Citizen Reading: 17 April 2017
17 April 2017
A weekly selection of reading and book news, sometimes with completely inappropriate commentary.
The X-Files and its stars will be back in an audiobook based on an X-Files graphic novel series. I have no idea why this excites me. I didn't even watch the latest season of The X-Files on TV (although I still mean to), and I really don't get the time to read any graphic novels. But somehow whenever I see the names "David Duchovny" and "Gillian Anderson" together I still get the warm fuzzies.
"How Google Book Search got lost."
Fast-growing independent publishers.
Well, shit, I totally missed National Library Week. I do every year. Can we get Neil Gaiman's publicist, who seems to place about eighty stories about Neil Gaiman on the Internet every week, to do some pro bono work drumming up interest in National Library Week?
Dear Reader: Meet Your Match.
In praise of Agatha Christie's accidental sleuths.
Shared collections: taking your book budget further.
The New York Times is broadening its book coverage.
How a former police officer reached out to a minority population in Appleton, WI.
American Library Association: has revealed the books that Americans most wanted banned in 2016. That reminds me, I still need to read Eleanor & Park.
Children's author Patricia McKissack: Obituary.
Bill Nye the Science Guy: publishing two books this summer.
George R.R. Martin wins Twitter with this one.
International Dublin Literary Award: Shortlist.
This year's Pulitzer Prizes: Winners.
PEN/Faulkner Fiction Award: Winner.
The BBC will adapt The Miniaturist. (And: China Mieville's The City & The City.)
Oh God, now we're going to have Hillbilly Elegy, the movie. I am officially tired of Hillbilly Elegy.
NONFICTION BOOK NEWS
Oh my God, I totally must see this book RIGHT NOW. Except I must also get this book about New York City and its near-bankruptcy in the 1970s RIGHT NOW. There are literally not enough hours in the day. Except wait...True Crime as written by Calvin Trillin? I must have it RIGHT NOW. This is not fair, Nonfiction Publishing World. Too many awesome-looking books, too little time.
The graduation books are starting to come in. If there's anything I hate, it's a horrible graduation book.
Oh Christ, now we are supposed to treat happiness as a math equation. As if making something mathy makes it at all easier for me to understand.
A new book on Isaac Newton.
Joe Biden and his wife have signed a book deal.
Series nonfiction for kids, on sustainability.
Finally understand the Danish concept of Hygge? Good, now you can learn about the Swedish equivalent.
I really want to look at this memoir of a marriage, by novelist Dani Shapiro. Although a part of me suspects it is going to bug the shit out of me.
New York Times: A Prince fan looks back at the iconic singer; a new book on Adam and Eve by Bruce Feiler; America and Russia, post-1990s: where did we go wrong?; on the legacy of David Letterman;a list of food-related memoirs; a book by Anne-Marie Slaughter on "strategies of connection in a networked world"; two new books about race and crime; a new biography of Martin Luther; and the threat of crop devastation.
BOOK LISTS
IndieBound: Bestselling books the week of April 13.
School Library Journal: 37 superb new titles.
LibraryReads: May 2017. Well, at least there's some nonfiction on it this time.
Poetry picks: new books for young readers.
Notable nonfiction for teen readers on the transgender experience (and other topics).
Top ten books about the Russian Revolution.
MY READING NOTES
My inability to finish anything continues. Weirdly enough the only thing I have been returning to is David Shields's Other People: Takes and Mistakes. This is weird because I do not really enjoy David Shields.
CRjr continues to sound out words like a champ. The Easter Bunny brought him a new book on sharks so he's motivated.
AND NOW, YOUR OBLIGATORY NEIL GAIMAN LINK:
A review of Neil Gaiman's The View from the Cheap Seats that I quite enjoyed. The review, that is. Haven't read The View from the Cheap Seats yet.