Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet Americans Reading Fewer Books Than in Past—pretty sure this is news to no one. Still depressing to see.
bullet Book bans in schools are catching fire. Black authors say uproar isn’t about students.
bullet The 23 most popular books of the past year, according to Goodreads members—huh.
bullet Have We Forgotten How to Read Critically?—Um, yeah?
bullet Ace Atkins bids Robert B. Parker’s Spenser farewell
bullet The Future of Robert B. Parker’s Sunny Randall—I meant to include this last week, but it fits the theme of the previous item.
bullet Some Books That Inspire Me—On the eve of his first novel’s publication, Adam Shaw talks about some books that got him to that point.
bullet Maybe Reading Goals Are Good, Actually—Templeton has some good ideas about reading goals for a self-described “free range reader”
bullet How BOOK IT! Made Reading Delicious—from Mental Floss
bullet Bookish Bucket List—Now this is a good idea…
bullet Misrepresentations of Autism in Fiction—good stuff from The Coycaterpillar Reads.
bullet StoryGraph vs. Goodreads – The Good & the Bad
bullet The importance of book reviews

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Jackals by Adam Shaw—Jack Dotson returns to his hometown for a funeral and has to deal with the past he tried to leave behind—and doing so may cause trouble for the rest of his life. (oof, that sounded lame…go read the link, it’s better when not summarized in a sentence)

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Rabhya Maini who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger!