What happens when, as predicted in one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, Sherlock Holmes retires to the English countryside and becomes a beekeeper? There have been a number of books in which authors such as Michael Chabon and Mitch Cullin imagine the super sleuth as an old man – as well as a current movie. Literary Hub lists and describes the books for us.
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Erin Freschi’s eight-year old son, Sawyer, was getting bored with the books he and his mom were reading before bedtime, so Erin came up with an idea that is a little different: they started watching TED talks together. Sawyer loves it. At the bottom of the article about this unique bedtime ritual they list their 10 favorite TED talks and provide links to them.
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The Oxford University Press (OUP) website has had a blog for 10 years. In that time period contributors have written more than 8,000 posts on a wide variety of topics. The OUP has chosen some of the best to celebrate the anniversary and is making them available at their website and free as a PDF file, a Kindle book, a Nook book, and more. You can read and/or download the posts here.
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The longlist of 15 novels has been announced for the 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, one of the most prestigious book awards in the world. From its inception in 1969 through 2013 only books from the British Commonwealth, Ireland, and Zimbabwe were eligible for consideration. It is now open to writers of any nationality for books originally written in English, and published in the United Kingdom. This year’s longlist authors are from Great Britain, the United States, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, India, Nigeria, and Jamaica.
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The so-called “western literary canon” has long been populated exclusively by long-dead white men. Some say that it doesn’t reflect the diverse writings of the human race, and should be purged of some members, and augmented with new ones (women, people of different races, contemporary writers, etc.). Who should be kicked out of the canon? Who should be added? And what is the definition of a “canonical” work? James Parker and Francine Prose give us their ideas in a thoughtful New York Times article.
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A book written by Theodor Seuss Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) back in the 1950s or 1960s was found in 2013 and is now available – and selling very well. You’re probably familiar with the Dr. Seuss books, but what do you know about Theodor Geisel? The Washington Post recently published an article that gives us some information about the man behind the famous children’s books and about how his unfinished book was completed.
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“Emojis” are pictographs (such as smiley faces) that are used instead of words to transmit ideas. BuzzFeed features a Shakespeare quiz that utilizes emojis to describe the storylines of some of the Bard’s plays. See if you can identify the plays in this cool multiple choice quiz. Think before you answer because you get the correct answer as soon as you check a box. There are no second chances.
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The next edition of the live author interview program In-Depth on Book TV (C-SPAN2) will air Sunday, August 2, 2015 from noon to 3:00 p.m. EDT. The featured guest will be author and activist Medea Benjamin. Her books include Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control (with Barbara Ehrenreich) and Stop the Next War Now (with Jodie Evans).
Congress will be in recess for five weeks, so Book TV offerings may be broadcast on week nights in addition to the normal weekend schedule. Check the C-SPAN2 schedule for times and programs.
Book Notes Plus 