Adorable New Children’s Versions of Agatha Christie

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

What We Talk About When We Talk About a Post-Literate Society

Worth your time today, or bookmark it for the weekend: Times of London columnist James Marriott, who recently went viral with a long piece about the dawn of a post-literate society, sits down with The Honest Broker‘s Jared Henderson for a conversation about, well, exactly how bad it is out there. Marriott identifies smartphones as the root cause of today’s literacy crises, and if that’s a take that’s starting to sound repetitive, it’s because we need to hear it repeatedly. I’m glad to see the backlash against addictive technology and manipulative algorithms gaining traction, and this is a particularly thoughtful entry into the conversation. Because these are the times we’re living in, it’s also available on YouTube if you’d rather watch/listen than read.

Stephen King Reflects on Adaptations of His Work

Here’s how prolific Stephen King is: four of his books were adapted for film or TV this year alone. Two are in theaters this season (The Long Walk is out now; The Running Man drops November 7). Over at Lit Hub, King reflects on what it means to have multiple generations of reading engage with his work on the page and screen. And he offers some solid "every be cool" perspective on the book-vs-movie tension:

I send my books off to be filmed the way parents send their kids off to college, hoping they’ll do well and not fall into any of the pits and snares along the way (drugs, booze, toxic relationships, elevator cramming, goldfish swallowing). I offer advice when asked. Otherwise, I just shut my mouth and hope for the best, knowing that my books—good, bad, indifferent—are still all up there on the shelf.

Agatha Christie for the Kids

Two new children’s adaptations of Agatha Christie stories hit shelves in the UK today, and they are oh so adorable. It’s the first time Christie’s work has been illustrated for preschool and children’s book readers. Two more will follow in February. I couldn’t find information about eventual availability here in the States.

Ruling: Texas Cannot Require Booksellers to Rate Books

A federal Judge in Texas has that Texas cannot require booksellers to rate the contents of books. Booksellers lose their constitutionally protected speech rights when forced to apply content ratings to materials, making this provision of the Texas READER Act, which has been tied up in courts since 2023, unconstitutional. More details here.