*Interesting Articles

If you run across and interesting article or web site, post it here for everybody to see. As with the Message Board, we'd like to keep discussion to a minimum on this thread.

Got it starred.

http://www.shorpy.com/ - a website of historical photographs. It's fascinating looking at things that used to be.

Locus (the British science fiction trade magazine) has an entertaining roundtable discussion with authors & editors talking about the silly things editors and authors and teachers and students sometimes say.

http://www.locusmag.com/Roundtable/2011/12/roundtable-the-silliest-thing/

My favorite, from author/professor Adrienne Martini:

I teach a Theater Appreciation class, in addition to some writing and a little comm. The students in the Theater class have to see productions on campus and write about all of the elements of theater that we’ve talked about in class, including the sort of stage that it was presented on. As a refresher, the major types of stage are thrust, proscenium and arena.

And the student wrote: The Marriage of Figaro was on a perineum stage.

Which really made me wonder what show she saw.

Kitty Lit: Cats on Classic Book Covers at abebooks:
http://www.abebooks.com/books/cats-feline-book-covers-spoof-satire/kitty-lit.sht...

A long but very interesting article from The Guardian books blog listing the major literary events of 2012 (centennaries, book releases, prizes, film adaptations etc.).

#6: I would love to see The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I wonder if PBS here in the States is going to pick it up some time.

#7 I saw a post on imdb saying that it's coming to PBS in the Spring Stasia so hopefully you will be able to see it.

I can't decide whether to watch it or wait until I've read the book (which won't be this year).

#8: Oh, good! Thanks for letting me know.

I have already read the book, Heather. It is a pretty quick read for Dickens and of course, it is unfinished so you have to be prepared for that.

Booktryst blog celebrates the life of Ronald Searle by looking at Slightly Foxed - Still Desirable: Ronald Searle's Wicked World of Book Collecting

A. L. Kennedy talks about writing.

Finnegan's List for 2012: Polyglot Europeans Pick Titles for Translation - an interesting Publishing Perspectives article about books that should be more widely translated with a link to the 2012 list.

Ooh I would love to see that list. Unfortunately every link I have found for it tells me the page is missing.

FOUND IT: On the European Authors association site http://www.seua.org/files/brochure_finale.pdf

Attention all fellow Downton Abbey lovers! The New York Times published a neat reading list if you love the show. The article is here.

Interesting article by a gentleman who is writing a book about Presidents and their books, focusing on Jefferson's Bible. The article is here.

Classics going to waste - an opinion article on the out-of-print status of many fine Australian books
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/classics-going-to-waste-201...

A couple of interesting articles from The Guardian books blog:

1) A slightly disturbing article about the self-epublishing bubble.

2) A very amusing article about the overuse of the word 'literally'. The comments are also well worth a read.

A couple needs a home for their 30,000 volume Rocky Mountain Land Library:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20002287

>17 souloftherose: I enjoyed the article about the use of the word 'literally.' It reminded me of an article published several years ago in Sports Illustrated:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1024167/1/index.htm

Saw this over on the Green Dragon - interesting article on the benefits of re-reading books.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=1078698...

>20 drneutron: The article had me at the first sentence: "Book hoarders of the world can rest easy."

Out of date reference titles turned into amazing works of art:

http://karanarora.posterous.com/insane-art-formed-by-carving-books-with-surgi

What will you find in your local countryside? Maybe something as interesting as this: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/15098

This essay may be of interest to anyone with loved one on the autism spectrum. The collection of essays referred to has been published now -- By The Iowa Sea

24 I saw the reference you posted to it on Jim's thread. I've already added the collection to my Ever-Expanding List. Thanks so much for the links, Linda!

De nada, Terri. I should give credit to the brilliant blogger who brought it to my attention, Murr Brewster .

An interview with Marilynne Robinson heard yesterday morning on NPR.

From linguist Stan Carey: "On the meaning(s) of "nice" in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and elsewhere.

As someone who lives in Niceville (shudder) I follow most discussions regarding the word. George Carlin's monologue is still my favorite though. ;)

A. L. Kennedy debunks that "suffering artist" myth.

TED talk about book cover design: http://www.ted.com/talks/chip_kidd_designing_books_is_no_laughing_matter_ok_it_i....

