Articles we read (and loved) in March
Elly Clapin
1/ Virtual reality and the future of publishing.
By Joanna Penn @thecreativepenn
“Imagine walking along a street of bookstores…find yourself in a bookstore with shelves of books configured just for your tastes. You’re drawn to a cover…You turn the pages, feeling the quality paper, smelling that new book scent. You continue browsing and when you’re ready to purchase, you choose your format and the book is sent to you in the format you choose. Then you take off your VR headset and carry on with your day.”
This article discusses the future of bookstores in a world where virtual shopping is a reality. Those of us who love browsing the aisles and shelves of our favourite bookstores may scoff at this sci-fi concept – but the technology is actually almost here. Virtual bookstores may not be so far away after all!
2/ Amazing BookTube Channels To Suit Every Reading Personality
By Brittany Goldfield Rodrigues @Brittany_GR
This fantastic list rounds up 15 standout BookTube channels featuring book reviews, competitions, discussion videos and more. Genres preferenced and discussed by each of these vloggers are widely varied, so every reader is bound to find somebody they identify with. As author Brittany Goldfield Rodrigues notes, the appeal of these videos and their stars is that “they eloquently analyze and discuss literature in a way that’s universal — not to mention, completely engaging.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/03/24/booktube-channels_n_6933226.html
3/ Why Great Novels Don’t Get Noticed Now
By Gaby Wood @woodgaby
Gaby Wood’s article is not just a review of Samantha Harvey’s 2014 novel “Dear Thief,” but also a discussion on the difficulty many novels face in getting noticed by readers, and how that can result in some of our best new fiction being lost, unread, and undervalued. This is an issue Wood refers to as “good fiction’s very modern problem,” and is an interesting one to explore.
4/ World’s Most Translated Books
By 7Brands Inc @7brands
This cute little inforgraphic from 7brands Inc looks at 50 of the most translated books in the world, from Antoine de Saint Exupery’s “Le Petit Prince” to Harry Potter. As 7brands notes, “the best books have the power to touch people on every corner of the earth, not just the country they’re written in…” and we couldn’t agree more!
http://7brands.com/news/blog/language-news/worlds-translated-books/
5/ Day Jobs: Authors and their employment.
By Laphams Quarterly, edited by Lewis Lapham. @LaphamsQuart
Did you know that Franz Kafka worked as Chief Legal Secretary of the Workmen’s Accident Insurance Insitute, or that Charlotte Bronte worked as a governess? This chart is a fun and interesting look at the working life of six famous authors, citing job title, adjusted yearly salary, and occupational perks and hazards.
(P.S. Laphams Quarterly also has a fun quiz where you can try to match working titles with their famous final titles, at http://laphamsquarterly.org/arts-letters/charts-graphs/dont-judge-book-its-title)