Citizen Reading: 6 February 2017.
06 February 2017
A weekly selection of reading and book news, sometimes with completely inappropriate commentary.
The saga continues: Milo Yiannopoulos's speech at Berkeley has been canceled, due to protests. (And here's what we "don't know" about his forthcoming book.)
Top trends in reading and book apps for children.
This is kind of fun: Write a love letter to your favorite YA author.
On the now boring use of "fuck" in book titles. This seems to be one of the big stories of the week; it even featured on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me quiz program this weekend.
Your newest book club founder? Kim Kardashian West.
Well, at least the Trump Bump is selling some books.
New York City: the voting is open for your One Book, Five Boroughs program!
Bharati Mukherjee: Obituary.
Good lord, now James Patterson is moving into YA dystopia. James Patterson writing anything is my continuing dystopia.
The Women's Prize for Fiction (UK) is once again looking for a new sponsor.
Costa Book of the Year winner: Sebastian Barry (for the second time!).
Reference Reviews is looking for reviewers.
What's selling in Canada these days?
They're airing the new "Handmaid's Tale" trailer...during the Super Bowl? I kind of want to read "The Handmaid's Tale" again...it's been a long time.
"Small Great Things" (by Jodi Picoult): to be made into a movie. Ugh, Jodi Picoult.
Expected: A new screen version of The Rats of NIMH.
Game of Thrones: Is the show better than the books?
20 Best HBO original programs. I mainly had to post this because when I read the line, "The Sopranos is almost twenty years old..." I had to stop and have a little cry. I am getting so old! Seems to me like "The Sopranos" just finished its run last year.
Call for papers: Library technology LITA guide series.
NONFICTION BOOK NEWS
Oh God, already we have to start thinking about the 2020 election? John Kasich will publish a book in April. (Related: Hillary Clinton already has a book deal, for a collection of essays.)
I can't keep up with Sarah Manguso's output, although I would like to try.
This book, a mixture of science and history and biography, looks really good.
It's official: my TBR list is out of control for 2017. This book looks fascinating; is "fraud an American tradition?"
New York Times: a "powerful memoir of depression" by Daphne Merkin; evidently, cannibalism was not really all that rare; on gentrification and the rise of Brooklyn; the secret of Israel's military success; gosh--a father's memoir of the death of his young son, I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle that; actress Patricia Bosworth on coming of age during the 1950s; four new nonfiction books about Paris.
BOOK LISTS
IndieBound: Bestselling books the week of Feb. 3.
Flavorwire: 10 must-read books for February.
The Locus 2016 list of best speculative fiction.
For Black History Month: 15 influential black superheroes.
25 great books by refugees in America.
Bustle: Best fiction coming in February. I admit to being intrigued by Universal Harvester* and I may have to look at Swimming Lessons too. Other than that, snore. Too many "big, sweeping stories" on this list for me.
Ten motivational books used by the world's top achievers. This is an interesting list. I'm not quite sure what I make of it, but finding business self-help and letters from Seneca on the same list, that's a bit of a mind-bend.
The "top 109 audiobooks of 2016," as chosen by the ALA.
PopCrush: Most anticipated YA novels of February.
Further reading: on airplanes.
LitReactor: 10 highly anticipated books for 2017.
Booklist's most exciting titles from ALA Midwinter.
The best and latest in crime fiction.
In the Margins Book Committee names its 2017 titles.
United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) has compiled their Outstanding International Books listing.
Picture books to foster social emotional learning.
MY READING NOTES
I have been trying to get through Will Schwalbe's Books for Living--it is about books and reading after all--but I'm giving up at page 100. There was some okay stuff in it and the books he covers are interesting choices, but it just isn't for me. It's too pseudo-inspirational, Tuesdays with Morrie-esque for me.
While cruising through my library's catalog placing other holds, I saw this title: Behind Closed Doors: The Private Homes of 25 of the World's Most Creative People, by Rob Meyers. Now, wouldn't you think that would be a neat-looking book? It's not. Well, at least for me it's not. The funny thing about this group of 25 creative people is that all their homes look almost exactly the same--white, almost cold color schemes; lots of somewhat nightmare-inducing tchotchkes; lots of odd photography.
I skim-read Jay Fultz's In Search of Donna Reed, a biography of the actress. Isn't it funny how you follow interests to reading material? I got this one because I was reading those big biographies of Frank Sinatra, and of course Frank Sinatra starred in "From Here to Eternity" with, among others, Donna Reed. He and Reed both won Oscars for their supporting roles. It made me want to see the movie again, so I got that from the library (no time to watch it yet), and it also piqued my curiosity about Donna Reed, so I got this biography. It's very simply written, but it certainly gets the job done: I learned a lot of interesting things about Reed (she became an antiwar activist during the Vietnam War, good on Donna Reed!), and I learned a bit about where her children ended up, which is more than I can say for the big Shirley Jackson biography that just came out. Also? Whenever "It's a Wonderful Life" was on at Christmas time, Dad always said something complimentary about "that cute Donna Reed," which tickled me, for some reason. A fun read.
INSTEAD OF A NEIL GAIMAN POST, THIS WEEK I OFFER A "FEEL GOOD OF THE WEEK"
A flight attendant goes above and beyond. And all for a Rodney Dangerfield book!
*Although, evidently, you can take the girl off the farm but you can't take the farm out of the girl. Every time I saw this title this week I thought it was "International Harvester"--which is a type of tractor (my brother, still a farmer, is a big fan). Finally when I couldn't find it in my library catalog, I had to double-check the title and saw that it was "Universal Harvester."