Book News

[krankydoodle]

Penguin Random House To Buy Simon & Schuster

Quote

This new acquisition would create the first megapublisher in Penguin Random House and has begun to raise concerns related to anti-trust laws. Penguin Random House is the largest publishing company in the US, while Simon & Schuster is the third, and this acquisition means an even larger footprint for the new owner. The acquisition would mean Penguin Random House owns roughly 30% of the publishing business.

Hmm. Also, I didn't realize that Rupert Murdoch owns Harper so ugh to that too.

[GaT]

I don't know that this counts as "news" so much, but I've noticed that there seem to be a lot of books (at least ones that I want to read) that have delayed their release dates. I just updated my list of books I want with a whole bunch of new release dates, three in June alone. I'm assuming that it has to do with covid, but I don't know for sure, but it makes me sad. All the books I thought I would have soon won't be released for months, some not until 2022. Has anybody else noticed this?

[Black Knight]

On 5/29/2021 at 11:37 PM, GaT said:

Has anybody else noticed this?

Yes, I have too. These delays started last year, and are definitely COVID related. Most of it are supply chain issues and part of it is wanting to wait until authors can do promotional turns in person.

[Spartan Girl]

Octavia Butler’s Kindred is going to be a miniseries!

Woo-hoo!!!! And I want to add: IT IS ABOUT FREAKING TIME,

[SusanM]

Sales soar for Maus after school district in U.S. banned the Holocaust graphic novel

Even though I have worked in public libraries I admit I'd never heard of this title until this most recent story about it being banned.  Sometimes I would think an author must pray for their book to be banned as it almost inevitably leads to a spike in sales!

[Spartan Girl]

4 hours ago, SusannahM said:

Sales soar for Maus after school district in U.S. banned the Holocaust graphic novel

Even though I have worked in public libraries I admit I'd never heard of this title until this most recent story about it being banned.  Sometimes I would think an author must pray for their book to be banned as it almost inevitably leads to a spike in sales!

Gee, who didn’t see that coming? You’d think these idiots would know better by now: banning books only makes people, especially kids, want to read them more.

Also, the only people who want to ban books about the Holocaust are Nazis. We all know the “nudity and bad language” excuse is bull.

[SusanM]

Just now, Spartan Girl said:

We all know the “nudity and bad language” excuse is bull.

If this has been on the shelves in an elementary school or part of the curriculum in, say, grade 5 I could understand reconsidering it.  But it wasn't.  This was grade 8.  Do these people genuinely think at 13 a naked mouse woman and a few profanities will be shocking?  More shocking than learning about the holocaust?  

[Spartan Girl]

We had to watch ACTUAL FOOTAGE depicting the camps, emaciated corpses and all. Compared to that, a graphic novel with mice is nothing.

Come on, most of these 8th graders have probably all watched Game of Thrones on the internet behind their parents’ backs. 

Edited January 29, 2022 by Spartan Girl

[Haleth]

I read of a group of middle schoolers who have started a banned book club in PA.  (Unfortunately you have to subscribe to the newspaper to get the whole article but here is an excerpt.)  I hope more kids rebel this way.  Nothing makes teenagers want to do something more than being told they can't.  I love that a locally owned bookstore is providing them with the space to hold their meetings.

Edited January 30, 2022 by Haleth

[Blergh]

18 hours ago, SusannahM said:

If this has been on the shelves in an elementary school or part of the curriculum in, say, grade 5 I could understand reconsidering it.  But it wasn't.  This was grade 8.  Do these people genuinely think at 13 a naked mouse woman and a few profanities will be shocking?  More shocking than learning about the holocaust?  

It reminds me of some early 20th century US Southern matrons who attempted to get the stage play Uncle Tom's Cabin banned from being performed on the alleged grounds that it was supposedly upsetting to children to see cruelty depicted onstage. Ida Wells nailed them  by pointing out that seeing a stage version of that would have been FAR less traumatic than seeing REAL LIFE lynchings (which, at that time, happened rather frequently and even publicly). I wonder how many of those Southern matrons might have  eagerly sewn Klan robes or even taken their families to picnics to witness said lynchings?

[dubbel zout]

You don't want to read that book? Your prerogative. Don't read it. I don't care. But don't restrict my access. 

