We might have to “Beware The Ides of March”, but the book world welcomes all with wide open arms. Come for Benjamin Franklin, stay for the weird skeleton touching a poo. There’s something for everyone here.
Middle Grade Graphic Novels: Publishers have been retooling the old-school favorite middle grade books, like The Babysitters Club, Magic Treehouse, and Sweet Valley Twins, into graphic novels. These books are well suited for a modern adaptation because each are lengthy series and publishers can easily update them with a more modern feel–like using cell phones instead of landlines, creating diverse casts, and giving characters modern hairstyles that today’s readers will resonate with. Pardon me for needing to breathe into a bag when I realized that this generation doesn’t know what a landline phone looks like. At least they can now enjoy all of my childhood favorites without assuming they’re reading historical fiction.
Wildcat: Ethan and Maya Hawke teamed up to make a movie about Flannery O’Connor. Wildcat premieres in theaters on May 3. Blending a biographical account of her life with vivid representations of her most famous short stories, the Hawkes have sought to portray the artist through the lens of her art. Long considered one of the great American authors, O’Connor has become a lightning rod of sorts as modern readers have wrestled with an early twentieth century view of racism in her writing. While the film doesn’t shy away from this issue, it does focus on the contradiction of O’Connor’s devout Catholic faith and her darkly satirical style of writing. Flannery once said that, “Anyone who survives a southern childhood has enough material to last a lifetime.” Amen, Flannery, amen.
Caliban Shrieks: Twenty seven year old bartender, Jack Chadwick, happened upon an old copy of Caliban Shrieks in a library. The novel about a working class man going from childhood, to work in a factory, to being shuttled off to war was first published in 1935, but the publishing rights were thought to have long been lost. Chadwick was immediately captured by the novel and started researching the author, Jack Hilton. Not only did he find out more information, but he was able to track down, and acquire, the publishing rights. Chadwick has since convinced PRH to re-publish and re-release the old novel. Pretty impressive for a guy who originally thought the illustration on the cover “was a skeleton touching a poo.” (Once you see it, you can’t unsee it).
Underwood Underground: Brent Underwood, author of Ghost Town Living, took narrating his own audiobook to the next level, or rather, the lowest level. He recorded it 900 feet underground in an abandoned mine shaft. It was a hard sell to his publisher who wanted him to go the traditional route, in a recording studio with a producer. And running water. And electricity. But Underwood had different plans and ran electricity into the mine, packed his camping gear, and set up a makeshift recording studio in the mines that were the subject of his book. Underwood purchased the abandoned mining town of Cerro Gordo before the pandemic and has made it his home since 2020–with a mission to rehabilitate and bring it back to life. Mining his environment (see what I did there?) for inspiration is what he does–at least for content for his YouTube channel which has more than 1.5 million subscribers, his book deal with PRH, and now the audiobook. While I admire his pioneer spirit, I will not be following his example. My feet will remain on terra firma for all book inspiration. The Book Tide staunchly opposes spelunking, and all cave-adjacent activities.
On Ghostwriting: Liam Pieper, a celebrity ghostwriter and novelist in his own right, talked to The Guardian about his work. He elaborates on the odd nature of ghostwriting by sharing his experiences of having written a bestselling book and never being able to claim it, the deeply personal and incredibly short relationships formed with celebrities, and helping weed through a lifetime of stories to see which ones make the cut. This is a fascinating career requiring the utmost discretion and compassion, yet we rarely think of the cost to the ghostwriter. I will leave you with this little tidbit straight from his article: “My therapist suggested I have a tendency to over-narrativise my problems and that I should try to live in the moment more. They mentioned a book I should read, a very good book full of kindness and wisdom which has inspired many people to live more hopeful, generous lives. I wrote it a few years back.”
Jane Austen’s Wet Dress Shirt Contest: Calling all Pride and Prejudice fans, dust off your auction paddles and prepare to open your checkbook. The white dress shirt Colin Firth wore in the famous lake scene of the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice miniseries is headed to auction. The rest of the outfit comes with it, but nobody cares about the breeches or cravat. At the very least this is one great costume for your next literary masquerade ball. But be prepared to whack fellow bidders with your paddle if they raise theirs faster than you. Literary auction = contact sport.
Forgotten Scott: The BBC remembered the nineteenth century poet, author, and minister George MacDonald. MacDonald influenced some of the world’s greatest fantasy writers and though he was popular and influential, he never achieved wealth or good health during his lifetime. His works achieved a new popularity nearly seven decades after his death when they were reprinted in the 1970s and 80s. Mostly forgotten now, MacDonald’s influence rippled through generations with the impact he made on other notable writers–CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Madeleine L’Engle, and Lewis Carroll to name a few. CS Lewis said of him, “I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master; indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him." I was raised on the writing of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien and therefore, naturally, on the works of George MacDonald. With a family tree that claims the Scottish clan MacDonald, I think he is my many-greats-great grandfather. You can’t convince me otherwise. I die on this hill.
