Category: Today In Books

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Becoming Superman by J. Michael Straczynski.

YA Easter Egg In Every Crime Author’s Novels

Have you ever caught the Easter eggs Laura Lippman has placed in every single book she’s written? In an interview with EW Lippman stated that she not only rereads Lenora Mattingly Weber’s YA writing but that all her work “has a Lenora Mattingly Weber Easter egg inside.” I already read Lippman’s work so now I have to go read Meet The Malones.

Doom Patrol Renewed For Season 2

This show has a ridiculously awesome cast, based on the comic by Arnold Drake, Bob Haney, and Bruno Premiani, and if you’ve never heard of it it’s probably because it’s streaming on DC Universe. But now with all the forthcoming streaming platforms it’s been renewed for a second season and in 2020 the series will be on DC Universe and HBO Max.

Dean Koontz’s New 5-Book Deal

Thriller author Dean Koontz just signed a big deal with Amazon who will publish five books and a short story collection. Nameless, the short story collection, will be out this fall and available free to Unlimited and Prime users. The first of the five novels, Devoted, will publish in spring of 2020. For plots of Nameless and Devoted you can read on here.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by TBR: Tailored Book Recommendations.

Not The Booker Prize Is Back

Eleven years in and Not The Booker Prize is still going strong and asking for your nominations of this year’s best fiction. You can leave your nomination in the comments section here, and also learn more about the award, including this year’s added change of having a 2018 judging panel selected book.

We All Need Mister Rogers Now

Even if it’s Tom Hanks playing Mister Rogers in the upcoming film based on the real-life friendship of Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. You can check out the just dropped trailer for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood here. The film will hit theaters November 22nd and we’re gonna need to stock up on tissues.

Dayton Literary Peace Prize Officials

Awarded the Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, which celebrates “literature’s power to foster peace, social justice and global understanding” to essayist and poet N. Scott Momaday. Learn more about Momaday, whose House Made of Dawn won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and who is credited with “leading a renaissance in Native American literature,” here.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin.

Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards

Presented annually at SDCC, the Eisner Awards honors achievement in comic books. This year’s complete list of winners can be found here. Shout-out to Book Riot favorite The Prince and the Dressmaker and its writer/artist Jen Wang for winning in two categories!

SUPERMAN RETURNS’s Superman Returns

…the actor, that is. Brandon Routh has been playing The Atom in the Arrowverse since 2014. But in the upcoming Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, Routh is set to portray a version of Superman that all signs indicate will pay homage to Mark Waid and Alex Ross’s Kingdom Come man of steel.

Marvel Announces…A Lot

Of course Marvel’s presentation in Hall H was going to be mind-blowing. But nobody could have predicted it was going to be MIND-BLOWING. Check out this ranking of some of the reveals we got last night.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Sugar Street by M.J. Pullen: just $0.99 through July 21.

Dracula First Look

Netflix and the BBC have adapted Bram Stoker’s Dracula into a TV series with the creators of Sherlock, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, driving the project. And here’s your first bloody look at Claes Bang as Dracula.

Inspector Salvo Montalbano’s Creator Dies At 93

Sicilian author Andrea Camilleri, known for his detective series starring inspector Salvo Montalbano, passed away in Rome this week. Learn more about his life and the role his books took in changing people’s views on Sicily here.

Publisher Accused Of Ripping Off Best-Seller

A recent UK book, We Need To Talk About Race by Ben Lindsay, has too similar a title and cover to the best-seller Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge for many’s liking. Reni Eddo-Lodge: “recognises that imitation and comparison title and covers are core to publishing’s business model … this close imitation is a missed opportunity for what has the potential to be a fresh take on an old problem.”

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by A Murder On Jane Street by Cathy Cash Spellman.

Jimmy Fallon Wants You To Vote On Books

It’s time for Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show Summer Reads book club! The show has selected five books and you have until July 25th to vote for a Southern lit mystery (The Gone Dead), a buzzy thriller (The Chain), a psychological thriller (The Silent Patient), a multi-generational family drama (Ask Again, Yes), and a novel on marriage with a good dose of humor (Fleishman Is In Trouble). Go vote here and add the books to your TBR–they’re all great books!

#BookstoresAgainstBorders Has Raised More Than $100,000

Still going strong, the campaign started by A Room of One’s Own bookstore to raise money for RAICES, has so far raised more than $100,000. And it looks like they’re still going! Check out more information here.

His Dark Materials San Diego Comic Con Trailer

You can always count on SDCC to deliver on trailers and announcements! Here’s the new trailer for the HBO/BBC series adaptation of Philip Pullman’s trilogy, which stars Dafne Keen, James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Stubborn Archivist by Yara Rodrigues Fowler, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Rep. Ilhan Omar Responds With Maya Angelou Poem

Taking the route of “the pen is mightier than the sword,” Representative Ilhan Omar responded on Twitter to news that at a Trump rally they chanted, “send her back,” with an excerpt from Maya Angelou’s 1978 poem “Still I Rise.” For the tweet and more on this story click here.

