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
- Harper Lee’s Literary Agent Disputes Claims of Elder Abuse. And it seems that the state of Alabama, which launched an investigation, concurs that Lee is very much of sound mind. (GalleyCat)
- The National Book Critics Circle award winners were announced on March 12. (Publishers Weekly)
- New App Blocks Profanity from Being Displayed on eBooks . Click to read some of the article’s sources; the Washington Post review is rather funny. (GalleyCat)
- Comics artist Norman Lee goes missing during dive off Cayman Islands (MassLive)
Literary Losses
Terry Pratchett, beloved author of 70-some novels including the 40 Discworld books, died Thursday, 3/12/15, of complications of Alzheimers. Although not unexpected, his death prompted an outpouring of grief on social media. You can see my tribute post here, and read obituaries from the BBC, The Guardian (news report); The Guardian (obit.), and i09.
Worth Reading
- The Last Holdouts of the Genre Wars: On Kazuo Ishiguro, Ursula K. Le Guin, and the Misuse of Labels (Lincoln Michel, Electric Lit) You can also read The Guardian‘s interview with Ishiguro.
- Women Aren’t Aliens (and Other Thoughts on the Andrew Smith Controversy) looks at the “I don’t understand women” excuse for writing flat, objectified female characters – and finds it wanting. (Derek Attig, BookRiot)
- “Where Are the Older Women?” asks Liz Bourke re the SF/F genre. (Tor.com)
- No More Dried-Up Spinsters – Nancy Jane Moore. Also on the lack of older women in SF/F. (guest post, part of the “Invisible” series on Jim C. Hine’s blog)
- Next Year in Jerusalem – Gabrielle Harbowy. On the paucity of Jewish characters in SF/F (guest post, part of the “Invisible” series on Jim C. Hine’s blog)
- Breaking Mirrors – Diana Pho. Another good post on diversity in books. (guest post, part of the “Invisible” series on Jim C. Hine’s blog)
- Women in Fiction Need More Than the Bechdel Test. (Kelly Jensen, for BookRiot)
- Check out this infographic of the world’s most translated books (7Brands)
Great Blog Posts
- The Ultimate Book Blogger Resource List. Wow, she’s not kidding – this list is long and terrific! (Parajunkee)
- Reading & Ranting: When the World Goes Grey. Michelle of In Libris Veritas talks about fighting depression. Well worth reading whether you deal with depression personally or not (since you almost certainly know someone who does.)
Book & Movie Announcements
- Margaret Atwood to release new novel in September, her first stand-alone book in 15 years. (Publishers Weekly)
Awesome Lists
- 30 Terry Pratchett Quotes To Guide You Through Life (BBC America)
- The Terry Pratchett Quiz (The Guardian)
- 15 Maps that explain the [history of the] English language (Vox)
- Speculative Fiction heroines who are 40 or older (Goodreads)
- Old(er) women in SF/F – women over 40 as protagonists, not secondary characters. (Catherine Lundoff, Live Journal)
Happy Pi Day!
- Irrational Number – This song by Paul Nordquist can help you memorize up to 300 digits of Pi. (Good luck!)
- Pi Day 2015: meet the man who invented π (The Guardian)
- The NYT “Well” Blog serves up their favorite pie recipes for Pi Day
Bookish Pi Day Meme
That’s it for this week!
Bea @Bea's Book Nook
There’s a lack of older women in most genre fiction and it’s annoying.
Bea @Bea’s Book Nook recently posted…Bea Reviews Eat Leo, Eat! by Caroline Adderson
Lark_Bookwyrm
I totally agree, Bea! It frustrates me no end. The only exception is mystery.
R_Hunt @ View From My Home
With your post today you have outdone yourself, Lark! Sooo many links I want to check out. I’m grabbing an iced coffee and settling down on the couch this late afternoon to read each and every link. Only a few that I’ve already seen.
I agree, where *are* the older women in fiction? I read Brigid Masterman’s Rage Against the Dying (mystery) and she was in her late 50s or 60s, I believe. I love to read escape fiction and that can mean reading about any age or gender, but it certainly is nice to have a female protagonist of a certain age whom I can relate to!
R_Hunt @ View From My Home recently posted…The Godforsaken Daughter Review
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you, Rita! I agree re older women protagonists. There are more older women protagonists in mystery than in some other genres. They are few and far between in SF/F and apparently nonexistent in romance. (Kudos to Robyn Carr, though, who included not one but two believable and charming older-couple romances as a secondary plot lines in a number of her Virgin River books.)
Heather
That is a great list of links about older women in SF/Fantasy. I’m in that demographic myself and would much more interested in reading their stories than in reading another teen heroine.
Heather recently posted…About Last Week
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’ll definitely be perusing that list for my own reading, too!