Wisdom on writing from Roger Ebert (RIP), echoing Chuck Close, E. B. White, Tchaikovsky, Jack White, and Isabel Allende.
What a smart, kind man.
"Reading is not purely academic and I hope that there is resurgence of positivity toward reading. Young people are getting distracted at their most distractible time—middle school, and never returning to reading. But they are eager participants when they are hooked. So we have to be more adventurous in the ways we engage in reading instruction and advocacy."
Library Journal Mover & Shaker Kirby McCurtis,”Creating Community: Up Close with Youth Librarian Kirby McCurtis” (via schoollibraryjournal)
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In truth, the problem is much larger than Terry Deary himself – the media has been getting libraries wrong for a long time and it doesn’t look like the issue will resolve itself anytime soon. Instead of angrily blogging about it, however, as I’m wont to do, I’ve decided to turn over a new leaf and try to offer positive solutions – or at least get a dialogue started regarding possible solutions. (Don’t worry, though: if others angrily blog about him, I will read the posts and shake my fist at the sky in solidarity.)
There are things we can do that don’t include angry letter writing, angry blogging, or Deary book bonfires. I’ve listed below five ways to support libraries RIGHT NOW. These are simple, very obvious (hey, sometimes we need reminding) tips that librarians talk about all the time, but they can have a big impact if they are done by enough people in enough communities.
"Rita Meade, Why We Shouldn’t Ignore Terry Deary: 5 Ways to Help Your Library Right Now (Go, @screwydecimal!)
(Source: librarylinknj)
elliott holt: Short Stories You Should Read
Listed in no particular order. I forced myself to choose only one story per writer (very difficult in some cases). There is a lot of amazing short fiction out there, but these are stories—of various styles—that have stuck with me over the years and have taught me what a story can be. I’m sure…
CLOUD UNBOUND: A Librarian's Guide to Seattle by Two Bada$$ Librarians
So I know these two librarians (Stephanie Chase and Alene Moroni) who never seem to sleep, and on top of it all they herd husbands, cats, vendors, ebooks, and children. I don’t know how they do it, but I’m happy to be awed by them over and over again—and aspire to carve out as luscious a life for…
Marla talked all the time, and she was funny, I suppose, but she had angry acne, smoked cigarettes, and was on academic probation. Her father was a TV director in L.A., and there was lots of jabber about her friends back home who had famous people for parents. Everyone would gather at her feet as she yakked about how cool Bruce Springsteen is. And I’d think, Of course Bruce Springsteen is cool, I don’t need Marla to tell me that.
— Maria Semple, WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE
![gawkercom:
President Obama comforts a woman in New Jersey whose marina was damaged by Hurricane Sandy.
As the Wall Street Journal’s Jeff Yang put it, “If enough people see it, this is the photo that singlehandedly re-elects Barack Obama.”
[Twitter via AP]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mctn8pPXNg1rk5d6vo1_500.jpg)
President Obama comforts a woman in New Jersey whose marina was damaged by Hurricane Sandy.
As the Wall Street Journal’s Jeff Yang put it, “If enough people see it, this is the photo that singlehandedly re-elects Barack Obama.”
[Twitter via AP]
Looking for something to read post-Hunger Games? Check out this great map. Whatever it was that you liked about Hunger Games (or other dystopia/science fiction/fantasy novels), you can find here!
I receive this question over and over again and here is a great chart for young adult dystopia lovers.
Why Save PBS?
via Chris Bishop
But this group was restless
Brunetti looked away from the priest and began to study the profiles and the backs of the heads of the people in front of him. As he did so and as he allowed his mind to drift away from the voice of the priest, he was struck by how noisy this crowd was. Usually a church, no matter how large and no matter how many people, was silent in the presence and presentation of death. But this group was restless and made a great deal of noise moving about nervously in their pews. In the enclosed place, the restless scratching and scraping of the old was too easily heard.
— BEASTLY THINGS by Donna Leon
One of the best endings to a crime novel ever. Especially when the reader considers another chapter earlier in the book when Brunetti makes a visit to a place of death.