The Storied Life Of A.J. Fikry Adaptation Casts Its Lead

The adaptation of Gabrielle Zevin’s The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry just cast its lead: Naveen Andrews (Lost) will play the grumpy widower bookstore owner. The novel’s author wrote the screenplay and Hans Canosa will direct. 

GOT Showrunners Drop Out Of Comic-Con Panel

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the showrunners for HBO’s GOT, were set to be on a San Diego International Comic-Con panel this Friday but it seems they, and a few actors, have dropped out and were replaced with a new lineup. HBO sites scheduling conflict for the change but I’m calling a “sure Jan” since this would have been the showrunners’ first public appearance since the GOT finale aired. I’m gonna go with they didn’t have the stomach for a Q&A session with their fans.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The Folio Society, publisher of a new collector’s edition of George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones.

Based On Data, These Are The Best 2019 Summer Books

Book nerds unite: Quartz looked at 67 2019 summer book lists to determine which had to be the best–based on how many times they were found on lists. The top two books–City of Girls and The Nickel Boys–were found 29 and 20 times on lists. Check out all the titles here and get your summer read on.

Largest Educational Books Publisher Puts Ebooks First

Pearson, the largest educational books publisher in North America, will now only have physical texts on a rental basis in order to favor ebooks. Read about it here for part of the debate over whether digital is more beneficial to students or not.

Thor 4 Will Be Funny!

Taika Waititi will officially be directing Thor 4 and bringing his amazing humor to the franchise again–Hulk bum, anyone? Anyhoo, this is great news for all of Thor: Ragnarok’s fans but not so great news for the in-development Akira adaptation since now, thanks to scheduling conflict, it’s being shelved. Read all about it here.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Doubleday.

Netflix Edited S1 Scene From 13 Reasons Why

(TW suicide) Ahead of the release of 13 Reasons Why‘s third season, Netflix has edited the suicide scene from season 1.  After listening to health professionals, including the Chief Medical Officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the graphic depiction of a character’s suicide has been removed. For Netflix and the creators statements, and more on the subject, click here.

More Younger Books

If you can’t get enough of Younger, the TV Land series (Hulu streaming) that wildly depicts publishing in N.Y., good news: there will be another book from the show publishing! And no, it isn’t a book about the show but rather a book from the fictional world of the show, like they did with Marriage Vacation. This time we’re getting The Miseducation of Henry Cane—check out the cover here along with guessing what character may have wrote it.

Horror For RAICES

Nightscape Press is putting out an anthology, edited by Jennifer Wilson and Robert S. Wilson, with all net proceeds going to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES). Can’t wait for the anthology? You can donate $10 to the GoFundMe now and when they’re ready receive a digital ARC of the anthology. Sounds like winning all around.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Flatiron Books.

Hunter S. Thompson’s Cabin Is For Rent On Airbnb

Want to be inspired by the ghost of a Gonzo journalist? Or get to say you stayed in Hunter S. Thompson’s cabin, where he wrote a lot of his famous work? The writing gods have smiled down on you–or, you know, his widow Anita Thompson who is renting the cabin on Airbnb in order to raise money for the Hunter S. Thompson scholarship for veterans at Columbia University.

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before–

Two male historians and a male host talk about a book written by a female historian and never once mentioned her name or the book. “While the historians did not quote directly from ‘The Cigarette,’ she said, every cited fact was taken from its pages. ‘Then I got to the end of a nearly 10-minute segment and did not hear myself credited at all.’” Her name is Sarah Milov and her book is The Cigarette: A Political History. You can read the full story, including an updated apology, here.

007 Codename Goes To… *Loudest Drumroll*

Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel, Still Star-Crossed) will be answering to the codename 007 in the upcoming, still untitled, Bond 25 film which was rewritten by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Killing Eve, Fleabag). I mean, give Lynch and Waller-Bridge the franchise and I’ll be a Bond fan for life. For. Life.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Famous People: A debut novel by Justin Kuritzkes and Henry Holt & Co.

Herne Bay Book Ripper

Police in Herne Bay are investigating the case of an anonymous vandal who has been ripping pages all over the seaside town. It’s tempting to laugh at the absurdity, but the main target is a hospice charity shop, which has had over a hundred books ruined.

Middle-Earth MMO

Remember how Amazon bought the rights to The Lord of the Rings? Expect a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game based on the series to be available sometime in the future.

Life of Pi Astonishes On Stage

There’s a stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi playing in Sheffield for one more week, and you’ve got to check out this rave review if only to see how the tiger is brought to life onstage.