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
- 400 Years After His Death, Shakespeare’s First Folio Goes Out on Tour (NPR)
- ‘Mein Kampf’ Enters Public Domain; Arguably, Anne Frank’s Diary May, Too (NPR)
- The Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year . . . isn’t. (It’s an emoji.)
- Five booksellers have gone missing in Hong Kong, possibly for selling books
critical of the Chinese government, which are banned in China. (Los Angeles
Times) - The NYPL has digitized and made available more than 180,000 images in the
public domain.
Worth Reading
- A Long Overdue Thank You to My Library (Amanda Diehl for BookRiot)
- What Exactly Does An Editor Do? The Role Has Changed Over Time (NPR)
- The Truth: A Three-Star Review Is Not a Bad Review (Brenna Clark Gray for BookRiot)
- What No One Said About Rey (Star Wars Spoilers!) points out that no one in the film comments on Rey’s appearance. To me as to blogger Libby Anne, that lack of objectification is something to cheer about. (Love, Joy, Feminism)
- Why 2016 Is The Year We Need To Stop Pretending Women Aren’t Geeks (MTV News) The author proves, with hard data and graphs, that women make up between 40 and 50% of the geek universe… and their numbers are growing faster than men’s. Extra kudos for avoiding stereotypical colors in the graphs: women are blue and men are yellow.
- Star Wars Monopoly Set Doesn’t Include Rey; Hasbro Issues Statement (ScreenRant) Actually, Hasbro fumbled spectacularly in regards to Rey; she’s also missing from the action figure set and doesn’t figure on/in a lot of other merchandise, such as lunch boxes. Which, to be honest, should come as no surprise to Marvel fans, who have long seen their female superheroes (Black Widow *cough cough*) erased from the franchise’s merchandise by Hasbro and other licensees.
- Some Like it Hot: The Literary Function of Sex Scenes in Romance (Jessica Tripler, for BookRiot) Whether or not you agree with her, there is a lot of food for thought in this essay.
- Here’s What Book Bloggers Think About Making Money (Ashley, NoseGraze)
- A Reader’s Guide to the Defining Words of 2015 (Kelsey Osgood, for Signature)
- Kids Should Read Whatever They Want, Whenever They Want (Rachel Cordasco for BookRiot) I’m not sure I agree entirely — there are certainly some books I steered my daughter away from when I felt she was too young or too tenderhearted for them at the time, and there were others I simply wouldn’t have stocked in the house. But it’s a good, thought-provoking post, and pretty much reflects the way I was raised myself.
- Is History Written About Men, by Men? (Andrew Kahn and Rebecca Onion, Slate) The answer appears to be “Yes, mostly” — and there’s plenty of hard evidence to back that up.
- How I Gave Up On the Great American Novel And Got A Book Deal is really about learning to write from the heart. (Ed Tarkington, at LitHub)
For Writers & Bloggers
Applications are open for the 2016 Alpha Workshop for Young Writers of SF, fantasy, and horror! This is a ten-day workshop held each July in Greensburg, PA.
My daughter Robin attended Alpha for two years, and it was an amazing, life-changing experience. Where else do young people get the opportunity to study the craft of SF/F/H writing with well-known and respected professional authors?
Equally important is the opportunity to get to know other teens who are just as serious about writing (but know how to have a lot of fun.) The relationships forged at Alpha can carry into college and into students’ working years, offering much-needed encouragement and workshopping to young writers who may not always find that kind of support in their geographical area.
If you know a teen writer (age 14-19) who writes in any of those genres, please pass this along.
Awesome Lists
- Secret Libraries of New York City (Atlas Obscura)
- The Myers-Briggs Types of 101 Famous Authors (BookRiot) This is best if you
have some sense of the Myers-Briggs types to begin with, but even if you
don’t, it’s interesting. - 80 Books Every Person Should Read (Esquire Magazine) Several years ago, Esquire’s “80 Books Every Man Should Read” drew heavy fire for its lack of diversity. This year, they invited “eight female literary powerhouses” to submit 10 books, creating a new and, one hopes, more varied list. (Note: The list is in slides, which means you’ll have to click more than 80 times to view it all. Full disclosure: I didn’t.)
- Podcasts Hosted by Authors (BookRiot)
- 16 Books Becoming Movies in 2016 (Simply Shellie blog)
Bookish Crafts
Den hemmelige hagen (The secret garden) by Tori Seierstad
- LitKnits: 22 Patterns for Literary Mittens (BookRiot)
Bookish Quote
(via Shelf Awareness)
That’s it for this week!
Kate Scott
Thanks for mentioning my Book Riot article on author’s Myers-Briggs types!
Lark_Bookwyrm
You’re welcome!
Stephanie@Fairday's Blog
Wow- lots of interesting articles and blog posts to check out. Those mittens are adorable (though I do not have the skills to make them). I am so excited that the NYPL made all of those images available. What an awesome resource. I love libraries. 🙂
Stephanie@Fairday’s Blog recently posted…Will Violet Ever Feel Like She Fits In?
Lark_Bookwyrm
I think I have the skills to make the mittens, but I’m not sure I have the patience! Maybe someday. And I really want to take some time to wander through those images the NYPL has digitized.
Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library
The whole Rey thing is ridiculous. It’s hard not to see Hasbro’s actions regarding Rey, Black Widow, and others and not an outright slight and dismissal of women. The mittens made me happy though! Fascinating News and Notes as always!
Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library recently posted…Brunch with Bobby – Cookbook Review + Recipe
Lark_Bookwyrm
That’s exactly what it is, Katherine – a dismissal of women and girls, an assumption that we’re not interested in “guy” stuff like Star Wars. Which is so patently ridiculous, it makes me wonder what planet these people grew up on.
Bea @Bea's Book Nook
Wow, what a great collection of links! I’ll be busy reading. Hasbro’s actions regarding female heroes/characters is depressing and their attitude disheartening. Great post this week!
Bea @Bea’s Book Nook recently posted…Short & Sweet: Bea Reviews Maddie Hatter by Jayne Barnard
Lark_Bookwyrm
Glad you enjoyed them! I’m so fed up with Hasbro, and with the whole attempt to deny women access to geekdom.