It’s far too pretty out to sit inside, but I promised myself to put some Bookbits up today, so here we go. And then off to the garden for a spell!
Bloomsbury has (rightly!) given in and will rejacket the US edition of Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore. The story is about a brown-skinned girl with exotic features, but the cover shows a white girl. They had to do the same with Justine Larbastier’s Liar last year. Pretty crazy, don’t you think?
- Jim Crace talks about ten years of his Digested Reads column. There’s a quiz, too (11/24).
- The Google Settlement isn’t settled, after all. The judge will probably rule in a few months.
- The Guardian has a lengthy interview-with-slash-piece-about Eva Gabrielsson, Stieg Larsson’s partner for 32 years, mentioning the feud between her and Larsson’s father and brother.
Awards! Well, a shortlist, in any case: the Nebula Awards nominees are up. The winners will be announced on May 15th. The Books for a Better Life Awards (the name of the awards is very accurate) were handed out Feb. 22nd (there are many, so I won’t list them separately). Another shortlist, this time for the delicious Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year (scroll down to Current Nominations). I like Afterthoughts of a Worm Hunter by David Crompton and Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots by Ronald C. Arkin, myself. The Duff Cooper Prize (for non-fiction books) was awarded to Trotsky by Robert Service. Frozen in Time by Ali Sparkes won the Blue Peter Book of the Year (children’s books).
- Aspiring writers, sit up! Here are tips from top writers. I think Helen Dunmore’s first tip is ace!
The Most Amazing Libraries in the World, part One and Two, according to the Huffington Post. I once considered attending a university simply because of the magnificent library in their brochure. 
- Shelf Life gives a preview of a new set of Penguin books with beautiful cover illustrations by tattoo artists (only they don’t say who drew what, sadly).
- “Another one bites the dust” writes Con Tumely of the passing of Barry Hannah.
- And finally, the book trailer for the soon-to-be-published Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, from the hand that wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (not my cup of tea, but apparently many do like ‘em ):
Tags: awards, barry hannah, biography, book trailers, Children's Books, Consciousness, digested read, google settlement, Health, History, interview, libraries, Psychology, rejacket, rip, Science Fiction/Fantasy, tattoo covers, white coveres