Category: Today In Books

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70 Children’s Classics Free Online

The Library of Congress is properly celebrating the Children’s Book Week’s 100th anniversary by offering a 70 book collection. You can check out some of the titles–all the books were published before 1924 in the U.S. or England–and get the link here.

Study Links Netflix Adaptation To Increase in Suicide Rates

Researchers from several universities, hospitals, and the National Institute of Mental Health conducted a study, published in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, which found that the Netflix adaptation 13 Reasons Why “was associated with a 28.9% increase in suicide rates among U.S. youth ages 10-17 in the month (April 2017) following the show’s release, after accounting for ongoing trends in suicide rates.” You can read the details of the study and findings here.

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 Trailer

Hulu will premiere season 3 of The Handmaid’s Tale on June 5th and has just dropped the official trailer, which you can check out here!

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Bloomsbury, publisher of Extraordinary Birds by Sandy Stark-McGinnis, a heartbreaking and hopeful middle grade debut for fans of The Thing About Jellyfish.

Little Miss Spice Girls

This adorably perfect collaboration will bring all the nostalgia feels to kids from the ’80s and ’90s: The Spice Girls have their own Little Miss books! Check out Little Miss Baby, Little Miss Ginger, Little Miss Scary and Little Miss Sporty.

The Obamas Netflix Slate

We now know what Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground, will be putting out on Netflix. And of course I’m mentioning it here because there is bookish stuff including the film adaptation of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom and a nonfiction series from The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy. Netflix can go ahead and just make an entire category for Higher Ground so I can watch them all.

It’s Trailer Time!

We now have a trailer for Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am which will be in select theaters June 21st. And it looks amazing!

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Cape May by Chip Cheek, published by Celadon Books.

THE BEDWETTER Musical Will Premiere Soon

Sarah Silverman’s memoir, The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee, is getting the musical adaptation treatment and will be Off Broadway at The Atlantic Theatre Company within the year, she said at Tribeca Talks. This was a really good memoir and I’m super interested to see what songs come from it.

The Baby-Sitters Club Gets Audiobook Treatment

More than 100 of the books in Ann M. Martin’s series–I didn’t know there were that many!–will be audiobooks on Audible come August 13th. The first five books in the series are narrated by Elle Fanning. Somewhere someone just challenged themselves to a Baby-Sitters Club audiobook marathon.

Book Battles!

Berkeley middle schools have the coolest competition: students compete to show not only who read the most books but who internalized the most information about the books. To learn more about this fun competition–and to be super jealous it didn’t exist when you were in school–read here.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Hide and Seek by Mary Burton, from Amazon Publishing.

Trivial Pursuit: The Shakespeare Edition

How well do you know Shakespeare’s comedies, histories, tragedies, characters, biography and legacy? Find out by answering the 600 questions in the new Trivial Pursuit all about Shakespeare. Get all the info, including purchase link, here.

The Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist!

If you’ve been looking for an excellent book stack to read: The announced shortlist for the 2019 Women’s Prize is a perfect selection! Congrats to the six authors, publishers, books, and everyone who helped create these works. I can’t pick my favorite between the ones I’ve already read so I do not envy the judges’ job here.

Lego Bringing Back 5 Harry Potter Moments

J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World will have five moments commemorated into Lego sets. First up, on August 1st, “comes courtesy of The Prisoner of Azkaban, where Harry first conjures a full patronus in the form of a stag to protect his uncle Sirius Black from the Dementors in the Forbidden Forest.” Check out pictures of all the sets, including this year’s Harry Potter Advent Calendar, here.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau.

Latinx So Lit

I am a Latina bookseller who woke up this morning in desperate need of Ibuprofen; a super successful Indie Bookstore Day left my feet sore, my voice hoarse, and my heart unbelievably full. I’m so especially proud of fellow book person Noëlle Santos who’s Bronx bookstore The Lit Bar celebrated it’s grand opening yesterday, and who made it to this fabulous list of Latinx-run bookstores in New York that I’m adding to my visit list post haste.

Thanos Noooooo (but also yaaasss?)

Because we all could use a little “oh snap!” in our lives, go ahead and Google “Thanos” right quick. Click on the Infinity Gauntlet and watch the magic/chaos/panic ensue. Hehe. I love this sort of thing.

A Prize for a Poet

The 2019 Jackson Poetry Prize has been awarded to Joy Harjo. This prize is awarded annually by Poets & Writers to an American poet and comes with a healthy $65,000 cash award (*Cardi voice* okurrrrr!) This year’s judges were Alicia Ostriker, D. A. Powell, and Ada Limón. I’m not familiar with Harjo’s work, but I’m about to be. If Ada Limon recommends it, it’s gonna be worth my time.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The Book of Delights, essays by Ross Gay, from Algonquin Books.

