Category: Today In Books

Waffle House Poet Laureate

At a Georgia Tech alumni event, poetry professor Karen Head spoke with former President and COO of Waffle House, Bert Thornton, about the lack of applications from rural students even though admission to valedictorians or salutatorians in the state is guaranteed. Now Karen Head, thanks to the Waffle House Foundation, is Waffle House Poet Laureate and got “a small grant to cover travel to 12 schools and also the college tuition of a poetry competition winner.”

First Wives Club Trailer!

Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton starred in the 1996 adaptation of Olivia Goldsmith’s The First Wives Club. Now we’re getting a second adaptation starring Michelle Buteau, Ryan Michelle Bathe and Jill Scott in a BET+ series! Watch the very awesome and hilarious trailer here.

Jailed Turkish Author Longlisted For The Baillie Gifford Prize

Ahmet Altan–who was imprisoned in 2016 and in 2018 received a life sentence for attempting to overthrow the government with “subliminal messages in favour of a coup”–wrote I Will Never See The World Again, which was put together by his lawyer from a series of passed notes. The prison memoir is now longlisted for the £50,000 Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction.

Little Free Library Founder Honored

Here’s a heartwarming story: Todd Bol, who created the Little Free Library in 2009 and passed away in 2018, will be honored this week in Stillwater, Minnesota. His brother, Tony, organized a book swap and party for the new book honoring his brother: Little Libraries, Big Heroes by Miranda Paul, John Parra. Learn more about the Bol brothers, Little Free Library, and the event here.

Tana French Adaptation!

The first two books in Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series (In the Woods; The Likeness) have been adapted into an upcoming series for STARZ. And we now have a trailer! And know the premiere date: November 10th. Could not be more excited!

News We Know Before It Happens

Of course Stephen King has another adaptation deal: David E. Kelley and Jack Bender will develop King’s brand spanking new book, The Institute, for Spyglass Media Group. “The book is basically an X-Men situation, only if Charles Xavier murdered the parents of all his future mutant pupils before forcibly relocating them to his School for Gifted Youngsters.” So that sounds like a fun read!

Team Of Librarians Solving What’s The Title?

I feel like all you need to know to want to read this article is: “But 20 librarians from the New York Public Library were seated in the room—and they were there to crack mysteries. Their tools were a whiteboard, a marker, a series of screens, and a metal bell of the sort you’d find on a hotel-lobby desk. Whenever it dinged, it meant a case had been closed.” Librarians are awesome and you can read about this team solving “what’s the title” book mysteries here.

New Book Details The Harvey Weinstein Investigation

The New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s book, She Said, details how they started with a few interviews that ended up turning into a full investigation into Harvey Weinstein’s predatory behavior. CNN talks about some of the revelations in the book, including the main sources for the original article.

Chicago Rapper Launches Awesome Book Club

Twenty-seven-year-old Chicago rapper Noname (Fatimah Nyeema Warner) has launched a book club to “highlight progressive work from writers of color and writers within the LGBTQ community.” The first two books chosen in August were Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby. Read more about the book club and Noname’s bookish life here.

Harry Potter Lego Castle Built By David Beckham

According to Victoria (Posh Spice) Beckham’s social media posts, David Beckham recently sat down to build the Harry Potter Lego castle for his daughter Harper, who is “obsessed with Harry Potter.” But like most Lego builders know, sometimes you need a good chunk of time to build such things. Check out how long it’s taken and Victoria’s funny posts here.

Romance For RAICES

Romance authors and community members are holding a silent auction to help raise money for RAICES (Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services) and The Young Center. You can check out the items to bid on here–including Ripped Bodice gift cards, foodie crawls, signed books–and/or you can directly donate. So far they’ve raised $11,535.00!

A Look At Trade Shows Accommodations And Lack Of For People With Disabilities

Publishers Weekly took a dive into how accessible events, from ALA conferences to BookExpo, are for people with disabilities since it appears that, even with the Americans with Disabilities Act in place since the 90s, only recently did bookish trade shows and events start implementing accessibility. “Disability is too often excluded in discussions of diversity. But disability crosses racial, gender, sexuality, class, and national boundaries. People need to speak up, and the publishing industry needs to listen,” says the owner of Neverending Bookshop, Annie Carl.

Finally, a Death Star in Pop-Up Form

Do you admire the artistry and engineering that goes into a pop-up book? Do you enjoy a good star war? Well, there’s a book for you hitting shelves this fall! It’s Star Wars: The Ultimate Pop-Up Galaxy and you can watch a sneak peek here.

Author Disinvited From Lit Festival

The Knox County Public Library invited Julia Watts to participate in a panel at the LitUp Festival. She was planning to speak about her work as a young adult author. When the library found out that Watts had contributed to lesbian anthologies over a decade ago, they rescinded the invitation.

You Need To Calm Down (Mayor of Rio de Janeiro)

There’s a huge book fair going on in Rio de Janeiro, and the mayor is freaking out about LGBTQ content of featured books, specifically a kiss between Wiccan and Hulkling in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade. And then a major newspaper reprinted the kiss (thank you, Streisand effect). You can see that front page and get caught up on the court proceedings here.

The Word Leprechaun Not Native Irish

According to scholars it seems that the word “leprechaun” is not a native Irish word. Scholars found that even though “leipreachán” has been an Irish word for a long time, “Luperci” is the word it came from and that goes back to Roman festivals. Please further nerd out with me with all the info here.

A Discovery of Witches Season 2 Is Coming!

Deborah Harkness’ trilogy about witches and vampires and demons living among us was adapted and aired on Sky One in 2018 before coming to the States in 2019. Anyone who watched the first season has been desperately waiting/hoping for a second season. And now we have news: It’s currently filming and will air on Sky One in early 2020. Everything we know so far is here.

Method Man Wants To Join Marvel Universe

Method Man, rapper turned actor, is using Instagram to plead for a role in the Marvel Universe. Not just any role, he wants to play Lucas Bishop who was last seen on screen in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Spend The Night In A Library In Wales

Gladstone’s Library, located in a small village in north Wales, offers overnight stays! Which it has done since 1906. Learn all about it, and check out this writer’s amazing experience, here.

The Handmaid’s Tale Sequel Also Getting Adaptation

This seemed so obvious to happen that it felt like news we already knew: Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, publishing next week and set 15 years after The Handmaid’s Tale, will be adapted by MGM TV and Hulu. Get all the details, including Atwood’s statement, here.

Libraries Are Beautiful Things

Des Moines Public Library partnered with the Des Moines Parks and Recreation Department to host monarch tagging events on the 12th, 16th, and 17th of this month. “Families will get a chance to learn more about ‘the king of butterflies,’ the environmental cues they use to know when it’s time to travel, and what mysteries still surround their annual treks.”

Crazy Rich Asians Co-Writer Quits

Coming at you with nothing-has-changed news: It looks like pay disparity caused the Crazy Rich Asians adaptation co-writer, Adele Lim, to walk away from the sequel. “She declined to provide specific figures, but sources say that Warner Bros.’ starting offers were $800,000 to $1 million for Chiarelli and $110,000-plus for Lim.” More details here.

We’re Getting A Shuri Novel!

The brilliant, hilarious, and overall awesome Blank Panther character Shuri is getting her very own novel! The middle-grade book, Shuri: A Black Panther Novel, will be written by Nic Stone and release in 2020. Click here for more on this book and those to follow in the Scholastic and Marvel original stories series.

Fun With AI

First, A.V. Club played with Adam King’s Talk To Transformer–an OpenAI created to continue stories–by feeding it erotic fiction. Now, Bustle decided to try feeding it first lines from six famous works of literature to see how it would continue the story. So I freaked out at AI saying, “If my mother was dead, I was her ghost,” and scratched my head at, “Then, cut the tomatoes into a circle shape, and then a square shape, in the shape of a ‘E’, and then a ‘A’. You should get a total of 7 tomatoes.”

Excerpt from The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

Thirty-four years after the release of The Handmaid’s Tale, the sequel–already short-listed for the Booker Prize for Fiction–will publish on September 10th. Can’t wait even one more week? Here’s an excerpt! Or you can pre-buy The Testament–which Amazon shipped out early causing a lot of upset.

Hell Of A Story, Hell Of A Cast

The trailer for the film adaptation of Bryan Stevenson’s memoir looks amazing! Starring Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx and Captain Marvel–er, Brie Larson, the film tells the true story of a young lawyer’s fight for justice. Have all the popcorn ready for its December release and watch the trailer here!

Bye Bye Bye

In great news: As of September 1st the Detroit Public Library system is eliminating overdue fines! While not applicable to damaged or lost items it will also erase past overdue fines. “Fine free is a growing trend in American libraries, resulting in increased visits and circulation. With no fines, the Detroit Public Library will be more accessible and welcoming than ever before.”

HARRY POTTER Book Ban Like It’s 1999

Today in “I had to check the date on this article several times”: Rev. Dan Reehil has had the Harry Potter book series removed from St. Edward Catholic School’s library because “These books present magic as both good and evil, which is not true, but in fact a clever deception.” The decision was not made lightly, though, as he consulted exorcists, several of whom recommended the books’ removal.

Library “Check Out” A Dog Event

If you’re recovering from the three-day weekend and/or are on hurricane watch and need something to awwwwwww about: on September 14th, the Vancouver Public Library, the Vancouver Park Board, and St. John Ambulance will be hosting an event where you can “check out” a dog and read poetry to it. “At Canine Library, all the dogs will be assigned a book of poetry that relates in some way to animals or parks.”

2019 Booker Prize for Fiction Shortlist Announced!

6 books are now in the running for the 2019 Booker Prize of £50,000 as the fiction shortlist was announced. Two authors may not surprise you, in name at least, but can you guess the other four?