Category: Today In Books

Read Waterproof Books At Key West Hotels

If you’re looking to read some classics while sunning in the Florida Keys, and don’t want to worry about ruining your reading materials with water: two Key West hotels have you covered with their new underwater libraries. ALL books should be waterproof is my campaign slogan–now taking donations.

In Development: Bad Girls Anthology Series!

Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World by Ann Shen is being developed into a series! Each episode will focus on a different woman “…throughout history as they are: complex, funny, dark and everywhere in between” and will have a different writer, director, and team of women starring.

Elton John Actor To Narrate Audiobook

The actor who plays Elton John in the film Rocketman, Taron Egerton, will also narrate Elton John’s upcoming memoir Me. Elton John’s first autobiography will publish October 15th. Egerton summed up the news perfectly: “I was passionate about my role as Elton in the movie Rocketman and this feels like the perfect closing chapter to the whole experience.”

LOL With These 100 Funny Books

In need of a good laugh? NPR asked readers for their favorite funny books and curated the responses into a great list of 100 books sure to at the very least give you a chuckle and at most make you cry from laughing (looking at you Trevor Noah and that kitchen scene in your grandma’s house!). Check out the books here and combat some stress through laughter.

Toni Morrison’s Books Go Back To Press

Not only have fans of Toni Morrison been posting beautiful articles in her memory and sharing favorite quotes, but it seems many have been buying her books. Last week Beloved sold 12,000 (in one week!) and The Bluest Eye sold 8,400. So Knopf, Morrison’s publisher, is wisely printing 225,000 new copies of her books.

Great Read On Palabras Bilingual Bookstore

The Phoenix bookstore celebrated its four year anniversary and, like many independent bookstores, it has more to celebrate than just selling books: “Palabras Bilingual Bookstore has welcomed various local social justice organizations and artists to use its space for workshops and other events, explained owner Chawa Magaña.” Read all about this great bookstore here and its anniversary celebration “Do Work That Matters.”

The Little Prince Long-Lost Sketches Discovered

Early sketches for Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince have been discovered in Bruno Stefanini’s archives in Northern Switzerland. Stefanini, who passed away, had bought the sketches in 1986 at auction. Click here to see the drawings and learn more about the lovely discovery.

Jason Reynolds And Ibram X. Kendi Team Up For New Book

Jason Reynolds has reworked Ibram X. Kendi’s 2016 National Book Award winning Stamped from the Beginning for a younger audience. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You will be published in March 2020. “‘The idea is that high school students should be able to learn in a very detailed and clear way the history of racist ideas so that they would not have to spend their whole lives struggling with these ideas in the way so many of us adults have,’ Kendi tells TIME…” More nonfiction YA for the win!

More Witches Are Coming!

HBO has given a pilot production commitment for the Rules of Magic drama series, adapted from Alice Hoffman’s prequel novel to Practical Magic. Read what we know so far about the 10-episode, one-hour series here.

25 Upcoming Books To Read This Fall!

If you’re currently melting, you’ll be glad to know fall is almost here! And during fall publishing wakes with a roar from its sleepy-ish summer and gives us ALL the books. The Week rounded up 25 upcoming books for your radar so get ready to pre-buy, be first on your library wait list, and/or make your TBR even longer.

2019 Hugo Award Winners!

This weekend, the Hugo Award ceremony was held in Dublin, Ireland and we have our 2019 Hugo Awards winners! From Best Novel to Best Fan Artist check out the 18 categories’ finalists and winners, plus the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer here.

New He-Man Series Coming To Netflix!

If unresolved storylines from the ’80s He-Man series have been plaguing you, good news: Kevin Smith is creating a new He-Man anime series for Netflix, Masters of the Universe: Revelation, that will focus on resolving those stories. “In ‘Revelation,’ we pick up right where the classic era left off to tell an epic tale of what may be the final battle between He-Man and Skeletor!”

Sponsored by Book Riot Insiders.

Textbook Trials and Tribulations

With college courses either in session or looming on the horizon, it’s time for the semi-annual reminder that textbook pricing is a whole lot of yikes, and there are no winners among students or publishers. This piece shares some of the ways higher ed publishers and institutions are disrupting traditional textbook distribution.

Joan Watson Look Book

“Elementary” is one of our favorite Holmesian adaptations, and Lucy Liu’s Joan Watson is a role model in countless ways. Here’s a post if you’re looking to steal her style.

Say It With Me Now: All Art Is Political

So Art Spiegelman is a comics legend. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Maus, the postmodern graphic novel/memoir about Spiegelman’s father’s Holocaust memories. He was asked to contribute an introduction to a Folio Society collection of Marvel Golden Age comics, and he wrote an excellent essay about how comic book superheroes were some of the first and most powerful ways popular culture pushed back against fascism. He drew comparisons between the 1940s and the present era. And Marvel asked that he revise his essay to be apolitical. Instead, Spiegelman withdrew it, submitting it to the Guardian instead. You can read his essay in its entirety here.

Sponsored by Book Riot Insiders.

