Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
Florida Recommends Pride & Prejudice to Read about ‘American Pride.’
Florida, ground-zero for book-banning and censorship, continues to fumble the point of books and reading with its recent decision to include Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice in a list of recommended books for reading about ‘American Pride.” The Department of Education’s inclusion of Austen’s 1813 novel comes with no explanation, excuse, or apparently abashedness. About the only thing you can say for P&P’s relation to America is that it was published after the Declaration of Independence—that is the United States actually existed. I don’t think the U.S. is even mentioned in Pride & Prejudice. Is it possible that someone just saw the word “Pride” in the title and threw it in? And is this actually the explanation that makes the most sense, dumb as it is? I think so.
‘Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined’ Documentary Set to Air on PBS in September
There were of course authors missing on The New York Times‘s survey of the Best Books of the 21st Century that I would have loved to have seen there, but among the sorest omissions were the big three of Latina literature: Sandra Cisneros, Julia Alvarez, and Isabel Allende. This makes the news that PBS is releasing a documentary about Julia Alvarez this fall even more welcome. (If you don’t know the work of Julia Alvarez, do add How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents to your TBR). More like this, please.
Audible Rolls Out New Royalty Program
Here is one thing I know: Audible would not be doing this just to be cool. Some combination of pressure from creators (with Brandon Sanderson carrying the most recognizable banner) and competitive efforts from other retailers (Spotify from what I have heard is the one breathing down Audible’s neck) is the likely reason Audible is making writer-friendly changes to how it doles out the cash. We are in the realm of qualitative rather than quantitative description, so it’s hard to judge just how many more dollars will be flowing, but more is better. And if I am reading this right, folks who were part of the Audible’s Premium all-you-can-listen offering were not receiving royalties? Can that be right?
8 Page-Turning Books With Short Chapters To Keep You Hooked
I just blew through the strange, alluring The Coin by Yasmin Zaher, and one of the reasons was that the chapters (if you can even call them that?) were extremely short. I don’t know that this is a virtue of a good book so much as it is a characteristic of one that is easy to read. Still, it is its own kind of pleasure, and if you are looking for more books that get those pages turning, this list has some great ones.
