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Here are the stories Today in Books readers were most interested in this week. Settle into your Sunday and catch up!
Say Goodbye to This Kindle Feature
The next time someone laughs at me for holding onto my Columbo: The Complete Series DVD set, I’ll loan them my copy of Just One More Thing and point them to this article about Amazon retiring a feature that allows Kindle users to download purchased books to their computers. While the feature is mainly useful for users who can’t transfer straight to their device via WiFi, it’s also another way to hold onto your purchased copy in case Amazon slides in and removes or modifies the title, which has happened. Not to get too Nineteen Eighty-Four, copies of which Amazon removed in 2009, but the point The Verge‘s Andrew Liszewski made here isn’t random: “It’s a reminder that you don’t actually own much of the digital content you consume, and without the ability to back up copies of ebooks, you could lose them entirely if they’re banned and removed.” The download option will be gone starting February 26th, but you can find instructions for how to access the feature between now and then in the article.
It’s Been 20 Years Since Twilight Published?!
The impact of Stephenie Meyer’s angsty teen vampire romance continues to ripple across YA and publishing even two decades later, so why not give the enduring series a glow up? Little, Brown Books will release three new special editions of Twilight set to hit shelves on September 30th so fans of the series can celebrate the birth of Bella, Edward, and company with sprayed edges and a foil-stamped slip case to compete with any of the romantasy novels being freshly spat out by the printing presses today–and that’s just the Deluxe Collector’s Edition. Also hitting shelves are the 20th Anniversary Edition paperback (don’t worry paperback peeps, you also get sprayed edges) and the Deluxe Hardcover Collection with all four books in the series, plus the Edward POV retelling of the first book. The big deluxe hardcover set comes in a wraparound box and the books have, you guessed it, stained edges. I have to wonder how many BookToks we’ll be seeing about these editions.
Iowa Rushes, Advances Librarian Criminalization Bill
Iowa has quickly advanced a bill in a show of partisanship that “would erase protections that public libraries and educational institutions have related to ‘obscene’ materials.” Learn more about this bill, including why it was rushed and the harmful impact it would have, in this Literary Activism piece.
Don’t Mess With Dolly
Funding for the Imagination Library, Dolly Parton’s program to encourage early literacy by sending children under five years old a free book each month, is not in Indiana’s proposed budget. The State of Indiana had previously supported the program, which Parton started in 1995 inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, through a funding match. Over the past two years, the Imagination Library has reached more than 125,000 children in Indiana alone. Urging Indiana Governor Mike Braun to reconsider, Parton said this:
”The beauty of the Imagination Library is that it unites us all—regardless of politics—because every child deserves the chance to dream big and succeed.”
With U.S. literacy on the decline, we could use all the help we can get.
The L.A. Times Book Prize Finalists
I was so confused when I saw Andrew Garfield’s name among the top mentions of L.A. Times Book Prize Finalists until I realized it was for the Audiobook Production category (for the full cast production of 1984 in case you’re curious). Anyway, also nominated–truly, as always–is Percival Everett in the Fiction category for James, Attica Lockein Mystery/Thriller for Guide Me Home: A Highway 59 Novel Nghi Vo in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction for The City in Glass (I still have to read that one because I love Vo’s writing, but I did read Kelly Link’s The Book of Love, also nominated in that category), Ta-Nehisi Coates in Current Interest for the much-discussed The Message alongside one of my faves Robin Wall Kimmerer for The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, and so, so many more great writers and books. At a glance, I am really jazzed by this list–there’s a good mix of the usual suspects and writers and works I haven’t seen pop up on every other list. I’m going to have to comb through the finalists again to remind myself of what I wanted to read but didn’t get a chance to last year–let’s hope my TBR survives. The winners will be announced at the 45th Annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes on April 25th.
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