Saturday Miscellany — 8/30/2014

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Why Book Criticism and Literary Culture Needs a Poptimist Revolution — Elisabeth Donnelly has some mighty interesting things to say and ponder over about book criticism.
• Why Read the Classics? — Ginni Chen, over at B&N’s blog, answers: The classics will make you love reading even more. I like her thinking. Need to do follow through with it more.
• Yes, People Still Read Movie Novelizations . . . And Write Them, Too — I don’t read nearly as many Novelizations and Tie-Ins as I used to, but I do respect the craft. There are some really good ones out there (and some crappy ones — just like other kinds of books)
• Seanan McGuire announced this week that Indexing: Reflections will be coming next year. Indexing wasn’t my favorite thing that she’d done, but I’m eager to see what she does from here with this group.
• The Once and Future Podcast — my favorite podcast about books, SF&F and writing is coming back from hiatus in a few weeks. Here’s a bonus episode to whet your appetite: Leigh Perry & Toni Kelner. There’s a lot of great interviews in the archvies.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Lock In by John Scalzi — this really doesn’t seem like my kind of book from the descriptions, but something tells me I’m really going to dig this when I get around to reading it.
• The Revenge of Seven by Pittacus Lore — The fifth in the Lorien Legacies, and I know, I know it’s built on cynicism and questionable motives, but there’s something about this that just works.
• The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter: The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire, Book 1 by Rod Duncan — Steampunk with a twist, so I understand. Looks pretty interesting.
• Once Upon a Rhyme: Volume I of the Charming Tales by Jack Heckel — this looks like fun. Nothing inventive (at least from the description), but still a fun read.