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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.
When I was out for my own early-morning walk earlier this spring, I passed a group of people wearing headphones and dance-walking. They seemed to be being led by one individual, but were otherwise mostly in their own sonic-worlds, but loosely travelling together in the same direction. I thought huh humans sure do like things and not all of them the same things. I am of a similar, though slightly more sympathetic, mind when it comes to the idea of an audiobook walking club. I can imagine people that want do a) listen to more stuff b) walk more and c) interact (albeit muffledly) with new people might find this a compelling three birds with one activity idea. (Perhaps the thing I will take away more from this story is the phrase “bookstagram entrepreneurs” which captures the array of bussiness angles the modern book “influencer” gets that paper.)
You read that correctly. A longlist for a 2025 prize (that is books published in 2025) is out there here in mid-July. Why do this? I am not sure. Possibly to drum up interest going into the fall buying season and give these titles some additional oompf going into best-of season? To avoid the cluttered awards-list announcement season later in the year? I will tell you this: it is not because there is a lot of extra book-attention to go around in the height of summer. Of the 29 titles (some longlist discipline please), Sky Daddy and Great Black Hope are the two that I have heard the most chatter about. One quite cool thing, shortlisted authors get $1000, with that winnowing process happening in early fall.
First: you have no reason to care what books Dan Pelzer read over the course of his life. Until now.
Second: the bookish world can feel vast and sprawling, but in some ways it is pretty small. And that means sometimes a big-time author can appreciate an individual bookseller for many years of advocacy in a personal, charming way.
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