While you’re reading these interesting links from the last couple of weeks, I’m in the midst of ALA. I’m writing this out beforehand, meaning it’s likely I’ve missed some good reading from the last few days. If you’ve seen something worthwhile, please feel free to drop a comment and let me know so I can catch up!
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| I’m in love with Marc Johns‘s “Objects Reading Books” drawings. |
- There has been a lot of talk about brick and mortar bookstores in the last couple of weeks. First, it was the discussion about how Barnes and Noble has been quietly closing its doors over the last couple of years (I don’t have the exact article, but here’s a less well-written one over at the Daily Beast). Then there was an interesting post by Sarah over at YA Librarian Tales about how she doesn’t care if book stores close because she doesn’t use them. Some of what she says I take issue with because, well, I’m rural, too, and I don’t have a bookstore within 50 miles and yet, what I love about the book store experience isn’t the immediacy. It’s the serendipity of browsing, of discovery, and of the fact I don’t need immediate gratification therein. But I hear and get the argument about the ease of ereading and ability to download ebooks when you want them. Here’s a nice guide to supporting your local indies through your ereading habits. You can have it both ways.
- Sort of going hand in hand with that are the stories of the bookless libraries popping up. First, it was Bexar (pronounced “Bear” for anyone who hasn’t spent time in Texas) County declaring their brilliant idea for an all-digital library to reach their county/rural residents. Then it was a school in Philadelphia which is going to whittle their 47,000 some collection down to a mere 1,000 books. Why is no one calling shenanigans on either of these? Come on. The first is the grand idea of a judge — A JUDGE, not a LIBRARIAN or EDUCATOR with actual experience and knowledge about literacy — and the second is the grand scheme of an administrator in a library where there is no librarian (she’s retired!). Do we not see the problem here? Going bookless is a privilege, and even if the grand idea is access, how does giving access help literacy? It doesn’t. It’s simply ACCESS. Yes, these get me incredibly riled up because it undermines all of the work people with actual skills and knowledge in this arena have in favor of something that’s “sexy” and “cutting edge.” We’re doing the future huge disservices when we do this. But maybe I shouldn’t say “we,” because in every instance, it’s someone who is not an expert in literacy pushing for this. In light of all these (crazy) stories is the opening of the Antelope Lending Library in Iowa City. Take a step back and just think about these stories in conjunction with one another. Oh, also, this PEW study said that 80% of Americans say borrowing books is a very important service of libraries.
- And then this about what and how libraries are purchasing materials for their collections. Of note is the line that libraries do a LOUSY job with self-published materials (no kidding? We don’t have review sources for them, for one) and that all of those surveyed are in larger libraries or systems with central purchasing.
- This is my dream reading and writing space. But I think rural Canada might be pushing it for me.
- I don’t hide how much my own experiences give me bias when it comes to books about body image and weight. So here’s a thoughtful piece over at School Library Journal about books tackling these issues. Even if I disagree with much of what they say, I see the value that these books can have for other readers.
- Remember the big plagiarism story last year in the YA blogging community? One of the ladies who was plagiarized has blogged again, talking about how that incident impacted her ability to write and keep her own voice. It’s thought provoking, for sure.
- Earlier this week, I talked about how critical reviews are a means of reader advocacy. It was sparked when Sarah asked about resources for those interested in writing critical reviews. Sarah’s since rounded up her resources in one place — so if you’ve ever wondered about writing critical reviews, here’s a great place to find some answers (and not just because she links to me).
- Only 7% of frequent book buyers find their titles online. This is a really interesting piece on online book discovery and how it’s broken. I think the simple answer is that it’s not quite human. There is some fodder in the piece about online book reviews worth thinking about.
- Speaking of book reviews, now you can use them to ruin a book, if you want to. A fascinating piece — though not entirely surprising given what’s gone down in the blogosphere — about how fans can “swarm” a book on Amazon (and other outlets).
- A couple of weeks ago, I started ranting to Liz about the believability factors in YA books — especially those which aren’t realistic. And while obviously fantasy/scifi books have no obligation to be realistic, there are things I wonder about. We then got on to talking about how female leads deal with things like their periods. So then she blogged about this, and the response has been fantastic. Let’s talk about that time of the month and books that bring it up when necessary.
- Sarah at Clear Eyes, Full Shelves wrote a great piece about difficult to like characters. I’m a huge fan of seeing both Courtney Summers’s girls (though I liked Sloane) and Simmone Howell’s Riley Rose on this list.
- Maggie Stiefvater wrote a blog post this week about the use of rape in books to create a tragic backstory. It’s a worthwhile read, but I do take a few issues with it. First, not knowing the books, it’s impossible to know whether part of the commentary in the books is that this sort of abuse and violence towards women is sickening and disgusting. Likewise, she points out something about rape being the worst thing that can happen to a woman but not a man (she words it better than I’m paraphrasing) but I think in light of current politics, her comments here actually make me more curious about how the rape is being used in these books because it may in fact be commentary on that very thing. Either way, this is a must-read piece.
- More on ereading. Do boys gravitate toward ebooks more than girls? Or should I say, do they SAY they’d be more inclined to read ebooks than girls would say they’re inclined to? Publishers Weekly also talks about how the children’s ebook market is open territory.
- Lenore Appelhans shares her top ten books featuring flashbacks for The Guardian.
- Who doesn’t love a good James Frey article? Here’s more about his fiction factory.
- The Edgar Award Nominees are fascinating this year, especially for YA. I don’t think I’d consider the Wein a mystery, but there it is. This is discussed quite a bit over at Mark & Sarah Flowers’s blog, Crossreferencing, which is well worth reading.
- Does YA Lit rely on sexist and misogynistic language too much? A thoughtful post over at crunchings and munchings. My thoughts: sometimes — and I think especially in the case of the McCafferty book discussed — it’s meant to be there AS a discussion point. But maybe I’m a bit privileged knowing that because I’ve read everything McCafferty’s written and get what she’s doing with her writing (which isn’t to say that this blog post is wrong, but rather, I don’t know if that’s the strongest example).
- One of my all-time favorite library stories is this one: a branch of the NYPL lends out their American Girls doll. As a kid who grew up envious of my friends who had them (we couldn’t afford one!), this is the kind of thing I would have loved. And it’s so, so nice to see a librarian getting recognition for doing something so simple and yet so community-minded. Huge kudos to her and to the NYT for writing this up.
- Does anyone else read My Milk Toof? I know I‘ve reviewed the book here before, but this week’s entry was so cute (and reading related) that I can’t NOT share it.
I've got some windows open now, but one quick note – it's said closer to Bay-har than Bear. Basically bear, but two syllables.
That's how I say bear because I have an accent 🙂
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Yüz Germe