Interesting article on the value of reading (with some interesting stats): http://donmilleris.com/2012/04/03/want-to-do-meaningful-work-keep-reading-litera...

I saw this on facebook today and thought it was quite amusing.

Who said it, James Joyce or Kool Keith?: http://hudsonhongo.com/joyce/

Paper books vs ebooks: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/04/books-bits-vs-atoms.html.

Books on the Nightstand mentioned this article on "How to Read Faulkner"

http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Faulkner-101-How-to-Read-William-Faulkner

#35 - thanks. I love this line: "If I can get a used copy of a book for less than the eBook, no sale. If I can get a new copy of a book for less than the eBook, no sale and screw you."

Don't be misled, the above is not the main point of the article. Read the whole thing to see what is being said!

#36. Thank you for sharing that one, Roni. Well said, Mr. Hamblin.

The paper books vs ebooks article is really interesting. I also liked the http://www.codinghorror.com/.a/6a0120a85dcdae970b016303f1aafc970d-800wi picture :D
I am thinking about writing a post about e-books now as well :P *starts thinking about it*

Pays to be careful when ordering a bestseller from Amazon as this Amazon's knock-off problem article brings to light.

#39 - love that image
#40 - thanks for that article

A hysterical explanation for why the Pulitzer prize for fiction wasn't awarded

>42 brenzi: - That's great, Bonnie! Thanks for sharing.

#42 That was funny!

I want to see the cat videos.

Nice interview with Neil Gaiman talking about his current reading, etc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/books/review/neil-gaiman-shares-his-reading-ha...

>46 drneutron: Oh, how fun.

My favorite quote:

The second year, I read a lot of first chapters and took delight in hurling books across the room if I knew I would not be reading the second chapter.

Then I’d go and pick them up again, because they are books, after all, and we are not savages.

How about a quote from an author?

The second year, I read a lot of first chapters and took delight in hurling books across the room if I knew I would not be reading the second chapter.

Then I’d go and pick them up again, because they are books, after all, and we are not savages.

- Neil Gaiman

Little Libraries in the Neighborhood

I advise against reading the comments on the article. Jeez but some people are paranoid, cranky, pessimistic farts.

Putting in a plug, as I periodically do, for G. W. Hawkes, who professed to and advised the person posting in No. 49 above, as well as some other brilliant authors and teachers of my acquaintance, and who is an author who deserves to be much more widely read himself.

Interview with Kate Beaton, what writes the Hark! A Vagrant strip. Kifed from @geatland

LC has released its list of "Books that Shaped America." You'll find the list at: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/books-that-shaped-america/. The press release is at: http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2012/12-123.html.

Thanks for posting that, Lori. Interesting list! Funny, most of those that I've read, were read pre-LT and therefore aren't cataloged among my reads. Maybe I should add them into my "read but no longer owned" lists?

I probably should do the same, Terri. I've read quite a few of them. A friend of mine posted that list as her summer reading list this morning on Facebook, but I knew folks over here would find it interesting.

As I'm currently reading Stonemouth by Scottish writer Iain Banks I found this Guardian article, The unnoticed bias of the Booker prize interesting.

Larry McMurtry is selling out. His book store, that is. Interesting list of 100 books he's selected to "prime the bidders" at the auction.

Amanda Craig shoots herself in the foot with this Telegraph article about Maeve Binchy and childless women writers, the comments put her in her place:
'This is the sound of an also-ran writer so desperate for both attention and hard cash that she'll churn out 1500 words while the subject of her ludicrously smug pity is still being buried. It's also the sound of a writer shooting herself in the foot when it comes to future support and endorsements within the publishing community - not all of whom have been blessed with the 'deeper understanding of human nature' Craig imagines is exclusive to unappreciated geniuses like herself. '

Thanks for those two articles, Kerry. I hope you are enjoying/did enjoy Stonemouth - I heard Banks talk about it at a recent book festival. As for Amanda Craig (who is she anyway?) - what an appalling article in so many ways!

