The Biggest News of the Week

Catch up on the news you missed this week with the stories Today in Books readers were most interested in.

School Phone Ban Leads to Increased Library Use

Students in Kentucky’s Jefferson County Public Schools are checking out library books at record rates, a “culture shift” correlated to the district’s new cellphone ban. Here are just a few of the encouraging stats:

• Students at Pleasure Ridge Park High School checked out more than 1,000 books in the first 17 days of the new school year, nearly half the total for last year’s entire school year
• At Butler High School, about 20% of students check out a library book last year. More than 40% of them have a book checked out at present.
• Last August, only 92 books were checked out at Farnsley Middle. This August saw 1,003 checkouts. Yes, folks, that’s a tenfold increase.

You love to see it.

Barnes & Noble to Acquire the Oldest Indie Bookstore on the West Coast

When Barnes & Noble bought Denver’ Tattered Cover last year, I wondered what the next phase would be. I had a hard time imagining it was worth it as a one-off; it made much more sense as a trial balloon. And it seems to have gone well enough for B&N to strike again:  this time Bay Area bookseller, Books, Inc., which like Tattered Cover was, is in financial distress. This acquisition looks to be a bit larger in terms of footprint, Books Inc has 10 physical locations, including two in the San Francisco Airport. Barnes and Noble says that their plan is for Books Inc “to preserve its independent identity.” The acquisition is still subject to court approval. Very, very interesting.

James Patterson Distributes $500,000 to 12 Writers to Finish Their Books

Librarians might get tired of unboxing James Patterson titles, but you cannot say that man does not give back. His latest: $50,000 each for twelve “emerging writers” to get their books done. Patterson worked with bunch of literary organizations (PEN, Girls Write Now, The Iowa Writer’s Workshop, and others) to get hundreds of submissions that he himself reviewed. Awardees spanned genres, but no precise criteria for the grants are clear, nor is there a full list of authors who received them.

Spooky Season Starts Now

If Starbucks can roll out the pumpkin spice latte while it’s still 90 degrees outside, you can start reading for spooky season whenever you damn well please. Here are new horror books to get you going.