Edward McClelland's How to Speak Midwestern.
A tale of two novels.

Citizen Reading: 1 May 2017.

A weekly selection of reading and book news, sometimes with completely inappropriate commentary.

Booklist: May is Mystery Month.

April 29 is Independent Bookstore Day. Yeah, I missed it, but you know what? Let's all try harder to make EVERY day Independent Bookstore Day. And yes, frankly, at this point I'll consider Barnes & Noble independent too. Yes, it's cheaper at Amazon. But please buy a book, every now and then, NOT from Amazon.

Well, here's the story we never wanted to hear more about: Milo Yiannopoulos has raised $12 million to make sure we have to keep hearing about him.

SLJ Webinar: technology to aid the struggling reader.

RA for Genre Readers (link via RA for All).

Next GalleyChat at EarlyWord will focus on New Crime and Nonfiction.

Benjamin Barber, author of Jihad vs. McWorld, has died.

Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance, has died. Not the author's fault, but I was never able to finish that book. I don't think I was ever able to get past page 10 of that book.

Any article that picks on New York Times commentator David Brooks is an article I want to read.

Junie B. Jones: first musical edition!

In William Gibson's new novel, due in 2018, Hillary Clinton is president.

There's a new YA novel based on the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery (author of the Anne of Green Gables series).

2017 Edgar Awards: Winners.

James Beard Media Award winners.

Wellcome Book Prize (with a very rich purse indeed): Winner.

LA Times Book Prize: Winners. I've still got to read that Svetlana Alexievich book.

International Prize for Arabic Fiction: Winner.

Locke & Key MIGHT become a movie.

Mindy Kaling has optioned the behind-the-scenes political memoir Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?

Anne Rice has a TV deal for her Vampire Chronicles.

Glen Cook's The Black Company series has been optioned for film.

Because you all know your collections needed one: a new reference book on UFO sightings.

Librarians: taking a leadership role on literacy.

NONFICTION BOOK NEWS

I am addicted to books about cities/regions enduring tough times. Here's another one, telling the story of a "Refinery Town."

A new history of the Nez Perce War. In grade school we had to do reports on various Native American tribes, and I was assigned the Nez Perce. I thought they were so boring, and now, that I am no longer a shallow grade-schooler (now I'm a shallow adult), I feel kind of bad about that. I should read this book.

Joely Fisher to write a memoir about her half-sister, Carrie Fisher.

Speaking of celebrity memoirs, Kelly Osbourne has written a memoir.

James Patterson is planning a True Crime book on Aaron Hernandez.

New York Times: Oh, joy, talks with Sheryl Sandberg about her new book in their book review podcast.

Speaking of book review podcasts: here's a new one called Just the Right Book! (Hosted by the owner of a Connecticut indie bookstore.)

New York Times: Thanks, Harvard, for fucking up the economy; new nonfiction by David Grann about yet another group of Native Americans enduring a "reign of terror"; a closer look at America's new "megadonors"; encounters with undocumented migrant children; two new books about living life with genetic disorders.

BOOK LISTS

5 new reference books that all look SO COOL. On a whim I picked up a 2010 Guinness Book of World Records book for CRjr at a library sale, and he LOVES it. He carries it around reading out of it to us, and showing us pictures. He was reading it at breakfast the other day and finally I had to take it away from him so he would eat his Cheerios. Reading at the table is fine with me, as long as you read AND eat.

IndieBound: Bestselling books the week of April 27.

Harpers Bazaar: 12 new books to read in May. I suppose I'm going to have to read the memoir Priestdaddy. But do I really want to? No, not really. Full props to Harpers Bazaar, by the way, this is one of the more interesting booklists I've seen in a long time. LibraryReads? Take notes on how it's done.

8 books to read before you get married: a list from the Business Insider, of all places. It's probably too late for me (as Mr. CR would tell you) but I'm going to read some of these.

Publishers Weekly: Religion and spirituality books spring preview.

Adult Books 4 Teens: Love is in the air!

Six modern books inspired by Jane Eyre.

The Netflix series "13 Reasons Why," about a teen committing suicide, was the big news on the Internet this week. Here's a list of YA books to read after you watch it (or perhaps instead of watching it?) If you haven't heard of the Netflix series, here's what Jenny over at Reading the End had to say: "I’m furious at 13 Reasons Why, and this post and this post are two (YES I’M DOING THIS) reasons why. My brother-in-law, who teaches high schoolers, reports that all his students are watching and loving it, and I want to protect all those babies from this harmful nonsense. Ugh."

Granta: Best young American novelists.

MY READING NOTES

I am all over the place with reading. A novel here, some nonfiction about the horrors of technology there (Mr. CR: "How many of these 'all your data has already been stolen' books can you read?"), a re-read of a really old novel here, some kids' nonfiction there. I didn't know where to settle.

I was without my laptop/Internet for much of the week, and it was both soothing and completely unnerving. Weirdly I had more time for reading but couldn't find what I wanted to read. An odd week. But the eldest CRjr continues to pound shark books like there's no tomorrow, so at least he knows what he wants.

AND NOW, YOUR OBLIGATORY NEIL GAIMAN LINK

American Gods: Why was Neil Gaiman "deeply concerned" when he watched the first Starz episode?

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