Citizen Reading: 13 February 2017.
13 February 2017
A weekly selection of reading and book news, sometimes with completely inappropriate commentary.
EarlyWord just had another GalleyChat, and here's the titles that are recommended for spring and summer.
I didn't even know this was a thing, so I'm sorry I missed it: February 4 as "take your child to the library day." Although the youngest CRjr and I were at our library a couple of days after that; God love the library in winter.
What can libraries do to help promote STEM learning?
I really love George Saunders, but I just don't know that I have the energy for his new novel.
John Grisham announces he'll be publishing two new books in 2017.
Are we officially running out of new things to talk about in re: Jane Austen? Seems so.
Quirk Books does some interesting things, and now their head honcho is branching out as a novelist.
I like this idea, although it's kind of hard to keep track of who's who. Five authors answer a Salon interviewer's questions.
Everything about this novel intrigues me. I may have to read a little fiction.
Here's the latest new thriller, blah blah blah. The word in publishing these days must just be write a thriller to make money, everyone's doing it.
Nigerian novelist Buchi Emecheta: Obituary.
"Full-time writers slam celebrity book trend."
My favorite part of this article about authors on Facebook was its tagline in my Feedly list: "There's a lot of nonsense happening on Facebook, and it's time authors stop contributing to it."
This year's hot new topic: learning a new language.
The Millions could use your support.
The "Trump Bump" of bookselling continues.
Huh: an article about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her books, just as I am reading them to the CRjrs. Spooky!
Did you know there's a Magic School Bus reboot coming?
"Orange is the New Black" season 5 teaser and premiere date. Good lord, how long was the author of the book this series is based on IN jail?
"Fifty Shades Darker": the movie got terrible reviews, made a lot of money.
2017 Audie Awards: Finalists.
PEN Literary Award: goes to Stephen Sondheim. Really? Another musician? Did these literary types learn nothing from giving a prize to Bob Dylan?
Grammy Award Winners: Complete list.
Your TV is watching you. Remember when we read TechnoCreep, and Future Crimes scared the hell out of me? Yeah, the future is here.
NONFICTION BOOK NEWS
I just got this book from the library: American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus. Think it will be any good?
Can Ron Chernow do for Ulysses S. Grant what he did for Alexander Hamilton?
I wonder if I would like this book any more than I liked Hillbilly Elegy.
A new book from Elizabeth Warren is expected this April. News of each new book from a politician, any politician, puts me immediately to sleep.
New York Times: On Egypt's revolution; new nonfiction about Abraham Lincoln; a different kind of true crime: insider trading; I'm tired of coming-of-age memoirs, but one about coming of age in Russia? I'll bite; and why does time fly?
BOOK LISTS
IndieBound: Bestselling books the week of Feb. 9.
LibraryReads: March 2017. Wow, a whole one nonfiction title on this one, and yet another Debbie Macomber. Scintillating.
Adult Books 4 Teens: Showcasing marginalized voices.
GQ Magazine: Best Books of February. I maintain some of the most interesting book lists come from GQ and Esquire magazines.
"Poetry to pay attention to": a preview of 2017 titles.
MY READING NOTES
How was this for optimistic? After reading and enjoying Victoria the Queen, I requested Robert Tombs's book The English and Their History from the library, only to discover that it is 900 pages long...and dense. It looks so good, but it will have to wait until I go on one of those newfangled "vacations" I hear everyone else talking about. Now THIS is what I would take along to be my beach read!
I got Susan Hill's short novel Lanterns Across the Snow because I read about it on some list somewhere, but it is emphatically a Christmas book. I'm going to try and remember to get it back next Christmas.
Because it is Valentine's Day this week, I have gotten from the library Laura Ingalls Wilder's These Happy Golden Years (the most romantic of the Little House books; the CRjrs will probably never allow me to read it aloud to them) and the movie Return to Me. Because when I go sappy, friends, I go ALL THE WAY.
AND NOW, YOUR OBLIGATORY NEIL GAIMAN POST
Book Trailer Thursday: Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology!