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News, Notes, Talk

Here are some book memes created by an AI meme generator.

The best thing I saw on Twitter yesterday had absolutely nothing to do with Sally Rooney; it was the delightfully bonkers AI meme generator. After nearly an hour spent in a cycle of refresh, cackle, and repeat, I’m more than Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

Now you can use your favorite indie bookstore as your Zoom background.

Wish you could visit your favorite indie bookstore right now? For the next best thing (sort of), Lookout Books has partnered with a handful of beloved indie bookstores to bring you, Zoom users (as we all are now), free virtual Read more >

By Julia Hass

Even our UFO content is relevant in 2020.

Before we lose our minds over the (exhilarating) mic drop yesterday by the Pentagon confirming that, yes, those images of unidentified aerial phenomena taken by Navy pilots and posted by former Blink-182 frontman and UFO enthusiast Tom DeLonge were, in fact, Read more >

By Aaron Robertson

An Alaska school board's plan to take classics off the curriculum backfired (to say the least).

There’s nothing like banning a book to make it seem cool. The Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Borough School Board, which is based in Palmer, Alaska and whose district comprises more than 19,000 students, voted to take five novels off the high school Read more >

By Corinne Segal

Turns out men give up on books they don't like way more easily than women do.

According to a recent study of ebook usage in the UK, conducted by the Audience Agency, men are likely to give up reading a book before page 50, while women more often make it to page 100 (at least). That Read more >

By Emily Temple

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Discworld adaptation.">Get ready for an "absolutely faithful" Discworld adaptation.

Fun Fact: I once interviewed Terry Pratchett, the patron saint of irreverent fantasy, who died in 2015, for my college newspaper back in Dublin when he visited the campus to receive an honorary degree some ten years ago. On the Discworld adaptation.">Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

20 brand-new books hitting shelves today.

The days in quarantine would all blend together if it weren’t for Tuesday, which is the day new books hit the (now metaphorical) shelves. Here are a few of the titles dropping today. You can get them from your local Read more >

By Katie Yee

Patrick Ness and Luca Guadagnino are adapting Lord of the Flies for the big screen.

Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy. Duct tape your glasses and dust off your conches because after a 30-year absence, Ralph, Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Please enjoy some oddly soothing computer-generated jokes.

I have a low-grade obsession with the project of teaching computers how to joke. I assume it has something to do with my poetry education, which gave me both a greater appreciation of humor (and the many ways in which Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

Bookshop hits $1 million raised for independent bookstores.

It’s hard to believe that Bookshop, the online retailer that shares a percentage of each purchase with independent bookstores, a platform that today officially reached an incredible milestone—$1 million raised to support struggling booksellers all across the country—was supposed to be Read more >

By Aaron Robertson

Fun fact: Evelyn Waugh's first wife was also named Evelyn.

Yes, it’s true: the British author Evelyn Waugh’s first wife was also named Evelyn. (Evelyn Florence Margaret Winifred Gardner, to be precise.) But as you might imagine, if you know anything about the Taylor Swift-Taylor Lautner debacle of 2009, things Read more >

By Olivia Rutigliano

A federal court ruling enshrines the constitutional right to literacy in four states.

It’s a big week for literacy advocates all around the country in light of a federal appeals court ruling that enshrines the constitutional right “to a basic minimum education.” The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals handed its precedent-making decision Read more >

By Aaron Robertson

The New York Public Library might quarantine books to keep COVID-19 from spreading.

Quarantine: not just a thing for humans and those tigers at the Bronx Zoo. It turns out the New York Public Library may choose to quarantine its books between borrowers to make sure they’re not transmitting COVID-19, New York Public Read more >

By Corinne Segal

When Albert Camus was sick, his buddies set the gold standard for socially distant friendship.

As people around the world revisit classic examples of “lockdown literature” and writing about plagues, including, most obviously, Albert Camus’ 1947 novel, it’s worth remembering that even during protracted periods of global uncertainty and pain, people like Camus were just, well, Read more >

By Aaron Robertson

Vladimir Nabokov on the "great books" of the 20th century and other detestable things.

121 years ago today, Vladimir Nabokov was born in Saint Petersburg. Some time later, he became one of the best—and most opinionated—writers of the 20th century. So to celebrate his birthday, I thought it might be time to revisit this Read more >

By Emily Temple

For Earth Day, join a reading and discussion with US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.

Whether or not you live in a place where you can safely be outside for Earth Day, you can celebrate it with US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, who will hold a live-streamed reading and discussion tonight at 8:30 pm ET. Read more >

By Corinne Segal

Here's the shortlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction.

The Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize) shortlist has just been announced with a special video announcement on Twitter. The Women’s Prize is presented annually to a female author for the best original full-length novel written in English and Read more >

By Katie Yee

Watch some free Shakespeare performances, courtesy of the Globe Theatre.

If you’ve reached the point in your stay-at-home life where re-watching every season of The Real Housewives of New York (it’s just an example, okay?) feels more like a punishment than a treat, perhaps it’s time to stream something a bit more Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

Small Press Distribution is asking for $100,000 to cover coronavirus-related losses.

Small Press Distribution, which has brought titles from hundreds of independent publishers to readers for more than 50 years, is in urgent need of financial help to keep from folding. A GoFundMe campaign is aiming to raise $100,000 to cover Read more >

By Corinne Segal

20 brand-new books hitting shelves today.

The days in quarantine would all blend together if it weren’t for TUESDAY, which is the day new books hit the (now metaphorical) shelves. Here are a few of the titles dropping today. Get stoked, get them from your local Read more >

By Katie Yee