All in Links + Things

Links + Things: Even More on "New Adult," Justified + Kentucky, Internet Culture, Cheapo Books + More

Links + Things: Even More on "New Adult," Justified + Kentucky, Internet Culture, Cheapo Books + More

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

We're back with our mostly-weekly roundup of interesting stuff from around the web.

On a blog-related housekeeping note, I'm going to be posting less frequently on the @FullShelves twitter for the time being. It's becoming increasingly-difficult to manage two accounts, and some particularly nasty remarks made about this blog, its contributors and others popping up in that account tipped the scales in the direction that it's just too challenging at the moment to be active on that account.

I'll still be posting links to the new posts there as well as a few links and such, but I'll be scaling it back. I will check that account's replies, but may not be able to respond as quickly as I have in the past. I'm sorry to those of you I chat with frequently on Twitter, hopefully I'll figure out a way to make it work down the line, in the meantime, our personal Twitter accounts are in the blog sidebar. 

This Week's Video of Awesome

This one completely cracked me up: every fake website from Law & Order (h/t to The AV Club for this one)! I love how crazy/creative/low budget some of these sites were. 

Links + Things: John Hamm & Elmo on Sculpture, Rachel Robinson on '42', More on the New Adult Thing, Cheapo Books + More

Links + Things: John Hamm & Elmo on Sculpture, Rachel Robinson on '42', More on the New Adult Thing, Cheapo Books + More

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

I have had the hardest time getting my act together with reviewing this week--I have so many half-written reviews at this point, but nothing's coming together the way I want. Do you ever get in writing funks like that? This one has been brutal.

With that said, I am looking forward to return of our annual Novel in Verse Week next week and while I haven't written my review yet, I am going to be shoving Liza Palmer's Nowhere But Home in the hands of everyone for the foreseeable future. That book wrecked me in the best of ways this week.​ 

You ready for some links? Because I've got links galore!​

This Week's Video of Awesome

This week, the one and only Jon Hamm and the one and only Elmo teach us all we ever needed to know about sculture.​ There is absolutely nothing to not love about this video. Oh, Jon Hamm. *sigh*

Links + Things: Zelda & F. Scott, Feminism & Social Class, More Plagiarism Wackiness, Speak, Rutger, Cheapo Books + More

Links + Things: Zelda & F. Scott, Feminism & Social Class, More Plagiarism Wackiness, Speak, Rutger, Cheapo Books + More

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

I'm back with a round-up of interestingness on the web!

In case you missed it, recently on CEFS, we've highlighted ourfavorite reads from the last month, posted a new podcast about "new adult" fiction, Laura wrote a very insightful review of Eleanor & Park, Sandra found one of her certain favorite reads of 2013, and I got a bit ranty about libraries and ebooks and pleaded for help finding some good audiobook listens.

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for your cheap-o book fix!

This Week's Video of Awesome

Open Culture recently shared this intriguing YouTube of rare photos and video of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. They bring up some concerns about whether or not some of the images and clips are properly identified, but most are clearly of the pair, and it's pretty amazing to see so many collected in a single place.

Links + Things: Before Midnight, Amazon Buys Goodreads, S + S vs BN, Cheapo Books and More

Links + Things: Before Midnight, Amazon Buys Goodreads, S + S vs BN, Cheapo Books and More

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

It's Friday, Friday, which means it's time for linky interestingness. Obviously, the biggest news in the book world this week was the Amazon acquisition of Goodreads, which I have many, many feelings about, which I can't possibly encapsulate in just a few sentences--maybe I'll muster the energy to do a brain dump post about it, fingers crossed.

This is a slightly abbreviate Links + Things, due to my awesome friend Lizzy being in town, so no cover art news, unfortunately. Don't forget to scroll down to the end find deals on a couple of CEFS favorites books.

This Week's Video of Awesome

I adored Before Sunrise (which I saw in the theater my senior year of high school and thought was the most romantic thing ever--sigh) and very much enjoyed the not-resolution in the 2004 movie, Before Sunset. There's a part of me that's ridiculously nervous about the third installment that's coming out this year, Before Midnight. But, obviously, I'll be seeing it as soon as it hits the theaters later this year.

