Category: Today In Books

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

Did You See Today’s Google Doodle?

It celebrates Nelly Sachs, the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature winner. The poet and playwright was a Nazi Germany survivor who would have been 127 today. Read more about her and see the doodle here.

It’s Monday And We’re Already Muppet Arming!

Alyssa Cole announced on Twitter that her novel A Princess in Theory has been optioned. Frolic, the company who bought the rights, described the romance as “Coming to America meets The Princess Diaries,” which is a hell of a selling point if you’re an old like me and love those films.

Well Here’s A Good Trailer

Even if you’ve never read The Umbrella Academy you’re going to want to see the trailer for the Netflix adaptation because it looks awesome! Also, it stars Ellen Page.

Sponsored by Book Riot’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2018 Giveaway.

Bookish Auction

You can name a character in Celest Ng’s next book. Or Curtis Sittenfeld’s. Or a whole bunch of other authors. Or you could get autographed copies of books from so many other authors! These items are all up for grabs as part of an online auction benefiting Immigrant Families Together. Bid before December 20.

Lois Lane Is Dead; Long Live Lois Lane

You know how one of the laws of the universe is that matter can neither be created nor destroyed? It’s like that in the DC Universe with Lois Lanes, apparently. In the same weekend Amy Adams told Aquaman’s Nicole Kidman that she was most likely finished with the cinematic role, we got a teaser clip of Bitsie Tulloch’s appearance as Lois in the latest DC crossover event on the CW.

Don’t Blinkist

I think we all can agree that we don’t have the time to do all the reading we would wish. Enter the website Blinkist, which condenses books into summaries meant to be read in 15 minutes, give or take. The Guardian tried it so you don’t have to.

Sponsored by Book Riot’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2018 Giveaway.

The Bookshop Band Plays Book Inspired Songs

And they’ll be touring in the U.S next month. If you’ll be in New York, New Jersey, New Mexico or Colorado you can catch them as they’ll be playing in bookshops and libraries. The band was created in 2010 to write songs for author events at Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights and now that we know this exists we need more bookish bands.

So Many Library Closures

Britain has closed almost 130 public libraries in the last year due to budget cuts. There was a net loss of 127 public libraries in England, Wales and Scotland, while 712 full-time employees lost or left their jobs and volunteer numbers increased by 3,000, to 51,394.

Look Ma, Another Helper

Lourdes Rivas is a Kindergarten teacher at Sylvia Mendez Elementary, a school in Berkley California that teaches in both English and Spanish. In order to help introduce and teach their students gender binary they wrote They Call Me Mix: a bilingual children’s book. Learn more about Rivas, the school, and book in this great piece.

Sponsored by Book Riot’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2018 Giveaway.

The End Is Here

Quite literally: The trailer for the fourth Avengers‘ movie, titled Endgame, is finally here! Spoiler: Cap is beardless.

Barnes & Nobel With The Holiday Sale

It’s the time of year where stores try to outdo each other in sales in order to get you to buy from them and B&N has tossed its hat into the ring with a 50% off sale of 100 books until December 24th.

Independent Bookstores’ Best Of 2018

Southern Living has a nice book list put together by their favorite Southern indies highlighting their favorite books of 2018. (Scroll to the bottom and you can skip the slideshow.)

Sponsored by Becoming by Michelle Obama

There’s Currently A 20% Tax On Digital Publications In The UK

And people want it axed. While the tax doesn’t apply to print books thanks to a 1973 exemption “on the general principle of avoiding a tax on knowledge” ebooks didn’t get the same treatment. However, new European legislation is giving member states the right to reduce or eliminate the tax and obviously people are shouting “axe the reading tax.”

Los Pollitos Dicen! (The Little Chicks Say)

Since popular English nursery rhymes like Itsy Bitsy Spider get translated to Spanish, one mama wanted to know why the Spanish songs she grew up with hadn’t been translated to English. So she took matters into her own hands and created Canticos: a series of bilingual books, companion apps and singalong videos that the Venezuelan-American mother of two dreamed up after she couldn’t find enough Spanish-language books to read to her children. I’ll just be over here singing “pío, pío, pío” all day.

Dublin Murders Will Be On Starz

In the game of “Which streaming company/channel am I gonna need to watch that adaptation I’m excited for?” Starz is the recent winner having landed the eight-episode drama based on Tana French’s In the Woods and The Likeness. Two books from an Irish police procedural series I love mixed together into eight episodes? This I gotta see!

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE DUKE, a delightful Regency holiday romance by Janna MacGregor.

Call Me By Your Name Is Getting A Sequel

While the conversation about whether there will be a sequel to the film adaptation of the novel continues, André Aciman, the author of Call Me By Your Name, stated on Twitter there will be a book sequel: “I would actually love a sequel to Call Me by Your Name. In fact I am writing one.”

