American Library Association’s New Book Censorship Data Released in Advance of Banned Books Week As you have probably already guessed, the statistics are pretty grim. Category: Censorship Series on Historical Fiction from The Atlantic On the occasion of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, The Atlantic carries a series of feature articles about historical fiction. […]
Over the Past 25 Years, the Big Publishers Got Bigger—and Fewer A report from Publishers Weekly: As 2022 began, the U.S. trade publishing business was dominated by what has been called the Big Five—Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan. Before the Penguin–Random House merger in 2013, that group was
Let’s call April mystery book month. Here’s what I’d read. At the Malice Domestic convention April 22 to 24, devotees of traditional mysteries will present the Agatha Awards. On April 28 the Mystery Writers of America will hand out the annual Edgar Awards. Therefore, Michael Dirda asks, “Shouldn’t April be designated National Mystery Month?” He continues
The Best Time Travel Books Annalee Newitz is both a science journalist and a science fiction writer who uses science to spur investigations into the nature of human existence. Newitz says science fiction is “less teaching people about how science works, and more about teaching people how history works.” Newitz uses the version of time
THE SIMPLE JOY OF REREADING TO BREAK A READING SLUMP Julia Rittenberg has a confession to make: I used to have a great deal of anxiety around keeping up with others’ reading paces. Social media heightened my awareness of reading habits, and worries that my own were woefully behind. I would be unable to choose
The idea of time travel has fascinated artists, scientists, and historians for centuries. Authors have used the possibility of traveling through time to explore some of the big questions of human existence. Here are five examples. Time and Again by Jack Finney When a secret government organization recruits advertising artist Si Morley for its time
How Stephen King Made Pop Culture Weird If you’ve ever been to Austin, TX, you’ve seen the bumper stickers: “Keep Austin Weird.” Even my new hometown of Tacoma, WA, likes to call itself weird, as does Portland, OR, in the photo above. Lincoln Michel explains that these are not isolated occurrences: If you haven’t heard,
I find time travel fascinating. It can be just a gimmick to add suspense or intrigue to a story, but some authors use it as a technique to explore the world we live in or the way we think about things, including ourselves. Here are 13 novels that use time travel to explore larger themes.
13 + 1 Books That Feature Time Travel Read More »
If your life is anything like mine, you’re swamped right about now with holiday preparations and festivities. This week’s installment of Monday Miscellany, therefore, will be mercifully short. An Introduction to Psych You Up. Literally. Maria Konnikova is a woman after my own heart. At Scientific American she has just introduced her new column, Literally
