"A standard component in Egyptian elite burials, the Book of the Dead was not a book in the modern sense of the term but a compendium of some 200 ritual spells and prayers, with instructions on how the deceased’s spirit should recite them in the hereafter." - The New York Times
In the conglomerate era, authors like Stephen King and Danielle Steel are pressured to become advertisements for themselves, even as much of the work of authorship (the research, the fact-checking) is farmed out to a small army of aides, assistants and publicists, leaving writers with less control over their output. - Washington Post
Georgette Heyer's 1950 novel The Grand Sophy isn't exactly The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, but it definitely includes antisemitic language. That's been edited out in a new edition. Is that sensitivity to today's readers or bowdlerization? - The New York Times
One or two banned and censored books doing well on bestseller lists means little to the hundreds of other authors, and topics, that kids in some areas will never get to see. - Book Riot
The final part of cooking comes after the meal - and in one cookbook, "the absolute last bit of instruction in the book is titled 'How to Mostly Love Doing the Dishes.'" - Slate
"Narrating audiobooks is closer to theater than it is TV or film. For one, it's a more direct, more spare performance compared to screen acting, and ... it's straight-up an endurance test." - NPR
The list includes Amy Schumer’s memoir The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, flagged by Florida officials for graphic sexual content and for being “a threat to the security, order, or rehabilitative objectives. - The Guardian
"In a postscript to the new book, Le dedico mi silencio (I Give You My Silence), the 87-year-old novelist writes: 'I think I’ve finished this book. I’d now like to write an essay on Sartre, my teacher as a young man. It will be the last thing I write.'" - The Guardian
These days, it is something of a fool’s errand to try to determine whether a text encountered online is written by a human or a chatbot. You might think a text sounds cheesy, canned, or off-the-shelf, but isn’t a lot of human writing just that? - Boston Review
"The Freedom of Expression Award invites applicants to write about one banned book that changed their life and why. The $10,000 (£8,168) prize will be awarded to a high-school student planning to attend university in 2024." - The Guardian
"The educational company, which both publishes and distributes books, waded into hot water last month after it confirmed that it was changing its policy for its middle school book fair offerings, … putting most of the titles dealing with race, gender and sexuality into their own collection." - NPR
