Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
Your Chance to Watch Hamilton on the Big Screen
If, like me, you’ve only had the opportunity to watch Hamilton on the small screen, you’re in luck. The Broadway sensation is coming to theaters on September 5th. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda announced that the “live capture” of the original cast production sent to streaming during the pandemic is finally making its way to the big screen in celebration of the play’s 10-year anniversary. Fans nationwide and in Puerto Rico will have the chance to watch this historic historical musical in the theater, so get that soundtrack ready and make sure you’ve got all the lines memorized so you don’t get left out when everyone in the audience starts singing along.
A New Association of Black Bookstores Emerges
The National Association of Black Bookstores has launched. The nonprofit organization founded by the owner of Sacramento’s Underground Books, Kevin Johnson, aims to “bring the experts together, couple them with significant resources, and ensure that communities could reap the benefits of Black bookstores for generations to come,” as Johnson told Publishers Weekly. NAB2 is in discussions with the American Booksellers Association about partnerships and doesn’t intend to replace it as a resource. Current board members include Janet Webster Jones of Source Booksellers in Detroit, Onikah Asamoa-Caesar of Fulton Street Books & Coffee in Tulsa, and more established and newer booksellers. NAB2 will also be working independently of the existing Black Bookstore Coalition as D.C.’s Mahogany Books owner and Coalition cofounder Ramunda Lark Young announced that the grassroots group declined a suggestion to merge with NAB2 upon considering factors including member concerns about some aspects of Johnson’s public record.
Coffee Table Books People Will Actually Want
I’m a big fan of The Strategist. It’s right there alongside The Wirecutter as my go-to resource when I’m looking for just the right product for a specific need. So I was all eyes when this list of coffee-table books came my way. All of the coffee-table books I own are gifted items, and I won’t pretend I’ve ever looked through them or witnessed a guest picking them up (probably because they’re crammed wherever I can fit them on my bookshelves instead of taking up space on my actual coffee table). I was mostly curious about whether I’d find anything I could actually see people picking up and thumbing through, and I will say, these books have gotten more interesting since I received my last gifted coffee-table book maybe a decade ago. For instance, I did not expect to find a book about women members of the Black Panther Party (Comrade Sisters), a catalog of rare and unusual pathologies (Nicole Angemi’s Anatomy Book: A Catalog of Familiar, Rare, and Unusual Pathologies), or a tome on Black tailoring (Superfine: Tailoring Black Style). At the very least, this list is a fascinating browse.
Oprah’s 117th Pick Is . . . Another White Male Author
You read that right. It’s baffling. I don’t get it and I’m not a fan of the trend. Read more about the pick and what the motivations behind this pattern might be.
What are you reading? Let us know in the comments!