[BlackberryJam]

10 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

You don't want to read that book? Your prerogative. Don't read it. I don't care. But don't restrict my access. 

People who ban books seem to be the ones always complaining about cancel culture. 

Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord.

 

Edited January 31, 2022 by BlackberryJam
A better quote.

[Ohiopirate02]

On 1/29/2022 at 3:35 PM, SusannahM said:

If this has been on the shelves in an elementary school or part of the curriculum in, say, grade 5 I could understand reconsidering it.  But it wasn't.  This was grade 8.  Do these people genuinely think at 13 a naked mouse woman and a few profanities will be shocking?  More shocking than learning about the holocaust?  

I have been reading a lot online about this, and a couple of points have stood out to explain why schools are banning certain books.  One is the centering of whiteness in the stories they want their kids to read.  The other is wanting a happy ending to stories of struggle whenever possible.  So Maus is out due to it being written by a Jew and dark.  School boards prefer books that promote the idea of the "good gentile" or the "good German."  The only Jewish voice they will allow is Anne Frank.  Schools will push for their teachers to use "safer" works like John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas or Lois Lowry's Number the Stars or Corrie ten Boom's The Hiding Place.  

This is also why schools still teach To Kill a Mockingbird in the 21st century instead of more recent books written by POC that tackle the same issues.  The local school board when I live just voted to pull Jason Reynolds All American Boys from the required reading at a local middle school.  Heaven forbid the precious eight graders read a book with profanity and potentially make the white kids feel bad.  These were the reasons given by the parents who objected.  

[peacheslatour]

Same with CRT. It's really only ever taught in college law classes. Spilling over a bit into Women's Studies. People are acting like it's being taught to tiny children and middle school students when is it most assuredly not being taught to to those groups.

 As of 2002, over 20 American law schools and at least three non-American law schools offered critical race theory courses or classes.Critical race theory is also applied in the fields of education, political science, women's studies, ethnic studies, communication, sociology, and American studies. Other movements developed that apply critical race theory to specific groups. These include the Latino-critical (LatCrit), queer-critical, and Asian-critical movements. These continued to engage with the main body of critical theory research, over time developing independent priorities and research methods. CRT has also been taught internationally, including in the United Kingdom and Australia.

[dubbel zout]

There was a news segment on NBC Nightly News about the book banning in Katy, Texas. When the reporter asked a woman if it was a coincidence more than half of the banned books had LGBTQ content, the woman said no. When the reporter asked why, the woman said people should read the books. I was so bummed the reporter didn't ask how people could read the books if they were banned. Or if the reporter did, we didn't see the answer.

[Ohiopirate02]

26 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

There was a news segment on NBC Nightly News about the book banning in Katy, Texas. When the reporter asked a woman if it was a coincidence more than half of the banned books had LGBTQ content, the woman said no. When the reporter asked why, the woman said people should read the books. I was so bummed the reporter didn't ask how people could read the books if they were banned. Or if the reporter did, we didn't see the answer.

It's not like these parents are reading the books in question.  They hear online about these big bad LGBTQ books with "pornographic" content, and they complain.  And to some, a book just having a non-straight character makes the book obscene.   

Also, they just want these books out of school libraries, so an adult could get them from the local public library (for now) or buy them.  NBC has an article online that lists the top 50 banned books in Texas schools.  I spent part of my day today making sure my library has all of the books in our collection.  We have all of them in some form.  In my professional opinion,  all but one of them are appropriate for middle or high school libraries.  

[dubbel zout]

1 hour ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Also, they just want these books out of school libraries, so an adult could get them from the local public library (for now) or buy them. 

Oh, I know, but I wanted to see that sanctimonious loser squirm. If it's a public school, can books legally be banned? Doesn't that infringe upon the free exchange of ideas, not to mention free speech? I'm surprised the ACLU hasn't jumped in here.

Seems to me this could be solved by having parents sign permission slips for what their kids can and can't check out from the school library. Is that too easy and/or logical?

[Ohiopirate02]

11 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

Oh, I know, but I wanted to see that sanctimonious loser squirm. If it's a public school, can books legally be banned? Doesn't that infringe upon the free exchange of ideas, not to mention free speech? I'm surprised the ACLU hasn't jumped in here.

