This week on Buzz Worthy News: A high school teacher gets a book deal and lives the dream, A new list of frequently challenged books is out for you to go read, Adele turns down a biography deal, should sci-fi be compulsory, Divergent #3 gets a title, all this and more on this week’s Buzz Worthy News!
Buzz Worthy News is Cuddlebuggery’s weekly news post bringing you all the best information about the book and blogging world, particularly for the venn diagram of people who overlap between the two. For new releases and cover reveals of all the best Young Adult fiction, check out our Sunday post: How New Titles.
Books
Divergent #3 Gets a Title – People Would have Preferred Detergent
The third book of the Divergent series gets its title and it is not, as many people predicted, Detergent. I iz disappointed. After Divergent and Insurgent, I simply thought that was the next logical step!
About the new title, “You gotta have the -ent (ending),'” Roth, 24, told USA TODAY’s Brian Truitt when he interviewed her about Insurgent last year. Roth has jokingly been referring to Divergent book No. 3 on her blog with the title Detergent. The Divergent trilogy was purchased when Roth was still in college at Northwestern.
There is a big, dramatic video to release this news here.
High School Teacher Writes Book and Lives the Dream
New author Matthew Thomas is living every High School Teacher’s dream. He signed a seven figure deal for his debut novel and, presumably, went running off into the sunset screaming about how he would never have to mark another goddamn paper about how Hamlet wanted to screw his mother.
His agent Bill Clegg negotiated the deal after Thomas spent 10 years penning the novel. Here’s the details:
Set in the second half of the 20th century, the novel is a sprawling portrait of the Irish-American Leary family—Ed, Eileen, and their son Connell—as they move from Jackson Heights, Queens to Bronxville, New York in pursuit of the American dream. Eileen’s unblinking determination to better the family’s status is challenged by her husband’s dedication to teaching—and ultimately, devastatingly, by a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s.
Dumbasses Always Protest the Cool Stuff
Isn’t it great when someone decides what you should and shouldn’t read based on nothing but their own code of morality and ethics? Wait, no, that’s terrible. Yet there are still people trying to get books banned from public libraries. Luckily, the American Library Association is always there to keep tab of ridiculous, hysterical demands so that we can find new books that might be worth reading. Making it on this list doesn’t always denote quality – but sheesh they usually have at least a bit of fun stuff in it! Here’s the report so you can check it out!
10 Most Frequently Challenged Library Books of 2013
1. Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
Reasons: offensive language, unsuited for age group2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group3. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group4. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit5. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: homosexuality, unsuited for age group6. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit7. Looking for Alaska by John Green
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group8. Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: unsuited for age group, violence9. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit10. Beloved by Toni Morrison
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence
Enjoy. Except for, ya know, Fifty Shades of Grey. That one actually makes sense.
Finally! A Star Who Realizes They’re Too Young for a Biography
HarperCollins apparently didn’t set fire to Adele’s rain. They approached her with a seven figure deal, probably the likes of which Justin Beiber, Miley Cyrus and Tom Daley apparently couldn’t turn down.
Now, I have to admit that I’m predisposed to be fond of someone who can make Taylor Swift pull an epic bitchface.
But Adele wouldn’t go for it, apparently!
“Even though she received a lucrative offer, her primary concern was that she doesn’t want to write a book about just 24 years,” a source told the Daily Mirror. “She feels she’d rather wait until she has more life experience to write about.” In just two-and-a-half decades the “Rolling in the Deep” singer has had quite a life. She’s won nine Grammys, 12 Billboard Music Awards, four American Music Awards and a Best Original Song Oscar for “Skyfall,” just to name a few highpoints.
Adele, 24, is going to wait a bit before writing the story of her life.
Should Sci-fi Be Compulsory Reading for Schools?
West Virginian Republican Delegate, Ray Canterbury, is proposing a bill that will make Science Fiction novels a part of the both middle and high school curriculums. The bill states:
“To stimulate interest in math and science among students in the public schools of this state, the State Board of Education shall prescribe minimum standards by which samples of grade-appropriate science fiction literature are integrated into the curriculum of existing reading, literature or other required courses for middle school and high school students.”
I’d love to see science fiction novels taken more seriously as a genre and included on the required reading list. But one thing that concerns me is the list of books that the law would deem acceptable. Dystopians? Sci-fi books with strong romantic elements? Lest we forget that many of them are written by women. Where would those kinds of books fit into their plan?
Publishing
Penguin Doesn’t Want Your Agency Deals
The ebook pricing model the Penguin has in Europe is looking to be dropped after similar deals were dropped by other publishers. In case you don’t know what this is all about, Penguin and several other publishers have been under fire for pricing fixing on their ebooks, which undermines consumer confidence. However, Penguin says that’s all about to change:
In the proposed commitments, Penguin offers to terminate existing agency agreements and refrain from adopting price MFN clauses for five years. In case Penguin would enter into new agency agreements, retailers would be free to set the retail price of e-books during a two-year period, provided the aggregate value of price discounts granted by retailers does not exceed the total annual amount of the commissions that the retailer receives from the publisher.
Entertainment
They Will Make a Movie Out of Anything These Days
I’m not sure if I should cheer or shake my head in wonder at this bit of news. But apparently, there are plans to make the widely successful book Go the Fuck to Sleep into a movie.
The book is being adapted by Ken Marino (of Wet Hot American Summer and Party Down) and his wife Erica Oyama Marino (who created the Bachelor parody web series Burning Love), who both have experience taking vague concepts and spinning them out into longer, movie-able things that people want to watch.
I just… wut. I mean, the book is only 32 pages long. How the hell do you get a few hours out of that? Then again, they did make Where the Wild Things Are into a movie. They could have Samuel L. Jackson running around, screaming, “When will these motherfucking kids go to motherfucking sleep?!” It worked for Snakes on a Plane.
Jackie Farrow
I look forward to these every week. Very informative, and hilarious! Keep it up 😀
Flannery
Adele cracks me up. I picture her just laughing hysterically and telling them off. I love how blunt she is all the time.
Fangs4Fantasy
Ok the nasty “won’t you think of the children” crowd normally go after YA books that aren’t trees, flowers and Jesus (especially if they have THE DREADED GAY!) but 50 Shades? Now there are a thousand reasons to hate that book – but sexually explicit? It’s erotica! In fact there’s a substantial amount of romance that’s as explicit (and doesn’t need to resort to “down there” Jeez!) and it’s clearly for an adult age group – they want to ban books for adults for being explicit as well? ye gods.
And they just made me defend 50 Shades. Damn it, I feel dirty.
Good for Adele, I can’t understand how people under the age of 25 – under the age of 50 for that matter – are writing biographies! Don’t they need to live first before writing about their lives?
I think sci-fi – and other speculative fiction – needs to be strongly added to school reading lists just to break the pattern of CLASSICS. Honestly, if I didn’t read out of school, the books of Big Important Literature they forced me to read would have left me with a pathological hatred for the written word. We teach highbrow literature but we don’t instill the joy of reading.
Kate C.
Fangs4Fantasy Another thing about genre fiction… it gets such a bad rap when compared to classics. Like it can’t be well written or thought provoking or ahead of its time. Some of the most interesting and thought-provoking discussions I’ve had were because of sci-fi books. Or star trek, for heaven’s sakes! (yeah, I’m a nerd. And proud of it.)
Heartless_Lyn
When do we get to see the movie “All My Friends Are Dead”???!
Heartless_Lyn
When do we get to see the movie “All My Friends Are Dead”???!
Andrea
I’ve read most of those books being challeneged. Yes, even Captain Underpants – I have a younger brother, that’s my excuse. And I’ve given Thirteen Reasons Why to my high schoolers to read and every single one of them liked it. Every. Single. One. How can a book that gets teenagers to read, and like it for that matter, be a bad thing?
I wish people would stop banning things because they don’t like it. Don’t tell me what I can and cannot read. If anything, you just make these books more desirable. So ha!
~Andrea @ http://beautybutafunnygirl.blogspot.com
athousand_lives
My school does have an option where you can pick which genre you can study in English- sci-fu, relationship, war or discrimination. It’s not the only focus. There will be other topics studied but the texts will be exclusively those genres
Georgette
Go The Fuck to sleep as a movie? Color me really amused..and perplexed. At the same time.
I’ve read almost all of the books on the challenged list. People need to stop making these lists and just let people read what the hell they want. Freedom of speech and freedom of reading.
Detergent is a most awesome 3rd book title. LOL.
Yes, sci-fi SHOULD be read as a genre at schools. So many years it wasn’t recognized as a viable option, and it is! Get them started on the wonderful road at an early age!
And bravo to Adele for not jumping a “written too soon” memoir. She has a long career ahead of her and let her have some more years ahead of her to have more to write about.
angelasanxiouslife
I find it stupid that Go the Fuck to Sleep will be a movie.. STUPID!
Kate C.
Divergent… blah, blah, blah. I know there will be people very excited by this, but personally, I’m looking forward to what Roth writes AFTER this series, which didn’t do a lot for me. I loved her writing style, though.
I will be waiting to hear what exactly they can do to top Morgan Freeman reading Go the F to Sleep, because it is BRILLIANT!
