BookLooks, RatedBooks, and Other Unprofessional Book “Review” Sites to Know: Book Censorship News, January 10, 2025 “One of the trends we’ll see in book censorship over 2025 is the increased use of unprofessional, politically-driven book review websites like BookLooks to make decisions in professional library and educational settings,” writes Kelly Jensen for Book Riot. I […]
Holy cow! This is my second book by R.F. Kuang (the first was Babel), and I’m blown away not only by her ability to write but also by her ability to think–and deeply–about the issues she’s asking readers to confront. In this satirical gem she takes on the publishing industry and all the various officious
“Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang Read More »
How AI is unlocking ancient texts — and could rewrite history “From deciphering burnt Roman scrolls to reading crumbling cuneiform tablets, neural networks could give researchers more data than they’ve had in centuries.” As ominous as the threat of generative AI replacing writers is, there are some kinds of things that AI can be legitimately
Just about a year ago I wrote what Notes in the Margin would be up to during 2024. Now, I’m happy with the way last year’s reading turned out, particularly how I ended the year with a sense of accomplishment rather than anxiety and disappointment. Therefore, I’m going to use the same approach to reading
2025: Another Year of Unplanned Reading Read More »
Jimmy Carter: Poet, Novelist, Memoirist, Philosopher “He wasn’t just prolific, publishing 32 books. His output also showed an unusual range that included memoirs and forays into historical fiction and even poetry.” The New York Times eulogizes President Jimmy Carter with emphasis on his writing: “Publishing 32 books over the course of his life, he wasn’t
Our starting book this month is the 2024 Booker winner, Orbital by Samantha Harvey. I’ve just started reading it. first degree The characters in Orbital are astronauts in a spacecraft circling the earth. Their perspective on the world is different than usual, as if they had zoomed out on a photograph. For Count Alexander Rostov,
6 Degrees of Separation Read More »
Here in the U.S. today is national science fiction day, observed annually in honor of science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, who was born on January 2, 1920. I didn’t read science fiction as a teenager or young adult. To the best of my recollection, I discovered science fiction through television rather than books. My introduction
Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned from “Star Trek” Read More »
When I posted about all the Best Books of 2024 by editors, publishers, and critics, Davida The Chocolate Lady wrote that she hated such lists and would much rather see lists of books that other book bloggers liked throughout the year. I immediately smacked myself on the forehead and shouted to the empty living room, “Of
Bloggers List the Best Books They Read in 2024 Read More »
Here’s the last gasp of the Best Books of 2024 theme. 10 Beloved Authors We Lost in 2024 Tertulia profiles 10 authors who died during 2024 and recommends one representative book for each. The 50 Biggest Literary Stories of 2024 From Literary Hub. These were the most-borrowed books from public libraries in 2024 NPR compiled
Miscellaneous 2024 Round-Ups Read More »
Goodreads has spoken. Here are my reading statistics for 2024. Pages read: 14,887 Books read: 41 Average book length: 363 pages Average book rating: 3.5 Shortest book: Lord of the Flies, 189 pages Longest book: The Covenant of Water, 724 pages What the Statistics Don’t Cover Irrespective of numbers, I had what I consider a
2024: My Year in Reading and Blogging Read More »
