We Need More Dark Stories with Hopeful Endings
Author Les Edgerton believes that dark novels needn’t have completely dark endings: “To endure page after page of never-ending pain and sorrow and to culminate in the same morass of tragedy would only be nihilism, and the best books don’t end like that.”
Here he lists some novels that illustrate an ending that combines something good with something bad to achieve a realistic view of life.
The Bigger the Publishers, the Blander the Books
Dennis Johnson, the co-founder and publisher of Melville House, writes that “the Penguin Random House–Simon & Schuster deal threatens the values that the book business champions.”
Stephen King Has Thoughts About Stephen King TV Shows
With a new adaptation of The Stand arriving on CBS All Access, Stephen King discusses the best and the worst TV adaptations of his novels.
Book Clubs in Lockdown
BookBrowse surveyed readers and book clubs to see how book clubs are adapting to conditions brought about by the current pandemic. You can download their report on current conditions and implications for the future.
When Reading Had No End
Dwight Garner discusses the dual nature of reading in 2020: “This was the worst year, and nothing made sense any longer, except when it was the best year, because time for reading seemed to expand like one of those endless summer afternoons when one was in the late stages of grade school.”
The literary life of Octavia E. Butler
“How local libraries shaped a sci-fi legend”
This interactaive map of the areas in California where science fiction author Octavia Butler grew up reveals how important libraries were in shaping her vision and her career.
The Benefits of Community Reading Programs
by Summer Loomis, for Book Riot:
Community reading programs have always interested me. I like the idea of people from different backgrounds and experiences coming together to read something together. There is something so calming about people being capable of this. I find it very comforting. However, it can be hard to feel like we’re part of a community at times. So I went searching for community reading programs of the “one book one community” type.
© 2020 by Mary Daniels Brown
