I was fifteen in the year 2000. Turn of the millennium, turn of tables and tides. Every morning there were reports on the radio, and every night the news showed footage of the peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC forces. Folding tables and plastic chairs in a room with no walls, and I don’t think anyone really thought anything would come of it.

Still, we watched. The future of our country on the screen and on a precipice. History about to reassert itself or buckle under the demands of men in linen shirts and bootlegged fatigues. At 9 P.M. every night between 1999 and 2002, the cameras settled on sweat-stained shirts and stern faces to capture the exact moment when we would all be remade with the stroke of a pen and a handshake like fishermen in a Bible verse. Microphones, dress shoes, and rifles. What’ll happen next? we asked. Stay tuned, they said.

On Sunday night, May 14, it was the same. What will happen next? We’ll have to see. I washed my shoelaces in the bathroom sink for Monday school-uniform inspection before morning Mass, while three hours north of Bogotá, a man carefully packed explosives into a PVC pipe frame, like a hermit crab slides a soft body into a borrowed shell.

***

These sky-high masterworks of design are among the most breathtaking ever built

There’s an emerging tactic in the war brought by the far right and “parental rights” activists against public libraries in the United States. The party of law and order has used the ways that libraries do indeed follow law, policy, and order as an opportunity to gain political power through underhanded means. Two recent instances showcase how those hellbent on book banning and destruction of democratic institutions follow the Trump-Vance regime in simply firing people who’ve followed orders as demanded if the outcome doesn’t fit partisan beliefs.

First, let’s step back to the beginning of this decade’s meteoric rise in book censorship. One of the early trends that intellectual freedom champions documented was the number of books being removed because those in charge of decision-making chose not to follow their own collection management and material challenge policies. In some cases, libraries had no policy at all–something that over the last five years has become increasingly important for libraries to develop and/or refine with the continued understanding of where and how collections are being targeted.

Library collection policies govern the who, what, where, when, why, and how of materials arriving and leaving shelves. Some libraries have a single large policy with separate sections covering everything from acquisition to deaccession and patron challenges; others maintain separate policies that address these concerns. For the sake of ease throughout the piece, “policy” and “policies” refer to the same thing–rules and procedures used by libraries to make decisions related to the materials in their collection. As librarianship has continued to professionalize and standardize, the collection policy has truly become a tool to help protect the First Amendment for both the library and its users. The first is to ensure that the materials are protected and represent the whole community they are to serve. The second is to give library users the ability to challenge materials they believe are inappropriate, inaccurate, or irrelevant.

Collection policies were developed and used more following the 1980 election. Then, like today, they weren’t always used for good. The 80s were an era of book challenges, often occurring in ways that were neither documented nor could be documented as they are today. This is even though, just a decade prior, the Supreme Court defined obscenity via the three-pronged Miller Test (1973).

In an older blog post, literary luminary Judy Blume sets the scene of where and how collection policies in this period of time were first absent, then wielded as tools for censorship:

We have one new book in the top five this week, replacing Wuthering Heights, which dropped to #7. In Her Own League is the newest romance from Liz Tomforde, author of the popular Windy City series. It came out March 3rd and already has 41,000 Goodreads ratings.

Two New Books Out This Week You Should Know About

Unfortunately, the most read books on Goodreads tend not to be diverse by any definition of the word. So, here are a couple of new books out this week that deserve wider readership.

The Complex by Karan Mahajan From the author of the National Book Award finalist The Association of Small Bombs comes this family saga, political drama mash up. SP Chopra’s descendants live in an expansive complex in Delhi, India, where they try to take advantage of the political power their forebear gained as one of India’s political architects. Sachin Chopra tries to escape the madness of his family’s politcal ambitions when he moves to America with his wife, Gita, but the family compound keeps calling them back. The Chopras must contend with ambition, loyalty, and unburied secrets as India plunges into violence. —Erica Ezeifedi

Shut Up and Read: A Memoir from Harriett’s Bookshop by Jeannine A. Cook Jeannine A. Cook found herself burnt out, working multiple jobs and living far from her dream of a life of reading and writing. In her journal, she started having conversations with Harriet Tubman, exploring ideas and re-finding her center. In 2020, she opened Harriet’s Bookshop. Through the pandemic and beyond, Cook’s bookstore has thrived. This is her story. —Kendra Winchester

The Most Read Books on Goodreads This Week

#5:

My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney In January, the TV series His & Hers started airing, adapted from Alice Feeney’s book of the same name. A couple weeks later, Feeney’s new thriller released—so it’s no surprise it’s gotten a lot of attention. This follows a woman who returns to her home one day to find her key no longer fits the lock, and the woman who opens the door claims to be her husband’s wife. It promises to be a “mind-bending marriage thriller.” This was read by almost 17,000 Goodreads users this week and has a 4.2 average rating.

Paul Tremblay’s psychological horror/exorcism novel Head Full of Ghosts is finally getting a film adaptation. As this book has already been named one of the best novels of the 21st century by me, horror fans should all be really excited about this one. Here’s everything we know so far!

