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
- Goodreads rolls out new Rereading feature. I’ve been waiting for this since I first joined Goodreads. I’m so excited!
- Bookstore sales rose 2.5% in 2016, increasing for the second year after years of declining sales. (Publishers Weekly)
- Carnegie and Kate Greenaway awards announce 2017 longlists. This year’s picks are controversal because there is not a single BAME (black, Asian, or minority ethnic) author or illustrator on the lists. (The Guardian)
- Bookstores Stoke Trump Resistance with Actions, Not Just Words (New York Times)
- Edinburgh international book festival may be forced to move, but just to a different location in the city. (The Guardian)
- Thieves steal £2m of rare books by abseiling into warehouse. The books include early editions of works by Copernicus, Galileo, Dante, Newton, and da Vinci. But due to the immediate publicity, the books may prove nearly impossible to sell. (Both articles: The Guardian)
Worth Reading
- Why Backlist Matters to Bookstores (Publishers Weekly)
- A Dyslexic’s Guide to Infinity (Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, for The Rumpus) A memoir piece about becoming a writer with dyslexia.
- What Peter Pan teaches us about memory and consciousness (BBC) Some aspects of the books parallel or reflect what we now believe about how the brain and the psyche work.
- Making ALA Great Again. (Publishers Weekly) The American Library Association grapples with where it stands regarding the new Trump administration.
- Trashy, sexist, downright dangerous? In defense of romantic fiction (Elizabeth Reid Boyd, PhD, aka Eliza Redgold, for The Guardian)
- And then there’s this, from CBS’s Sunday Morning:
For Writers & Bloggers
- A Mini Blog Ahead Challenge is coming! March 1 – 15, hosted by Anna at The Herd Presents (associated with Herding Cats, Burning Soup.)
- The Take Control TBR Challenge starts March 1st! Get a jump on your already-published TBR pile with Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
Book & Movie Announcements
- Philip Pullman unveils fantasy trilogy, The Book of Dust. It’s a continuation of sorts of His Dark Materials, and takes place both before and after that series. The first book comes out in October 2017. (The Guardian)
- Neil Gaiman announces Neverwhere sequel, The Seven Sisters (The Guardian)
Awesome Lists
- 4 Fantasy Must-Reads for Jane Austen Fans (BookRiot)
- Characters Who Got Happily-Ever-Afters Right Before History Changed Everything (BookRiot) Some interesting picks and omissions here. BTW, if you’re a fan of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane and have ever wondered what happened to them during WWII, Jill Paton Walsh actually got to write that story — though it’s more Harriet’s story than Peter’s.
Bookish Quote
That’s it for this week!
Tanya Patrice
OMG a sequel to Neverwhere!!! So excited for that. It’s one of my most memorable reads.
Lark_Bookwyrm
I haven’t read it yet, but it’s on my list to get to, one of these days!
La La in the Library
The Goodreads re-read feature is fabulous. I have to learn how to use it properly though. Heh heh. Even though I have only read The Golden Compass, so far, I am psyched for the new books. I was not aware of the diversity problems with the Carnegie and Greenaway awards. Yikes, I thought things were getting better. Thanks for sharing these links, the Peter Pan article looks especially good. 🙂
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m so psyched about the GR re-read feature! Hope you had fun with the rest of the links. 🙂