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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.
Libraries & Well-Being: A Case Study from The New York Public Library
Canvassing more than 2,000 participants, The NYPL did a survey last fall about how people feel about their library and, most novel to me at least, how people actually feel after using the library. There are many interesting findings here, but a couple stand out. After visiting the library, 70% of respondents report feeling “on top of everything I do” and 75% report feeling “engaged and/or stimulated.” I might be projecting here a little, but these are two feelings I think I many of us could use a little more of. Feeling stagnant? Harried and somehow also helpless? Maybe a trip to the library can help.
Josephine Baker Published Her Memoir in the 1940s. Now, It Arrives in the U.S. for the First Time
From the annals of “how in the &%^* did we not already have this?” comes Fearless and Free, Josephine Baker’s autobiography, as told over the course of multiple decades to French journalist Marcel Sauvage. Until tomorrow, the book had never been available in English, for reasons this piece doesn’t elucidate, nor can I surmise from a little Googling. This, ironically, serves as a pretty reasonable metaphor for Baker’s disproportionate influence in Europe and relative obscurity in mainstream American consciousness. But what a life:
The performer served as a spy for the French Resistance at the start of World War II, during which she gathered intel on the movement of German troops. She also housed refugees fleeing the Nazis at her chateau in Southern France and raised funds for poor citizens in Paris. Baker was an outspoken critic of the racism she witnessed in the U.S., both in childhood and while living abroad.
Dystopian Novels See Post-Inauguration Sales Boost
If I ever write a dystopian novel, I think one of the features is people running to their bookstores to read 50 year old books about dystopias. I mean, sure read 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale, but we’ve been reading those for decades now. Didn’t work. Gotta try something else. And don’t hit me with “at least they’re reading.” Book sales peaked in 2021, and we still are where we are. Books might be a piece of the puzzle, but I think these books have had their shot to…do whatever they are supposed to do.
Dark Horse Drops Gaiman, Ebooks Come to Bookshop, ONYX STORM is the Fastest-Selling Books in 20 years, and more.
This week on The Book Riot podcast, Rebecca and I talk about Dark Horse parting ways with Neil Gaiman, get off some hot takes about bookish social media, go through the ins-and-outs of ebooks coming to Bookshop.org, and more. Go listen to it here, or wherever you get your podcasts.