Katie's parents never told her "no" when she asked for a book, which was the start of most of her problems. She has an MLIS from the University of Illinois and works full time as a Circulation & Reference Manager in Illinois. She has a deep-rooted love of all things disturbing, twisted, and terrifying and takes enormous pleasure in creeping out her coworkers. When she's not at work, she's at home watching the Cubs with her cats and her cardigan collection. Other hobbies include scrapbooking, introducing more readers to the Church of Tana French, and convincing her husband that she can, in fact, fit more books onto her shelves.
Twitter: @kt_librarylady
It’s time to Check Your Shelf, where we check in with a new survey about a reading crisis in UK adults, get some new adaptation updates, and take a look at yet another controversial book banning bill in Florida. Let’s dive in.
New UK Study Finds Growing Reading Crisis in Adults
A lot has been written recently about decreasing reading and literacy rates in children, but what about in adults? Publisher’s Weekly highlighted a new study of UK adults, which found that nearly half of the survey respondents reported struggling with reading due to distractions (particularly in the 16-34 age group). There’s a lot to point to in terms of technology depleting our ability to focus, as well as an increase in adult responsibilities and stressors, but one thing I’m interested in is the role that the pandemic has played in adults’ decreasing ability to focus. I’m not talking about neurological effects experienced by people with long Covid. I’m talking about how the psychological stress and trauma has impacted our brains. My own reading capacity has decreased with age, but I can point to the beginning of the pandemic lockdown as the turning point that shattered my ability to focus, and I have yet to regain anything close to my previous reading life. So to the people who responded to this survey, I feel ya.
Literary Advocates Condemn Florida Book Banning Bill
Florida introduced another highly controversial piece of book banning legislation, and a coalition of “literary organizations, anti-censorship advocacy groups, and Florida education stakeholders” are speaking out very strongly against the bill. This bill would require school districts to remove any book deemed “harmful to minors” within five days of a challenge, regardless of whether or not the book has been through an official review process. In addition, the bill contains a revised (and expanded) definition of what “harmful to minors” actually means, and explicitly rejects “consideration of a book’s literary, artistic, political, or scientific value if sexual content is present.” The coalition, which includes groups such as Authors Against Book Bans, PEN America, EveryLibrary, and the Florida Freedom to Read Project, says that this bill represents a significant constitutional concern.
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The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
This week, we’re highlighting a post that offers you a guide to all things cozy genre books! Get to know some outstanding cozy mysteries, cozy horror, and a whole lot more. Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
A Guide to All the Cozy Genres
Cozy has certainly become a buzzword attached to genre fiction. It all started with cozy mysteries, which have been around for decades. Now we’re seeing cozy science fiction and fantasy, and even cozy horror. So what exactly does “cozy” mean?
There are some common traits of so-called cozy books. Generally, they evoke a charming atmosphere with their setting. In cozy mysteries, this is often a small town—think of a quaint village in the English countryside. Fantasy adds some magic to that quaint village; horror adds ghosts. For science fiction, coziness often manifests as a ship, space station, or colony with a tight-knit crew. Readers can expect rich descriptions of the setting and a lot of atmosphere for a fully transporting reading experience.
Another common factor in these books is the stakes of the story. Cozy mysteries are somewhat confounding because the crimes they solve are typically murders! Nevertheless, the reader is not subjected to gory details or put in a position of extreme suspense. Likewise, cozy fantasy and sci-fi novels may deal with the aftermath of a large-scale conflict, but the characters are likely to be dealing with smaller, more internal or interpersonal challenges.
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