We lost Supreme Court Justice and badass women’s rights advocate Ruth Bader Ginsburg this week, after an over two-decade fight with multiple types of cancer. Here’s 8 books about RBG from the New York Times and 6 recommendations from USA Today, and the (ridiculously) eloquent 13-year-old RBG speaking on prejudice. Complement these with this beautiful, wrecking elegy from Lynn Steger Strong and a throwback to RBG’s 2016 advice on living. We also said goodbye to the beloved Guess How Much I Love You children’s book author Sam McBratney this week.
The National Book Foundation’s 5 under 35 were just announced (look at that lineup!), as was the 2020 National Book Award longlist.
The biggest celebrity book news of the week: former U.S. President Barack Obama has penned a memoir! The memoir will be published in two volumes, the first of which will be released after the elections this November and covers the President’s early political career up through the 2011 death of Osama Bin Laden. It’s going to be huge for the industry (and the reader – buckle up, folks, the first volume is 768 pages long). The Bodega Boys wrote a book, Lady Gaga is releasing a collection of short personal stories by young people, and JK Rowling is in trouble again. John Boehner has an… interesting? sensual?… new book cover, and Lil Nas X wrote the “best kids’ book of all time.” A Downton Abbey cookbook is coming out in October.
By now, we’ve all heard the Dune is getting a new movie with a ridiculously all-star cast (Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Momoa, Oscar Isaac, Stellan Skarsgård, Javier Bardem – JUST TO NAME A FEW). It’s not the first time someone’s taken a crack at the gigantic novel: here’s an assessment of Dune‘s 1984 adaptation and what it means for the new one. In other movie news, here’s a list of new and upcoming movies based on books (Death on the Nile! Roald Dahl!!) and the definitive answer to whether the book or movie version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is better.
For book list lovers like myself: here’s Book Riot with 9 horror books to keep you up at night, middle fantasy books with just the right amount of magic, children’s books about libraries, audiobooks written and read by Latinx women authors, and sci-fi and fantasy books by indigenous authors. Bustle has a booklist about cults for fans of Netflix’s new series “The Vow,” LitHub recommends 5 books on sisters and secrets, and Electric Lit schools us on 8 Queer books we should consider canons. Finally, here’s LitHub’s Emily Temple with Fall’s most anticipated books based on number of booklist mentions.
Chicago’s Young, Black & Lit non-profit and a North Carolina pop-up bookstore Liberation Station are taking grassroots advocacy to the next level, started by two couples hoping to create more representative book options for young Black children. While you’re at it, check out playwright and screenwriter Theresa Ikoko’s thoughts on Black joy in film and theater.
In South African literary news, The South African writes on the underappreciated Japanese anime scene in South Africa (have you heard of otaku? If you love Dragon Ball Z, you might be one) and South African poet and writer Lebohang Masango has partnered up with African broadcasting group Multichoice to celebrate 10,000 African stories from beloved storytellers across the continent. Two South African women contributed to the new book on the K-pop phenomenon BTS, titled I am ARMY.
For some thought-provoking reads, check out Tanzanian feminist writer Elsie Eyakuze on why data laws and fake news are the modern equivalent of book burning and this interview with The Vanishing Half author Brit Bennett on performing whiteness. Hear one reader’s experience with the Sealey Challenge, which involves reading poetry every day for the month of August – and mark your calendar for next year. If you love covers as much as I do, read this informative piece on trends in YA covers. And last but not least, read up (and aloud?) on the benefits of reading out loud, but then again…