Category: Today In Books

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

More Gillian Flynn

Well in the form of on your TV not in a book. Based on the British series Utopia Flynn will be show runner and executive producer of the nine-episode series on Amazon, keeping the same title. Read about casting and plot here.

2019 Rainbow Book List Is Here!

It’s a list of “books with significant gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning content, aimed at children and youth from birth to age 18” and my TBR could not be happier. If you want to get to what the committee considered exceptional, those titles are the ones starred. Happy reading!

Dr. Seuss Almost Destroyed His First Children’s Book

But thanks to a college classmate he was stopped from burning the manuscript for And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street after dozens of rejections. He wrote a thank you letter to his friend Mike McClintock, and that letter will be up for auction tomorrow. For more on the story, letters, auction–and cute doodles–read here.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by by Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing.

No Trick, Free Means Free

In honor of Black History Month, and the film’s best picture Oscar nomination, 250 AMC Theatres will have free screenings of Black Panther between Feb. 1-7. You’ll find the link to ticket information at the end of this article.

Grow With Google Heads To Libraries In 50 States

Libraries offer many services beyond just helping patrons find a good book, and Google is helping them with digital resources. The idea is basically to help libraries help patrons to learn things like online marketing, and how to use programs like spreadsheets to better prepare them for the job market and starting/running small businesses. For more on the plan read here.

This Tiny Mobile Library Is Adorable

And also important as it travels to remote villages in Italy to deliver books to children. The three-wheeled van is named Bibliomotocarro and Antonio La Cava uses it to deliver books because “I was strongly worried about growing old in a country of non-readers.” Watch the video here.

Sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

I Want One!

Also, put one in every school. Umatilla Elementary School in Florida has a book vending machine that works exactly as you’d think: drop in 50 cents and a book drops down.

Shakeup At The Man Booker Prize

The hedge fund, Man Group, which has been sponsoring Britain’s prestigious literary award the Man Book Prize, announced it will no longer sponsor the prize. While this won’t affect this year’s award it is unclear how this will affect the prize moving forward–they are currently looking for new commercial sponsorship. The gloves have been coming off recently showing strains in the relationship, including authors claiming the hedge fund was not who their sponsor should be, and that the hedge fund deserves criticism.

Now Here’s Another Great List Of Books

The American Library Association announced the 2019 youth media award winners and so many great books on this list! Personal favorites: Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson, The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, love Meg Medina, and congratulations are in order for some of our very own Rioters for (Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health edited by Kelly Jensen. All the warm book fuzzy feelings today!

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

Here’s A Good List To Pick Your Next Read From

The finalist for PEN America’s 2019 Literary Awards were announced, and whether you’re looking for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama you’re bound to find an excellent read from this list. There are a lot of small press books and books you may not have heard of, but that you might enjoy.

Waiting For Something New From E.L. James?

Good news: The Fifty Shades author has announced a new book releasing in April: The Mister. On the Today Show, James said, “It’s a 21st century Cinderella.” For more on the new characters click here.

A Little Roundup Of Recent Memoir News

CNN’s chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, will be publishing The Enemy of the People, “…to share what I’ve experienced covering President Trump during his first two years in office.” Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota sold This Is What America Looks Like, which “chronicles her journey fleeing war in Somalia as a little girl, becoming a refugee in her early teens, and making her way against unspeakable odds to become the congresswoman-elect from Minnesota as a collection of remarkable firsts: first Muslim refugee in Congress, first woman of color to represent Minnesota, and the first person to wear a hijab in Congress.” And it’s been reported that Former President Bill Clinton is writing a book about his post-White House life.

Sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

Excelsior! A Celebration of the Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible & Uncanny Life of Stan Lee

The tribute will take place January 30th at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. It’s of course going to be celebrity-filled and will have Kevin Smith moderating conversations throughout the event. “All net proceeds from the event’s ticket sales will go to nonprofit organization The Hero Initiative, a charity that supports comic book creators, artists and writers in need.”

She-Ra Season Two A Go!

I know wrong cartoon, but I’m old and my heart stayed in the ’80s and I can do what I want. Anyhoo, She-Ra season 2 will be on Netflix April 26th and is it April yet?! If you haven’t watched this utterly delightful and fun reboot, do yourself a solid and get to that sooner rather than later.

Shropshire, England Is Getting A Poetry Pharmacy

Deborah Alma, self-proclaimed Emergency Poet, has been dispensing poetry from the back of an ambulance for six years. And she’s now setting up a shop in Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire …Alma is buzzing with plans for how the shop will be divided like a pharmacy “into areas for particular ailments, so you walk around and find wherever your mood might be addressed by literature.”

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

Wondering What Two First-Edition Harry Potter Books Are Worth?

