Skip to content

Does Anything but the NPR Book Concierge Matter? A Links Round-Up

Joyous, joyous day! The NPR Book Concierge for 2019 has landed! As usual, my TBR list has exponentiated as a result. It’s Friday and I have other links, but realistically, the one we care about is the Book Concierge. Find books in good health, friends!

Here’s what it’s like to be an audiobook narrator.

I wouldn’t exactly call Gaudy Night an “overlooked” novel but that doesn’t mean I will turn up my nose at this appreciation of Gaudy Night and its heroine, my favorite character in all of literature, Harriet Vane.

So here’s the thing about My Favorite Murder. (Disclosure, I am not a true crime person so I do not have any motive to defend MFM except that many of my friends adore it.)

What to buy the children in your life this holiday season. There is so much truth in this post, especially the part about how children love office supplies.

WELP this is a horrifying article about the TV show Almost Family and how traumatizing it is for people who have actually found themselves in the sit this com purports to represent.

Petition to rename the Iron Age the Flax Age.

So a private equity firm has bought up the dot-org registry, which means that .org at the end of a website will no longer mean nonprofit. Eat the fuckin rich.

Courttia Newland talks about ways that white women demean and harass black men, largely depending on the stereotype of hypersexual black masculinity.

“When you order something from Amazon and you’ve worked inside Amazon, you wonder, ‘Hey, is ordering my package going to be the demise of somebody?’” On the (un)safety practices at Amazon’s fulfillment warehouses. A reminder that if you can avoid shopping at Amazon, it’s good to avoid it. They are very evil over there.

Government policy penalize disabled people for working or getting married.

This is a really amazing podcast, and I admire and respect Joey Clift so much for doing this. Native comedian Joey Clift was asked onto a podcast to talk about gross stereotypes of Native Americans in a video game. On Thanksgiving. He called the podcast hosts out on this.

I’m reliably in love with “these books are overlooked” lists, so I adore this Lithub round-up of the best overlooked books of the decade.

“In his fiction, marriage is a force intended to control women; in life, he acted as though marriage was intended to trap men.” On marriage and domestic companionship in Wilkie Collins’s life and fiction.

Some thoughts on how major African literary prizes are contributing to the work of canon formation. (This reminded me v much of Toni Morrison saying that canon building is empire building. Phew.)

Alejandro Zambra on learning English and writing for translation.

Black film critics are facing backlash for criticisms of Queen and Slim. Andre Wheeler talks to Clarkisha Kent and Angelica Jade Bastién about the phenomenon.

And that’s it for now! Have a wonderful weekend, and fill up your Christmas lists with the NPR Book Concierge recommendations!