Twelve New Poem-a-Day Guest Editors for 2019

Poets.org shares previously unpublished poems by poets daily and Poem-a-Day will have 12 new guest editors in 2019 who will each curate a month of poems. Click that link to learn more about the awesome guest editors and let’s all read more poetry in 2019!

The 2018 Honorees Of AFI Awards Have Been Announced

And I immediately spotted 4 films that were book adaptations! Congrats to BlacKkKlansman based on Ron Stallworth’s Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime; Black Panther based on the comic book character; If Beale Street Could Talk based on James Baldwin’s novel; Mary Poppins Returns based on Pamela Lyndon Travers’ series.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Waterhouse Press.

The Strand Bookstore Doesn’t Want To Be A City Landmark

The iconic Greenwich Village bookstore is saying “no” to being a New York City landmark. The owner, Nancy Bass Wyden, spoke at a public hearing with the Landmarks Preservation Commission: “By landmarking the Strand, you can also destroy a piece of New York history,” she said. “We’re operating on very thin margins here, and this would just cost us a lot more, with this landmarking, and be a lot more hassle.”

Wondering How Much Beatrix Potter’s First Editions Would Sell For?

There’s an auction with 60 Beatrix Potter first editions, selling in 27 separate lots at Keys Fine Art Auctioneers in Aylsham, Norfolk. Included is The Tale Of Peter Rabbit published in 1902, which is estimated to sell for £800 to £1,200.

Trailer Time!

Here’s the trailer for BBC One’s Watership Down adaptation which has a heck of a cast including James McAvoy, Olivia Colman, Daniel Kaluuya, Nicholas Hoult, Ben Kingsley, John Boyega–just to name some. And in case you didn’t already spend the day watching the new Captain Marvel trailer on a loop–it me!–here you go.

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio.

We Found Another Helper

Jakarta’s poorest neighbourhoods are being visited by Sutino “Kinong” Hadi and his tuk tuk filled with books. While the three-wheeled vehicles have been banned in Jakarta, Indonesia, the government has given him a special waver to continue using his for books. “Before he could even lift the covers up, the children had stuck their heads inside and were grabbing books.”

Diversity-Focused Crime Imprint

In very much needed news: Polis Books is launching the new imprint Agora Books. The first three books will release in 2019: “Three-Fifths by John Vercher, the story of a biracial man who discovers a childhood friend has become a neo-nazi; Remember by Patrica Smith, a novel about woman forced to reconcile with a painful past; and The Ninja Daughter by Tori Eldridge, the tale of a woman who dedicates herself to becoming a modern day ninja after the murder of her daughter.” Can’t wait!

Want To Fall Down A Rabbit Hole Of Accusations Of Plagiarizing?

Here’s a story that’s been unfolding on Twitter for days: A Pushcart Prize nominee has been accused of lifting words/images from other poets. It started with one poet comparing the works and since more poets have come forward to say they believe their work was also lifted.

This edition of Today In Books is sponsored by Page Anchor.

Books > People

There’s a Norwegian town that is home to 280 people…and over 150,000 books. I haven’t run the numbers, but I would think most towns have more books than people. I guess if you want this kind of ratio AND fjords, this is the place.

Best Reward System Ever

At this Buffalo, New York, elementary school, kids can earn tokens redeemable in special vending machine. How special? It dispenses books. What a fun way to build up a child’s personal library!

It’s Like Rain On Your Wedding Day*

Martin Dorey’s book No. More. Plastic.: What You Can Do To Make A Difference was supposed to help consumers reduce their plastic footprint. Imagine his horror at discovering that his US distributor is shrink-wrapping his book. According to the BBC, Penguin UK is trying to remedy the situation.

*Yes, I know that song is not actually an example of irony, but it got stuck in my head and at least I’m not alone now.

Sponsored by The New Yorker — get 12 weeks for just $6, plus a free tote.

Should Have Finished Eating Before Reading This News

The annual prize for “the most egregious passage of sexual description in a work of fiction” has put out its shortlist this year and it’s all male authors. I will control myself and not quote anything here, but do read on if you’re interested to find out why authors like Haruki Murakami and James Frey are up for worst sex scenes in their latest books.

Poet’s 400-Year-Old Manuscript Discovered

Poet John Donne’s unrecorded handwritten manuscript was found at Melford Hall, a stately home in Suffolk, England. “The Melford manuscript is one of the largest contemporary collections of Donne’s poetry to survive, and the only one of its kind remaining in private hands, according to Sotheby’s, which is offering it for an estimate of £200,000 to £300,000.” Read on for an interesting history of Donne’s work and life and what’s known and unknown about the manuscript.

Eric Bana Will Play Aaron Falk

A film adaptation we’re excited for is Jane Harper’s The Dry–a great multiple award-winning Australian mystery. The past and present mysteries will be solved by Eric Bana as he’ll play Aaron Falk, a Federal Police investigator who returns to his small hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend and family.