Book News You Can Use 5/29/15

The New York Times came out with their summer reading recommendations last weekend. And it was an epic fail. THERE WERE NO BOOKS WRITTEN BY PEOPLE OF COLOR ON THE LIST. SERIOUSLY?!   Of course, the Internet universe ripped the publication apart about the lack of authors of color on their list.  Read this one from Roxane Gay. And this one from Gawker.  There have been a ton of diverse summer reads lists created since then (including The Root and The Grio, which I will address those lists in another post), but BuzzFeed's list was one of the best. And the Los Angeles Times also did a good job.  And with BEA and BookCon this week I know there will be a lot of think pieces on the lack of diversity in publishing coming in the next few days.

Relax in Paradise Hugh Ambrose and Tanith Lee.

James Patterson's domination in the literary world continues with his new imprint for kids.

Mat Johnson's new book was released this week and it was reviewed in the New York Times (but wasn't good enough to get on their summer list).  And he told people to kiss his biracial behind.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wants women and girls to forget about being liked by others.

Gloria Steinem is will be releasing her first book in over 20 years this fall.

Tina McElroy Ansa talks about memories about her childhood homes and their porches in this essay.

I love this series of photos featuring homeless patrons using public libraries.

A new music library in South Korea has 10,000 records. Not CDs. Not MP3s. Records.