Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes
- On Censorship (“Even more serious is the growing acceptance of the don’t-rock-the-boat response to those artists who do rock it, the growing agreement that censorship can be justified when certain interest groups, or genders, or faiths declare themselves affronted by a piece of work.”)
Blog Headlines of the Week
- Live nude planets!
- Another way to get rich off Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg’s former assistant writes memoir
Bookish Linkage
- A Harvard Business Review study shows Amazon reviews of books are, on average, at least as good as those of professional book critics. (via)
- While not advocating banning any books, Flavorwire suggests 10 books far more deserving of being banned from libraries than 50 Shades of Grey (which, by the way, is the bestselling book of the year on Amazon).
- I am almost embarrassed to admit that I am one of these people, although I bought them for my wife.
- Flavorwire also has a list of 10 young adult novels that “scarred us for life.”
- Characters who swear in teen fiction are more likely to be wealthier, more attractive and more popular or socially influential, according to a study by Brigham Young University.
- Where do e-books go when you die?
- The Art of Passionately Hating at Least One Classic Author
- Amazon list the top 20 most well-read cities — based on its data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales. Or, put another way, the top 20 most Amazon-addicted cities.
- New Vermont bookstore says to customers, “Bring in an Amazon Box & Get 25% Off a Book.” (via)
- Why rock novels rarely work
- Blooms of Darkness by Israeli novelist Aharon Appelfeld won the 2012 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.
- The shortlist for the first Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction were announced — and I’ve actually read one of the three finalists in each category.
Nonbookish Linkage
- Top 10 mysteries of the universe
- The GAO has completed “its study of a study ordered by the Pentagon into studies ordered by the Pentagon.”
Weird Shit of the Week
- A man was arrested in Bangkok for possessing six human fetuses roasted and covered in gold leaf, which police said were packed in his luggage. (via)
You go to sleep dreamin’ how you would
Be a different kind if you thought you could
But you come awake the way you are instead
Counting Crows, “All My Friends,” This Desert Life
I don’t mean people hating a classic author as long as they blame not the author but themselves.