All Booked

The Tuscany region has reopened the GiovaniSì call for applications for 2026, offering free books to young people. The scheme, promoted through the region's youth portal and publicised by the City of Florence's youth portal, gives eligible students a contribution toward purchasing textbooks. Applications have drawn attention as families look for help with school costs.

Oprah Winfrey is marking three decades of her Book Club, reflecting on the authors and novels that shaped its legacy. The milestone celebrates how the club turned selected titles into bestsellers and brought reading conversations into millions of homes. Readers are revisiting favorite picks and the writers whose careers the club helped launch.

Rohit Sharma has passed 12,000 runs in one-day internationals, becoming the fastest to the mark and overtaking Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting in the record books, during India's second ODI against West Indies. He and Shubman Gill put on a rapid century opening stand, and Rohit tops the list of most sixes in ODIs in 2026, with Gill and Virat Kohli also in the top five. Reports have also highlighted his bond with Kohli and Kohli's World Cup ambitions.

Audre Lorde's line that caring for oneself is 'self-preservation' and 'an act of political warfare' is being widely shared again. The quote comes from 'A Burst of Light', the book Lorde wrote while dying of breast cancer in the late 1980s. People are invoking it to argue that rest and self-care are political acts, not indulgence, particularly in conversations about health, illness and survival under pressure.

A new online resource called Book of Shapes has been launched, offering a collection of minimal, generative and customizable SVG patterns. Each shape can apparently be adjusted by users to fit their own design projects, positioning the site as a practical tool for developers and designers looking for lightweight geometric graphics. Early reaction online has been positive, with several hundred people engaging with the launch and praising the clean, functional approach to pattern generation.

The Santa Barbara Independent's books column 'All Booked' closes out another year of 'treasure hunting', reflecting on a year spent tracking down notable reads. The piece looks back at the discoveries and highlights from the past twelve months of book searching, wrapping up the column's annual review for local readers.

Christie's is auctioning the original message from the first packet ever sent using RFC 1149, the joke 1990 standard that defines how to transmit Internet Protocol packets via carrier pigeon. The item appears in Christie's fine printed books and manuscripts sale. Tech communities are enjoying the moment, celebrating a piece of internet history that began as an April Fools' Day gag and later was actually demonstrated in practice.

The German antiques show 'Bares für Rares' is generating fresh headlines around notable moments on the program. Recent stories include a 400-year-old book dug up in a garden that stunned the show's dealers, a seller whose asking price was far too high, and a silver treasure discovered in a household clearance. A new XXL edition featuring host Horst Lichter and TV chef Sarah Wiener is also drawing attention.

VIS, a chipmaker affiliated with TSMC, is considering building a second plant in Singapore after its first facility there was fully booked immediately upon opening. Strong demand for its wafer services has prompted the company to weigh expansion in the city-state, a growing hub for semiconductor manufacturing.

Children's book illustrators are posting new artwork online for KidLitArtPostcard Day, a recurring event where artists share a single postcard-sized piece to promote their work to authors, editors and publishers. Participants are exchanging posts, praising each other's styles, and using the day to make new connections across the children's publishing community.

A read-aloud of the children's book 'Peppa Pig: Peppa's Windy Fall Day' is drawing large viewership among families with toddlers. The autumn and Halloween-themed story follows Peppa Pig on a windy fall day, and it is being shared as a seasonal bedtime or classroom read for young children during the Halloween period.

Jean-Pierre Papin, the former French striker, is in the spotlight following the release of a new book about him. Mario Albano, a former senior reporter at the Marseille newspaper La Provence, presented the book on BFM, sharing his insights into Papin's career. The former Marseille and France star remains a major figure in French football, and the book's presentation is drawing attention from fans.

Educators are announcing a new Class 12 Hindi textbook set for release in 2027, with a focus on Hindi grammar (Hindi Vyakaran). The announcement, presented by a teacher known as Sanjay Sir through Disha Hindi & English Classes, is drawing strong attention from students and teachers preparing for board exams, who are keen to see how the updated material will change Hindi study for Class 12.

David MacKay's 2008 book 'Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air' is back in discussion. The free online book offers a numbers-based analysis of Britain's energy options, cutting through rhetoric on renewables and fossil fuels with straightforward calculations of consumption and production. Readers continue to praise it as one of the clearest introductions to energy policy, and it remains freely available at withouthotair.com more than 15 years after publication.

A visitor to the Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library's Fall Used Book Sale in North Dakota came across an unexpected treasure: a cookbook by chef Mark Miller. The buyer says Miller's "Coyote Cafe" was the first cookbook they ever purchased, and they had no idea this later title existed, calling the discovery a welcome surprise.

A Halloween-themed Bluey read-aloud book for children and toddlers is drawing large audiences ahead of the holiday. The mix-and-match story, built around the hit Australian preschool character Bluey, is being featured as a seasonal reading option for young children and families looking for Halloween-themed books to enjoy together.

A soft-spoken roleplay by Moonlight Cottage ASMR, in which an unseen narrator gives tips on handling and caring for antique books in a dark academia style, has drawn close to half a million likes. Viewers are drawn to the combination of practical preservation advice and calming page-turning sounds.

A new unboxing video showcases a Sanrio dress-up sticker book featuring My Melody, Kuromi, Cinnamoroll and Pompompurin, with the paper crafts flipped through in ASMR style. The video is pulling large audiences, reflecting continued strong interest in Sanrio characters and relaxing craft content.

ABAKCUS has published a curated collection of free mathematics textbooks, organized as a book list on its website. The resource compiles openly available titles for students, teachers, and enthusiasts. It is being shared in math communities online, where members appreciate easy access to quality educational material at no cost.