News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, and other cool stuff.
Bookish News
- ‘We cannot survive’: New York’s Strand bookstore appeals for help (The Guardian).
- Waterstones and Barnes & Noble CEO warns holiday sales are essential for survival of indies and some chain bookstores (The Bookseller)
- ALA announces its 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal longlists for fiction and nonfiction. The 26 fiction and 20 nonfiction books include titles by Brit Bennett, Louise Erdrich, Yaa Gyasi, Emily St. John Mandel, Maggie Farrell, and Isabel Wilkerson.
- Macmillan’s NYC Office Won’t Reopen Until July 2021 (Shelf Awareness)
- PRH Extends Open License for Online Readings Through March 2021 due to the resurgence of the coronavirus. The license only extends to teachers, schools, libraries and booksellers, and allows them to replace storytime programs and classroom read-alouds with online presentations.
- Early feminist and writer Mary Wollstonecraft honored with statue after 200 years… but it’s generating a lot of controversy. (The Guardian) And apparently, some websites are confusing Wollstonecraft with her daughter, Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein. (Book Riot)
- 35% of the world is reading more during the pandemic. (Literary Hub)
Worth Reading/Viewing/Checking Out
(not all book-related)
- Rick Riordan on reaching the end of the Percy Jackson saga, his involvement in the new, upcoming TV adaptation, diversity in his work, and his responsibility to his fans. (The Guardian)
- On the brink of a Booker: 2020’s shortlisted authors on the stories behind their novels (The Guardian)
- The History of Dust Jackets: From Disposable to Collectible (Danika Ellis, Book Riot)
- 10 Untranslatable Words That Perfectly Describe How You’re Feeling in 2020, from Donaldkacsázás (Hungarian: wandering around the house with no pants on) to viraag (Hindi: the pain and turmoil we feel when separated from those we love.) This article from Mental Floss will also introduce you to the website Eunoia, a compendium of words that don’t translate (or rather, that don’t have equivalents in other languages.)
- The British government is attacking the BBC (The Guardian)
Books, Movies, and TV
- Chirp Audiobooks reviewed. Book Riot’s Emily Martin gives Chirp a thumbs-up. For what it’s worth, so do I. So far, my experiences with Chirp have been good. I’ve bought five books from them, all at bargain prices, and downloaded listened to three via the app, with no technical problems. They’re generally the same books available from Audible or elsewhere.
- Dash & Lily Team Celebrates the Strand Bookstore (Shelf Awareness)
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits
Huh, I hadn’t heard of Chirp for audiobooks before. Thanks for the tip! I’ve recently cancelled my Audible subscription and was planning on picking up Librio.fm, but I think I’ll add both Chirp and Librio.fm as my new audiobook services and see what I end up liking best about each of them.
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits recently posted…Merry-Go-Round by Langston Hughes
Lark_Bookwyrm
I have an Audible account, but only for books I buy through Amazon; I don’t have an Audible subscription. Sometimes you can get the Kindle & add the Audible for cheaper than you can purchase the Audible book by itself (without a subscription) — and the benefit is, they sync. But Libro.fm and Chirp both offer really good sales; I have an account with each.
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits
Well, I guess I still have my Audible account so if I wanted I could buy books there still. But Libro.fm and Chirp sound like great alternatives!
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits recently posted…Friday Reads: Molly Southbourne duology