News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, and other cool stuff
Book News
- Amazon Pulls Some Nazi-Themed, Offensive Items After Criticism, But Many Remain (NPR) This disturbs me on two counts. On the one hand, by and large I’m not in favor of censorship. On the other hand, we’ve seen a disturbing rise in blatant white nationalism in the US, and these products only serve to feed it. I’m appalled that they exist at all, and I am uncomfortable knowing they are or have been sold through Amazon (which, as a company rather than a government or public utility, has the right to choose what it does and does not carry.)
- ‘Spectacular’ ancient public library discovered in Germany. Archaeologists in Cologne have discovered the remains of a building that could have held as up to 20,000 scrolls from as far back as the second century CE. Sadly, none of the scrolls themselves survive. (The Guardian)
Worth Reading/Viewing
- Why Do Americans Read So Few Books in Translation? (Gabriella Page-Fort, Literary Hub)
- Bad Idea of the Day: ‘Amazon Should Replace Local Libraries.’ Forbes published an article by The Ten Golden Rules of Leadership author Panos Mourdoukoutas suggesting that Amazon open its own bookstores in communities and thus eliminate the need for public libraries–a proposal that shows an almost laughable misunderstanding of the functions of and need for both libraries and bookstores. As you can imagine, the responses were swift and overwhelmingly in support of libraries, especially from both publishers and bookstores. Shelf Awareness has collected some of them, with links.
Upcoming Books, Movies, & TV
- Netflix Acquires George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’. The film will be directed by Andy Serkis and produced by Matt Reeves. Serkis “has wanted to make the movie for years,” according to Deadline.
Really Cool
