It’s a lazy Saturday so I’ve decided to do another book news roundup, my third so far. I hope you enjoy reading them and find something to look forward to.
The Book of Yeezus: the Kanye West bible
As a commentary on today’s worship of celebrity icons, an Etsy shop is selling The Book of Yeezus, a bible in which every mention of God’s name is replaced with Kanye West’s.
With this product, the sellers say they are trying to highlight “the way cultural icons have come to be the contemporary spiritual figures in our information culture.” The book is described as a novelty coffee-table book in black hardcover with a gold-leaf imprinted title on the cover, all for $20 (Hollywood Reporter).
George R.R. Martin’s new show
George R.R. Martin is working on a new TV show, Captain Cosmos, which will appear on HBO.
Captain Cosmos will be about a “young science fiction writer living in 1949 at the dawn of the age of TV. The writer spends his time penning stories no one else would dare to write” (Hollywood Reporter). The show is in the early stages of development and the pilot is being written by Michael Cassutt, a writer and co-executive producer on SyFy’s Z Nation.
Related article: George R.R. Martin Developing HBO Series ‘Captain Cosmos’
The Associate Press publishes books
For those searching for nonfiction reads, check out the Associate Press, which has partnered with Mango Media, an e-book developer, to publish e-books and print titles based on its reporting (Publishers Weekly). This line of books, called AP Editions, will feature “prose reports and photographic documentation from AP reporters based around the world.”
Recently published titles include Marijuana Nation: The Legalization of Cannabis Across the USA, Ebola: From Outbreak to Crisis to Containment, and Boko Haram: Deadly Terrorism in Nigeria.
Books on trains
Amtrak Acela Express has partnered with Penguin Random House to provide free excerpts of bestsellers to passengers travelling between Boston and Washington, D.C. (Publishers Weekly). Riders will be able to download excerpts from a variety of titles across all PRH adult imprints.
Apparently this deal signals PRH as the “exclusive book content partner” for the launch of AmtrakConnect, the train’s new on-board Wi-Fi network. Although this is great businesswise, from a customer’s standpoint, I’m just excited to get books on the train, which is one of my favorite places to read.
A new Fantastic Four trailer
20th Century Fox has released an international trailer for the Fantastic Four relaunch (Nerdist).
Although I don’t think the trailer is impressive, it was way too vague, I’ll be at the movie theatres on August 7 when the movie comes out. I enjoyed the first movie that was released in 2005 and I think this one will be better.
More on the movie: Fantastic Four: EW Preview
Adult coloring book a bestseller
Johanna Basford’s coloring book for adults Secret Garden, published in 2013, is currently the number one bestseller on Amazon with 1.4 million copies sold worldwide to date (The Guardian). Her most recent book, Enchanted Forest, was published in February.
Basford’s books are filled with intricate illustrations of flora that can be easily colored in to produce beautiful pieces. Basford says that the idea came to her on the job. She is a commercial illustrator and her illustrations were always hand-drawn and in black and white so her clients always wanted to color them in (NPR).
Basford’s books often pop up in my searches on Amazon whenever I look for Zentangle books, and I’m always tempted to purchase them. Coloring is relaxing and sometimes it’s better to spend the day coloring something already drawn than stressing over what to draw. I find it a great stress reliever and its quiet, monotonic process helps me to calmly resolve issues.
There are many who produce adult coloring books. My favorite is by Peter Draws, who’s known for his YouTube videos. He’s not a bestseller but his drawings are intricate.
The Minions in comics
Titan Comics will publish a series of comics and graphic novels starring the Minions from the Despicable Me movies. The first issue will be published digitally and in print on June 17, a month before the Minions movie, which will be released on July 10 (Hollywood Reporter).
I’m not a big comics/graphic novel fan (though I would like to be) but I’m looking forward to this. I think it will be a great supplement to the movie.
Planned books: a round up
- Terry Pratchett’s final Discworld novel will be published in September. “The Shepherd’s Crown will be the 41st Discworld novel and the fifth to feature the young witch Tiffany Aching, who made her debut in 2003’s The Wee Free Men” (Guardian).
- Patricia Arquette, the actress who gave a stirring speech on women’s rights at the Oscars, will write a memoir to be published by Penguin Random House. Her memoir will focus on “her unconventional family, her life as a single mother (she had her first child at age 20), and her experience as a woman in Hollywood” (Entertainment Weekly). No title or publication date has been announced (Galley Cat).
- Taraji P. Henson, star of Empire and an Oscar-nominated actress, will write a memoir to be published by 37 INK, an imprint of Atria Publishing Group, in 2016 (Galley Cat).
- The twin sisters, Tia and Tamera Mowry, will write children books to be published by HarperCollins Children’s Books. The sisters “plan to write four middle-grade novels for the Twintuition series. The story stars tween girls named Cassie and Caitlyn who possess clairvoyant abilities” (Galley Cat). The first book, Double Vision, will be published on April 21.
- Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. will write a new cookbook, Back to the Kitchen, which will be published by Rodale Books in 2016. The book will also feature personal stories on his family life and childhood (Yahoo and Galley Cat).
Zezee with Books 