Harvard Business Review: "Reading more can lead to a host of benefits for business people of all stripes, and broad, deep reading can make you a better leader."

How paperbacks were the first threat to Publishing As We Know It - way before e-books...

READ HERE

Photos of people around the world reading:
http://stevemccurry.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/to-fly/

Thank you, so much. It gave me a joy and a perspective of how we are all so much alike in this world.

Librarian Tatoos! Some of these are really neat.

A book encoded in DNA:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/aug/16/book-written-dna-code

> 65 - that is sooooo cool! Thanks for posting the link to the article!

The rather amusing - People Of The Bookshelf by Geraldine Brooks -
Alpha by subject ... or by dinner party seating rules? Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks on a shelving obsession.
http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/people-of-the-bookshelf/413/

#69 That's very funny. I think I've sometimes been aware of incongruous combinations on the shelves, but I've not gone to the lengths of reshelving to avoid them.

>69 avatiakh: Oh my goodness, thanks so much for sharing, Kerry! I totally do that too and now I don't feel so alone!

70/71 - I don't have enough shelves to manage any sort of order, but loved the idea of shelves in the garage for my unloved writers!

An article about possible conflict of interest in the Nobel Prize for literature selection which puts a slight tarnish on the selection of Mo Yan as his Swedish translator was on the panel and stands to gain from sales of his translated books.
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/10/18/was_there_a_conflict_of_interest_...

Apparently, there has been a major security breach of customer credit/debit card data at 63 Barnes & Noble bookstores. Card reader/pin pads were hacked.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-pin-pads-hacked-at-chicagoar...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/business/hackers-get-credit-data-at-barnes-nob...

Supposedly, their databases for online purchases & Nook are not affected.

Just been reading the following article in the Saturday Guardian. It may be of interest to fellow European crime and detective fiction enthusiasts. I haven't yet listened to any of the related 15 part radio series on BBC Radio 4, but hope to catch up on iPlayer.

Crime's grand tour: European detective fiction

http://gu.com/p/3bcdy

>75 laytonwoman3rd: I enjoyed reading that article! He is smart, funny, and best of all 100% correct in his thinking.

Loved the article! He definitely belongs with us on LT.

Part One of an interview with author/historian David McCullough was on 60 Minutes last night; the segment (and a transcript) is available on the show's website:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57544862/journey-through-history-with-davi...

So good, I watched it twice!

An amusing look at living with a writer from The guardian - Writers who leave their wives lost for words
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/9648526/Writers-who-le...

Spotted in this Sunday's Real Estate section of the Washington Post:

There's still demand for home libraries and bookcases
"Like all book lovers, however, these clients don’t simply own a lot of books; most express a strong emotional connection to them."

#80 Very comforting, that.

The 100 best books of 2012 from the New Zealand Listener
http://www.listener.co.nz/culture/books/the-100-best-books-of-2012/

US school curriculum will focus on nonfiction over literature from 2014

American literature classics are to be replaced by insulation manuals and plant inventories in US classrooms by 2014.
A new school curriculum which will affect 46 out of 50 states will make it compulsory for at least 70 per cent of books studied to be non-fiction, in an effort to ready pupils for the workplace.
Books such as JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird will be replaced by "informational texts" approved by the Common Core State Standards.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9729383/Catcher-in-the-Rye-dro...

#83 That article oversimplifies this issue quite a bit. Read more about it here. I hope this gets a LOT more media attention and discussion.

I agree, this needs a lot more attention. Thanks for linking to that article.

Yipes! Thanks for posting those two articles about literature in the American classroom.

On a different front, Turkey is lifting a ban on books dating from the 1950s onwards.

LT's very own Jeremy has an article in the latest print edition of Fine Books & Collections. Unfortunately, I don't think it's available on-line, but if you're interested in the magazine, here is their website.

I couldn't find the table of contents. I wanted to see what the article was entitled.

>87 laytonwoman3rd:/88 - I have an article in every issue on a recent or forthcoming book auction :-) This one's on the November sale at Skinner in Boston.

#89. How have I never noticed that before??? Thirty lashes with a wet bookmark!