Summer Reading 2014

You know summer has arrived when all your favorite book sources start sharing their summer reading lists here are a few:

• NPR's "go-to librarian" Nancy Pearl summer picks 
• The Huffington Post recommended "10 super fun teen summer novels that adults will love too," 
• Mental Floss uncovered "6 beach reads from 100 years ago."

Check these out and let us know what you think!

Happy Reading☮

The Things You Can Read!

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Orwell Spike? 1984 in 2013?

It's 1984 All Over Again: Orwell's Book Sales Spike

While getting ready one morning a few weeks ago, I heard the most interesting story on NPR entitled Book News: Sales Of Orwell's '1984' Spike After NSA Revelations.  Then, I began seeing other stories out there on the Internet on the same topic, so I felt like it was something to ponder.  The "Big Brother" syndrome does seems to be alive and kicking in some folks minds.  Would you consider the Orwellian version of the world to be most fitting or Aldous Huxley's vision of the World State in Brave New World to be more appropriate?  What do you think?  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read.   (via Paul Noth in The New Yorker) Daily disclosures about America's surveillance apparatus have sparked renewed interest in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. TheWall Street Journal reported that by early yesterday, sales of the dystopian classic had jumped noticeably, with one edition rising more than 7,000% in its Amazon rankings, moving from #13,074 on Monday to the top 200. The paperback edition Plume published on the centennial of Orwell's birth in 2003 was ranked #80 on Amazon this morning, and the 60th anniversary edition #149. Elizabeth Keenan, a spokeswoman for the publisher, told the Journal that the sales jump is "symptomatic of all the surveillance coverage," adding that while sales typically increase this time of year because of high school summer reading lists, this spike was unusual and "Plume wasn't ruling out a relaunch of the book to capitalize on the interest."-Self Awareness   "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” -George Orwell, 1984   Have you read 1984?  What are your thoughts on "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU"?  Again, let us know here at The Things You Can Read. Happy Reading and Happy Blogoversary to The Things You Can Read! Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!   

Update on Publishing World in Flux: Random House and Penguin to Merge!

Last week, we shared the Huffington Post article that illuminated some rather important information with regard to two of the world's largest publishing houses.  According to last weeks post on Huffington: 

"British publishing and education company Pearson PLC says it is in talks with German media group Bertelsmann SE over merging the firms' Penguin and Random House publishing operations."

However things have now changed, according to Shelf Awarness, which posted the following:

"Four days after officially confirming that Pearson and Bertelsmann were in discussions about combining their book publishing operations, the companies announced this morning that they are creating a joint venture named Penguin Random House. Bertelsmann will own 53% of the joint venture, and Pearson will own 47%."

Additional Resources:

NPR Report from Last Week

Again, what do you think about the news? For the full article checkout Huffington Post and Shelf Awareness. Let us know your thoughts about the publishing world. Do you expect big changes in the publishing world in the coming year?

Happy Reading!
The Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Things To Say About Books You've Never Read

Image Credit: A Postcard a Day

"The vast majority of the world's books, music, films, television and art, you will never see. It's just numbers." Linda Holmes, NPR culture blog Monkey See

Unfortunately, as much as we try, we can't read it all, but oh boy wouldn't we like to!  Take a look at two Huffington Posts articles: 7 Things To Say About Books You've Never Read and 9 Spoilers For Classic Books.  Both address this idea of offering tips on how to bluff your way through conversations about key classic novels you've never read.  A word of caution, the articles contain spoilers, so BEWARE!   What do you think of these articles?  For us here, at The Things You Can Read, we prefer actually reading the classics verses pretending to have read them.  Again, what is your take?  Leave a comment and let us know.

Happy Reading!
Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Best-Ever Teen Fiction

NPR's List of Best-Ever Teen Fiction

The folks here at Things You Can Read are big NPR listeners, and we were delighted to discover the NPR feature on YA fiction unveiled on August 7, 2012 in Harriet Russell's NPR post.  Interestingly enough, NPR conducted a poll of over 75,000 people. Voters cast their ballots for the BEST-Ever Teen Fiction.  "It's almost a cliche at this point to say that teen fiction isn't just for teens anymore. Just last year, the Association of American Publishers ranked Children's/Young Adult books as the single fastest-growing publishing category," stated the NPR article.  

I'm sure you are salivating by this time to know what the list looks like.  It can be found at Best-Ever Teen Fiction, and if you are really curious to check out all 235 finalists, NPR provides the list, as well as a list of the top 100 in printable form, if you are a hard copy kind-a-person.  

Let us here at The Things You Can Read know what you think of the article.  We absolutely love to hear from our readership.