Seems to me this could be solved by having parents sign permission slips for what their kids can and can't check out from the school library. Is that too easy and/or logical?

School libraries or media centers are a different breed than public libraries.  In theory, they would be stocked with the books necessary to compliment what is being taught in the school and they would reflect the student body.  I work in a public library, and our collection policies are focused on creating a collection that has the books and other materials needed by our specific community.  There are always going to be books we do not order because they do not fit our collection.  Space and budgets are not infinite.  So we use the resources at our disposal to make the necessary decisions when ordering.  I noticed the list NBC put together of the top 50 books being challenged in Texas, and whoever wrote that list was thorough enough to give examples as to why the school librarian would select that particular book.  Seriously, whoever is working on this story has done the reading and understands the ethics.  All but one of the books on the list were deemed worthy to be in the school library by professionals using their expertise.  The one book that I would pull in my professional capacity is an adult romantic fantasy that was marketed as Young Adult.  I see how it made its way into school libraries.

Permission slips are not feasible.  Each parent would have their own ideas as to what books their children are reading and the already overworked library staff would have to sort out which books each kid is allowed to check out.  Also, the objectionable books would have to be shelved separately which would result in either all the kid wanting to read the restricted books or make them hidden from the kids.  There's also the fact that some kids need these books and cannot talk to their parents about them.  The school library is the only place where they can get access and read the books at school.  Shoot, one of the books on the list is a book talking about bodies and puberty.  

Here's the list I a referring to

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-library-books-banned-schools-rcna12986

[dubbel zout]

Thank you, @Ohiopirate02. That's a very interesting and useful post. 

I didn't take into consideration that parents saying their kids couldn't read certain books would mean they couldn't read books that might really help a kid in a particular situation, e.g., needing info about being nonbinary. That's an excellent point that the school library might be the only place they could find something that might help.

Ugh, just let your kids read what they want. Keep an eye on things, but restricting access just makes things that much more alluring. And really, if a parent is scared that one book will completely up-end a kid's beliefs, they need to think about what that belief is in the first place.

[Tom Holmberg]

1 hour ago, dubbel zout said:

Ugh, just let your kids read what they want. Keep an eye on things, but restricting access just makes things that much more alluring.

This whole issue really has nothing to do with the books, its creating a "moral panic" prior to the 2023 elections to use the "culture wars" to get right-wing voters out and elect right-wing candidates.  Prior to every election some such issue is created, be it gay marriage, immigrant caravans, Hugo Chavez, frivolous lawsuits, cancel culture, Dr. Seuss or "dirty books."

Edited February 2, 2022 by Tom Holmberg

[dubbel zout]

Yeah, there's always some sort of scare topic to get people riled up.

[Tom Holmberg]

44 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

Yeah, there's always some sort of scare topic to get people riled up.

And they all generally disappear after the election.

[proserpina65]

On 1/29/2022 at 11:00 AM, SusannahM said:

Sales soar for Maus after school district in U.S. banned the Holocaust graphic novel

Even though I have worked in public libraries I admit I'd never heard of this title until this most recent story about it being banned.  Sometimes I would think an author must pray for their book to be banned as it almost inevitably leads to a spike in sales!

Maus got a lot of attention when it first came out.  It ended up on a lot of critics' best books lists, and deservedly so.  It should not only not be banned, it should be required reading in middle school.

18 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

If it's a public school, can books legally be banned?

Absolutely, but in most jurisdictions there's a process for objecting to a book, not just banning it outright.  Many places in Texas (including Katy) have such policies but the local councils don't much care about following them right now.

 

[dubbel zout]

I wonder if these parents pay as close attention to what their kids are looking at on the Internet as they do to what's in the school library.

[Ohiopirate02]

2 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

I wonder if these parents pay as close attention to what their kids are looking at on the Internet as they do to what's in the school library.

Some do, most don't.  I also wonder how many of these mothers who are up in arms about their precious 8th graders reading "filth" grew up reading VC Andrews back when they were 13.  It's funny, VC was trending on Twitter last night as a whole slew of Gen X and Elder Millennial women were talking about reading Flowers in the Attic at a young age.  

[dubbel zout]

6 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I also wonder how many of these mothers who are up in arms about their precious 8th graders reading "filth" grew up reading VC Andrews back when they were 13. 

