Target's problems aren't what you think they are

July 14, 2026View Online | Join All Access | Listen

We are tying our bandanas in memory of Sam Neill, who starred in two of the best book adaptations of the 1990s. He saw dinosaurs as Dr. Alan Grant, and we hope he did eventually get to see Montana as himself.

Spread the word. Share this email with friends.

THE HEADLINE

Publishers launch new lawsuit against Google for using digital books to train AI

A group of three publishers, plus author Scott Turow, has brought perhaps the most straightforward case against a tech company’s use of books in training AI models.

The case is not focused on the legality of using books at all in training these models, but rather on Google’s specific sourcing of the books it used. Namely, the suit alleges that Google used books in its Google Scholar, Google Books, and the Google Play bookstore outside of the express and agreed upon uses of those platforms. Books were made available in each of those projects for a specific purpose and Google violated copyright when it used those books outside of those parameters.

Furthermore, the suit alleges that Google’s own internal discussions identified using books in these systems opened the company up to litigation.

To my untrained legal eye, this looks to be a strong case with the possibility of significant damages, even as it does not address the question most of are asking: is using books, even if acquired legally, to train AI models fair use.

Publishers Lunch first reported this story. A great read if you don’t subscriber over there already.

NEW RELEASES

What women inherit

You don’t get to choose your inheritance, be it literal or metaphorical, but you do get to decide what you do with it. This week’s most interesting new releases take different paths to explore the common ground of destiny, identity, and what we do with the stories passed down to us and hidden from us.

A multigenerational family saga captures 400 years of history in one of the season’s most-anticipated debuts.

Fourth Wing meets Hunger Games through the lens of Chinese mythology as an acclaimed writer tries her hand at romantasy.

Poetry changes lives in a compelling new novel about womanhood, ambition, family, and desire.

Also hitting shelves: a touching and funny debut about a disastrous family vacation, an Indigenous American chef’s memoir about the healing power of food, new short stories from an award-winning writer, and the incredibly reported, devastating true story about a con man who got another man sent to death row for a murder he did not commit.

See more of this week’s most notable new releases.

 Unlock our New Release Index to build your personal watchlist of upcoming releases when you join All Access.

TOGETHER WITH UNDERLINED

Agatha Christie meets Stephen King in a murderously exciting page-turner.

In Maren Stoffels’s Mystery Guest, a young woman’s life spirals into chaos after she provides testimony that puts her brother behind bars. When she’s found dead shortly after, three of her peers all confess to the murder, and they all have a motive…but only one is guilty.

The search for answers becomes even more complicated when it comes to light that the recently murdered Maria was being tormented by a mysterious, masked figure known only as the “Mystery Guest.”

Maren Stoffels plays with perspectives and motives as only she can in a story perfect for hardcore mystery and horror fans and newcomers alike.

ZERO TO WELL-READ

How to get more out of your reading

We get this question all the time:

How do I engage more deeply with my reading besides annotating and asking the text/author basic questions? I want to think deeply about the text in front of me, remember more than just the main themes and ideas, and be able to fully formulate my thoughts on books, authors, genres or eras.

A few of our go-to tips:

Make your annotations the start, not the end, of deep reading. When you finish a book, go back through your notes, underlines, and marginalia and synthesize them into a more cohesive reflection on the work. This can be in the form of a reading journal, a review (even if you don’t post it anywhere), or even a voice note to a bookish friend.

Don’t just read the book, read about the book. Look for editions that include introductions from experts. When an annotated or expanded edition isn’t available, seek out reputable reviews, essays by literary critics and scholars, and other supporting material to help you contextualize the work.

Pay attention to the questions you have after finishing the book. What are you still wondering about? What new ideas does it spark for you? How does it connect to or diverge from other books you’ve read?

Becoming well-read is a journey, not a destination, and like most adventures, it’s better with friends. Come along with us on Zero to Well-Read.

LIBRARIES

Feds may end affordable internet access for schools and libraries

Internet access is on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) chopping block.

The e-Rate program helps bridge the digital divide by providing public schools and libraries with access to affordable internet and telecommunications services.

As more and more services are only available online, the e-Rate program is especially vital.

The e-Rate program doesn’t make the internet free.

There are numerous thresholds and limitations to the program.

Rural and small libraries benefit from the steepest discounts.

More than 100,000 schools and roughly 11,000 libraries across the country participate in e-Rate, at the cost of about $3 billion annually, per the Schools Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition.

The Trump-appointed FCC chair believes that students are getting “too much screen time,” and that, as a result, these discounts should be severely reduced or eliminated.

The same lies about schools and libraries promoting “inappropriate” materials are those behind the e-Rate cut proposition.

The more the right is allowed to hinder the public’s, especially children’s, access to information, the more they believe they’ll be able to control the future of the authoritarian regime.

It is no coincidence that book ban and curriculum legislation are simultaneously pulsing through Congress. All of these align with the push to privatize education through voucher schemes that steal taxpayer money in service of the desires of the wealthy and well-connected.

Cutting e-Rate would also:

Harm job seekers who rely on the library for internet access;

Decrease already-strained library budgets, as more money would be shifted to technology, further accelerating censorship, especially of the quiet variety;

Disenfranchise voters, who rely on internet access to locate sample ballots and research candidates.

Here’s what you can do:

✔️ Watch Save Our E-Rate’s tracker for the FCC’s comment period, and provide frank feedback about the impact of cutting discounted internet rates to public schools and libraries.

