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
- Slightly fewer Americans are reading print books, a new Pew survey finds (Pew Research Center) Check the article out; there are more detailed graphs and analysis, but it’s not a long read. (The video above is from the Pew Research Center.)
- Science Proves Reading to Kids Really Does Change Their Brains… and the study has the MRIs to prove it. (Huffington Post)
- A Rough Six Months for Big Book Publishers as sales of print books stabilized, sales of ebooks fell slightly, and overall earnings fell. (Publishers Weekly)
- The Center for Fiction announced the 2016 First Novel Prize shortlist. (Center for Fiction)
- NEH to Endow More Than $4 Million in Publishing Grants, mostly to authors in the “public scholar” program. (Publishers Weekly)
- Benefactor leaves $1.2 million to a Vermont public library. No one knew he was wealthy; he lived frugally and never spoke of his successful investments. His estate totalled almost $8 million; most of it goes to the library and to a nearby hospital.
Worth Reading
- Enter an Archive of 6,000 Historical Children’s Books, All Digitized and Free to Read Online (OpenCulture) The article talks about the development of children’s literature; although it’s short, it’s interesting. The archive in question is the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature, part of the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida. They have scanned pretty much their entire collection of 19th-century children’s books, which means you get the illustrations as well as the text. The scans are very high quality, and the built-in reader app makes it easy to read a book once you’ve found it. Finding it is a bit more difficult, however. The site is not as intuitive and user-friendly as most websites today. I highly recommend that if you want to do a search or read a particular book, you do so in a separate tab, since getting back to the Baldwin Library home page is not always easy.
- Don’t Look Away: Fighting Sexual Harassment in the SciFi/Fantasy Community (Jim C. Hines, for i09)
For Writers & Bloggers
- Four Ways to Ground Your Fantasy Novel (Zanzibar 7, on the NaNoWriMo blog)
- Shelf Control, a “Waiting on Wednesday”-style meme for people who want to highlight and read the books they already own. I could really use this one! Bookshelf Fantasies announced it in this post a year ago, but if you want to join in, just check her blog on Wednesdays.
Book & Movie Announcements
- One Week in the Library graphic novella will be published by Image Comics in December. (GalleyCat) The book is set in a magical library, and will ” use comics, infographics, prose, and poetry to play with the graphic medium and explore the multivalent world of living narrative.” Sounds interesting!
- BBC One will adapt 8 Agatha Christie books for television over the next four years, including “Witness for the Prosecution” (currently filming), Ordeal by Innocence, Death Comes as the End (set in ancient Egypt), and The ABC Murders. In the latter case, I’m not sure they can improve on the David Suchet version (he’s the definitive Poirot in my opinion), but some of the others haven’t been adapted before, or not in the last 30 or 40 years. (BBC News) According to Deadline, Fox is also planning a big-screen version of “Witness for the Prosecution;” Ben Affleck will reportedly both direct and star in the film. At a guess, Fox’s version will update the material.
- Zachary Quinto to Narrate New John Scalzi Novella The Dispatcher, an exclusive release through Audible. (Tor.com)
Awesome Lists
- The 10 Steamiest Romance Novels Every Woman Should Read, according to romance author Sarah Maclean. (Cosmopolitan, of course!)
- 11 book pairs that match your childhood favorites with what you should read now (Modern Mrs. Darcy blog)
Really Cool / Just for Fun
- Want to know how long it will take to read your entire TBR pile or list? Give this TBR Time Calculator a try! (Read It Forward)
Bookish Quote
(Sorry; I couldn’t resist!)
That’s it for this week!
Berls
Hahaha that’s too funny! Love Sirius too 🙂
So I’m curious how accurate that study of how many books Americans read on average can be… With people like us reading in the 100s. How much do we skew it? Just curious.
That article about kids brains and reading was interesting. I believe it too – I see the difference in the kids who are read to and those that aren’t. It kills me that I have to struggle so much with my parents to get them to read with their kids. Maybe I’ll share this article!
Berls recently posted…My TBR List | September 2016 Voting
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’ve wondered the same thing myself — how much we skew the results of those studies. There are people who don’t read books at all, so they skew it in the opposite direction, I suppose.
It might help if the parents know that there’s scientific evidence backing up the “read to your kids” thing. Feel free to share!
Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library
If I add no new books to my TBR I should have it all finished up in 22 years. Perfectly reasonable! I’m excited about the Agatha Christie adaptations. I liked the And Then There Were None that they did. I thought the changes reflected the material well and I liked that they didn’t make Lombard a misunderstood romantic lead like so often happens. Like you I have my hesitation about another Poirot. I don’t see how it’s possible to improve on Suchet’s interpretation. Not sure how I feel about the Fox version of Witness for the Prosecution. I trust BBC far more! I do have the Marlene Dietrich version recorded though I have yet to watch it. Great links!
Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library recently posted…Pancakes in Paris – Review
Lark_Bookwyrm
I want to see the new And Then There Were None. I’ve put it on my Netflix queue in DVD, since they’re not streaming it. As for my TBR list, when I calculated, I only put the books on my want-to-read list at Goodreads. If I add the “someday” books, it more than doubles the time!
kimbacaffeinate
Oh I love Sirius..and ha I blew that statistic out of the water. I average 200-250 books a year! Love the article on kids brains. Great post as always Lark!
kimbacaffeinate recently posted…The Cottage on Pumpkin and Vine by Kate Angell, Jennifer Dawson and Sharla Lovelace
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thanks, Kimba! I blew past it pretty handily, too. I think I read about 190 books last year, though to be fair, some were re-reads, which go faster. Oh, and thanks for your review of The Cottage on Pumpkin and Vine—I’ve put it on hold at the library, and I’m only about #7 on the list (for 3 copies), so I might get a chance at it before Halloween. 🙂
anna@herding cats & burning soup
Gah I can’t imagine reading so few books. Boggles.
anna@herding cats & burning soup recently posted…4 stars– Guardian’s Mate (Shifters Unbound, #9) by Jennifer Ashley
Lark_Bookwyrm
I know, right?