B&N Saw 31% Jump In Romance Books

Give the people what they want and they’ll give you their money! You can check out the increases by state and see which were the 10 best selling romance novels for B&N this summer here–like the summer wasn’t already hot enough!

The Haunting of Hill House Returns With New Source Material

The first season of Netflix’s series The Haunting of Hill House was based on the same titled novel by Shirley Jackson. The second season will be based on the horror novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, and it’s a much debated horror mystery. Get all the info here.

Obi-Wan I Know You!

After lots of rumors and speculation–both of which still happening–one thing we do seem to have confirmed is that Ewan McGregor has signed on to continue playing Obi-Wan Kenobi. More deets here!

The History Of The Statue Of Liberty Poem

While many misinterpret Emma Lazarus’ poem to change the meaning of “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” to fit their political agenda Slate spoke with Esther Schor, the author of the biography Emma Lazarus (Jewish Encounters Series) to get the history of the poem. You can read all about it here.

To All The Boys Sequel Release Date

We finally have a premiere date for the sequel movie to the adaptation of Jenny Han’s To All The Boy’s I’ve Loved Before! To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You will hit Netflix streaming screens on February 12th, just in time for Valentines Day. You can watch the adorable announcement here–plus, surprise the third film is in production!

Mom’s Need For Indian Bedtime Stories Launches Business

Akruti Babaria was having a hard time finding stories for her baby like the ones she’d grown up with in India. The slim pickings she did find were never what she wanted and so she traveled to India to collect books for her own little library. But what started as a library for her son has grown into a business, Kulture Khazana, which distributes Indian cultural books geared toward newborn to middle school children. Read all about it here.

Sponsored by the Dark Shadows audiobook series from Paperback Classics, a new imprint that brings the best vintage pulp paperbacks to audiobooks.

Catching A Little Free Library Book Thief

Nicole Mehelich was enjoying getting to know her neighbors with her Little Free Library until a book thief started emptying it out. If you’re wondering what to do if this happens Mehelich was advised by local police “to post a set limit for books taken on the library, which has been set at two books per person. If the woman is caught again, police could arrest her on larceny charges. Mehelich said her husband has also asked the woman to stay off their property, so a trespassing charge could be brought as well.” Don’t steal from LFL!

Verizon Credits Back Library Data Fee After Bad Publicity

Tully Free Library in NY has three Verizon hotspots it lends out to patrons with limited internet access which recently led to an $880.33 fee for roaming charges for less than half a GB of data. The library was shocked, especially since they were unaware the new plan allowed for international roaming since the previous plan had it blocked. Anyhoo, Verizon was real insistent on being paid until the story got reported and you know bad publicity and all so they ended up crediting back the library’s account.

Calling All Marvel Fans

The Folio Society has set its sights on comic books! On September 25th (so soon!) it’s releasing a compilation of Marvel’s classic comics to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Marvel Comics #1. Marvel: The Golden Age, 1939-1949 is $225, and beautiful.

Sponsored by Flatiron Books, publishers of Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh.

Cannabis Tax Revenues Help Libraries

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to use cannabis tax revenues in order for three branch libraries to keep their current hours and not have to reduce any programs. You can read more about the vote and what comes next here.

Mexico’s Only Tzotzil Maya Book Collective

This is a lovely post about Tzotzil Maya book and papermaking collective which was created in 1975 by Mexican-American poet Ambar Past in San Cristobal de las Casas. See gorgeous photos and learn about how the workshop documents the Tzotzil’s endangered language, culture and more here.

Books Excluded From Tariffs

Trump’s administration has a list of items imported from China that will be subjected to a 10% tariff starting September 1st. The first list has, at the moment, spared Bibles and other religious texts along with drawing and coloring books and children’s picture books. But some are just delayed until December 15 when they’ll also be subjected to the tariff–you can read more here.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai, published by Avon Books.

Comic Book Thieves Accidentally Turn Themselves In

Some stories have an accidental happy ending. Like when Martin Casas had his storage unit robbed, where his collection of 3,000 comics was stored. Except no need to call in the superheroes for help (sorry, not sorry) the thief took a box to Casas’ comic book store asking if he’d like to buy them, clearly unaware he was the comics’ real owner. Read all the who, what, when, and why of this wild story here.

Twitter Users Judge Male Writers

Writers that are not male have, among many things, had to deal with their work being undermined by publishing, critics, and readers who focus on their looks. And Martin Ebel, a Swedish literary critic, did just that by describing Sally Rooney as “A startled deer with sensuous lips.” Le sigh. At least we can count on Twitter users to create a hashtag, and flip the script, by critiquing male writers as non-male authors are: “As the husband of Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller had no difficulty finding a publisher.”

Amazon’s New Deal With Lauren Oliver’s Production Company

Amazon Studios has signed a first-look deal with Glasstown Entertainment which is co founded by authors Lauren Oliver and Lexa Hillyer with producer Lynley Bird. The new deal “will develop series aimed at young viewers to premiere on the tech giant’s Prime Video streaming service.” Looks like Amazon has finally seen the value in YA adaptations.