Saturday Miscellany—10/19/19

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:

• One for the books: the unlikely renaissance of libraries in the digital age—Obviously, things for us Yanks are a little different than the Sydney Morning Herald’s audience, but there’s some good overlap
• Who Decides Which Books Are “Great?”: The concept of “Great Books,” the historian Tim Lacy explains, developed in the late nineteenth century as an attempt to foster a “democratic culture.”
• Along those lines, here’s a nice little post from The Orangutan Librarian that I somehow overlooked last month: In defence of classics- again!
• Michael Connelly reveals how ‘Bosch’ was born and other tales of his humble rise to fame
• The 15 most iconic Harry Bosch haunts across L.A.—I’m not one for traveling, really, but I would gladly organize a vacation to L.A. around this.
• Removing the Mystery From Mystery Writing: 13 Tricks Used by Acclaimed Novelists—geared more toward the writer, but there’s some interesting behind-the-scenes nuggets for readers.
• The 40 Best Novels of the 2010s—Paste magazine compiled a list of their editors’ favorites.
• The Ultimate Print On Demand Guide for Nonfiction Authors—another one pointed at the writers in the audience (or would-be writers). I find this kind of thing interesting even as a reader, tho.
• The 21 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Series Ever—at least according to Thrillist. Hard to argue against these though (as much as one might want to argue for others)
• A Book Bloggers Guide to Book Blogging – A Resource Guide—A very handy little “guide to help with some of the confusing things found in book blogging” from Before We Go Blog
• 4 Things About Blogging That Seem Scary, But Really Aren’t That Bad
• DNFing Books – A Discussion—I’m Fully Booked weighs in on the practice
• Top Ten Tuesday – Character Traits I Love—Caffinated Fae provides a nice little list.
• STET! Dreyer’s English: A Game for Language Lovers, Grammar Geeks, and Bibliophiles—This has been out for awhile, but I just saw a link for it this week. I’d love playing this (although I’m afraid I’d be wrong too often for my ego)

This Week’s New Release I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon (I probably missed a few, but…):
• Ghosts of You by Cathy Ulrich—this flash fiction collection is compelling, haunting, and thought-provoking (and includes some really good reading, too). My post about it describes the book better.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to kbbookreviewer, _forbookssake, thelostwoman, amanja and Steven Colborne /a> for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?