Citizen Reading: 24 October 2016
24 October 2016
A weekly selection of reading and book news, sometimes with completely inappropriate commentary.
Janitor-turned-author Thom Jones, has died, at age 71.
Malala Yousafzai (author of I Am Malala and Nobel Peace Prize Winner) has landed a picture book deal.
OOooohhh....a new illustrated edition of Jane Austen's Persuasion.
Trade book sales were up in May.
"Grit returns to young adult books." This explains why I am not reading much YA these days, I suppose. I am worn out from all the grit in my nonfiction reading.
I have zero interest in comics, zero interest in superheroes, zero interest in Alan Moore--but in case you're looking to get familiar with his work, here's a handy list of 16 of his "greatest stories."
Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar to be published as an ebook. Without the actual holes where the caterpillar ate through? That's just no fun.
A better model for book search and discovery. Yeah, yeah, we can accomplish everything with better search. I've heard it all before.
So you heard that Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature? I didn't much care about that either way, but to me, this seems like kind of a dick move on his part.
William Hill Sports Book Award (UK): Shortlist.
Snore: November 2016 LibraryReads list.
New J.R.R. Tolkien story to be published, 100 years after it was written.
The movie "Footloose" is now a children's book. Can you believe the soundtrack to "Footloose" was the first album I ever bought? As an actual ALBUM? God, I'm old. (In my defense: this was the first and only record I ever bought--by the time I was spending all my petty cash on music I had moved on to cassette tapes, baby.) Can you blame me? Look at how cute Kevin Bacon is. Hell, look at how cute the 1980s are!
AWESOME: "Fifty Shades of Muppets" trailer.
Trailer: HBO's "Big Little Lies" (based on the Liane Moriarty novel).
The only Barnes & Noble in the Bronx is closing. You've got to love Melville House. This is my favorite line: "so unless the shadowy cabal of real estate developers that I assume runs shit in this city decide to ramp up their plans to gentrify the Bronx, I doubt we’ll be seeing a stable return of the chain anytime soon."
NONFICTION BOOK NEWS
New York Times: a look at Future Sex;a new biography of Ulysses S. Grant; a book about how and why we talk to ourselves; how two black brothers became sick of being "unwilling sideshow stars"; on a couple who helped shape America's nuclear war policy; saving nature, for the joy of it (here's another good review of this book); a new biography of Karl Marx.
Truly spooky nonfiction reads for Halloween.
Poet Mary Oliver is publishing a new book of autobiographical essays.
AND NOW, YOUR OBLIGATORY NEIL GAIMAN POST
Consult your lawyer before you sell that signed Neil Gaiman collectible.