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Welcome to Check Your Shelf. Is anyone else counting down till December 22nd, when the days start getting longer again? I’m almost more excited for extra daylight than I am for Christmas, and I think that just about sums up 2020 for me.
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
Amazon Publishing is reportedly in talks to offer ebook access to public libraries.
Allegheny County Jail has reversed its policy banning book delivery to its incarcerated population. For a deeper look, check out this article about the hidden history of the Allegheny County Jail Library.
A look at how Chicago-area libraries have decided whether to stay open or close their doors to the public.
The investigation into the Douglas County Library’s public statement supporting Black Lives Matter has revealed that no library policies were violated.
A Louisiana library has pulled the LGBTQ books from its children’s section.
Cool Library Updates
This Georgia library set up a drive-through food pantry that helped 370 families.
The Canadian government has provided $34.5 million in net zero carbon funding to the facility that will house Library and Archives Canada, as well as the Ottawa Public Library.
How drag queen story hour is helping children grow during the pandemic.
The Books to Go program in West Ottawa Public Schools has helped students stay connected with their school libraries.
Worth Reading
Funding and book borrowing are on the decline at UK libraries.
Librarians will miss BookExpo.
Library books: a small antidote to a life of perpetual dissatisfaction.
Book Adaptations in the News
Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey is being developed as a drama series for Sony.
Shuggie Bain will likely be developed into a TV series.
The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish will be developed into a film.
Ring Shout by P. Djéli Clark is being turned into a series.
Hulu has a Hardy Boys reboot series that you can stream now.
Showtime has already snagged screen rights to journalist John Heilemann’s upcoming book about Joe Biden’s campaigns.
Trailer for Season 3 of American Gods.
Books & Authors in the News
Jason Reynolds is awesome. On Giving Tuesday, he bought up all of his books from Washington D.C. bookstores and told readers to go pick them up for free.
Pulitzer-winning novelist Alison Lurie has died at age 94.
Roald Dahl’s family has apologized for his anti-Semitism, thirty years after his death.
Numbers & Trends
Publishers are seeing sales spikes for chess books following the success of The Queen’s Gambit.
Not surprisingly, in-house sales for bookstores are down, but online sales are WAY up.
Award News
The 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards winners have been announced.
The Science Fiction Writers of America have named Nalo Hopkinson as the 37th Damon Knight Grand Master.
Raven Leilani wins the Center for Fiction’s 2020 First Novel Prize for Luster.
Attica Locke wins the Staunch Book Prize for Heaven, My Home.
Barnes & Noble selects World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Fumi Nakamura as their 2020 Book of the Year.
The Literary Review has canceled its annual Bad Sex in Fiction award, saying that people have been through too many bad things this year.
Pop Cultured
Warner Brothers will release all of their 2021 movies in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously.
Universal is planning a new monster movie in the Van Helsing universe.
New trailer for Wonder Woman: 1984.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
A campaign is underway to purchase J.R.R. Tolkien’s house and turn it into a museum, and the coolest part is that the campaign has been backed by Lord of the Rings actors Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, and John Rhys-Davies!
A look at how book clubs have adapted during the pandemic.
Is it worse to steal books from a library or a bookstore? (PSST: DON’T STEAL BOOKS!)
On the Riot
It’s the 2021 Read Harder Challenge!! Plus our annual 2021 Reading Log!
The most popular under-the-radar books in US libraries from July to September.
The benefits of community reading programs.
A look at morality clauses within the literature and entertainment industries.
The pandemic tanked this person’s reading habits. (Don’t worry, it tanked mine too.)
Well, that’s a wrap folks. Stay warm, and keep your hands well-moisturized! The frequent hand washing and the winter weather have turned me into a lizard.
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.