Book News

[Hanahope]

Author Anne Perry dies at age 84

 

[statsgirl]

On 4/4/2023 at 8:21 AM, krankydoodle said:

Amazon to close Book Depository online shop

The Book Depository was the best online book seller that I found and it's a real loss that Amazon is closing it down. It shipped where other English language book sellers would not ship, to Asia and all over the world, and it shipped for free.  It's where I got books that I couldn't get anywhere else, and if they didn't have it, they sent me to Abe books for it.

And when your parcel arrived in the mail, tucked into the books would be wonderfully original book marks, topics changed regularly.

It's a real loss. <off to send in just one more final order>

[GHScorpiosRule]

I was waiting for this and now Nora Roberts' books have been banned in Florida.

Not sure if this is behind a paywall or not. If it is, I'll copy and past the whole article.

Florida Book Ban Targets Nora Roberts

Frankly, I was expecting Divine Evil to be one of the ones banned. As well as Sweet Revenge. Assuming they are/were also in the school libraries.

But nope. It's the Dream Trilogy and Bride Quartet. The article didn't specify which "futuristic" book that didn't have a Happy Ever After was also banned.

I absolutely love Nora's responses.

[Bethany]

@GHScorpiosRuleThis is insane!  Have they gone after The Canterbury Tales or Shakespeare yet?  Probably those are too hard for them to read.

Edited April 28, 2023 by Elizabeth Anne

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 minutes ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

@GHScorpiosRuleThis is insane!  Have they gone after The Canterbury Tales or Shakespeare yet?  Probably those are too hard for them to read.

It's Florida. And I was just waiting to read that Nora's books were next.

While the point of those two series' isn't a marriage proposal and marriage, but about friendships, life-long friendships, I love how Nora responds how can the "Moms of Liberty" object to them when the stories end with a marriage proposal? Even if there are love/sex scenes, the way Nora writes them IS NOT pornography. 

And I love how she says "good luck with that" that these kids won't find a way to read these books. But more importantly, she has said, like Blume, and in Blume's documentary, where a 10? or was it a 12 year-old? said that the parents of said children can forbid their own child from reading whatever, but these parents/adults don't have a right to tell OTHER children, not their own, what they can or cannot read.

[andromeda331]

16 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I was waiting for this and now Nora Roberts' books have been banned in Florida.

Not sure if this is behind a paywall or not. If it is, I'll copy and past the whole article.

Florida Book Ban Targets Nora Roberts

Frankly, I was expecting Divine Evil to be one of the ones banned. As well as Sweet Revenge. Assuming they are/were also in the school libraries.

But nope. It's the Dream Trilogy and Bride Quartet. The article didn't specify which "futuristic" book that didn't have a Happy Ever After was also banned.

I absolutely love Nora's responses.

I'm surprised it wasn't Divine Evil either.

16 hours ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

@GHScorpiosRuleThis is insane!  Have they gone after The Canterbury Tales or Shakespeare yet?  Probably those are too hard for them to read.

Yeah, but it's not like they've read the books their banning anyways. MacBeth will probably be banned you have witches and a woman "forces" her husband to commit murder. Another one has a wizard. Romeo and Juliet's probably safe since it has two teens who disobey their parents' committing suicide and Othello's safe too. 

16 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

It's Florida. And I was just waiting to read that Nora's books were next.

While the point of those two series' isn't a marriage proposal and marriage, but about friendships, life-long friendships, I love how Nora responds how can the "Moms of Liberty" object to them when the stories end with a marriage proposal? Even if there are love/sex scenes, the way Nora writes them IS NOT pornography. 

And I love how she says "good luck with that" that these kids won't find a way to read these books. But more importantly, she has said, like Blume, and in Blume's documentary, where a 10? or was it a 12 year-old? said that the parents of said children can forbid their own child from reading whatever, but these parents/adults don't have a right to tell OTHER children, not their own, what they can or cannot read.

She's right about that. I managed to read books that my parents' never would want to read at twelve and that was before the internet. Kids today have it easy with Amazon and downloading books.  

 

[Browncoat]

4 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Othello's safe too. 

Nah, it has the whole interracial thing going, y'know.  

Groups like Moms for "Liberty" are so hypocritical.  Liberty for whom?  

[Spartan Girl]

On 4/29/2023 at 6:39 AM, Browncoat said:

Nah, it has the whole interracial thing going, y'know.  

Groups like Moms for "Liberty" are so hypocritical.  Liberty for whom?  

They’re the same as those “Million Moms” group that got the last Muppets sitcom on ABC cancelled because the Muppets were “too adult.” Ugh, I have never forgiven them or ABC for that.

Stop trying to get books banned and get a life, you miserable bunch of know-nothing Karens!

Edited May 1, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[WendyCR72]

On 3/12/2023 at 6:12 PM, PRgal said:

Regarding rewrites:  Are You There God, it's me, Margaret? was updated in the late 90s - in that edition, Margaret uses disposable pads (I had heard about it, but had to look it up to see if it was true).  I guess the difference here is that Judy Blume did it herself.  

This is an older post I am replying to, but hey...

I read the purple cover edition with blonde Margaret, around '83, when I was 11. And, yeah, when I read it, I recall reading about putting on a belt and such. I remember being a bit confused. So I asked my mom, and was my little mind blown when I discovered pads were not always sticky and disposable! LOL!

I guess the belt reference would be hopelessly outdated now, so an update like that, I get!

[PRgal]

7 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

This is an older post I am replying to, but hey...

I read the purple cover edition with blonde Margaret, around '83, when I was 11. And, yeah, when I read it, I recall reading about putting on a belt and such. I remember being a bit confused. So I asked my mom, and was my little mind blown when I discovered pads were not always sticky and disposable! LOL!

I guess the belt reference would be hopelessly outdated now, so an update like that, I get!

Heh...my mom got me a book about puberty when I was around 10 and the book showed different things women used during their periods.  You'd think that it would just be tampons and pads, but there was also a picture of a belt thingie.  I got the book around '89 or so.  Don't know when the book was published, but that's the only reason why I knew about belts.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 4/29/2023 at 6:44 AM, Spartan Girl said:

They’re the same as those “Million Moms” group that got the last Muppets sitcom on ABC cancelled because the Muppets were “too adult.” Ugh, I have never forgiven them or ABC for that.

Stop to get books banned and get a life, you miserable bunch of know-nothing Karens!

I wish I could link it here, but on Nora's FB page was an interview with Nora over the weekend, where she speaks out again, and says that NONE of the books banned "are pornographic" and I agree. They showed the eighth book, and I have to call foul on The Washington Post article stating that the "futuristic" one didn't have a marriage proposal. The hell it didn't! It was Remember When. The first half takes place in 2003, and the second half picks up whatever happened to the missing diamonds in an In Death. Max most definitely proposed to Elaine! And the mystery picks up when their granddaughter, Samantha decides to write a novel about the robbery and heist, 56 years later and both of them are still alive.

AHEM.

Nora is a very private person, but libraries and book banning are two things that are very important to her and so I'm not surprised she agreed to an on-air interview, even though they only aired like 10 seconds, if that. The interview also included Jodi Piccoult.

17 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

This is an older post I am replying to, but hey...

I read the purple cover edition with blonde Margaret, around '83, when I was 11. And, yeah, when I read it, I recall reading about putting on a belt and such. I remember being a bit confused. So I asked my mom, and was my little mind blown when I discovered pads were not always sticky and disposable! LOL!

I guess the belt reference would be hopelessly outdated now, so an update like that, I get!

Same.

But I have to disagree with changing it, no matter how outdated. The book was written when those belts were used! It should have stayed in, and not been changed.

[WendyCR72]

2 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Same.

But I have to disagree with changing it, no matter how outdated. The book was written when those belts were used! It should have stayed in, and not been changed.

I get your point.

But I guess some think potential readers will not touch "old" books unless they remain current. Is it wrong? Possibly.

But in the end, publishers are about money over artistic integrity or whatever. So if the author doesn't feel it will affect the overall story yet still keep things current enough to garner new interest, I can understand why the practice is done, even if I don't necessarily agree with it.

(Hell, even Harlequin books do this. When I need to turn off my brain, I will sometimes reach for one of my old Temptation series books. One of them, I decided to buy the Kindle version to take on the go. In the e-version, the heroine's birth date was changed, as were musical artists referenced to keep the book current. Some spots also added in cell phone references and such.)

By the way? The original print version was in 1995, so it was not even that old. The flip cell phones with the long antennas were in vogue then, but I guess still not pervasive enough to make it into the book. I guess it makes sense, since cell phone use in that era was likely still niche, not widespread as it became once the iPhone burst on to the scene.

In the end, however, I guess keeping things up with the times is now a component of the writing business, emphasis on "business".

[proserpina65]

“Let’s just put the bar really, really low. Books that don’t have incest, pedophilia, rape.”

So no George R.R. Martin, then.

In all seriousness, this one sentence would eliminate any young adult books dealing with these subjects in ways which address the trauma of such experiences and recovery from them.  Something that some kids very much need to read about.

Ugh.

[GHScorpiosRule]

And Nora was on CNN last night.

Nora Interview.

All I can say is: GO NORA! 👏🙌🙌🙌🙌
 

Hope the link works. Copied it from Nora’s FB page. I tried searching on CNN’s site, but got nuttin’😒
 

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by GHScorpiosRule

[andromeda331]

She's right. The very, very few are making decisions for everyone. If they don't want their kids reading them then fine. But they want to make that way for everyone. Clearly they never even read her work. There's nothing porn or anything else but as Nora points out consenting adults who have sex, fall in love and decided to get married. Things that you'd think Moms Liberty would be happy about. But consent is probably what trips them up. Well, that and premartial sex. Also what porn have they seen if they think that's porn?

I read VC Andrews as a teen and still re-read them as adults. Despite their fame for incest. That's not why I love Flowers in the Attic, My Sweet Audrina and the Casteel series. I was hooked reading the horrible things that happened to the Dollenganger, Casteel and Audrina went through. They went through serious family shit. The shock from realizing that Corrine was the one who killed Cory and tried to kill the rest of them was a really great twist. I loved Cathy taking down Corrine. I wanted Heaven to be a success and happy. I may have rooted for her and Troy because he was the only one who treated her well. I wanted Audrina to leave her father and Arden behind. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

10 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Clearly they never even read her work. There's nothing porn or anything else but as Nora points out consenting adults who have sex, fall in love and decided to get married. Things that you'd think Moms Liberty would be happy about. But consent is probably what trips them up. Well, that and premartial sex.

The irony is, that these "Moms" never specifically said what they thought was pornographic in those 8 Nora books. Just a general sweeping statement.

Clearly, all fiction should also be banned--because those, and murder mysteries, even political thrillers, have murder, murderers who are also pedophiles, rapists, and indulge in porn. JEEBUS CRIPES.

I forgot to quote what Nora said in the original article when the asked what she was doing, and she said she was working on her next book that they would ban or something like that. You do NOT want to get in Nora's crosshairs.

Me? This is me as all of this continues to implode:

 

I mean, this is the author, when she found out that Ireland was going to put a crossway or some kind of road in Ardmore, Ireland, protested, and the government nixed it and didn't ruin the village and tourist spot there.

[statsgirl]

If they're going to ban books and restrict people from what they can read, maybe don't call themselves "Moms of Liberty".

On 5/1/2023 at 1:49 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

But I have to disagree with changing it, no matter how outdated. The book was written when those belts were used! It should have stayed in, and not been changed.

I agree, I think that it's underestimating people to think that books have to be updated to present time or people won't be interested in them.  Some of "Margaret" is universal but some is particular to the time period and I think that's important to keep. (I not only remember belts, when I was in Soviet Europe, there wasn't even that, just rolls of cotton put into a thong-like holder.)  Show people the challenges of yesteryear so they appreciate what they can do themselves.

As a teenager, I loved books by P.W, Woodhouse or the adventures of The Saint. When something is racist of hurts a group of people, then yes, I agree with changing before a reissue. Otherwise just add a glossary to the books.

[Bethany]

Another day, another banning and with the usual (definitely unintended) benefit:

Amanda Gorman's Book Sales Soar Amid Florida Bans Of Her Work

[andromeda331]

On 6/3/2023 at 5:12 PM, Bethany said:

Another day, another banning and with the usual (definitely unintended) benefit:

Amanda Gorman's Book Sales Soar Amid Florida Bans Of Her Work

Do these idiots realize they are the reason the book sales are soaring? 