Or Judy Blume. Or Judith Krantz. Helter Skelter (for the pictures) and The Godfather—creased at the page where Sonny fucks a bridesmaid—were going around my junior high (yes, I'm old), and at max you're 15.

Ugh, it's all so stupid and shortsighted and bigoted and enraging.

 

[JustHereForFood]

1 hour ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Some do, most don't.  I also wonder how many of these mothers who are up in arms about their precious 8th graders reading "filth" grew up reading VC Andrews back when they were 13.  It's funny, VC was trending on Twitter last night as a whole slew of Gen X and Elder Millennial women were talking about reading Flowers in the Attic at a young age.  

I don't think they would mind that, because romanticising rape between heterosexual characters is something different than being exposed to non-straight or interracial relationships, even if they are more healthy.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Reading about all these book bannings just makes me so, so, so, glad I was a kid when I was a kid and a teen when I was a teen. I got to read all kinds of books: The Cay, Huckleberry Finn, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, just off the top of my head.

Hell. I remember when I was in the 8th grade (in the 80s), one of my classmates/friend did a book report on....Flowers in the Attic. That's right. V.C. Andrews's Flowers in the Attic.

[Spartan Girl]

12 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Hell. I remember when I was in the 8th grade (in the 80s), one of my classmates/friend did a book report on....Flowers in the Attic. That's right. V.C. Andrews's Flowers in the Attic

My classmate in sixth grade did a book report on Cujo. I’m fuzzy on if Stephen King books were ever banned (pretty sure they are) but I’m pretty sure it would be enough to rile up these book banning pearl-clutches, given all the gratuitous violence, sex, and swears they contain.

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

My classmate in sixth grade did a book report on Cujo. I’m fuzzy on if Stephen King books were ever banned (pretty sure they are) but I’m pretty sure it would be enough to rile up these book banning pearl-clutches, given all the gratuitous violence, sex, and swears they contain.

I remember reading a whole bunch of Lois Duncan and doing reports on I Know What You Did Last Summer, Killing Mr. Griffin, Stranger With My Face, Daughters of Eve. None of which were bland, happy stories with a nice big red ribbon at the end.

I also read Carrie, Fire Starter by King. Hell, I think I also did a report on a John Saul book!

The only books I had to read in sekrit, and that was from my parents were romance novels. Yeah, yeah, I inhaled those Harlequin and Silhouette books as a tween/teen.

My library in high school had a section of teen romances! The librarian chose me to read and review them! There was no "these books must be banned/removed because they will 'corrupt' our children bullshit." Of course two series I read were sooooooo unbelievable. The plots were more suited for college students than high school. I wish I could remember the author. And no, it wasn't Sweet Valley High!🤪

[sugarbaker design]

17 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I also wonder how many of these mothers who are up in arms about their precious 8th graders reading "filth" grew up reading VC Andrews back when they were 13.

 

17 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

Or Judy Blume. Or Judith Krantz. Helter Skelter (for the pictures) and The Godfather

In my time and in my neck of the woods, the scandalous book du jour among the tweens was Go Ask Alice.

[dubbel zout]

1 minute ago, sugarbaker design said:

In my time and in my neck of the woods, the scandalous book du jour among the tweens was Go Ask Alice.

That went around my junior high, I think, but no one took it seriously. I think it's because we were forced to watch the most ridiculous anti-drug films. The one we all loved in sixth grade (the class insisted it get played every time there was a new student) was about the perils of LSD (!), and it featured a bad trip with a hot dog coming to life and chasing the druggie down the street. We could not stop laughing, which I don't think was the reaction the filmmakers wanted.

[sugarbaker design]

31 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

That went around my junior high, I think, but no one took it seriously.

The lurid fascination was definitely not about the drug use.  That was a sad part of life by the time kids in my neighborhood got into junior high.  Our junior high school playground turned into Heroin Central after 7pm.  None of the neighborhood kids' parents let their kids in that playground.  Of course it was the sex talk that caused the passing around of that tattered paperback copy of Go Ask Alice.

