Sometimes I read stories, and just have to share them. Here’s a list of recent interesting stuff (in no particular order):
- “13 Writers Who Grew To Hate Their Own Books” on Literary Hub: List includes Ian Fleming (The Spy Who Loved Me), Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange), and Leo Tolstoy (War and Peace).
- “8 Notable Attempts to Hack the New York Times Bestseller List” on Literary Hub: Includes Handbook for Mortals, I, Libertine, and a bunch of political books.
- “Notorious Literary Muses from Best to Worst” on Literary Hub: Includes muses for Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and W.B. Yeats.
- “The 5 Weirdest Lawsuits About Authors Stealing Ideas” on Electric Lit: Books include She Persisted, Twilight (series), and Harry Potter (series).
- “Black Feminist Literature at the NY Art Book Fair: An Interview with the Free Black Women’s Library” on Hyperallergic: “Artist and librarian OlaRonke Akinmowo has collected over 1,000 books written by Black women to assemble the interactive biblio installation.”
- “How Doctors Use Poetry” on Nautilus: “Poetry is a way to both embrace the hospital encounter, and escape from it.”
- “How Feminist Dystopian Fiction Is Channeling Women’s Anger and Anxiety” on The New York Times: “At a time of increased unease about parity between the sexes, both new and classic dystopian novels seem to be resonating with readers and critics.”
- “How Congress Could Rein in Google and Facebook” on The Verge: “Lawmakers are getting ready to take on data privacy, but the details of the bill are still up for grabs.”
- “What’s behind a recent rise in books coverage?” on Columbia Journalism Review: “To break through the noise, editors must translate old-fashioned book coverage to the lingua francas of today’s impossibly paced media climate: shareable lists, essays, digestible Q&As, podcasts, scannable email newsletters, hashtags, Instagrams, even book trailers.”
- “Mundal, Norway Is Home to More Books Than People” on Mental Floss: “Mundal is small, with only 280 residents, but it boasts an impressive second-hand books scene, with roughly 150,000 books scattered throughout the town.”
- “How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation” on Buzzfeed: “I couldn’t figure out why small, straightforward tasks on my to-do list felt so impossible. The answer is both more complex and far simpler than I expected.”
- “Trade gets behind new Female Leadership in Publishing newsletter” on The Bookseller: “A new digital platform and newsletter called The FLIP (Female Leadership in Publishing), launched by three Transworld colleagues to showcase “brilliant, inspiring, courageous and creative” women who work in the publishing industry, has been “inundated” with support, collecting hundreds of followers within its first hours of launching.”
- “How to Tell an Open Secret” on The Atlantic: “Three recent novels demonstrate how fiction can deftly capture the long-term effects of sexual assault and harassment.”
- “Corporate Censorship Is a Serious, and Mostly Invisible, Threat to Publishing” on Electric Lit: “When states suppress ideas, we condemn it. What should we do when companies do the same?”
- “New Study: Reading Fiction Really Will Make You Nicer and More Empathetic” on Inc: “A definitive new study has great news for book lovers: Yes, reading fiction boosts your EQ.”
- “What Is the Best Streaming Service? A Statistical Analysis” on TV Guide: “We compared Netflix, Hulu and Amazon in 14 key categories to find the answer.”
- “Fantasy Author Christopher Paolini Debuts B&N Author Residency” on Publisher’s Weekly: “Barnes & Noble announced plans to debut its first author residency program and book tour, which will celebrate fantasy writer Christopher Paolini, author of The Fork, The Witch, and the Worm, the latest title in his bestselling Inheritance Cycle series.”
- “The Secret Life of Libraries” on Slate: “The children, readers, learners, neighbors, and karaoke singers who use one local library every day.”
- “Sweden’s Surprising Rule for Time Off” on BBC: In Sweden, people can take 6 months off to care for a sick relative, or even launch their own startup.
- “Julia Hartz Founded Eventbrite With Her Fiancé. Then She Took His Job.” on New York Times: Some advice about working as a husband and wife / significant other team.
