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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| Castulul Bran, Brasov, Romania. (Photo by Florin73m; used under CC-SA 3.0 license) |
- Dracula’s castle is for sale. Yes, really. (The Telegraph)
- Two antiquarian booksellers may have found Shakespeare’s own dictionary – on eBay. (Studio 360). And you can register to have online access to it: Baret’s Alvearie on Shakespeare’s Beehive.
- This year’s Locus Award Finalists have been announced. There are some terrific books and fantastic authors on the list. Neil Gaiman is nominated three times (for fantasy novel and novelette, and as co-editor of the anthology Unnatural Creatures.)(Tor.com)
- “iPad Sales Slow as Tablet Competitors Rise.” The Kindle Fire is more popular for reading by children, for instance. But Apple may now be selling more ebooks than Barnes & Noble. (Digital Book World)
Worth Reading/Listening to:
- Why Aren’t Teens Reading Like They Used To? (NPR’s Morning Edition)
- Grownups make a comeback in young adult books (Meredith Goldstein, Boston Globe)
- YA books on death: Is young adult fiction becoming too dark? (Sian Cain, The Guardian)
- Save Our Stacks – Rebecca Schuman on why college libraries should keep their book collections out and accessible. (Slate)
- Resistance is Futile: On Being a Life-Long Book Collector (Kristina Pino, on BookRiot)
- Small Businesses – Laurie R. King points out one of Amazon’s potentially unfair tactics with regard to Hachette books. (She’s not a Hachette author, but some of her friends are.) The links are interesting.
- Joanne Harris decries the sexism inherent in the term ‘women’s fiction’. (Alison Flood, The Guardian)
- Think the person next to you is playing games on their smartphone? They just might be reading. About 1/3 of smartphone users read on their phone, and the books may surprise you. (Laura Miller, Salon)
For Writers & Bloggers:
- Take the NetGalley 2014 Wellness Challenge.
- Breaking up with your novel (Melissa McPhail)
- Want to Write Great Science Fiction? Read Classic Literature (Esther Inglis-Arkell, i09)
Book & Movie Announcements:
- The first chapter of Deborah Harkness’s The Book of Life is on her website! You can read it on the site or download it as a PDF. The book is available for preorder; it’s coming out on July 15.
- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day has a new trailer! Be forewarned; the movie has (as movies do) incorporated some changes from the book.
Free & Bargain books:
- It’s SYNC time again! This week’s free audiobook titles are Warp: The Reluctant Assassin (Eoin Colfer, read by Maxwell Caulfield) and The Time Machine (H. G. Wells, read by the incomparable Derek Jacobi.) They’re available through Wed., May 21. Remember, you’ll need Overdrive’s Media Console to download them and load them on your mp3 player.
- Next week’s SYNC titles are Cruel Beauty (Rosamund Hodge) and Oedipus the King (Sophocles), available May 22-28. You can see the full schedule here.
Awesome lists:
- The well-read teenager: Brilliant classics for young-adult readers. (The Guardian)
- Reddit Fantasy Lists Under-rated and Under-read Fantasy (Tor.com; link to the full Reddit list)
- Bookish Fitness Apparel – well, tank tops, really. With book-related slogans on them. Because if you’ve got to go the gym, at least you can proudly proclaim your bookishness while you’re at it. (BookRiot)
- 36 Books Becoming 2014 Movies. Some of them are already out, but there are a few surprises here, at least for me. Did you know Benedict Cumberbatch will star as Alan Turing in a biopic? Or that they’re making a movie of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods? (PopSugar)
- Pairing Notes: Books and the Teas That Love Them. As a tea-lover and bookworm, I adore this idea. (BookRiot)
- 12 Happy Accidents That Helped Save Science Fiction. I don’t know that I’d call all of these “accidents” — I’m pretty sure Frederick Pohl knew what he was doing when he bought Delaney’s Dhalgren, for example — but they’re interesting nonetheless. (i09)
Just for fun:
- How to tell if you’re reading a gothic novel. An infographic from The Guardian.
Bookish Quotes:
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.
Herding Cats - Burning Soup
LOL the bookish quote. So very true.
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
Glad you enjoy it! I have a whole ton of them on one of my Pinterest boards, if you’re interested. Click on the “Bookish Quotes” board.
Bea
I haven’t read any of the Locus Finalists but several are on my wishlist and the Reddit fantasy lists are very interesting. Dracula’s castle is sort of appealing but the upkeep, ugh. Still, lots of space for books and cats. 🙂
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
Yes, but you’d have to share with tourists… that seems to be an integral part of the deal.