- Travis McDade reports for LitHub about the dastardly deeds of literary thieves.
- Leslie Pietrzyk questions readers’ insistence on asking if stories really happened. (LitHub)
- Ann from Books on the Table shares her dread of recommending books to people who don’t want to be depressed.
- Daniel Pollack-Penzler writes for The New Yorker about why scholars today are so uptight about messing with Shakespeare.
- James Harbeck of Sesquiotica has begun a project of word tasting old books.
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Oooh, I *loved* that article on recommending depressing books. I have a hard time making book recommendations to my family for this reason. They mostly read mysteries and thrillers, which obviously include crime and murder, but not your average life sad situations. It’s funny she mentioned “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” specifically, because I really enjoyed that book but ended up not recommending it to my family because it was a little sad. I feel like I have to reassess my whole view on this since my dad had us all read “A Man Called Ove.”
The browsing customers part made me laugh, too, because I find the idea of asking for book recommendations from a stranger so odd. Even as a librarian, hah! I’m sure it’s because I have so many book-loving friends and family to ask.
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I’m not too squeamish about recommending “depressing” books. Most of the people I recommend to are foursquare against overly happy, non-realistic books–more than they are about depressing books.
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