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

That went around my junior high, I think, but no one took it seriously. I think it's because we were forced to watch the most ridiculous anti-drug films. The one we all loved in sixth grade (the class insisted it get played every time there was a new student) was about the perils of LSD (!), and it featured a bad trip with a hot dog coming to life and chasing the druggie down the street. We could not stop laughing, which I don't think was the reaction the filmmakers wanted.

Remember this old chestnut?

 

[dubbel zout]

Uh, I'm not THAT old! 😜

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

Remember this old chestnut?

 

 

4 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

Uh, I'm not THAT old! 😜

Me Neither!😝

[peacheslatour]

Didn't you guys ever see the MST3K treatment of it?

[Tom Holmberg]

7 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Reading about all these book bannings just makes me so, so, so, glad I was a kid when I was a kid and a teen when I was a teen. I got to read all kinds of books: The Cay, Huckleberry Finn, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, just off the top of my head.

It's interesting in all these stories none of these people are presenting a list of 500 books they think kids should read (obviously they don't know of any books, not having read any).

[Mabinogia]

4 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Didn't you guys ever see the MST3K treatment of it?

That's where I know Reefer Madness from. 

[peacheslatour]

1 minute ago, Mabinogia said:

That's where I know Reefer Madness from. 

Same here. My son turned me on to it. Uh, so to speak.

[Haleth]

Now their trying to ban Michelle Obama's biography in Texas.  Utterly ridiculous and blatantly racist.

[Jalyn]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

Now their trying to ban Michelle Obama's biography in Texas.  Utterly ridiculous and blatantly racist.

Unless I'm missing something larger, there was a single woman who put in a request to have the book removed from schools. Stupid as hell, but there is no "they" that are trying to do anything in this specific instance. One dumb woman made a request that was immediately rejected by the school system and, based on my quick google, at least 8 national news stories about it. 

 

ETA: "in this specific instance." Certainly not saying that there aren't any groups working on other book bans. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Jalyn

[peacheslatour]

They're burning books in Tennessee.

[proserpina65]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

They're burning books in Tennessee.

Really?  Wow, that's a special kind of crazy.

[peacheslatour]

5 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Really?  Wow, that's a special kind of crazy.

I just hope they paid full boat retail for them.

[SusanM]

The last time I worked in a public library we noted that the most stolen books from the collection were books on witchcraft. - or connected in some way to witchcraft. These were also the most challenged.  We assumed the people stealing them were also the ones challenging them.  I knew a public library was bound to get someone upset about some book choice or another but I had honestly not expected witchcraft to be the spark if you will that would get more people upset than anything else.  Weird world.

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, SusannahM said:

The last time I worked in a public library we noted that the most stolen books from the collection were books on witchcraft. - or connected in some way to witchcraft. These were also the most challenged.  We assumed the people stealing them were also the ones challenging them.  I knew a public library was bound to get someone upset about some book choice or another but I had honestly not expected witchcraft to be the spark if you will that would get more people upset than anything else.  Weird world.

When I worked at a bookstore, I'd occasionally get customers who were really bothered by the fact we had books about Wicca and tarot cards and other things of that sort in the store. 

I remember in the late '90s, especially after Columbine, there was a huge backlash against anything goth/Wiccan/dark in general, because people assumed that that stuff was the reason we had all these school shootings going on and whatnot. 

[dubbel zout]

Right, because mainstream religions haven't ever been responsible for violence.

[Annber03]

9 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

Right, because mainstream religions haven't ever been responsible for violence.

Hell, I remember a school shooting that happened right after some kids, who were Christian, finished doing a group prayer session one morning. So, yeah. 

[Tom Holmberg]

On 1/29/2022 at 2:33 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Gee, who didn’t see that coming? You’d think these idiots would know better by now: banning books only makes people, especially kids, want to read them more.

Also, the only people who want to ban books about the Holocaust are Nazis. We all know the “nudity and bad language” excuse is bull.

Way back in 1980, there was a controversy over a sex education book "Show Me", which included arty photos of naked children, teens and adults (it was originally published in Europe where this sort of thing isn't so controversial) at a local library.  Our library had a copy of it, which until the controversy and news stories, didn't circ that much.  Suddenly all the people who were outraged were putting the book on reserve.  They would "claims return" or rip out pages or not return it to get it off our shelves.  But because there were still holds on it, we had to keep ordering new copies, which meant more money for the publisher.