Puppy Reading Program: After the pro-cat TWIB of a few weeks back, you might be wondering if we have forgotten our other four footed companions. Never! Here is proof that just being in the presence of a puppy increases reading skills. A Delaware teacher partnered with a local animal rescue to create a puppy reading program for her first graders. The kids get to cuddle with puppies while they learn to read and the puppies get to be fostered by families while they are waiting to be adopted. Reading scores are up and puppies are finding homes. All is right with the world. These kids are learning early the wisdom of Groucho Marx: “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”
E-book Budgets: Libraries are struggling with the cost of e-books. The average library rate for an e-book lease is around $55 and expires after two years or 26 reads. Publishers on the other hand say this is a fair rate and the cost for e-books shouldn’t come at the expense of the author. But that doesn’t help the libraries or the library patrons who are often on long waiting lists with limited titles available. For example the Associated Press reported that “The modestly funded West Haven Library has spent more than $12,000 over the last three years to lease just 276 additional digital titles... Eighty-four of those books are no longer available. If that same amount had been spent on paper books, it would have covered about 800 titles.” It’s a sticky situation. Should publishers bend and negotiate a deal that would benefit libraries? Should libraries get better public funding? (I mean yes, obviously). Who should foot the bill for ebook lending? Particularly when paper books can be read hundreds or thousands of times without additional cost to the library. Same with CD audiobooks (assuming anyone has a CD player anymore). Are we going to see a Library+ program where patrons can stream all of their favorite ebooks and audiobooks for a small fee and a quick commercial break? Quick! Somebody get Gen Z in here to explain that physical books are the new hot thing.
Frieda’s On Fire: Freida McFadden the bestselling author of The Housemaid currently has three books on the New York Times bestseller list, another book out in October, and just announced a multi book deal with Sourcebooks:
Fiction: Thriller
NYT-bestselling author Freida McFadden's THE CRASH, THE TENANT, and THE INTRUDER, three new frontlist psychological thrillers, plus four backlist titles, to Jenna Jankowski at Sourcebooks, in a major deal, for seven figures, in an exclusive submission, in a multi-book deal, for publication in 2025, by Christina Hogrebe at Jane Rotrosen Agency (world English).
Plus McFadden is a mother and a practicing physician. How in the world does she do it? We’re pretty sure there’s some witchcraft involved here, but we don’t care–bring us all the thrillers. And well done, Freida!
A Great Improvisation: Pulitzer Prize winning author Stacy Schaffe’s history book A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America will now be made into a TV show. AppleTV released the trailer starring Michael Douglas. The book and show detail how America’s battle for independence hinged on the diplomatic efforts of a 70 year old Benjamin Franklin in France. Hmm, if a gout-ridden septuagenarian could secure democracy for the new world by being feted in France, sign me up. I might not fix democracy but I could weigh in on the book world. AI? Out. Jolabokaflod? In! Book bans? A thing of the past.
Calling All Cartographers: A new online resource for ancient maps has been released by Oculi Mundi, which means Eyes of the World. Ranging from the 13th to the 19th centuries, you can now view high resolution ancient maps from around the world. Need a map of French trade routes in 1686, a celestial map from 1822 China, or a map of Ireland from 1676? I sense historical novels will be leaning on this resource in the near future. You’re welcome.
Scam Books: NPR reported that author’s are beginning to push back on scam books being sold on Amazon. While scam books have been a problem for years, the advent of AI has made it even easier to steal sales and scam readers with fake books claiming to be from an established author. Amazon has instituted some changes over the last year, including limiting the number of books that can be published in a day and requiring self-published authors to list whether their book was helped along by AI. As Amazon profits on every sale, scam or no, I say this is too little too late and won’t do much against the onslaught of AI generated fraudulent books. It might be artificial, but–based on the quality of these books–isn’t all that intelligent.
Deep Dive: See below for all the extra deep cuts of this week’s book news.
Netflix releasing the science fiction mystery 3 Body Problem based on the book of the same name by Cixin Liu.
S&S’s live Author! Author! event celebrating their 100th anniversary
Nicholas Sparks on The Notebook heading to Broadway.
Al Pacino to publish a memoir, Sonny Boy
James Patterson’s new middle grade book The Time Travel Twins
Percival Everett’s retelling of Huck Finn in James.
Believe a book about the making of Ted Lasso.
New song from The Outsiders Broadway Musical has got us in all the feels.
Instagram of the Week: Jack Black is promoting literacy by telling us to turn on the subtitles. I for one wholeheartedly agree because as I age, I can’t hear the tv without also reading it.
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