Links of Note

I don't know about anyone else, but I've spent the last two weeks glued to the best reality television in the world: the summer Olympics. I don't even care what the sport is, who the athletes are, or what country they represent, I just enjoy watching people do amazing things. All of this is to say this biweekly roundup of links is a little less meaty than usual. And it may include non-book stuff. I don't apologize for that.

• What does your favorite YA series say about you as a reader? My favorite YA series isn't on the list, so I went through the offerings and actually, mine isn't even close. Actually, it's way closer than I'm willing to admit. 

• While I'm at it with lists, here's one from Thought Catalog on 11 Books You Should Read if You're a Woman in Your 20s. Warning: spoilers on one of the titles. Of the books on the list, I've read 2 and I have interest in reading maybe only 2 or 3 of the other ones. 

• Have you read any of the Top 10 Most Difficult Books yet? I read parts of both Spenser's The Faerie Queen and Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, the first in a Lit Survey class in undergrad and the second as part of a creative writing class (because as much as it's hard to understand, the language is something!). I perused the Woolf title on the list the few times it was assigned to me but I never actually read it. 

• A terrible plot twist into the real life of the people inside one of the better non-fiction I've read. It appears that Abdulrahman Zeitoun, who told his story of survival after Hurricane Katrina in the book Zeitoun (written by David Eggers and reviewed here), is on trial for attempting to murder his wife, her son, and another man. This is a really sad and even more tragic story.  

•  Joan Rivers is not immune to the challenges of having her book stocked. In fact, she was so irate about Costco choosing not to stock her new book, she handcuffed herself to a shopping cart to protest. I wanted to include a link from Sarah Rees Brennan in this bullet point too, but it appears the post she wrote this week about her forthcoming Unspoken not being stocked on the Barnes and Noble shelves is no longer on her blog. Although I have little sympathy for Rivers in this case, these examples highlight something kind of big, and that's that not every book published will be stocked everywhere. There is probably a blog-length post here about how librarians, bloggers, and other book lovers have an opportunity/responsibility in spreading the word about books that matter. When it's not on a bookstore shelf, it's impossible to discover. But via word of mouth, readers can speak up and demand the titles, thus helping give them some space in the future. Ideally, at least.

• So NPR's popularity contest ended, and here are the "100 Best-Ever Teen Novels." It's a super misleading title, since it should be called "Favorite Maybe-Maybe Not Teen Novels as Voted on by NPR Listeners." Either way, that's not the story here. For me, the real story is in this piece from The Atlantic, asking why female authors dominate YA fiction. I didn't plan on reading the article, but then I did. It's very poorly written and connects many things together it shouldn't, and I walked away with this lingering and problematic thought: if YA books are about optimism, joy and escapism and they are the books that feature female MCs so prominently, what does that say about females in adult mainstream fiction? I do not think that was what the intended message was but that is what I walked away with and have been chewing on for days. 

• Are we too nice on social media? Are we giving up critical reviewing and criticism in favor of being cheerleaders? Note those are two separate links, but the first refers to the second. When I read these, I rolled my eyes. First, the suggestion that readers cannot be both fans/supporters of writers and then still read with a critical eye is insane. It sure makes readers look like they're one-dimensional and suggests that they can't separate art from artist. I was glad to see this very thoughtful response from Salon about how social media isn't killing books or reading culture at all. I'd argue that social media has made me a more critical reader, connection to authors or not, and I think it's incredibly important to be supportive and encouraging if you believe in a person, whether or not you always find their art works for you.     

• Have an idea for a 2,000-4,000 word short story and you're unpublished? Saundra Mitchell has a hell of an opportunity for you then, as you could have your work published in the anthology she's editing for next year called Defy the Dark. All of the details are on her blog. 

• Did you know it is FREE to attend this year's Kid Lit Con? All of the details are here. Also, you still have a few days to get in a proposal for a presentation, too. I submitted one with one of my dream co-presenters so fingers crossed! If you're in the NYC area or can get there, I highly recommend this event. It is, hands down, my favorite conference. 

• I can't find the original source for this one, and it might be Scott Rader himself. Are you a big TV watcher? Here's a neat infographic on books you might like, based on television preferences. 

• Ever looked at a gallery of paintings that feature books or reading? Well you're in luck. Tor has a nice collection up on their blog for your visual enjoyment.

• I've been thinking about this post since it went up early this week, and I think it was really brave of Justin to write it: what is your librarian identity (and even if you're not a librarian, this post is relevant to identity more broadly). 

• I'm not sure I buy into all of the conclusions and assumptions that come up in this piece, but it is worth the read and worth thinking about: why do female crime writers explore such gruesome topics? The suggestion is it's about something ingrained in women and fear and violence, but the takeaway I got was that women should stop because it will make them and male readers more immune to violence. Also we really have to stop using the word "porn" to describe anything that is visual, gritty, or somehow taboo/outside our cultural norms. It devalues the word itself and what it is truly meant to be. 

• Can I remind you to nominate titles you're passionate about for consideration of any of YALSA's book awards? I explained why earlier this year, with links to make it happen.  Don't forget about the Reader's Choice awards, either. My Reader's Choice nomination is already on the list!

• Rather than bombard you with a ton of bullet points to interesting non-book related stories, I'll round up all the things that caught my eye in one place. And yeah, most are Olympics related. Here are Olympic gymnastics as told through Legos. If you missed out on Samuel L Jackson's Olympics tweets, here are some of the real gems. Then there's this, my favorite piece to come out of the Olympics/gymnastics: why McKayla Maroney is not a mean girl. I have admired her since the start because she wears a game face and competes with a fierceness that is hard not to respect. But what that story does is really get to the heart of it: she defies what we expect of a female athlete, particularly someone so young. She expressed sheer disappointment in her shortcomings and did so without disrespecting someone who did better than her. While she got a ton of slack for her appearance and in her supposed attitude on the medal stand, it wasn't because she was angry. It was because she was disappointed in herself. It's something we don't expect to see.          

Now I ask a favor, if you've made it this far! I'm working on my portion of a presentation for YALSA's YA Lit Symposium. If you're aware of any dark contemporary YA being published between November of this year and March/April of next year, I'd love to hear from you. You can comment here or contact me privately.