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:
- Unpublished Raymond Chandler work discovered in Library of Congress — and, naturally, it’s “a witty, Gilbert-and-Sullivan-inflected libretto for a fantasy-tinged romance”? Say what?
- Don DeLillo’s Annotated “Underworld” — oh man, would love to spend a few days with this.
- What Kids Want to Read: An Infographic — sure, you could spend a lot of money on a survey, or…I don’t know. Talk to just one kid. Really these the least counter-intuitive survey results ever.
- It’s that time of the year, when people are looking for gift ideas, here’s a few:
- Literary Aces Playing Cards
- Some favorite gifts for book lovers that aren’t books — nifty ideas, but…wouldn’t books be easier?
- 16 Fantastic Gifts For Lit Lovers Who Have Enough Books — similar, but not the same list. And I’ve got the same substitute suggestion.
- 10 Reasons to Shop at Your Local Indie Bookstores This Holiday Season — keep this in mind this season — and all year long
- It’s also that time of year for the making of lists. I imagine I’ll be posting a few more of these (and, I hope, making one of my own).
- 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards — Not all my choices won — actually, only two did. But I did okay, and am really only confused/annoyed by a couple of the wins.
- Best science fiction books of 2014 — According to The Guardian, anyway. There’s a distinct national accent to this list — which is understandable, and maybe deserved.
- The 22 Best Lines of 2014 — Familiar with the source or not, this is a fun list of lines
- Was 2014 the Year of the Debut? — a bunch of great debut novels
- Four Things My Family Learned From The Boxcar Children Books — I dug these books so much when I was a kid — most of my kids dabbled in them, but they never were as grabbed as I was. Glad to see there are still some big fans of the Aldens out there.
- Only one New Release caught my eye this week — in what looks to be a slow month. But it should be a good one:
- Bryant and May and the Bleeding Heart by Christopher Fowler — the eleventh installment in the series featuring the weirdest batch of detectives you’ll run across in fiction.
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