R. I. P. Marilyn French, author of seminal feminist novel The Women’s Room, died this past Saturday of heart failure, aged 79. Obituaries here, here, and here. (Thank you Tom!)
- John Adams Institute director Russell Shorto (author of The Island at the Center of the World and Descartes’ Bones) had a lengthy article about his life as an American in Amsterdam featured in the New York Times this past weekend. (Thank you Lynn!)
Awards! This year’s Arthur C. Clarke award was won by Ian R. MacLeod for Song of Time. It’s so new that there’s no listing of it in our database! The annual Edgar awards for crime books were also handed out – the novel winner was Blue Heaven by C. J. Box, and here’s a link to the myriad other winners. The PEN/Saul Bellow Award (for a lifetime of work) was handed out to Cormac McCarthy. If you like your Irish, click here to see who won the Irish Book Awards 2009.
- If you’re wondering where books go when they’re deemed unsellable for whatever reason, click here.
- Lists! The other store’s overall children’s buyer picks her favorite children’s books (in three age categories). And sort-of a list, or more a wall of covers: Penguin Science Fiction covers. How cool are those two J. G. Ballard ones at the bottom left? European Oprahs Richard and Judy have also released their summer reading list. It’s a shame this is done by one publisher rather than all of them put together, but it’s a great idea nonetheless: backlistbookoftheday.com, for ideas on reading books of a certain age. And just in time for Mother’s Day: the 10 worst mothers in literature list!
Here’s a pertinent question for the mostly Dutch readers of this blog: What work in translation has had the biggest effect on your reading and writing? I’d have to say De GVR, which is the Dutch translation of The BFG, since it features a girl with my name and that was the moment I realized I was hooked on books.
- Carol Ann Duffy has been named Poet Laureate in the UK. My word, I really thought that saga was being scripted by George R. R. Martin, it took that long…
- Remember the world’s best-selling author? Here’s a sneak peek at how he manages to write so many books (probably Nora Roberts’ and Danielle Steel’s secret, too!), and how it might spawn new successful authors.
- If you need one more fix of J. G. Ballard, click here for his final short story.
Yesterday I unpacked The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet, and immediately put it aside for when I finish my current two books (I’m quite proud of managing it, too, and not immediately taking it home with me). Click here to see why.
- Last but not least, a detailed argument about why shopping locally in independent stores is so important (and yes, these arguments do translate to the ABC, too!).