Kate Linnea Welsh: National Book Award

Me elsewhere: I'm reviewing the first episode of all the new shows again this year. First up: The Bastard Executioner. Also: teasers for Miss Peregrine and Allegiant.

I saw this Ted Cruz scorpion ad on TV for the first time last night and it was SO bizarre. And I did NOT get the message at all - when it was talking about harmful people striking again, and showing cowboy boots, I assumed he meant Bushes. Or Clintons.

I'm sure everyone has been telling you to read Ta-Nehisi Coates's new piece, but seriously: The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration

Here's the National Book Award nonfiction longlist (including the aforementioned Coates). I feel like there's more personal writing and less history than in previous years? Not that that's BAD, necessarily, but there were fewer things that made me think "Ooh, I want to read that" than usual. (Fiction longlist out today.)

That said, I loved this piece on writing in cafes, which combines personal history with history history. The most productive writing spot for me ever was the cafe at the Borders where I used to work. Like 2k words an hour good. Discounted drinks, people I knew around ALL THE TIME if I needed a moment of interaction, some say over the music, it was basically like being at home and in public at the same time. RIP Borders. Anyway, this has made me conclude that I need to find a good local writing cafe. (Though if you're near Cheshire, CT, let me take a moment to recommend Cheshire Coffee, which my dad and I discovered this weekend when we had a crumb cake/coffee emergency while driving home from New Haven.)

This story about Putin (not) chatting with Elton John is amazing. Did someone just . . . prank call Elton John? That's what's going on here, right? I want it to have been, like, Ringo. Ooh, or Prince Harry.

An important thing to keep in mind during refugee discussions: For Those Who Remain in Syria, Daily Life Is a Nightmare

Ooh: CIA declassifies collection of cold war-era intelligence memos (Actual conversation I had at dinner the other night: How the End of the Cold War Ruined Everything. [Okay, maybe not everything. We were talking mostly about the Olympics and the space program and spy fiction.])

Speaking of: Do real spies write the best spy novels?

"HELEN: I personally prefer to live alone
GILBERT: is this some sort of code
HELEN: No
I just don’t like company
GILBERT: WOMEN
SUCH MYSTERIES
AN ENIGMA WRAPPED IN A RIDDLE AND CLEVERLY SEWN INTO A PUZZLE"

Friday, November 21, 2014

Morning Coffee (11/21/14)

Quick departure to the non-happy but time-sensitive: Daniel Handler, Racist Jokes, and the Disclaimer. If you want to help make good come out of this, Handler is matching donations to We Need Diverse Books today.

Now for your regularly scheduled Happy Friday links:

"Unnecessary apostrophes hurt Tiny Tim." How to Make Your Last Name Plural This Christmas Season

Author Alexandra Duncan is doing a great holiday giveaway with a prize pack that includes her book Salvage (which I LOVED) AND a $50 donation to the charity of your choice. Enter here.

15 feminist-improved pages for the computer engineer Barbie book

Study shows the media has a clear bias — in favor of dogs

What to Read if You Love Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” Video

Classic Houses In Literature Go On the Imaginary Real Estate Market (I got all these answers right and am very proud.)

Hee: Famous Author Bios

Just What You Need: Cats Sleeping in IKEA Dolls Beds

Snuggly Bookish PJs for Winter Reading Time

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Morning Coffee (10/16/14)

Me elsewhere: Pilot post on Marry Me, which I hated.

All of Friends is coming to Netflix streaming on January 1st!

Here are the finalists for the National Book Award. Obviously my plan to read a bunch and blog about it didn't exactly go according to . . . plan . . . but I'm still hoping to get a few in.

HBO will offer standalone streaming sometime next year, but we don't know the details yet.

Yesterday was Baby Loss Day and my friend Miryam posted a powerful essay.

This obituary of David Greenglass was fascinating.

Christmas creep, explained: Do early holiday sales really help stores?

Interesting: Headscarf ban turns France’s Muslim women towards homeworking

The Onion: Facebook Offers to Freeze Female Employee's Newborn Children

Thursday, September 18, 2014

The National Book Award Project 2014

The National Book Award Longlists came out this week, and I was slightly dismayed to realize I've only read one book on them so far. Now, I know, I know - no award is really a measure of what books are best or necessary to read, and the nominations are not unproblematic. Like everyone else, I'm disappointed by how overwhelming male the nonfiction list is, and I'm sure there are myriad other diversity issues I will notice as I look at the lists in greater detail.

But, let's face it, I've never met a list I didn't want to tackle. Reading from this list would make me branch out and read some things I might otherwise not pick up, and it's always fun to have Opinions on The Matters of the Day. And really? It's back to school time and I miss homework. So let's see how many I can read! The finalists will be announced on October 15th, so I'll narrow my focus then, and the winners on November 19th.