So did a schoolteacher who took her two signed first-edition Harry Potter books on the Antiques Roadshow. Making these especially valuable is that they were signed before Rowling had gotten famous so she’d actually included a personalized note in the books. Justin Croft evaluated the books and placed their combined value between $2,600 to $3,900.

Wattpad Is Creating A Publishing Division

Wattpad is known as a storytelling application where writers upload original stories and fan fiction, which recently adapted a story into a Netflix film: The Kissing Booth. Rather than continuing to work with publishers to adapt its stories Wattpad has created a publishing division–but it’s not going to work exactly like publishing. Rather than editors choosing what stories to publish as books, they’ll be using technology to scan/analyze the content and pick what it believes will be a commercial success.

We’re Getting a YA Anna Karenina Series

I love hearing “in a competitive situation” for book adaptations. This time it was over Anna K, an upcoming YA novel by Jenny Lee that’s a multicultural retelling of Anna Karenina. Lee will also be writing the TV adaptation. We’re gonna make all the popcorn–now if you’ll excuse me I need to go see who I have to beg for a galley.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Libby, the one-tap reading app from your library and OverDrive.

Jane Austen Or Not Jane Austen?

Direct descendants of one of Jane Austen’s brothers have long claimed that an oil painting they possess is a portrait of a teen Jane Austen. Art experts have long disputed the claim. Now the Rice family says an overlooked letter further proves their claim.

We’re Getting The Theme Park And A Comic

Excited about the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge theme parks being built at Disney World and Disneyland? While you wait for their summer and fall openings, you can explore Black Spire Outpost with Marvel’s five-issue Galaxy’s Edge comic book series.

Novel Banned By Nazis In 1933 Getting First English Translation

At the Edge of Night by Friedo Lampe was seized and banned by the Nazis for homoerotic content and a relationship between a white woman and a black man. Simon Beattie, the English translator for the novel, says of Lampe: “He’s a very interesting author: a disabled, gay writer during the Third Reich … who somehow survived only to be shot by a Red Army patrol days before the end of the war.“

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

Oscar’s Best Picture Nomination A First This Year

Black Panther has been nominated for the Oscar’s Best Picture, making it the first superhero film to ever win a nomination in this category. And it’s not the only bookish nomination: BlacKkKlansman is also up for Best Picture; If Beale Street Could Talk is in the Actress In Supporting Role category; Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is in Animated Feature Film category…You can see all the bookish nominations here.

NBCC Announced 2018 Award Finalists

National Book Critics Circle has announced the finalist in six categories for its 2018 awards. Check out the 31 books up for best book in autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Warm Up Your Arms

We’re muppet arming at the announcement that Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You is getting adapted and starring Julia Roberts. If you’ve yet to read this literary novel about family and secrets, with a mystery woven through, you’re gonna want to get to that now that the adaptation is in the works.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

Poetry Sales Soar In UK

Nielsen BookScan, UK book sales monitor, reported 1.3m volumes of poetry sold in 2018, a 12% increase from 2017. The surge is thought to be created by young readers looking to make sense of the current political chaos: “Poetry is resonating with people who are looking for understanding. It is a really good way to explore complex, difficult emotions and uncertainty.”

Guillermo del Toro Backs GoFundMe To Save Bookstore

Horror and fantasy bookstore in L.A., Dark Delicacies, is another store possibly facing their end due to skyrocketing increases in rent. So they created a GodFundMe page with the hopes of being able to relocate. Guillermo del Toro, among others, have tweeted to fans asking them to help save the bookstore.

Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase Has A Trailer

Here’s the trailer for the new Nancy Drew film hitting theaters March 15, which is produced by Ellen Degeneres. The film looks delightful, Nancy and George look aces, but, uh, where did the rest of Bess go?

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

Hallmark Will Publish Audiobooks

Hallmark has partnered with Dreamscape Media in order to produce and distribute audiobooks. Their first audioboook will release on February 12, and of course be Valentine’s Day themed: The Secret Ingredient by Nancy Naigle. Click here for more of what’s to come.

Amazon Is Not To Blame For Falling Author Earnings, According To Amazon

The Authors Guild recently put out a report saying that the “median income from writing-related work fell to $6,080 (£4,730) in 2017, down 42% from 2009, with literary authors particularly affected.” It then stared at Amazon as the culprit. Amazon is now hitting back, saying “many of the survey’s conclusions are flawed or contradictory.” For more on this finger-pointing click here.

You Have Only 4 Hours To See These Manuscripts

Oh, and also, you have to be in Glasgow on January 25th. But if those two things align for you: On Burns Day, two original manuscripts of Robert Burns poems will be on display at the National Library of Scotland’s Kelvin Hall base.