New Stan Lee Work

Stan Lee has a new project still to come: Alliances: A Trick of Light will premiere this summer at Audible. The project “introduces a new connected universe of stories and characters” and is sure to excite his fans! Check out all the details, plus behind-the-scene photos here.

Tupac Poetry Fan Competition

In honor of poetry month Tupac’s estate has a poetry competition, Tupac Poetry Month Competition, that you can enter until May 5th. Let the words floweth and get all the deets for entering here. Good luck!

A Cappella Satanic Nuns

Yes, you read that correctly! In anticipation of the premiere of Good Omens, the six-part event based on Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s novel, Amazon released this amazing music video: Brand New Baby Smell.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The Year of the Introvert by Michaela Chung – available today to Book Riot readers for only $1.99.

Short Story Vending Machines For Your Commute

At least if you’re a London commuter, now that there are vending machines ready to give you a one, three, or five-minute short story at London’s Canary Wharf. There are thousands of stories, printed on eco-friendly paper, and even one commissioned from crime writer Anthony Horowitz. These should be everywhere!

First National Antiracist Book Festival

2,500 attendees are expected at the National Antiracist Book Festival tomorrow (Saturday April 27th) at American University. Founded by Ibram Kendi the festival will provide “a platform for nearly 50 authors and publishing professionals to discuss policies and power structures that fuel racism in America, as well as the efforts being made to dismantle those systems.” This sounds awesome and I wish I was in Washington, D.C.

Mystery Writers Of America Announced The 2019 Edgar Allan Poe Awards

Did your favorite crime writers win an Edgar last night? Three of mine did: Sujata Massey, Walter Mosley, and Courtney Summers! Congrats to all the winners, who you can check out here and find your next great crime read.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The Fall of Crazy House.

Nora Roberts Sues #CopyPasteCris

Back in February romance author Courtney Milan called out Brazilian author Cristiane Serruya for plagiarism, which ended up turning into many more romance authors realizing that their books had also been plagiarized. One of those authors was Nora Roberts, who is now suing Cristiane Serruya after Serruya failed to respond to Roberts’ request to “‘immediately, unambiguously, acknowledge — without excuses’ her ‘unauthorized taking’ and ‘immediately and permanently remove’ every novel in question.”

Fun!

The new Men In Black: International looks like so much fun I wanted to share it, so I went hunting around the Internet to see if it was bookish at all and, yay, it turns out the franchise began as a loose adaptation of the same titled comic by Lowell Cunningham and Sandy Carruthers. So here’s the trailer for the June 14th releasing film that stars Tessa Thompson, Chris Hemsworth, and Emma Thompson–there aren’t enough heart eyes emojis!

A Clockwork Orange Sequel Unearthed

2019 continues to be the year of unearthing everything: Anthony Burgess’ unfinished sequel to A Clockwork Orange, titled A Clockwork Condition, has been unearthed in his archives. Read here for more on the “sequel,” to learn where the title A Clockwork Orange came from, and a little history on the adaptation.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Flatiron Books, publishers of I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney.

Harry Potter On Your Feet Thanks to Vans

You can soon get your Harry Potter footsies on thanks to a Vans + Harry Potter sneakers collaboration! We’re still just being teased via social media and don’t know what the shoes will look like but there’s a website page and you can sign up to get notifications. More here.

Britney Spears Musical AND Movie

We’d recently found out that there is a Britney Spears musical, Once Upon a One More Time, in the works reimagining fairy tale princesses who get a feminist upgrade and Spears music. And now we have awesome news for anyone who wouldn’t be able to make it to the play: there will be a movie!

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary Has 640 New Words

About two dozen lexicographers “scan online versions of newspapers, magazines, academic journals books and even movie and television scripts until they detect what he calls ‘a critical mass’ of usage that warrants inclusion.” Curious what got added? Check the words out here.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Dynamite Entertainment.

Thanks Shakespeare For These 10 Common Words

Shakespeare Day–today, because April 23, 1564 was his day of birth–has many celebrating the poet and playwright. And as a man of many words he contributed almost 300 words to the Oxford English dictionary, 10 of which we use daily. Check out the words and the works in which they first appeared here.

The First Internet Information Storage Base

Collaborating with IT company Sina, The National Library of China has begun to build the first Internet information storage base. Sina website’s news and Weibo’s blog posts will all be stored and we’re talking about millions and billions of pieces and comments.

High Fidelity Reimagining Cast News

First, High Fidelity was a novel by Nick Hornby. Next, it was a film starring John Cusack. Then, it was a reimagined series adaptation where the lead is a woman in development at Disney+. Now, it’s still a woman lead reimagining but the series moved to Hulu. Caught up? Good, because we now have casting news: joining Zoë Kravitz (her mama was in the original adaptation!) is Jake Lacy.