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
- Michiko Kakutani, Chief ‘Times’ Book Critic, Steps Down After Nearly 4 Decades (NPR Books)
- ‘Sensational’ lost play by Peter Pan author JM Barrie published (The Guardian)
- The 2017 World Fantasy Award Nominees Have Been Announced (Tor.com)
- The Man Booker Prize 2017 Longlist was announced
- The Arthur C. Clark Award for science fiction went to Coulson Whitehead for The Underground Railroad.
- The CWA Daggers Awards shortlists are out. (Crime Writers Association, a British organization)
- Follow-up to last week’s news about a flooded Phoenix library: over 7,000 books were damaged, many of them in the reference section. (Phoenix New Times)
Worth Reading
- The Library of Congress opened its catalogs to the world. Here’s why it matters. (PBS News Hour)
- At San Diego Comic-Con, Diversity in Content and Consumers Is Key (Publishers Weekly)
- The strange world of book thefts. From bookstores, that is; we covered college library thefts last week. (The Guardian)
- Fantasy has become something you don’t have to be embarrassed about (author Robin Hobb, for The Guardian)
For Writers & Bloggers
Awesome Lists
- Top 10 female detectives in fiction (The Guardian) Not the lineup I would have picked, with the exception of Mary Russell, but worth checking out.
- 10 Picture Books Featuring Children of Color (Book Riot)
- 6 Books From The Invisibile Library I Wish Were Real (Book Riot)
- and the aforementioned Invisible Library, a list of books that only exist as mentions inside other books. Sadly, it hasn’t been updated since 2008.
Bookish Quote
That’s it for this week!
Stephanie @ Don't be Afraid of the Dork
SO many good lists this week! I love awards list season:). I think the Man Booker list is particularly interesting and I’m glad to see Borderline on the World Fantasy Award list – I haven’t read it but know a lot of people have loved it and that is original. I don’t know any of the books on the Crime Award list – have you read any of those? As much as I love mystery I don’t keep up with it like I do SFF.
Finally, I agree that the Women Detectives list is a little odd but thought-provoking! Who else besides Mary Russell would you include on your list?
Stephanie @ Don’t be Afraid of the Dork recently posted…Saturday in the Garden | The Prettiest Day in Pretty Land
Lark_Bookwyrm
I haven’t read any of the Crime Award list, or even heard of them. The Crime Writers Association is a British organization, so some of those books may not have been published in the U.S.
Best Women Detectives: I think I would have to put Miss Marple on the list, don’t you? I think I would also add Nancy Drew, just because those books influenced generations of young female readers to love mystery. I also really like Veronica Speedwell (Deanna Raybourn), Daisy Dalrymple (Carola Dunn; light but fun), and Lady Emily Ashton, but I’m not sure whether I would put any of them on a best female detectives list. It’s hard to see most cozy heroines as “best women detectives” in comparison to more serious detectives, but since I don’t read a lot of police procedurals or thrillers, I’m at a bit of a disadvantage in compiling such a list.
Stephanie @ Don't be Afraid of the Dork
Well, I’m glad I’m not alone with being clueless on the crime awards!
I totally agree with you on Miss Marple and even though I never read Nancy Drew I think you are right there as well. Most of the PIs from the Golden Age of mysteries are guys, aren’t they. Miss Marple was kind of unique! I’m not sure who I would include either – a lot that come to mind are Urban Fantasy heroine which also wouldn’t fit in with the above list. Interesting to think on though!
Stephanie @ Don’t be Afraid of the Dork recently posted…Saturday in the Garden | The Prettiest Day in Pretty Land
Lark_Bookwyrm
I think you’re right about the UF heroines not fitting on the list as it stands, though they should be in contention. (Not that I’ve read much UF yet, at least not with female heroines solving mysteries. There are a few on my want-to-read list, though.)