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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.
404 Media reports that tariffs and the elimination of some fee exemptions is creating new challenges for university libraries, “reversing long-held standards in academic cooperation.” Some libraries that have materials loaned out internationally can’t get those books back due to carriers being unwilling to ship to the U.S. and confusion caused by new tariffs and the elimination of de minimis exceptions for items that cost less than $800, for example, about how mail services should handle loaned books. An American Library Association group has even found it necessary to create a site to help librarians navigate the new and unpredictable terrain formed by these changes. “If we can’t do [interlibrary loans] anymore and we’re limiting what our users can access, because maybe they’re only limited to what we have in our collection, then ultimately could hinder academic progress,” associate director of resource sharing and reserves at Yale University Library Jessica Bower Relevo told 404.
Twelve-year-old Abigail Friedman organized a Right to Read Rally in Amherst with the help of friends. The event, which set out to combat book bans in New York State, was held last weekend and featured local authors who have been impacted by these bans. The author lineup included Jasminne Mendez (The Story of My Anger), Jewell Parker Rhodes (Ghost Boys), and Marieke Nijkamp (This is Where It Ends), and U.S. Congressman Tim Kennedy was a featured speaker. Friedman, co-creator of the YouTube channel 2 Kid Interviews, told the Amherst Bee, “When I lived in Illinois, I was in the only state that banned book bans. I loved that. I really want New York to become the second state to do it.”
An animated movie inspired by the characters from Roald Dahl’s The Twits is coming to Netflix on October 17th, and you can watch the trailer here. The film is written, directed, and produced by Phil Johnston (Ralph Breaks the Internet) and features the voice talents of Natalie Portman, Emilia Clarke, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, among others. The Netflix film detours from the original text to pit Mr. and Mrs. Twit, a loathsome couple who despise each other, against a group of orphans. Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company a few years ago, so this likely isn’t the last Dahl-inspired production we’ll see from them. The Twits is one of the Dahl books posthumously revised for offensive language, and antisemitism, racism, and other reprehensible offenses have tarnished the author’s legacy.
Are there certain books that confuse readers more than others? The answer is, unsurprisingly, yes. But what books are the most confusing to the general reader audience? That’s what the book lovers at Aura Print sought to find out in a recent survey.
Find out what books confuzzled readers the most!
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