Canada Reads, a Bestseller Controversy, and a Bromance Book Club: This Week in Book News

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you’re continuing to stay safe, healthy, and cool during this hot and humid July (if you’re located somewhere that is not over 30 degrees celcius and/or has a humidex of under 85% know that I’m wildly jealous). Compared to weeks passed, it was a relatively slow week for book news, but let’s take a look at what did happen this week in the world of publishing.

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After being postponed due to Covid-19, Canada Reads took place on CBC over this past week. If you have yet to watch the debates I highly recommend doing so before clicking the link to see the winner.

Amanda Brugel, defending We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib, wins Canada Reads 2020 | CBC Books

And then there was one: The Handmaid’s Tale and Kim’s Convenience actress Amanda Brugel is the winner of Canada Reads 2020. In a suspenseful finale, the book she defended, memoir We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib , survived the final elimination vote and was named “the book to bring Canada into focus.”

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The legal battle between the Internet Archive and Publishers continues to rage, despite Brewster Kahle’s urging that they should be working together to bring books to the masses during the pandemic.

Internet Archive to Publishers: Drop ‘Needless’ Copyright Lawsuit and Work with Us

During a 30-minute Zoom press conference on July 22, Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle urged the four major publishers suing over the organization’s book scanning efforts to consider settling the dispute in the boardroom rather than the courtroom. “Librarians, publishers, authors, all of us should be working together during this pandemic to help teachers, parents, and especially students,” Kahle implored.

Mark Dawson bought his own book to launch it to bestseller status, and then he lost his ranking. This has sparked conversation throughout the publishing world over whether or not this is fair.

Author loses spot in Top 10 after buying 400 copies of his own book

Author Mark Dawson has lost his Top 10 position in the Sunday Times bestseller charts for his thriller The Cleaner after revealing that he bought 400 copies himself to get a higher position.

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Instead of going virtual like so many other festivals in the time of Covid, the Appledore book festival will become a drive-in affair.

Shifting gears: how does a literary festival become a drive-in event?

Booklovers at the Appledore book festival this September will not be able to subject their favourite authors to the usual detailed questioning after a reading. Instead, the north Devon event is setting out to become the UK’s first ever drive-in book festival, where audience members will need to submit questions in advance, and flash their car lights to alert writers to their presence.

Powell’s Books, arguably one of the most famous independent bookstores in America, is still unsure when it will reopen after closing its doors in March due to Covid, and when it does, what that reopening will look like.

When will Powell’s Books reopen? Emily Powell doesn’t know

Your browser does not support the audio element. Powell’s City of Books closed in March, and even though some Oregon businesses have reopened, it’s still not clear when the Portland landmark will be able to welcome readers again.

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HBO will be adapting Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates into a TV special

HBO is making Ta-Nehisi Coates’ ‘Between The World And Me’ into a TV special

HBO announced on Thursday that they will be making Ta-Nehisi Coates’ best-selling book Between the World and Me into a TV special. The nonfiction work originally functioned as a long letter from Coates to his son detailing exploring how white supremacy in America has affected both their upbringings.

Incredible news for comic book fans: Amazon has ordered an adaptation of the Paper Girls series!

https://ew.com/tv/amazon-orders-paper-girls-comic-to-series/

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Inspired by The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams, a group of men started a Romance Book Club with the hopes it would help them open up about their feelings and assist in their personal relationships

I Started a Bromance Book Club-and it Supercharged My Sex Life

“GUYS, FINALLY, A NIPPLE!” We all lean closer to our laptop screens, eager to hear what Alejandro’s going to say next. The 36-year-old start-up founder is six-foot-four, with broad shoulders and thick black hair cropped short into something like a quarantine buzz cut.

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Whether you’re a mystery writer or a fan of the genre, I highly recommend this fascinating article on the intersection of writing mysteries and studying physics.

Why Do So Many Physicists Write Crime Novels?

I’m serious. While many automatically think of an English degree as the gateway to literary success, it’s also true that science-savvy novelists have excelled in every genre. Think of Primo Levi and E.L. Koingsburg, both chemists, Vladimir Nabokov, who was an entomologist and lepidopterist, mathematician Lewis Carroll, and contemporary authors Lisa Genova, a neuroscientist, or physicist Alan Lightman.

The 25^th anniversary of the cinematic masterpiece Clueless was this past week, and it has media writers defending the film as the best, most clever Austen adaptation.

After 25 years, Clueless is still our cleverest Jane Austen adaptation

When Romance Met Comedy When Romance Met Comedy With When Romance Met Comedy, Caroline Siede examines the history of the rom-com through the years, one happily ever after (or not) at a time.

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I’ll leave you this week with a couple of book lists to add to your summer TBR pile.

In the first, LitHub has rounded up what 100 different writers have been reading during quarantine.

https://lithub.com/what-100-writers-have-been-reading-during-quarantine/

And second, Essence Magazine is celebrating it’s 50^th anniversary this week and they have collected the 50 most impactful Black books from the last 50 years.

Here Are The 50 Most Impactful Black Books Of The Last 50 Years

A good book ensures that one’s story is never erased. In honor of our triumphant story, celebrating 50 years as a magazine, we’ve chosen 50 remarkable books from the last 50 years. These titles have captivated and moved us, searing themselves into memory with their fierce truth-telling and leaving us so much richer than before.

Have a great weekend, folks!

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Staff Pick
Tara, Senior Manager Author Experience

I’ve been on a real kick this summer reading books about the sea. I think I’m missing the ocean, fresh water lakes just aren’t the same. Anyways, this book was a great read. It chronicles Diane Cardwell as she learns to surf in Rockaway beach in NYC. I love the idea of someone talking the New York subway with a surf board.

Rockaway ebook by Diane Cardwell – Rakuten Kobo

Read “Rockaway Surfing Headlong into a New Life” by Diane Cardwell available from Rakuten Kobo. The inspirational story of one woman learning to surf and creating a new life in gritty, eccentric Rockaway Beach Unmoor…