[isalicat]

The banning, so stupid. The poetry, IMO, not so great.

[Laura Holt]

Shakespeare and penguin book get caught in Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' laws

[Spartan Girl]

On 8/8/2023 at 8:19 PM, Laura Holt said:

Shakespeare and penguin book get caught in Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' laws

There are not enough WTFs or JFCs to convey how I feel.

So I’m not sure if this is book news per se, but Madeline Miller has long COVID. And this is why I’m still wearing a mask.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[JustHereForFood]

On 8/9/2023 at 2:19 AM, Laura Holt said:

Shakespeare and penguin book get caught in Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' laws

On that note...

[Laura Holt]

Another day another book banning, Florida School District bans a Steve Martin book

[Annber03]

Wow, Florida must've managed to solve all the actual serious problems facing the people of their state, if they can spend their time on stupid things like this. 

Can this madness stop already? 

[JustHereForFood]

So I learned that The House in the Cerulean Sea will get a sequel in September. I would be fine with it being a stand-alone book, but I am also now looking forward to this sequel.

But considering I have found out by randomly looking into the author's books at Goodreads, it makes me think: do you know any good website for book news and upcoming releases? When it comes to books that I know are part of the series, I can keep track of what I am looking forward to, but if something supposedly stand-alone gets a sequel, I don't really know how to find out about it other than having luck or regularly checking every author's website.

(Please don't suggest social media though, especially "Booktok", I would rather not know anything than support fucking Tiktok.)

 

[Ohiopirate02]

On 4/16/2024 at 11:18 AM, JustHereForFood said:

So I learned that The House in the Cerulean Sea will get a sequel in September. I would be fine with it being a stand-alone book, but I am also now looking forward to this sequel.

But considering I have found out by randomly looking into the author's books at Goodreads, it makes me think: do you know any good website for book news and upcoming releases? When it comes to books that I know are part of the series, I can keep track of what I am looking forward to, but if something supposedly stand-alone gets a sequel, I don't really know how to find out about it other than having luck or regularly checking every author's website.

(Please don't suggest social media though, especially "Booktok", I would rather not know anything than support fucking Tiktok.)

 

There is a British website called Fantastic Fiction that compiles a lot of series and includes upcoming books, but the release dates are for the UK. Depending on what kind of books you are interested in, there's sites like The Millions that does book previews for each quarter.  There are also some publishing imprints that will email upcoming books.  Author website, newsletter, or social media accounts is really the best way to keep up with new releases.  Each author is different in how they inform their readers of upcoming books.  

[blackwing]

On 4/16/2024 at 10:18 AM, JustHereForFood said:

So I learned that The House in the Cerulean Sea will get a sequel in September. I would be fine with it being a stand-alone book, but I am also now looking forward to this sequel.

But considering I have found out by randomly looking into the author's books at Goodreads, it makes me think: do you know any good website for book news and upcoming releases? When it comes to books that I know are part of the series, I can keep track of what I am looking forward to, but if something supposedly stand-alone gets a sequel, I don't really know how to find out about it other than having luck or regularly checking every author's website.

(Please don't suggest social media though, especially "Booktok", I would rather not know anything than support fucking Tiktok.)

 

My public library gets a free monthly publication called Book Page and has these available for patrons.  It's like a printed digest, about the size of an extra large magazine.  It has a lot of reviews of new and upcoming books and separate sections for each category of book.  Maybe there is an online version?

My library also prepares its own "new and upcoming releases" pamphlets for several months in advance and makes these available to patrons at the circulation desk.

[babyhouseman]

I get BookPage from Booksamillion. It's free, and I find it helpful. 

[Spartan Girl]

Well, when Songbirds and Snakes came out and everyone was pissed about it being Snow, they all said we’d rather have a Haymitch book. And now we’re getting one!

[scarynikki12]

He’ll yeah!

[proserpina65]

4 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Well, when Songbirds and Snakes came out and everyone was pissed about it being Snow, they all said we’d rather have a Haymitch book. And now we’re getting one!

