pulls its show Made by Maddie after viewers have questioned its similarities to Matthew A. Cherry’s short Hair Love.
- Pretty Little Liars is being rebooted.
- Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson is headed to the movies.
- Casting updates for Women in the Castle.
- New trailers for the Netflix adaptation of Rebecca, as well as the new Dune adaptation.
Books & Authors in the News
- Bob Woodward’s latest book, Rage, quotes Donald Trump saying in February that he (Trump) knew that COVID was far more dangerous than influenza, and yet he repeatedly downplayed this fact publicly.
- Octavia Butler is a New York Times bestselling author for the first time, 14 years after her death.
- Steph Cha is the new series editor of The Best American Mystery Stories.
- Oprah’s Apple book club gets its own podcast.
- A report on the republication of The Black Banners (Declassified): How Torture Derailed the War on Terror After 9/11, much of which the CIA has kept suppressed for almost a decade.
Numbers & Trends
- Penguin Random House releases its own workforce report on diversity.
- Independent Bookstore Day boosted online sales by 30% this year.
- What readers are turning to during the pandemic.
Award News
- Lars Horn wins the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize for Voice of the Fish. Previous winners of this prize are The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison and The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang.
- Viet Thanh Nguyen has joined the Pulitzer Prize Board, making him the first Asian-American and the first Vietnamese-American member in the Board’s history.
- Shortlist for the International Dublin Literary Award.
Pop Cultured
- New trailer for No Time to Die.
- Mandalorian Season 2 will debut on Disney+ on October 30th. Entertainment Weekly has a first look.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- Their son wanted to see more children’s books with Black characters, so they created a business to do just that.
- The unexpected politics of book cover design.
- Ursula K. LeGuin’s childhood home is for sale for $4.1 million.
On the Riot
- 6 organizations or groups promoting Latinx literature.
- Mayyyybe stop stacking extra books on the floor?
- How to keep reading when you’re too tired to read.
- What happens to books that get left behind?
It’s the weekend again, and I’ll see you all next week.
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently listening to My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell.