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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Here are the biggest headlines from last week.
The Surprising OG of Hockey Smut
Heated Rivalry is a gift that keeps on giving for so many reasons, and the endless side-quests for content creators are not least among them. There’s something validating about realizing that not even The Gray Lady is immune to the gravitational pull of hockey smut’s big pop culture moment. To whit: Alexandra Alter, who regularly covers books and publishing for the NYT, has unearthed the fictionalized memoir about a female NHL player that Don DeLillo published under a pen name in 1980. Who doesn’t love “a gleeful sports sex romp?” Sounds like copies of Amazons are rare but not terribly expensive if you’re really looking to complete your hockey romance backlist.
Infinite Coverage
David Foster Wallace’s notorious doorstopper Infinite Jest turns 30 on February 1, and you’d be wise to expect the anniversary coverage to last all year. At The New Yorker, Hermione Hoby wonders if we’ve forgotten how to read it. The Atlantic‘s Will Gottsegen looks around the modern world and concludes that Wallace was right about everything. An upcoming event at New York’s 92nd Street Y featuring critics and authors in conversation about the book is sold out, but you can get streaming access. There’s an anniversary edition with an introduction from Crying in H Mart author Michelle Zauner and a whole sub-section of the internet devoted to how to read the book that infamously requires two bookmarks. Perhaps most notably, it’s one of the rare books that has earned its own dedicated subreddit.
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Thirty years has proven just long enough for readers to run a whole cycle of love it-hate-it-rethink it, so whatever your take on Wallace’s legacy, it’s going to be an interesting phenomenon to watch.
Don’t Bet Against Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson has inked a doozy of a deal with Apple TV for the rights to his fantasy universe Cosmere. The tech and streaming giant will adapt Sanderson’s Mistborn series for film and has already announced producers attached for a TV series based on The Stormlight Archive. The deal, being described as “unprecedented,” comes after Sanderson met with the heads of many Hollywood studios gives him “rarefied control” over the process and final product. Per The Hollywood Reporter, “Sanderson will be the architect of the universe, will write, produce and consult, and have approvals…a level of involvement that not even J.K. Rowling or George R.R. Martin enjoy.” Financial details have not yet been disclosed.
Book Clubbing Vigil by George Saunders
One of the most anticipated new releases of the season, George Saunders’s new novel Vigil hit shelves yesterday. It’s a spiritual companion to 2017’s Lincoln in the Bardo, but you don’t need to have read Bardo to grok it. While some critics who shall not be named seem intent on obtuse (mis)readings, Jeff and I loved it and had a great time book clubbing it on today’s new episode of the Book Riot Podcast. Spoiler-free at the intro, we’ll tell you when to bounce out if you don’t want the nitty-gritty. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcatcher of choice.