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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.
Strand Union Strikes a Deal
Members of the Strand’s staff union who went on strike over the weekend have reached a tentative agreement with the storied bookstore’s management. If ratified, the updated contract will include starting pay that is $0.50 above New York’s state minimum wage and a $1.50/hour raise in the employee’s fourth year of service. Employees’ paid time off will remain unchanged at nine days per year.
Strand employees returned to work yesterday, and a vote on the proposed contract is planned for tomorrow, December 12. Should the deal fall through, workers are prepared to return to the picket line. Union vice-president and former Strand bookseller Will Bobrowski told Publishers Weekly on Tuesday, “We picketed all weekend, Saturday and Sunday. We picketed yesterday. If they vote no, presumably we’ll be right back at it this weekend.” May their efforts succeed.
The Year’s Biggest Self-Help Book is a Decade Old
Move over, The Body Keep the Score, there’s a new old self-help book in town. Originally published in 2015 and intended for an audience of professional psychologists, Lindsay C. Gibson’s Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents is having a hell of a year. A product of Gibson’s 30-year career as a clinical psychologist, the book has sold more than 1.2 million copies, spent six weeks on the NYT’s bestseller list last summer, and is a bona fide word-of-mouth sensation. In addition to being all over TikTok (and often credited/blamed for the growing trend of people going no-contact with their parents), Gibson has appeared on popular podcasts like Glennon Doyle’s We Can Do Hard Things and has created several follow-up titles, workbooks, and guided journals. Clearly, she’s struck a nerve. What will be the next backlist self-help book to win the BookTok lottery?
TIME Names the Best Nonfiction of 2024
We’re wringing every last drop out of best-of season before the flurry of most-anticipated lists start dropping. TIME has announced their picks for 10 best nonfiction books of 2024, and it’s a solid, well-rounded list that ranges from memoir to popular science to serious reportage. Glad to see Knife, There’s Always This Year, and Grief is for People get well-deserved shoutouts!
Our Favorite Books of 2024
On today’s episode of the Book Riot Podcast, Jeff O’Neal and I reveal our favorite reads of the year. If you like this newsletter, you’ll probably dig the podcast, which is all about headlines and happenings from the world of books and reading.
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