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
- Four unseen Beatrix Potter drawings found at Melford Hall, a National Trust property in Suffolk. (The Guardian) You can also read more about the drawings and their discovery at Melford Hall’s website.
- Amazon Is Quietly Eliminating List Prices (New York Times)
- In bankruptcy hearing, retailer Hastings given extension to find buyer (Publishers Weekly)
- In his new book, Jonah Lehrer expresses shame and regret about the plagiarism, made-up quotes, and other “mistakes” in his past books and on his blog. (Washington Post)
- Llewellyn sells YA imprint Flux to North Star. Flux is where Maggie Stiefvater, among others, got her start. (Publishers Weekly)
- Harlequin’s MIRA is launching a lit-fic line to be called Park Row Books. (Publishers Weekly)
Elie Wiesel (photo © David Shankbone, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 3.0)
Literary Losses
Elie Wiesel, renowned author and Holocaust survivor whose writings “seared the memory of the Holocaust on the world’s conscience”, has died. Throughout his life, Wiesel spoke and wrote eloquently and passionately, not only about the Holocaust but also against hate, bigotry, and genocide throughout the world. (Obituaries: New York Times; NPR; The Guardian)
Worth Reading
- 3-star reviews hurt sales, according to crime fiction author LH Thomson.
- Sci-Fi Romance’s Discoverability Challenge (Heather Massey for Heroes & Heartbreakers)
Book & Movie Announcements
- Marvel’s New Iron Man is 15-year-old black girl. (BBC News) And why not? I bet her story will be fascinating!
- Clifford the Big Red Dog is coming to the big screen. Paramount plans a live-action/CGI mix for the film. (Variety)
- J. K. Rowling has finished the screenplay for the second Fantastic Beasts movie, according to director/producer David Yates. (via YouTube)
Awesome Lists
- 101 Best Selling Books of All Time (List Challenge) I’ve read 29 — how about you? (The list includes some religious books, but neither the Bible nor the Koran, for some inexplicable reason.)
- Fantasy Book Reviews’ Top 100 Fantasy Novels (or series, in many cases). I’ve read only 13 of these, but I confirmed some of the books on my want-to-read list… like Isobel Carmody’s Obernewton series. OTOH, I disagree with some of their choices, both what they included and what they left out. (And isn’t that half the fun of a list like this?)
- Diana Gabaldon Recommends Time-Travel and Scottish Fiction (BookBub blog)
Really Cool / Just for Fun
Haskell Free Library (photo via WikiCommons; CC0 1.0)
- This library straddles the US-Canada border — and serves citizens of both countries. (Atlas Obscura)
- Pottermore has an infographic — and a video — of all the sweets mentioned in the Harry Potter books.
- Like to Color? Love Disney, Doctor Who, or other fandoms? Check out Akili-Amethyst’s free coloring pages on DeviantArt. (There are several pages in the gallery, so don’t stop with the first one.) Here’s Merida from Brave.
Merida. Art © Akili-Amethyst, via DeviantArt
Bookish Quote
That’s it for this week!
Bea @Bea's Book Nooknnn
I would love to be trapped in a library overnight! But I’m so tired of hearing how 3 star reviews are bad. I’ll read the article to see if the writer has anything worthwhile to say but I’m doubtful. I’ll also check out that list of fantasy novels; those are always interesting.
Bea @Bea’s Book Nooknnn recently posted…Bea Reviews Nobody Likes A Goblin by Ben Hatke
Lark_Bookwyrm
He believes that 3-star reviews reduce sales as compared to 4- and 5-star reviews. He’s probably got a point, but at the same time, from the reviewer’s side, it’s hard to justify giving every single book a 4- or 5- star rating. It’s also tough because he conflates Amazon’s 3 stars (it was okay) with Goodreads 3-stars (I liked it.) In fact, I will often round a 3.5-star book up on Amazon but not always on Goodreads, for that very reason.
Got My Book
Re: Bookish Quote – Years ago, when I still lived in Seattle, I got to spend a day in the Seattle Public Library while it was closed. It was Thanksgiving Day and my brother was the security guard who got “stuck” with the holiday shift. I took him a holiday dinner and spent several hours there. It was wonderful.
Got My Book recently posted…text: I Do My First Guest Post | Sunday Summary #10