Now this one I might actually read.  I had no interest in Snow's backstory, but I really did want to know more about Haymitch before he became what we had in the original trilogy.

[MadyGirl1987]

So excited! Can't wait.

[Dimity]

Not exactly news but wasn't sure where else to put this - I was googling for information about the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and came across articles about it being banned in various places at various times.  Which came as no surprise.  But what did surprise me was one of the reasons given for why some wanted it banned was because there was witchcraft and satanism in the book.

What?

I've read that book many times, although not recently, and I can't for the life of me think of examples of "witchcraft and satanism".  Does anyone have any idea what this is about?  

(Mods: if this is in the wrong place please move)

[Lisa418722]

3 hours ago, Dimity said:

Not exactly news but wasn't sure where else to put this - I was googling for information about the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and came across articles about it being banned in various places at various times.  Which came as no surprise.  But what did surprise me was one of the reasons given for why some wanted it banned was because there was witchcraft and satanism in the book.

What?

I've read that book many times, although not recently, and I can't for the life of me think of examples of "witchcraft and satanism".  Does anyone have any idea what this is about?  

(Mods: if this is in the wrong place please move)

I could be mistaken, but the only thing I can think of is when Frannie was just a few weeks old Katie's milk dried up and she thought it was a neighbor that put a hex on her. Instead, Katie was pregnant with Neeley.  Other than that, I don't see any "witchcraft or satanism" in the book.  

 

[Dimity]

1 hour ago, Lisa418722 said:

I could be mistaken, but the only thing I can think of is when Frannie was just a few weeks old Katie's milk dried up and she thought it was a neighbor that put a hex on her. Instead, Katie was pregnant with Neeley.  Other than that, I don't see any "witchcraft or satanism" in the book.  

You've jogged my memory and I do recall that but honestly is this enough to have a book branded as bannable because of "witchcraft or satanism".  Good grief to quote Charlie Brown!

[Annber03]

Knowing how people who try to ban books for those kinds of absurd reasons tend to be, I'm going to take a wild guess they've not even read the book. They just heard some BS about some supposed witchcraft or Satanic stuff in it, or heard about some kind of fanciful, silly event l(like the hex), and because they lack any sort of imaginative thought whatsoever, take those kinds of moments literally. Hence, the ridiculous accusations. 

In short, people like  that have WAY too much time on their hands. 

Edited July 27 by Annber03

[Dimity]

It's Banned Book Week and a lot of public libraries are sharing the titles of their favourite banned or challenged books.  Most of them I can see at least why someone out there would challenge them even if I don't agree, but one gave me pause.  Robert Munsch's Paperbag Princess.  So someone objected to her NOT marrying the prince or something, I guess.  Wow.

[sugarbaker design]

On 9/26/2024 at 5:17 PM, Dimity said:

So someone objected to her NOT marrying the prince or something, I guess.  Wow.

How dare she not choose marriage!  That's who the book banners are.  Unbelievable.

[Haleth]

On 9/26/2024 at 5:17 PM, Dimity said:

It's Banned Book Week and a lot of public libraries are sharing the titles of their favourite banned or challenged books.  Most of them I can see at least why someone out there would challenge them even if I don't agree, but one gave me pause.  Robert Munsch's Paperbag Princess.  So someone objected to her NOT marrying the prince or something, I guess.  Wow.

Seriously?  A friend gave my daughter this book when she was 6 or so.  I loved it!  The princess goes about to save herself from the dragon after the shallow prince abandons her because she lost all her finery.  It's such a great lesson for little girls to be proactive!  I can't wait to gift it to my granddaughter.  (She's only 7 weeks old so I'll wait a bit. 😄 )

[andromeda331]

On 9/26/2024 at 3:17 PM, Dimity said:

It's Banned Book Week and a lot of public libraries are sharing the titles of their favourite banned or challenged books.  Most of them I can see at least why someone out there would challenge them even if I don't agree, but one gave me pause.  Robert Munsch's Paperbag Princess.  So someone objected to her NOT marrying the prince or something, I guess.  Wow.

That stinks. That's half the fun of reading is when authors take a popular type of story and do something different with it.