The Canadian Urban Library Council says “the big five” publishers like Hachette, Penguin Random House and MacMillan have long restricted library access to electronic materials, but in the past two years the problem has grown worse. – CBC
Category: words
An Argument For Collecting As Many Books As Possible
An antilibrary is a powerful reminder of your limitations — the vast quantity of things you don’t know, half-know, or will one day realize you’re wrong about. By living with that reminder daily you can nudge yourself toward the kind of intellectual humility that improves decision-making and drives learning. – Fast Company
Accountant Whose Theft Destroyed Literary Agency Gets Only Two Years In Prison
“Darin Webb, the bookkeeper who stole more than $3.4 million over eight years from venerable New York literary agency Donadio & Olson, was sentenced to two years in prison on Monday, less than half the 51-63 month term the government had recommended.” The judge’s reason? That Webb didn’t steal the money for himself. — Publishers Weekly
Alice Walker Under Fire For Recommending In NY Times Book Seen As Anti-Semitic
For the Times Book Review‘s “By the Book” feature, Walker cited among the books on her nightstand David Icke’s And the Truth Shall Set You Free, which allegedly cites The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Leading the criticism of Walker was Tablet magazine’s Yair Rosenberg: “The book is an unhinged antisemitic conspiracy tract written by one of Britain’s most notorious antisemites.” — The Guardian
A Debate About “After” Poems: Homage Or Theft?
There’s nothing straightforward about the debate, and nothing particularly new about the “after” convention. Poetry is a medium in which sampling, allusion, and conversation have always been part of the game. – New York Magazine
Merriam-Webster’s Word Of 2018: Justice
Searches for “justice” throughout the year, when compared to 2017, were up 74 percent on the site that has more than 100 million page views a month and nearly half a million entries. – USA Today
Please, People, Stop Trying To Make ‘Pride And Prejudice’ A Christmas Story
True, there are six mentions of the word “Christmas” in the original novel. “Lest you get carried away by that number six, though, you should know that Austen’s Mansfield Park (1814) drops the word ‘Easter’ twelve times. Still, no one suggests we should add bunnies and plastic eggs to its next TV movie version.” – Literary Hub
A Writer On His Year Of Reading Fiction By African Women
At last year’s The Guardian holiday party, one of The Guardian‘s journalists realized that he was years behind in reading books by African women. So he dove in – and found stories of polygamy, migration, politics, and much more. – The Guardian (UK)
The Elena Ferrante Books Are Explicitly Political – Something People Are Finally Catching On To With The TV Shows
Maybe some reviewers were, shall we say, confused by the idea of books that were about the friendship of two women also being about politics. Ferrante was never unclear, though. The author’s point: “Elena and Lila were alienated from history in all its political, social, economic, cultural aspects — and yet they were part of history in everything they said or did.” – Los Angeles Review of Books
Book Titles Can’t Be Copyrighted, And Whew, That Can Lead To Challenges
When bestselling YA author Tomi Adeyemi, author of The Children of Blood and Bone, tweeted a challenge to Nora Roberts (NORA. ROBERTS.) over that author’s new Of Blood and Bone (which debuted at #2 on the bestseller list), things got tense on social media. But – let us repeat – book titles cannot be copyrighted. – The New York Times