Paul Tremblay’s 2015 Bram Stoker Award-winning novel Head Full of Ghosts follows the Barretts, a middle-class suburban family whose lives are turned completely upside down when 14-year-old Marjorie Barrett becomes afflicted with a mysterious mental health condition. When doctors can’t provide the family with any help, they begin to wonder if Marjorie might be a victim of demonic possession, and they invite a reality TV show called The Possession to document her exorcism.

A film adaptation of this book has been in the works for several years. In 2018, Osgood Perkins was attached to direct. Then in 2020, Scott Cooper came on board to rewrite and direct the film, with Margaret Qualley in talks to star. By 2024, the baton was passed to the directing duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, best known for the Austrian film Goodnight Mommy.

Finally, the project seems to be truly underway, and filming is supposed to start this month. Head Full of Ghosts will be produced by Robert Downey Jr’s Team Downey, The Allegiance Theater, and Fifth Season. Lion’s Gate will distribute it. The cast of the film has also been announced; David Harbour, Rebecca Hall, and Esmé Creed-Miles are all in final negotiations to star.

Paul Tremblay shared the news on Instagram: “I’ve read the screenplay; it’s wild, and I love it. I can’t wait to see Franz and Fiala put it all on screen. Big thanks to @theallegiancetheater and @officialteamdowney and @dgams54 working so long and hard to make it into scary ass movie!”

For this week’s library resource roundup, I have a nice little smorgasbord of readers advisory and collection resources, from new titles to audiobook news to booklists for kids and teens.

New & Upcoming Titles

Malcolm Gladwell announced a new book about the American gun violence epidemic, The American Way of Killing. It comes out in September.Stephen King is publishing the third novel in the Talisman trilogy, four years after co-author Peter Straub’s death. Hernan Diaz is publishing a new novel this year. E. Lockhart and Sarah Mlynowski are cowriting a new series featuring Nancy Drew as a divorced 40-year old Brooklyn mom who finds herself back in the sleuthing saddle. Sign. Me. Up.Fiona Davis is writing the first ever American Girl novel for adults, featuring Samantha as a burgeoning 25-year-old suffragette in 1920’s New York City. Sign me up for this one too!Kentucky governor Andy Beshear is publishing a book in September that focuses on his religious faith. Rachel Reid has announced that the next Unrivaled book will be postponed until June 2027.

Readers Advisory & Genre Resources

An intro to the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. If you like People We Meet on Vacation, you’ll love these book, movie, and music suggestions! The 2026 Summer Scares selections are live! Maggie O’Farrell’s best books, ranked. Welcome to a new era for Muslim women in fiction. Heated Rivalry and why so many women love gay romance.

Audiophilia

The 2026 Audie Award winners have been announced. A roundup of audiobook listening trends. Audible is rolling out a new feature that lets you listen to audio narration that’s synced up to the text in a Kindle book. Audible has added 15 new narrators to its Narrator Hall of Fame. New & upcoming mysteries & thrillers to try on audio.

Book Lists for Children & Teens

Books about immigration for kids. Books to help children grieve the death of a pet. Children’s books that celebrate Muslim culture. Picture books to celebrate spring. 12 books designed to get kids moving. Books to help kids make sense of current events. (Maybe this will help some adults as well).4 children’s books about astronauts. Children’s picture books featuring neurodivergent characters. Books about Black inventors and scientists for young readers. Books for kids who love KPop Demon Hunters. 16 queer YA books by Black authors to preorder in 2026. 15 YA books about mental health and mental illness. 6 romantic YA dystopian novels.

Speaking of libraries, check out these books about the history of public libraries and explore the revival of zine culture (including in libraries!).

Two shadowy figures skulking in the night. An explosion. A masked vigilante who sees all. A futuristic car speeding through the darkness. A brief fight. Two criminals left tied up for the police to find. A lightning strike. A heroic figure standing triumphant atop a building. Fade to black.

If you’re a ’90s kid and/or a superhero fan, you are likely very familiar with this sequence and the accompanying song, which played at the start of every episode of Batman: The Animated Series. But have you ever really thought about this beloved intro? Allow me to play devil’s advocate for a moment (or rather, defense attorney).

You see, dear readers, despite the clear implication that the two men who pass by the bank are responsible for its subsequent destruction, what proof do we have that this is so? All we see them do is walk away a few seconds before the explosion. We can’t even be sure they were ever in the bank.

Then we see the two men running away from the explosion, followed immediately by shots of them being pursued by the police and then by Batman. Why? Because they ran from an explosion? Who among us would not run if a building blew up right next to us? And who is to say they even notice the police chasing them? If you were trying to escape a bombed building, how much attention would you be paying to the guys behind you?

It’s also worth noting that the men hold no stolen loot, no equipment they might have used to bomb a building. Again, I ask: why is everyone so quick to assume these men are the perpetrators?

February 21 – March 29, 2026

February 7 – March 29, 2026