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
- Ebook Retailers Pay Out Class Action Suit Credits. (GalleyCat) If you bought ebooks from any of the major retailers during the period covered by the settlement, you should be getting a credit. (I got a little over $6 from Amazon but over $30 from Kobo—not great for me since I no longer have an epub e-reader. The other retailers I bought from went out of business.)
- What Brexit Means for [British] Book Publishing (Neill Denny for Publishers Weekly)
- Barnes & Noble’s Revenues Down 3.1% in 2016 (GalleyCat)
- B&N Puts It’s Faith in Bricks & Mortar (Publishers Weekly)
- Chris Riddell wins Kate Greenaway medal with The Sleeper and the Spindle. (The Guardian) Riddell’s illustrations for Neil Gaiman’s “Sleeping Beauty” retelling are detailed and beautiful, if sometimes creepy—which, come to think of it, often describes Gaiman’s writing as well.
- The Center for Fiction announced its 2016 NYC Emerging Writers Fellows (Center for Fiction)
Worth Reading
- Pulp Friction (Alex Shepard, New Republic) Why the potential demise of Barnes & Noble would be a disaster for publishing — and for book lovers.
- Romancing the Academic (Inside Higher Ed) Prof. Catherine M. Roach (who writes romance as Catherine LaRoche) talks about the intersection of romance and academia, studying your subject and participating in it, and why she loves her job.
- Listening to Books is “Cheating” and 7 More Myths About Audiobooks (Rachel Smalter Hall, BookRiot)
- Why a Romance Novel is Like a Sonnet (Zoe Dickinson, BookRiot)
- If We Wrote Men Like We Write Women, Part I and Part 2. In Part 1, fantasy author Jim C. Hines genderswaps scenes from two classic SF novels and kind-of classic fantasy (Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, Asimov’s Foundation, and Piers Anthony’s A Spell for Chameleon. Hines doesn’t editorialize, but plenty of commenters do; the sexism in each selection is glaringly obvious with the genders reversed. In Part 2, Hines responds to those comments generally, offers two genderswapped scenes from one of his own books, and suggest this as a useful exercise for both writers and readers who want to see the sexism around them and examine their own unwritten assumptions. I certainly thought so. It’s worth reading the comments on both posts, too. . (Jim C. Hines’s blog)
Book & Movie Announcements
- The Hamilton Musical Is Coming to PBS…Sort Of. And I am incredibly stoked! (Except that we don’t have cable or tv reception, but I’m hoping PBS will stream it.) It will actually be a documentary about the writing and development of the musical, with footage shot during the two years leading up to the Broadway opening. And of course, there will be scenes from the musical itself. (Vanity Fair; more details at PBS.)
- J. K. Rowling reveals more about the plot of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them:
Awesome Lists
- 100 Family Friendly Audiobooks for National Audiobook Month (BookRiot)
- The hottest summer quotes in children’s books (The Guardian) Well, children’s and teen books and one classic that is technically neither.
- 36 fabulous home libraries showcasing window seats (OneKindesign)
Bookish Quote
That’s it for this week!
Bea @Bea's Book Nook
I’ll have to check out those posts by Hines, they sound fascinating.
Bea @Bea’s Book Nook recently posted…Bea Reviews The Myth of the Spoiled Child by Alfie Kohn
Greg
Some of those window seats and libraries are amazing. Wow, so nice.
Greg recently posted…Sunday Post #148
Lark_Bookwyrm
I know… I’m sort of envious.
RO
I totally love reading about info like this. Lots of news that’s new to me! Hugs and Happy Sunday! RO
Got My Book
Great links as always. I will be sad if we don’t get a News & Notes next week, but understand what it is like to be busy and this isn’t the type of post you can blog ahead.
Got My Book recently posted…text: I Gave Away an Audiobook | Sunday Summary #8