15 Books About Appalachia to Read Instead of Hillbilly Elegy
This article came out after I posted last week’s articles about Hillbilly Elegy.
Kendra Winchester, from Appalachia, has compiled this list of works to counterbalance “the stereotypes of J.D. Vance’s version of Appalachia . . . [that] the entire region is made up of poor rural white people consumed with violence who have no one to blame but themselves for their life circumstances.”
Oxford’s 2020 Word of the Year? It’s Too Hard to Isolate
This year, Oxford Languages, the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, has forgone the selection of a single word in favor of highlighting the coronavirus pandemic’s swift and sudden linguistic impact on English.
Fauci’s plea ‘Wear a mask’ tops list of 2020 notable quotes
In other linguistic news, “A plea from Dr. Anthony Fauci for people to ‘wear a mask’ to slow the spread of the coronavirus tops a Yale Law School librarian’s list of the most notable quotes of 2020.”
How TV Cop Shows Are Tackling Police Brutality Storylines Post-George Floyd
This topic has come up periodically since the recent upheaval about racism in law enforcement. The article reports:
some cop TV shows including CBS’ “S.W.A.T.” and NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU” and “Chicago PD” are returning for their new seasons . . . And many plan to dive head-first into the new environment surrounding law enforcement.
Commentary: The latest publishing mega-merger might kill off small presses — and literary diversity
Another issue that gets talked about a lot is the lack of diversity in publishing. Here’s a look at the latest merger, the acquisition of Simon & Shuster, the third largest publisher in the U.S., by Bertelsmann, the parent company of Penguin Random House.
The Best Epigraphs of 2020
Epigraphs are those short quotations at the beginning of books or, sometimes, at the beginning of each chapter or section in a book. I admit that I usually don’t pay as much attention to them as I should. I always intend to go back at the end and ponder their significance, but often I don’t remember to do it.
Here’s a list compiled by Ashley Holstrom of the best epigraphs of books published in 2020.
11 Short New Books to Read in One Sitting
And here’s something that I found after I had published Books You Can Read in One Day.
All the books on this list are recent publications, so you might find some new recommendations here that aren’t on the other lists.
© 2020 by Mary Daniels Brown
