News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, giveaways on this and other blogs, and other cool stuff.
Books & Ebooks in the News:
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| Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images |
- It’s been hard to miss the biggest (indeed, almost the only!) book story of the week. Last Sunday, “JK Rowling [was] revealed as the author of The Cuckoo’s Calling“, a crime novel. (BBC News) The story, first broken by The Sunday Times, quickly went viral.
- According to NPR’s Annalisa Quinn, Rowling is quite upset at the law firm which leaked the story.
- On the new website for Robert Galbraith, Rowling reveals why she chose to publish under a pseudonym, and that a sequel has been finished and is already with the publisher. (robert-galbraith.com, FAQs)
- “‘Cuckoo’s Calling’ Gets 300K Print Run as Booksellers, Fans Scramble for Copies“. The book reached the number one slot at Amazon less than 24 hours after the news broke. (Publishers Weekly) And there are 93 holds on 5 copies at my library.
Worth Reading:
- You can read two good post-reveal reviews of The Cuckoo’s Calling at The Independent (Roz Kaveny) and The Guardian (Mark Lawson)
- “Gaming Mr. Darcy: What Jane Austen Teaches Us About Economics”. Michael Chwe interprets Jane Austen, dating, and economics through game theory.
- Historical romance author Candice Hern has created a Regency World website where you can learn about Regency places, faces, fashions, and language.
- “How Scholastic Sells Literacy to Generations of New Readers” (Lynn Neary, NPR)
Literary Losses:
- Marc Simont, children’s book illustrator, died last week at the age of 97. Simont won the Caldecott, along with author Janice May Udray, for A Tree is Nice in 1957. He’s perhaps best-known as the illustrator of the Nate the Great books. (Margalit Fox, The New York Times)
Book Announcements:
- “Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicles books are getting a TV show!” Yes, you read that right. 20th Century Fox has optioned the entire trilogy for television. I’m torn between dancing around in excitement and worrying about how badly they could mess it up. (Not to mention wondering how I’m going to watch them without cable TV.) I’m not the only one; the fan posts on Rothfuss’ Facebook page (and there are a lot) are pretty evenly split between “Congratulations” and “OMG I hope they don’t ruin it”.
- A Calvin and Hobbes documentary is coming out in November. See the trailer and read about the film at GalleyCat.
Free & Bargain books:
- Don’t forget the free audiobook downloads from SYNC! You will need to download the Overdrive Media Console to be able to download the audiobooks. Here are this week’s and next week’s titles:
- July 18 to July 24: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (read by Erin Moon; Recorded Books) and Hamlet by William Shakespeare (read by a full cast; L.A. Theatre Works)
- July 25 to July 31: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen (read by Charlie McWade; Scholastic Audiobooks) and The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (read by Steve West; Blackstone Audio)
Awesome lists:
- 50 Places Every Literary Fan Should Visit (Jason Diamond, Flavorwire) There are some curious omissions (Stratford-upon-Avon, The Folger Shakespeare Library, Beatrix Potter’s cottage, Agatha Christie’s home), but also some sites you might not think of.
- 23 Reasons to Read Good Books (Impressive Magazine) (scroll down below the ad for the list)
- Six Books to Fill the Sherlock Void (Barnes & Noble blog)
Just for fun:
- Take the Oxford Dictionaries blog’s quiz, “Which Jane Austen character are you?” I’m Marianne Dashwood, which surprises me.
That’s it for this week!
I’m always on the lookout for interesting articles, lists, and links for News & Notes, so please let me know if you see (or write!) anything that might be good for this feature. You can leave me a comment or send me an email — my address is on the About/Review Policy/Contact page.
Bea
I can imagine that Rowling is furious; that lawyer screwed up client confidentiality big time. It’s too bad that the book wasn’t a better seller before the news broke.
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
I agree. But at least she did get a chance to read some positive critical reviews before the secret got out, so she knows that the book was well-received even without her name on it.
Jennifer Hartling
I sure wish I had read Cuckoo’s Calling before I knew who the real author was!
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
Me too! On the other hand, I do hope to read it now, and I probably wouldn’t have otherwise, mainly because I hadn’t heard of it and it’s not the sort of mystery I normally pick up without a recommendation.
kimbacaffeinate
Rothfuss to tv..squee! I do not blame Rowlings, I would want a pen name as well!
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
I squeed too — at the same time I was going “oh please don’t let them ruin it.” And I think Rowlings was perfectly justified in publishing pseudonymously and with such secrecy, after what happened with The Casual Vacancy. I’m sorry her trust was betrayed in that way. I’m sure the secret would have leaked eventually, but to have it get out so soon must have really been a blow.