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
- The Man Booker International Prize 2016 shortlist was announced Wednesday. On the list are books from Angola, South Korea, Turkey, Austria, Italy, and China. The winning author and translator will split the £50,000 prize.
- Amazon announced the new Kindle Oasis, a thinnner (well, half of it is thinner), lighter Kindle with two batteries: one in the Kindle and one in the cover. Given that I never remove the cover from mine, I’m not sure how this is an improvement, but we’ll see.
- The Children’s Choice Book Awards has opened up voting for its 2016 awards. Voting is only open to children and teens.
Literary Losses
Peggy Fortnum, the illustrator for the Paddington Bear books, died March 28, 2016, at the age of 96. Her pen-and-ink sketches defined Paddington’s image for generations of young readers, myself included. Obituaries: The Guardian; Washington Post
Worth Reading
- The most important Obama nominee no one’s talking about is his pick to head the Library of Congress. (Robert Gebelhoff, Washington Post)
- A Peek Inside ‘The Ripped Bodice’, America’s First All-Romance Bookstore (Jezebel)
- How to Spring Clean Your Goodreads TBR Pile (BookRiot)
- On Getting Rid of Books (BookRiot)
- Why I Came Out as a Gay Children’s Author (Alexander London, for BuzzFeed)
For Writers & Bloggers
- Are You Telling the Wrong Story? (K. M. Weiland)
Book & Movie Announcements & Giveaways
- Spring into Mystery Giveaway: 35+ Cozy Mysteries and a Kindle Fire! Ends April 19. Offered by Storytellers Unlimited.
- Neil Gaiman to adapt Good Omens as 6-part TV mini-series. Although Gaiman originally refused to adapt the book without his collaborator Terry Pratchett, he changed his mind after reading a posthumous letter from Pratchett asking him to go ahead with the project. (The Guardian)
- Hamilton: The Revolution sold out at Amazon. Also known as the Hamiltome, the book about the hit Broadway musical is headed into its third printing. (Entertainment Weekly)
- Sourcebooks has purchased a book first published on Wattpad (GalleyCat)
Awesome Lists
- 41 Of The Most Suspenseful Books You’ll Ever Read (BuzzFeed)
- 16 Things Romance Readers Are Tired of Hearing (BookBub blog)
- 22 Magical Cakes All Book Lovers Will Appreciate (BuzzFeed)
Really Cool / Just for Fun
Photo by Johnny Joo, via BuzzFeed
Bookish Quote
That’s it for this week!
Rita @ View From My Home
Wow, so many good links! I checked out the Oasis, lol, I want that! I’m tired of charging my paperwhite so often.
The Ripped Bodice, what fun! I don’t live that close to Culver City, a few hours away, so I won’t be going there and besides romance is not my comfort zone genre, but I do read some and it sure would make for an interesting trip.
Since I would love to see Hamilton if I ever make a trip back to NY to visit relatives, that book sounded really cool to me. And how about young people picking up the original bio on Hamilton that’s been on Amazon and in bookstores for awhile? It would be awesome if younger people got interested in history from this show.
Enjoy your week!
Rita @ View From My Home recently posted…Weekly Wrap-Up: 4/17/16
Lark_Bookwyrm
Hamilton (the musical) is amazing, judging by the cast album. Our daughter Robin is completely in love with it. She has gotten the audiobook version of Chernow’s biography (the one that inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda to write the show) and plans to listen to it.
If I’m ever in the Culver City area, I will definitely check out The Ripped Bodice. But I think they have an online presence too. I expect them to turn into a great source for signed copies of various romances, once authors start going there on tour… sort of like The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale is for mysteries.