I wouldn’t worry about sci-fi and women writers. There are plenty of SERIOUS and ADULT female sci-fi writers that should satisfy even the most elitist choosers. Anne McCaffrey and Jodi Lyn Nye’s Death of Sleep series, for one. Excellent. I also like the ship series. (The ship who sang, etc.) Andre Norton is a freaking awesome sci-fi writer—the first of her kind in many cases. I can’t imagine them having say… Card or Heinlein in schools and not her. Octavia Butler is also amazing, and it is a shame that many of her books are out of print now. Then there is Sherri S. Tepper and who could forget Joan D. Vinge.
I gush, but I’m a huge sci-fi fan and not everything written by women has to be romancy or even girly. Many of the authors I listed don’t write girly at ALL. IMHO, it is just with the rise of YA sci-fi that we’ve seen more sci-fi romance. I also wouldn’t really categorize dystopian as necessarily sci-fi, though there are sci-fi books that would certainly include that description.
So yeah, there is NO EXCUSE for excellent sci-fi women authors being included in that list.
Steph Sinclair
Kate C. I haven’t read any of the older sci-fi books (though, if it were offered on my reading schedule in school, I would have!), but I guess I was wondering about sci-fi novels that do feature more romance. I saw a discussion on GR a while back where some don’t consider it REAL sci-fi if it has “too much romance”. I just wonder if something like that would have a chance of being included. It would be lovely if they had a good amount of diversity for all kinds of readers in school. Because maybe that sci-fi romance is what gets a kid excited about the sci-fi genre. Or maybe that dystopian novel really sparked a flame in another kid.
I really love how they want to add sci-fi to schools instead of just the classics, which let’s be honest, can sometimes be a little dry. But what I really hope is for this to help build an overall enjoyment of reading instead of obligatory reading.
Kate C.
Steph Sinclair Kate C. Oh, I gotcha. I thought you were afraid that they wouldn’t have female writers because there is a lot of romancey sci-fi. hahaha
Ummm… I don’t see them putting in sci-fi romance. Just because they never put in anything good! hahaha Although, I did have to read Gone With the Wind and Wuthering Heights. Those are both romance stories, right?
I don’t think you’re going to get away from classic sci-fi, like Red Mars, Dune, etc. I think Octavia Butler will be on there. I will be shocked if Andre Norton isn’t on there. But they’re both dead, right? Their stuff is classic, classic.
It is a shame that they don’t use more modern authors, because there is a lot of good stuff out there, but administrators seem to favor stuff that’s at least 50 years old, right? I’d love to see some Greg Bear and Sheri S. Tepper (The Margarets is amazing!), possibly some David Brin. But let’s face it, these authors are all pretty modern. Although, I bet money Ender’s Game is on that list.
I will be really interested to see what they come up with. And I hope there is a lot of classic sci-fi stuff in there because then maybe some of it will come back into print!!! And EBOOK!!!
Steph Sinclair
Kate C. I haven’t read any of the older sci-fi books (though, if it were offered on my reading schedule in school, I would have!), but I guess I was wondering about sci-fi novels that do feature more romance. I saw a discussion on GR a while back where some don’t consider it REAL sci-fi if it has “too much romance”. I just wonder if something like that would have a chance of being included. It would be lovely if they had a good amount of diversity for all kinds of readers in school. Because maybe that sci-fi romance is what gets a kid excited about the sci-fi genre. Or maybe that dystopian novel really sparked a flame in another kid.
I really love how they want to add sci-fi to schools instead of just the classics, which let’s be honest, can sometimes be a little dry. But what I really hope is for this to help build an overall enjoyment of reading instead of obligatory reading.
Jennifer @ The Bawdy Book Blog
Adele is my hero.
Go the Fuck To Sleep – could be amazing, could fail miserably, am willing to give it a chance.
Highschool teacher turned writer – lucky bastard.
Sci-fi – This would be amazing if it was mandatory reading. I am imagining a new era of book lovers who have not been bored to death by the classics.
Belle_G
I do not understand how Go the Fuck to Sleep could be a movie. Umm…
EscapeInABook
It is just hilarious that Captain Underpants( is challenged. Challenging and banning of books is just ridiculous I believe that hasn’t happened in Norway since sometimes in the 1950’s . I read the first CU novel with my seven year old son and I cannot see how there is anything unsuitable in the story
It will be interesting to see how they turn Go the Fuck to Sleep into a watchable movie.
Kara_M
Go the Fuck to Sleep as a movie? WUT? That is just ridiculous. Loved your comments though! And way to go, Adele! I just love her more and more every day!
rocapri
hajha When will these motherfucking kids go to motherfucking sleep?!” I