Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
A Legal Victory for That Librarian
Louisiana library and activist Amanda Jones, author of That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America, closed out 2024 with a big win. In 2022, Jones filed a defamation suit against two men who accused her of grooming children and promoting pornographic material after she pushed back against efforts to ban books containing LGBTQ-related themes from her town’s public library. A district court judge dismissed the case before arguments began in September 2022. Now, following a failed appeal attempts, the Louisiana Supreme Court has revived the case, noting that, “The burden will be on defendants to prove that plaintiff did in fact do the acts they have publicly accused her of.”
That’s going to be a tall order for book banning advocates, who often conflate any mention of sexuality with being pornographic and obscene and have targeted librarians around the US with harassment, abuse, and unfounded allegations. And that is precisely Jones’s point. She is seeking just $1 in damages and an apology. This case is about the fact that words mean things and actions have consequences. Jones explains:
We teach our children to report and speak out against bullying, and that is what I am doing. I am doing this on behalf of myself, and on behalf of the countless other librarians across the country who have been targeted and harassed simply for standing up for intellectual freedom and standing up for our school and public libraries.”
A win here would set an important precedent. May her efforts succeed.
Let’s Get Reel
TV and movie fans will continue to feel the impacts of the 2023 Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes in a major way this year. The slate of anticipated releases is shorter than usual, and the pickings look pretty slim, but there are still some book-to-screen adaptations to look forward to in 2025. I’m most intrigued by Mickey17, Parasite director Bong Joon Ho’s adaptation of the novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. I don’t know anything about it except that I’m here for Ho’s continuously surprising career arc and can’t help but be fascinated by Robert Pattinson’s post-sparkly-vampires attempts to be a Serious Thespian. Also, Glen Powell in the role Arnold Schwarzenegger once played in a new spin on The Running Man? Who knows if it will be good, but it will certainly be interesting.
10 Noteworthy Reads for January
January has been a big month for new releases the past few years, but this one is pretty light. One nice thing about a month that’s light on Big Names is that it opens up space for debut and midlist writers to get more attention, and that’s definitely in effect on this list of January new releases. I started my year in reading with the leading pick, Jonathan Evison’s The Heart of Winter, and I have no regrets. For even more variety, here’s Book Riot’s Erica Ezeifedi on the month’s best new books.
Get Yourself Together
School supplies are an underrated source of dopamine, and in this economy, we’re taking our hits where we can get ’em. Dig into the best planners and journals for 2025.
What are you reading to start the year? Let us know in the comments!