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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
The Book App AI That Rec’d Reading More White Authors
What a day to not be on the Fable team. Even if you don’t use the social media app for readers and watchers, if you scrolled bookish social these past few days the name probably rings a bell. The app went viral in the worst way when users, including book influencers and writers, shared the app’s AI-generated, Spotify-wrapped-like recaps, which included recommendations for how they could improve their reading habits. The problem? The AI criticized some Fable users for focusing on books by marginalized groups. One recommendation, which categorized influencer Tiana Trammell as a “Soulful Explorer,” read, “Don’t forget to surface for the occasional white author, okay?” YIKES. A Fable executive recorded a video response apologizing for the hurt it caused and the company promised to remove some AI features, but for some this was not enough and the account deletions commenced. The use of AI and conversations about its pros and cons are divisive and complicated, and this proved a terrible use case for its integration.
Tennessee Further Restricts Book Access in Prisons
Something unusual is happening to books going to Tennessee prisons. Char Daston of WPLN News, Nashville’s NPR station, reported on the Appalachian Prison Book Project’s quiet removal from the Tennessee prison systems’ list of trusted book vendors. The APBP wasn’t alone but one of many books-to-prisons programs impacted by a policy change that extends beyond the state and makes access to books by incarcerated people even more challenging. The rules for which books could be sent to prisons were already strict, and critics say the reasoning behind the new policy (“to mitigate the introduction of contraband through mail”) doesn’t pass muster while the impact to literacy and access to reading materials is huge.
Rolling Stones’ 10 Most Anticipated Books
I love a book list from an outlet that doesn’t primarily cover books because I expect to find something a little different, and as a music enthusiast who used to read issues (in print!) of Rolling Stone, I had to check this one out. Of course, Rolling Stone covers more than just music–they have a finger to the pulse of all things arts and culture, so I was not surprised to find big names from the literary world on the list. Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor is on my own most anticipated list and Kat Dunn’s Carmilla reworking, Hungerstone, has already earned a good deal of buzz. But the list introduced me to My Documents by Kevin Nguyen, a coming of age novel centering around the U.S. detainment of Vietnamese Americans, which I now look forward to reading.
New Mexico Becomes Fourth State to Introduce Anti-Book Ban Bill for 2025
Here’s some good news to kick off your year! New Mexico, Arkansas, Michigan, and Missouri have anti-book ban bills on the table. Take a look at what they say, who is behind them, and what you can do to support the bills if you’re a resident of any of these states.
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