Saturday Miscellany—4/27/24

For U.S.-types, Happy Independent Bookstore Day!! Be sure to venture forth and take advantage of the fun in your area. I actually have 3 choices to go to today (and, yes, I’m tempted to hit all three, but time and money prevent that). This month has not been good for my To Be Read mountain, and I don’t think today will help a lot.

(non-U.S.-types should go and visit your local indie shop, too.)

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:
A novel experience: Why small bookstores are thriving in Canada—this seems to be a good day to celebrate those stores north of the border, too.
There’s a revolution happening in children’s publishing—you can thank the book bans—the Law of Unintended Consequences has teeth
Yes, It’s Okay to Throw Away a Book: We love acquiring, hoarding, and displaying books even more than we love reading them—That subtitle is a bit much, but the rest of the piece is worth a read. Unconvincing, I think.
The literary romantic holiday that should replace Valentine’s Day.—this one also seems like a bit of a stretch, but I’m inclined to be swayed.
Shakespeare and Fanfiction: Despite an enduring slice of audience that treats his work as precious and mythic, most Shakespeare fans have rarely met an adaptive concept they didn’t like.
The Unexpected Resurrection of Harlan Ellison
The Heyday of Pulp Fiction: Keith Roysdon on the heroes and villains of American pop culture, introduced to millions of readers in cheap magazines.
Encyclopedia Brown: A Story for My Brother, Philip Seymour Hoffman
How to Read More—Armed With a Book brings a fresh idea or two to this perennial topic.
Brian Bilston is “fed up with people pointing out all the mistakes in my poetry” and responds with Pedants—absolutely worth the read.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
It looks like whatever was distracting me from blogging in April 2014 started to wane, and I managed to note the publication of a few books that looked promising (I read at least 3 of them—all 3 winners)
The Dragon Business by Kevin J. Anderson
Attack The Geek: A Ree Reyes Side-Quest by Michael R. Underwood
The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham
Heaven’s Queen by Rachel Bach
Dawn’s Early Light by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

This Week’s New Release that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Next of Kin by Samantha Jayne Allen—Annie McIntyre’s third adventure finds her looking into a client’s family history and stirring up dust that causes problems for her and the client in the present. Looking forward to diving into this one.