Interestingness

Amazon Buys Goodreads (paidcontent.org)

Goodreads is also likely to be less open with access to its data now that it has been acquired by Amazon. In the past, the company has shared information about how its readers discover and buy books and about their digital reading habits, presenting the data at conferences and in blog posts. 

Undoubtedly, the biggest book news this week is that Amazon acquired Goodreads. I'm going to be honest, this didn't surprise me in the least. I remember a year or so ago, Jane at Dear Author predicted that this would happen and I recall thinking that while I, as a Goodreads user, consumer and person who lives in the world, didn't like the idea, from a business perspective, it would be a smart move for Amazon. 

Those of you who are Goodreads friends with me have probably noticed that I don't update or comment there as frequently as have in the past. That has more to do with the way the climate has changed, particularly that as the self-published books have been dominating my friend feed and all the drama and fighting that erupted awhile back.

Frankly, this news makes me want to be even more careful about the information I post on Goodreads, due to my increasing paranoia about Big Data. It's tough, because I am an Amazon customer, and love my Kindle, but I am so uncomfortable with the integration of all my information (hence, I don't link my Facebook account to Goodreads either) and the fact that it seems like all information will be owned by Amazon, Google or Facebook. 

Sigh...

Links + Things: Justin Timberlake! The Calming Manatee! Plagiarism (Ugh)! Sexism (Double Ugh)! Libraries! General Interestingness!

Links + Things: Justin Timberlake! The Calming Manatee! Plagiarism (Ugh)! Sexism (Double Ugh)! Libraries! General Interestingness!

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

You guys, it's been slow around these parts because I kind of lost the plot with my reading and nearly every book I've read in March isn't out until May or June. Obviously, I would be a jerk if I started reviewing things that weren't out for months--on a number of levels. 

However! I have many links of interestingness, including a Very Special Section devoted to the one and only Justin Timberlake. I have had The 20/20 Experience on repeat since Tuesday and I am in love--especially with Pusher Love Girl, which is Swoon City, USA.  ​

This Week's Video of Awesome

This is a ​fantastic speculative ad for Durex--it's brilliant and actually tells you want you need to know about the product.

Interestingness

Jane Goodall’s ‘Seeds of Hope’ book contains borrowed passages without attribution (Wash. Post)

Jane Goodall, the primatologist celebrated for her meticulous studies of chimps in the wild, is releasing a book next month on the plant world that contains at least a dozen passages borrowed without attribution, or footnotes, from a variety of Web sites.

The borrowings in “Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder From the World of Plants” range from phrases to an entire paragraph from Web sites such as Wikipedia and others that focus on astrology, tobacco, beer, nature and organic tea.

​Well, this is disappointing news to say the least. I'm getting so weary of one plagiarism story after another. I realize there are so many pressures to publish, publish, publish, but it's at the point I'm no longer all that surprised by each week's plagiarism story. What worries me the most is the desensitizing--I have had a number of students in their 20s who have been surprised by my anti-plagiarism spiel because it's the first time they've had someone explicitly address the issue of plagiarism and what it precisely means. 

Links + Things: Critiquing "Oz," Network TV's Vision Problem, How the Quiet Car Explains the World, Feminist/UnFeminist, Strong Female Characters + More

Links + Things: Critiquing "Oz," Network TV's Vision Problem, How the Quiet Car Explains the World, Feminist/UnFeminist, Strong Female Characters + More

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

How is it Thursday already? This has been quite a week, particularly since--at long last--we launched the Clear Eyes, Full Shelves podcast. Give it a listen--we hope you enjoy the blend of discussion, humor and hijinks. 

This has been a bit of a slow week, bookish news-wise, but there's ​still loads of interestingness in the world. Check out a few of the tidbits I've gathered and don't forget to scroll to the end for book cover news and cheap book deals to feed your reading habit.

This Week's Video of Awesome

​You Tube user dair to love created this fan-freaking-fastic tribute to Friday Night Lights. It got kind of dusty in here when I watched this the first time. Ahem.

Interestingness

Why ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ Is A Major Step Back For Witches and Women (film.com)

No doubt the focus group responsible for “Great and Powerful” convinced themselves that female protagonists weren’t marketable (odd coming from the studio of Disney Princesses), and that a pouty, doubting hero would draw in a wider range of moviegoers. It was probably believed no one would ever see an Oz film unless it directly tied into the version they already knew and loved, and that trying to draw on original Oz tales would be too confusing and difficult. Audiences can follow along with Marvel and Tolkien, but the origin of Ozma would undoubtedly be too complicated. Why bring in Betsy and her mule, when we can have a Hollywood hunk on the poster, and witchy cleavage at the denouement?

​Over at film.com, Elizabeth Rappe dissects Hollywood's prequel to The Wizard of Oz, Oz the Great and Powerful. She points out that in the Oz novels, L. Frank Baum created stories with strong women as the leads, but Hollywood's interpretation reflects none of that.The new film falls back into the gender stereotypes present in nearly every blockbuster flick. It's been a long, long time since I read a number of the original Oz novels, and I'm interested in revisiting them now .

Links + Things: TV and Teen Sex, Random House WTFery, Blogs and Book Sales, DRM, and the Dude Still Abides

Links + Things: TV and Teen Sex, Random House WTFery, Blogs and Book Sales, DRM, and the Dude Still Abides

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

Whew... It's been a whole week already? Things have been a bit slow at Clear Eyes, Full Shelves due to my inability to finish a blog post. I have so many partially written things and then I talk myself into a circle and think everyone will hate what I have to say. Please tell me I'm not alone in feeling this way occasionally! (You totally have permission to lie in order to make me feel better.)

I've got a whole hodge-podge of interesting tidbits for y'all this week--don't forget to scroll down for some really good deals on good books, including a couple of freebies. ​

Onward ho!​

Interestingness

Joss Whedon's 'Much Ado About Nothing' Trailer (Yahoo! Movies)

​I don't even really know what's going on with this trailer for Much Ado About Nothing, but I'm excited for this adaptation nonetheless, since I'm always a sucker for battle of the sexes-type stories and I did like Much Ado when I read it approximately one million years ago. Also, I approve of both the use of the St. Germain music and Mike Kellerman from Homicide, Life on the Street in trailer.

​

Links + Things: Goats Sing Your Favorite Pop Songs; A Closer Look at That First Book Infographic; Facebook's Sexism; Cheapo Books; and More

Links + Things: Goats Sing Your Favorite Pop Songs; A Closer Look at That First Book Infographic; Facebook's Sexism; Cheapo Books; and More

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

It bothers me that I even have to say this, but I must remind everyone that I link to things here because I find them interesting, thought-provoking or bring a perspective I hadn't thought of previously. Diverse viewpoints are important in this world of online media and social networking where issues are generally treated in a black and white, right or wrong manner.

Just because I link to something doesn't mean that I've "endorsed" (ha, funny word) the opinion.

Except the funny videos, of course--those I wholeheartedly endorse.

Links

First, a bit of funny-slash-crazy to start. All week, my husband has been sending me links to videos of pop songs reinterpreted with, um... goats. Yes, GOATS!!! ​Screaming goats! My two favorites are below. The first is for Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer, the second Taylor Swift's I Knew You Were Trouble. I dare you to not die laughing.

Links + Things: Blogging Ethics; SI's Sexism and Racism; Indie Booksellers Sue Amazon/Publishers; and Taking Down "The Following"

Links + Things: Blogging Ethics; SI's Sexism and Racism; Indie Booksellers Sue Amazon/Publishers; and Taking Down "The Following"

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

Lots of interesting news this week, including a bit of a scandal in the blogging world, discussion of the WTFery of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and lots of publishing news.

Scroll down to the bottom of this post for a roundup of cheap ebooks discounted as part of Amazon's Kindle Big Deal--there are a lot of good ones this time.

​Links

Maybe Don’t Talk Shit About Ads If You Make Money On Affiliate Links (BetaBeat)

You could argue that affiliate links aren’t technically ads, but that misses the point. If you slap a banner ad on the top of your website, at least readers know it’s an advertisement and they can take it with a great big grain of salt. But when they read a glowing review from someone they trust, then click through to place an order for that book–without knowing said reviewer is getting a kickback–isn’t that worse?

I'm sure I'm not alone in my fascination ​with the Brainpickings "scandal" that was all over the nerdy corner of the internet this week. It seems that the popular site's claims of being ad-free are definitely a case of parsing, as affiliate links are likely a considerable source of income for the blog, which solicits donations under the auspices of remaining "ad free." 

My take? What this issue comes down to is the importance of transparency and erring on the side of caution in ensuring that you're not misrepresenting yourself to readers.​ This hasn't been touched on, but one of the things that bothers me most about the "ad free" language is that it's backed up by a .org URL, which insinuates a not-for-profit status. (I also question the costs and hours the blog author cites, because both seem out of whack estimates.)

I don't begrudge anyone for using affiliate links and monetizing their sites--clicks on Amazon links pay the hosting bills around here (thank you!)--but I really don't understand why it's still common practice in the day of FTC rules ​for blogs to be sketchy in this way (this reminds me of the controversy about sponsored content on The Atlantic Blog).

Disclose, disclose, disclose. It's really that simple.

Links + Things: Viola Davis on 'Beautiful Creatures,' Sex and YA, Perfectionism, Connie Britton + More

Links + Things: Viola Davis on 'Beautiful Creatures,' Sex and YA, Perfectionism, Connie Britton + More

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

Links

Viola Davis on why her role in “Beautiful Creatures” changed from a maid to a librarian (Salon)

I’m going to be confident and bold and say I like it because, listen, I understand and I respect the book and I think the book is wonderful but this is 2013 and I think that when black people are woven into the lives of characters in 2013, then I think they play other roles than maids. I think that that needs to be explored and I hope that the audience is willing to suspend their disbelief and embrace what Richard LaGravenese has given them.

I enjoyed the first two Beautiful Creatures books (I put the series on hold until the last book came out and just haven't gotten caught up yet), but one of the big things that made them 3-star reads for me as opposed to 4-stars was the stereotypical role the authors chose to place Alma, who's an important character to the story. I love that the move creators recognized that this character has so much more potential than the book gave her and this news makes me more excited to see the movie adaptation. 

Links + Things: NPR examines publishing, all digital libraries, book clubs take over a casino and more!

Links + Things: NPR examines publishing, all digital libraries, book clubs take over a casino and more!

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

Traditional publishing versus self publishing! A book club extravaganza! All digital libraries! Amazon coins! (Huh?)

All that plus cheap brain candy and some other bargain book goodness in this installment of Links + Things.

Why Traditional Publishing Is Really In A 'Golden Age' (NPR)

"What has changed in a really exciting way is the ways you can get people's attention. It used to be one book review at a time, a daily review, maybe you get into Time magazine. Now there's, with the Internet, this giant echo chamber. Anything good that happens, any genuine excitement that a book elicits can be amplified and repeated and streamed and forwarded and linked in a way that excitement spreads more quickly and universally than ever before. And what I'm seeing is that really wonderful books — the books that people get genuinely excited about because they change their lives, they give them new ideas — those books can travel faster, go further, sell more copies sooner than ever before. It's just energized the whole business in a thrilling way."

Self-Publishing Now The First Choice For Some Writers (NPR)

...traditional publishers are in the business of not publishing books but of selling books. And there's a big difference there. So they seek to acquire books and authors who they think have the greatest commercial potential. But the challenge here is they really don't know which books are going to go on to become bestsellers. Only readers know that.

Laura pointed me to this two-part series on NPR this week about self-publishing versus traditional publishing. The traditional publishing side is representing by the incoming CEO of Hachette while the Smashwords CEO makes the case for the supremacy of self-publishing. Both have an agenda, but it's interesting that both are so enthusiastic about the future of publishing and its potential. It's a nice contrast to the doom and gloom stories we hear so often.

Links + Things: "Sick Lit," Writing Economics, Book Cover Woes and More

Links + Things: "Sick Lit," Writing Economics, Book Cover Woes and More

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

In addition to these links, there are a bunch of recaps of the ALA Midwinter Meeting and Exhibits, including my own, popping up.

Anna from Verity Books rounded up links to a few posts and Liz Burns has a comprehensive list of all the award winners. 

Onward, ho!

Links

The Controversy over “Sick-lit” (The Hub)

However, although the term “sick-lit” may be new, the range of situations the teens in these books are experiencing certainly aren’t. Abuse, depression, suicide, terminal illness; YA authors aren’t fabricating these topics. Many teens throughout the world have already been, and still are, living these tragedies every second of every day.

Over at The Hub (the Young Adult Library Services Association's blog), Dena took a look at the idea of "sick lit" as criticized in a recent Daily Mail column. She hits the nail on the head in critiquing original piece. 

Honestly, some "sick lit" bothers me because it feels a bit (or a lot exploitative), but some is done very, very well. Ultimately, like so much related to literature, it's all in the execution.

Links + Things: Literary Rape, Loneliness, Teen Death Novels and More

Links + Things: Literary Rape, Loneliness, Teen Death Novels and More

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

There were so many intriguing/interesting/irritating things on the internet this weekend, guys--It's hard to pick just a few!

Links

This is a Post About Literary Rape (Maggie Stiefvater)

What I want is for there to be less gratuitous literary rape. 
I’m not talking about books like Speak. I’m talking about novels where the rape scene could just as easily be any other sort of violent scene and it only becomes about sex because there’s a woman involved. If the genders were swapped, a rape scene wouldn’t have happened. The author would’ve come up with a different sort of scenario/ backstory/ defining moment for a male character. Really, this sort of rape is such a medieval, classical way to tell a story. Need to establish some stakes? Grab a secondary character and rape her. Possibly with a god or a mythological object if you have one handy. 
And that starts to feel a lot less like realism and more like a malingering culture of women as victims. And it starts, especially when the author is male and the rape scene is graphic, to feel suspiciously like the goal is titillation. It starts to feel like the author believes the only interesting sort of GirlAngst is sexual abuse. 

Maggie Stiefvater writes one of my favorite author blogs. Even when I don't agree with her (like her take on what is and is not a review), I respect that she puts hers thoughts out there in the world in an unapologetic way--so many authors avoid anything controversial because there's risk involved with wading into big issues. 

Last week she wrote very eloquently about the problem of literary rape, how rape is constantly used as a plot device, often with no purpose. Go read Maggie's post on the subject--she's 100 percent right on all counts.

Links + Things: Algonquin's Young Reader Imprint, The Fringe Book and a Year of Verse Novels

Links + Things: Algonquin's Young Reader Imprint, The Fringe Book and a Year of Verse Novels

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

This week, I have a bunch of interesting news, ranging from an intriguing new young adult and middle grade imprint and a free download of one of my favorite light-hearted romance novels.

Links

Algonquin Launches YA/YR Imprint (Facebook)
Algonquin Young Readers, launching Fall 2013, is a new imprint of Algonquin Books dedicated to publishing works of the same literary merit and enduring qualities that are hallmarks of the Algonquin tradition.

Algonquin Books has released some interesting and well-performing fiction in the last few years (including the Water for Elephants), and this week they announced that they're launching an imprint focused on middle grade and young adult titles, Algonquin Young Readers. This is pretty intriguing, and it sounds like they're taking a literary approach to their acquisitions (they're posted on their Facebook page, linked above). 

The one that piques my interest the most is Sara Farizan's If You Could Be Mine, which is about a lesbian teen in Iran, where being gay is punishable by death. (There's a preview up on Scribd.)

I'm excited to see where they go with this imprint, since I do think there's a market for more literary-minded books for young people.

Links + Things: Alpha A-holes, Book Marketing and Delayed Ebook Releases

Links + Things: Alpha A-holes, Book Marketing and Delayed Ebook Releases

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

One of the reasons I wanted to update my content management system is because I am constantly clipping links and other interestingness in Everynote that I want to post on the blog, but I didn't have an efficient way to do so. The new setup makes this so much easier, so I'll be doing posts about interestingness I've found more regularly. 

Today's topics: the return of the asshole alpha male character, marketing saturation and delayed ebook releases.

Links

What's old is new again - the Alpha-Ahole (Drunk Writer Talk)

In real life most women I know wouldn’t walk but would RUN from this man. But romance isn’t real life and there is no shame in liking what you like. We just have to hope that all this testosterone is sometimes countered with books about incredible women. Because I want to read her story too.