‍♀️ Attend Save Our E-Rate’s free webinar on July 17 at 2 p.m Eastern to get more information and insight into the program and what’s at stake.

✍️ Sign petitions from The Consortium for School Networking, the American Library Association (ALA), and the School Superintendents Association (AASA), all of which will go directly to lawmakers in Congress.

 Contact your House Representative and both of your state Senators. You can do this before the FCC comment period.

More information about the attempts to end e-Rates, as well as other cuts the FCC has already made that directly impact public schools and libraries, is available here., KJ

TOGETHER WITH INKLORE, PUBLISHER OF SORA & HAENA!

Jackbull’s fan-favorite GL manhwa is now available in English print!

In Sora & Haena, a star student and a social butterfly agree to help each other achieve the impossible…but they just might fall in love along the way.

Yoon Sora may be the top student in her class, but her social skills are way below average, she can barely make eye contact with someone without breaking into a nervous sweat. Desperate to impress her classmates, she lies about having a boyfriend, then completely panics!

Luckily for Sora, she happens to meet Woo Haena, a rambunctious upperclassman from a different school that’s infamous for poor academic performance. The two girls strike a deal: Haena will help Sora get a boyfriend, and Sora will help Haena get into college. But as they try to achieve both seemingly impossible goals, their alliance just might turn into something more…

ADAPTATION CORNER

Back at a theater near you

Practice your mockingjay call, readers: we’re going back to Panem. All five films in the Hunger Games franchise will return to theaters this September.

Theatrical re-releases aren’t new, but we’ve seen an uptick in the last few years. There was an older film in rotation at nearly every movie theater I went to in 2024, a strategy that likely began as a way to fill gaps in the release calendar after the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike halted production for nearly four months.

The strategy behind the latest re-releases is likely more about getting that sweet, sweet nostalgia-fueled revenue, and in the case of The Hunger Games, marketing for new projects. Whatever the reason, the strategy has been a lucrative one.

Titanic went back to theatres in 2023 for its 25th anniversary. While not a book adaptation, this drop proved that nostalgia gets butts in seats: it brought in around $15 million in one weekend

The Twilight Saga films returned to theatres in October 2025 for the novel’s 20th anniversary. The films were released over the course of five days, with the first installment bringing in $1.55 million in a single day

The Lord of the Rings trilogy was re-released earlier this year for the 25th anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring, and presales for the multi-day release came in at $5 million

The Hunger Games films will return to theaters ahead of the November release of the highly anticipated Sunrise on the Reaping and will also follow a multi-day release schedule: The Hunger Games on September 3, Catching Fire on September 4, Mockingjay, Part 1 on September 5, Mockingjay, Part 2 on September 6, and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes on September 7.

Will this tug at nostalgia prove as profitable as sparkly vampires and sinking ships? Probably, but may the odds be ever in their favor. -VDiaz

WRITERS ON WRITING

The insidious harm done in writing workshops

photo credit: Sylvia Rosokoff

Julie Buntin is the author of Famous Men, out now from Random House. Below, she discusses what drew her to writing about power imbalances in academia.

In the early stages of writing this book, I accepted a teaching position at U-M. I was young and fresh enough to academia to relate more to MFA students than other faculty members, but I was on the other side of the table.

From that vantage, I could see with disarming clarity how the intensity and ambition I myself had felt as a graduate student was, in many cases, a front for something much more vulnerable, and how easy it would be for a teacher to channel those feelings in toxic ways.

A story is rarely just a story, especially for the writer. Real damage is done in workshops all the time, and we as teachers have an enormous responsibility to make them productive instead of violating.

Famous Men became a vessel for exploring these complexities, and unpacking my own artistic education and early adulthood. Moments when, in my eagerness to be influenced, I let go of what interested me as a writer and tried simply to please, as well darker, more complicated experiences.

I wanted to trace the kinds of insidious harm that are hardest to measure, that undermine your sense of self, erode your boundaries, make you question reality.

Tropes interest me. One way of describing the plot of Famous Men is to say it’s about a young woman whose relationship with an older man, a famous writer and professor, derails her life.

I’m attracted to these patterns in fiction because I think we’re attracted to these patterns in life. Do the stories make us seek them out, or does the fact that people keep falling into them bleed into the stories?

That question’s metatextual implications are also part of the fabric of this novel. How can we break free of these compelling, formidable patterns? And when we assume we already understand everything about how they work, what do we miss? Is it possible that looking again, interrogating every detail, is the way to find an escape hatch?

TOGETHER WITH THRIFTBOOKS

You already instantly save up to 20% on more than 200,000 titles with ThriftBooks Deals, and now for a limited time, you’ll also earn double points on every ThriftBooks Deals item, just for being a valued ReadingRewards® member! Shop now at ThriftBooks.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Wole Soyinka, born July 13, 1934

Did you know? Soyinka was the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1986)

CRITICAL LINKING

You are now free to roam about the internet

 Fill your TBR with help from a huge summer book preview.

️ Explore an analysis of 200,000 similes in literature.

 Count down to the release dates of these 250+ new LGBTQ books out in the second half of 2026.

 Blast off with the best recent science fiction and fantasy books.

 Keep up with all our content by signing up for the Best of Book Riot newsletter.

END NOTES

Written by Jeff O’Neal, Rebecca Schinsky, Kelly Jensen, Vanessa Diaz, and Danika Ellis. Thanks to Vanessa Diaz for copy editing.

Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here.

Got a tip, question, comment, or story idea? Drop us a line: thenewsletter@bookriot.com.