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| via Book Riot’s 7 DIY Bookish Thanksgiving Decor |
Usually we post Links of Note every other Saturday or so, but Kimberly and I are both taking a long holiday weekend and thought instead of not posting at all today or tomorrow, a link round up would be worth saving for now. That way there’s a long weekend’s worth of reading around the bookish web to savor.
If we’ve missed something or should know about other recent good reading, let us know in the comments.
- Over at Flavorwire, there’s an interesting roundup of 50 books that defined the past five years in literature. These sorts of lists don’t always catch my eye nor do I stop and think about them a whole lot, but this one came to my attention because Becky over at RA for All talked about why those of us who do reader’s advisory or work with readers should care about this kind of list. She makes some really excellent points about making sure we don’t overlook them or undervalue them just because they’re no longer the brightest or shiniest.
- The Nation has a piece about the State of Literature. More specifically, it talks about reviews, about book covers, marketing, and how all of those things are impacted (or not) by gender and preconceptions of what a book is or is not. There’s some really interesting talk in there about “new adult,” as well, and the primary focus is about readership, which is what made it stand out to me.
- Somewhat related to the link above is a piece by Sarah Rees Brennan over at The Toast. She talks about sexism and the tricky business of being a woman and self-promoting.
- Here’s a fun one: The University of Illinois has archived online a bunch of the American Library Association’s old promotional reading posters. Enjoy.
- In Australia, a look at gender bias in children’s literature. I am so glad this conversation is happening, continues to happen, and it keeps popping up all over the place in different variations.
- Single-handedly taking down the wealth of “oh noes, YA fiction is bad/corrupting/the worst” articles over the past couple of weeks is Foz Meadows. The bingo card is spot on, but the piece itself is more than worth the read as well.
- I can’t track down the original source nor a place where there’s a time line or link for pre-ordering, but soon you’ll be able to buy the original four Nancy Drew books with entirely new (and gorgeous) covers. I think those redone covers are better than the new covers for Judy Blume’s Forever and Are You There God? (I’m resisting all urges to make a “Period” joke here).
- I feel like everyone has read this piece already, but in the event you haven’t, you should: Matt de la Pena talks about the tough kid and how sometimes it’s the tough kid who is writing and seeking stories that reflect his or her reality. This one will get your eyes a little bit wet.
- A panel of literary agents discuss the diversity gap in children’s publishing.
Over at Book Riot, I’ve written a few pieces in the last couple of weeks:
- First, take a literary tour of Austin, Texas. You’ll get to check out a ton of book stores, a few bookish spaces, and top it off with a literary mocha.
- Let’s talk about the girl myth in YA fiction (and beyond). I wanted a way to talk about gender, and more specifically, about the myths surrounding what it does or doesn’t mean to be a girl in YA fiction and why readers react the way they do when a girl acts or reacts in a certain way.
For those of you in the states celebrating the holiday this weekend, enjoy. For those of you who aren’t, enjoy the rest of your work week and weekend, and we’ll catch you all on Monday.