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:
We’re Doing ‘Men Don’t Read Books’ Discourse Again. Here’s What We’re Missing—if the subtitle “The self-improvement-obsessed grindset bros who can’t spare the bandwidth to pick up a novel are the people who need literature the most.” doesn’t sell you on this piece, Jason Diamond’s first paragraph will.
PRH Pairs with Ford to Publish Brand’s First Children’s Books —uhhhhhhhh. Okay?
How Sharing Recipes Brings Fans Together: Making fictional food can be both a creative and communal activity.
The Governess, in Her Own Written Words—An interesting piece on the impace of Governesses on Victorian lit. The first sentence rocked me, “In the early Victorian era, few families in Britain hired governesses to care for their children, and few young women were employed in that job.” Few? Few?? I feel lied to.
The Tiffany Problem—I keep coming across references to this idea this week, and figured I’d share one of the pieces I read about it. Incidentally, this thankfully has nothing to do with the 80s crimson-haired singer. I don’t know if I could’ve taken it if it were.
Thirst Traps: The Return of Vampire Novel—Return? They went away??
The Road Goes Ever On: When Fantasy Sends You on Your Own Journeys
Little Free Library—Kriti K from Armed with a Book talks about starting her own.
5 Unputdownable Scottish Thrillers—if you haven’t experienced the particular vibe of a Scottish thriller, here are 5 promising ways to start
How to Overcome Reading Slump—Another good piece on this evergreen topic
TCL’s #RandomBookishThoughts #2 – Author Pairings!—I don’t know if I’ve ever thought in this category before, but now I kind of have to.
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Dear Luke, We Need to Talk, Darth by John Moe
Treasure Coast by Tom Kakonis
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
Black Arts by Faith Hunter
The Player by Brad Parks
Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley
The Monkey’s Raincoat by Robert Crais
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Last Shield by Cameron Johnston—the Action-Adventure Fantasy you need this summer. I gushed about it recently (and could easily do so again)
The White Door by Pierce Taylor Hibbs—One of my favorite non-fiction authors launched his first novel this week. I had so much to say about it that it took me two posts—my initial take and a follow-up (and I could still do a couple more)
What’s Next: A Backstage Pass to the West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack—some behind-the-scenes stories, some comments on the series it self, and discussion of some of the ways the show has inspired the stars into service beyond acting.
Bob Germaux
“The Monkey’s Raincoat”? The first Elvis Cole novel, which I enjoyed so much that I immediately put Robert B. Crais on my list of authors whose books I had to read. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, HC.
HCNewton
That was my 5th or 6th time reading it myself. I now realize it’s been a decade since I re-read it. Too, too long
Davida Chazan
Somehow, this link got tossed into my spam, but now I’ve approved it. Thanks for the shout out!