I'm going to try to get as many of these as possible from the library, so this will also be an interesting exercise in seeing what a small (?) city's public library has, and whether they order more as we go along. I'll check in each Friday and let you know what has come in at the library, what I've read, etc.

So here's the list, and starting status:

Fiction:

Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman - Currently available at library.
Molly Antopol, The UnAmericans - Currently available at library.
John Darnielle, Wolf in White Van - Yes, that John Darnielle. Not available at library.
Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See - Added myself to the library waitlist. I'm #13.
Phil Klay, Redeployment - At the library but checked out. I'm #1 on the waitlist.
Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven - At the library but checked out. I'm first on the waitlist.
Elizabeth McCracken, Thunderstruck & Other Stories - At the library but checked out. I'm first on the waitlist.
Richard Powers, Orfeo - Currently available at library.
Marilynne Robinson, Lila - This is on order at the library, but it's also the third of a trilogy. So I need to start with Gilead.
Jane Smiley, Some Luck - This isn't out yet, but the library has it on order. I'm third on the waitlist.

Nonfiction:

Roz Chast, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? - At the library but checked out. I'm #3 on the waitlist.
John Demos, The Heathen School: A Story of Hope and Betrayal in the Age of the Early Republic - Currently available at library.
Anand Gopal, No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes - At the library but checked out. I'm first on the waitlist.
Nigel Hamilton, The Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941 - 1942 - At the library but checked out. I'm second on the waitlist.
Walter Isaacson, The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution - This isn't out yet, but the library has it on order. I'm first on the waitlist.
John Lahr, Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh - In processing at the library. And this is the point at which I notice it's 765 pages and decide to stop putting things on hold until I get through a few of the ones already available, so I don't have ALL THE BOOKS AT ONCE.
Evan Osnos, Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China - Currently available at library.
Ronald C. Rosbottom, When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944 - Not available at library.
Matthew Stewart, Nature's God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic - Not available at library.
Edward O. Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence - This isn't out yet, and the library does not have it on order.

Poetry:

Linda Bierds, Roget's Illusion - Not available at library.
Brian Blanchfield, A Several World - Not available at library.
Louise Glück, Faithful and Virtuous Night - Currently available at library.
Edward Hirsch, Gabriel: A Poem - Not available at library.
Fanny Howe, Second Childhood - Not available at library.
Maureen N. McLane, This Blue - Not available at library.
Fred Moten, The Feel Trio - Not available at library.
Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric - This isn't out yet, and the library does not have it on order.
Spencer Reece, The Road to Emmaus - Not available at library.
Mark Strand, Collected Poems - This isn't out yet, and the library does not have it on order.

Young People's Literature:

Laurie Halse Anderson, The Impossible Knife of Memory - Hey, I've read this! It was great. (The library does have it, for the record.)
Gail Giles, Girls Like Us - Currently available at library.
Carl Hiaasen, Skink—No Surrender - Not available at library, and this is apparently number SEVEN in a series, so . . . we'll see.
Kate Milford, Greenglass House - I coincidentally took this out from the library last night, because people keep raving about it.
Eliot Schrefer, Threatened - At the library but checked out.
Steve Sheinkin, The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights - In processing at the library.
Andrew Smith, 100 Sideways Miles - Currently available at library.
John Corey Whaley, Noggin - At the library but checked out.
Deborah Wiles, Revolution: The Sixties Trilogy, Book Two - The library has book one, but book two only in audiobook so far.
Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming - On order at the library. I happened to put this on hold yesterday and am first on the waitlist.

Summary: The library has or has ordered 9/10 fiction, 7/10 nonfiction, 1/10 poetry, and 8/10 young people's literature. Good showing for everything but poetry! I've currently read one, have one out from the library, and am on the waitlists for nine. Next time I go to the library I'll pick up a few of the ones that are on the shelf.

Morning Coffee (9/18/14)

Scotland is voting! Here's the Guardian's liveblog. (The Guardian has the BEST liveblogs.)

Here's the National Book Award fiction longlist.

Whoa: 1976 Arizona cold case solved after man drives cross-country to confess

And in even colder cases: King Richard III killed by blows to skull

I described this as "COMPLETELY FASCINATING" to two separate people yesterday, which I suppose tells you a lot about what I do for fun: How The FiveThirtyEight Senate Forecast Model Works

Unexpected headline of the day: Head of Russian Orthodox church given fighter jet by factory workers

This is all very true: On Being Somebody

"The Internet isn’t just a diversion from real life—the Internet is real life, and the people saying otherwise are simply exploiting our insecurities for clicks, views, attention, and profit."