Books

A weakening journalism industry is one arm of the octopus which has allowed book bans and censorship to thrive in the current environment. It’s not just the loss of local news, though. Further contributing is the insistence of calling book censorship a matter of “culture war.” Censorship is not, nor has it ever been, a culture war. A “culture war” is what happens between two (or more) factions working to assert dominance for their belief system. Keeping to this part of the definition, censorship might fall under the umbrella of...

The grumpy / sunshine trope is nothing new, but watching Wednesday and Enid becoming the best and unlikeliest of friends in the new Netflix show reminded me of just how much I love that dynamic whether in friendships or romances. There’s just something about a hardened, stoic character being soft for that one overly optimistic person in their life, and that soft character showing their hard edges in return, that makes me go all warm and fuzzy inside. And fortunately there is no shortage of grumpy / sunshine duo books...

Oprah Daily is the latest to publish its best-of-the-year book list. The list is 45 books long, was handpicked by Oprah Daily‘s editors, and includes fiction and nonfiction titles. The assortment ranges widely, with genres and topics spanning from romance to fantasy, biography to science. It also has a few books in common with other best-of lists we’ve covered, like Barnes & Noble (Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin), Amazon (Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver), The Washington Post (Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah), and The New York Times (An Immense World by...

More than 150 literary agents signed a letter promising to stop submitting new books to HarperCollins to support striking workers. The letter was organized by KT Literary Agency associate assistant Chelsea Hensley. Among the letter signers are other KT Literary Agency staff, some Aevitas Agency staff, and a number of Janklow & Nesbit staff. In the letter, the agents address the HarperCollins People Team and show their support for the HCP Union, saying “we and our clients have benefitted greatly from the passion and expertise of HarperCollins’ staff, and we...

The staff of the New York Times Book Review released their 100 Notable Books of 2022 list a week ago featuring fiction, nonfiction, and poetry titles. They’ve since whittled this list down to 10 for their Best Books of 2022 list that was released today. The list is made of five fiction and five nonfiction titles and is as follows: Unsurprisingly, the list has books in common with other best-of lists, like Barnes & Noble’s (An Immense World), Amazon’s (Demon Copperhead), and The Washington Post’s (Demon Copperhead, Trust, and Stay...

For Cyber Monday, a ton of Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks are on sale for about 60% off, from the basics to the more advanced. The prices listed are all for the physical copies, not PDFs/ebooks! This sale looks to be today only, so whether you're curious about the game or want to expand your D&D library, this is the time to get them....

As much as possible, I try to not let my reading be guided by challenges and goals. I read what I can, when I can, and I am (mostly) happy about it. But I would be lying if I said that in certain months I don’t try to find ways to add an extra book or two to my reads. Especially since I usually manage to read an average of five books a month, when I pick up tougher reads and I know I’ll be able to finish maybe two...

I’ve been on the bookish internet for more than 15 years, and in that time, I’ve watched platforms rise and fall. I remember talking about books on Livejournal, for Sappho’s sake. I started a book blog called the Lesbrary in 2011, because I couldn’t find an LGBTQ book blog that wasn’t 90% M/M books. Of course, I started an accompanying Tumblr for it at about the same time, because I spent most of my time there. Years later, I’d join BookTube, and years after that, I even gave BookTok a...

Because of the holiday in the U.S. this week, the roundup of book censorship news and insights will be shorter than usual. Although there are several right-wing groups eager to implement movie-style book ratings to library titles, the reality is, book rating systems are an exercise in futility and bias. Julia Rittenberg does an outstanding job explaining why book rating systems would not work, and in addition, I recommend tuning into a recent episode of the You’re Wrong About podcast that delves into the history of the movie rating system...

As someone who is equally devoted to books and the internet, I am endlessly fascinated by the failure of online writing to live up to its potential as a form. Previously, I wrote about how interactive ebooks were once seen as the future of books, and how they have completely failed to live up to what was projected about them. They are such a tiny niche that it’s arguable about whether they even count as books as at all — what’s the line between a pick-a-path video game and an...

The holiday shopping season is already in full swing and you might be shopping for a book lover. Maybe that book lover is you! No matter who you're shopping for, if you're looking for ways to shop small this season, check out Libro.fm's Shop Small sale. For a limited time, you can purchase credit bundles at a discount, plus there are hundreds of top-rated audiobooks on sale, too. But wait! There's more! If you're a Libro.fm member, you get 30% off all a la carte audiobook purchases - even on...

The paper of record has released their newest list of top books for the year. Selected by the staff of the New York Times Book Review, 100 books are celebrated as being notable additions to shelves. Spanning five categories, including Fiction/Poetry, Nonfiction, Memoir, History, and Science, the books showcase a wide range of genres, styles, and voices. Among the top 100 notable books include: You can dig into the full list, as well as the reasons behind their inclusion, right here. Today In Books Newsletter Sign up to Today In...

On October 31st, a federal judge ruled against the merging of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, saying that it would “substantially lessen competition” in publishing. While that was a blow to the merger, it wasn’t officially over: Penguin Random House had been planning to appeal the decision. In order to do that, they would need Paramount (Simon & Schuster’s parent company) to extend the deadline for the deal. Paramount has now stated that they will not be extending it from the November 22nd deadline. The deal falling through...

There are a lot of YA books that feature music. This might be the theme of the book or it might be a motif within the book. It could also be what introduces each chapter or a playlist that comes at the end of the book or as a bonus feature as part of the book’s marketing campaign. And then there’s my absolute favorite way we get music in YA books: through their titles. Welcome to another annual edition of YA book title earworms, this time for 2023. If you’re...