Good morning, book lovers! Ardo is taking a break this week, presumably so she can fight crime 24/7, so I’m taking over the Book Beat for today.
Or maybe this is a coup! At last, Book Beat, you are mine. Mine!
Do you live near Toronto? Like books, and fairs featuring books, and organizing a plan of attack at fairs featuring books? You’re in luck, because the Toronto Book Fair has released their 2014 schedule of events, and it looks pretty great. I’m particularly intrigued by the “I Don’t Give a Damsel” panel, about writing strong young women. Cool!
Remember that book The Time Traveler’s Wife? Unless you’re a victim of time-travel-related memory loss, probably (if you are, contact me right away; I’ve got a great idea for a screenplay). Well, author Audrey Niffeneger is writing a sequel to the 2003 hit book. She discusses it in a short interview where she also slams Amazon as the “The biggest threat to the arts that I can think of at the moment.” Burn!
Slate wonders why so many schools try to ban The Giver, Lois Lowry’s moving YA dystopian novel about a boy who learns to see the world in a new way (and is subsequently hunted down for the crime of being open-minded). According to a chart plotting data from challenges issued against the book, the main reason is…it’s unsuited to the age group. Okay.
There’s a petition to make Octavia Butler the WFA statue instead of Lovecraft. YES.
As if I couldn’t love MAC products any more, now they have a romance novel lineup. Please tell me at least one of the shades is named Archduke Fitzroy’s Shadowed Past or something similarly extravagant.
Gillian Anderson wrote a book! Maybe you should read it! A Vision of Fire sounds like Haven and The X-Files had a baby, so as you can imagine, it’s the book I never knew I always wanted.
Holly Black took apart a comment on a tweet from Malinda Lo on Tumblr re: diversity in YA authorship. I see her point, but, you know, I also think she’s oversimplifying the issue.
And, finally, Outlander has been renewed for a second season…or at least part of one. Starz is committed to “at least” 13 episodes thus far. Season Two will be based on the second of the eight Outlander novels: Dragonfly in Amber.
