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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.
Spring has almost sprung, and that means a new season of fresh books. Goodreads users geared up for sunnier reading by selecting their most anticipated reads of the next few months. Highlights include Last Night in Brooklyn by Xóchitl González, my current read Whidbey by T Kira Madden, and The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown, and Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age by Ibram X. Kendi, but the list boasts 79 anticipated spring books in various categories ripe for exploring.
And if you need even more recommendations based on what your fellow readers are into, look to Barnes & Nobles’ list of the top 10 most viewed books of the past week. R.F. Kuang is back in our line of sight with her newest, Taipei Story, which isn’t even out until this fall. Readers are also into the James Patterson/Viola Davis collab (who put that on their bingo card?), Judge Stone. And as my own doctor said, perimenopause is trending, and the book she recommended made the list: The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again by Mary Claire Haver MD. Of course, you will also find the next two just-announced, highly anticipated Sarah J. Maas ACOTAR books at the top of the list.
We don’t have enough hot seats to accommodate AI. In the world of books, reading, and writing, both Grammarly and Open AI are making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Grammarly recently had to pull a feature that mimicked writers, from big names like Stephen King to experts like journalists and academics. In fact, a New York Times investigative journalist is the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the writing tool and the tech firm that runs it. Grammarly offered writing feedback “inspired” by real and renowned humans through its Expert Review function. Sabrina Imbler penned a scathing opinion on the debacle for Defector, writing: “The idea of an AI company ventriloquizing the living and the dead to sell a product that is largely indistinguishable from ChatGPT is perhaps most sickening for its sheer predictability.” As predictable, perhaps, as the news that Encyclopedia Britannica and its Merriam-Webster subsidiary suing Open AI for using their reference materials to train its models.
Since today’s theme is overwhelming you with books for your TBR, here are the best new book releases out this week! Spoiler alert: it’s a great week for books.
What are you reading? Let us know in the comments!
