I miss Grantland all the time, but I’m so glad The Ringer exists. Here’s a terrific piece on how The Bachelor became a pipeline for social media influencers.

A wonderful profile of NK Jemisin, one of the most amazing SFF authors currently working.

Cancel culture is chaotic good (with some history and context).

“It’s like the Hunger Games, but dangerous.” How to not get murdered if you find yourself in an English murder village.

Here’s a guide to protecting your security online.

Myriam Gurba, on the death threats you’ll receive when you challenge white supremacy. And Patrice Caldwell on how publishing continues to shut out the voices of people of color, to the benefit of books like American Dirt. And David Bowles on the whiteness and brokenness of the publishing industry.

And yes, to answer your next question: The publishing industry remains very, very white.

The British royal family has a massive online fandom. It is now in turmoil.

Marginalized people can tell true authentic stories that in aggregate contribute to dominant cultural narratives that are harmful. This is because the culture chooses which marginalized voices and stories to uplift.

Men have talked us to death about the sex they’ve had with women, but they have said very little about the abortions they did or didn’t pay for.

Here’s Evette Dione on Kobe Bryant and his complicated legacy.

How did fingers get their names in all different languages? Today is a good day to find out! (Also, this is your semiannual reminder that if you are ever in a kidnapping situation and the bad guys are going to cut off one of your fingers to show your family that they mean business, and they let you choose which finger, you should choose the index finger on your nondominant hand. You need the other fingers for gripping stuff, but your middle finger makes a pretty good substitute index finger.)

Happy weekend, friends! I hope yours is calm and peaceful, or if not that then I hope it’s full of reading Gideon the Ninth and shrieking in giddy glee as you read.

The post Sacrifice Your Nondominant Hand’s Index Finger: A Links Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

I…thought Suite Scarlett was going to be quite different. Or really I thought it was going to be quite like it was, but I thought it was going to have magic in it. I thought Scarlett was the third of fourth siblings whose parents own a failing hotel, and on each child’s fifteenth birthday they become primarily responsible for a particular suite in the hotel. And right after Scarlett turns fifteen, a rich crazy woman moves into her suite, the Empire Suite. And the woman turns out to be magic, and makes a big magic mess, and the four siblings (but mainly Scarlett because she is eponymous) have to clean up after her magical mess, and then in the end the magic woman would do something magical to help them.

That’s how I thought the book went. I was almost completely right. I was only wrong about there being magic.

In spite of the disparity between my expectations and reality, I still enjoyed Suite Scarlett. Yes, I wanted magic. I kept waiting for Mrs. Amberson to reveal her magical powers, but that never happened. There were times at which I felt the narration jumped the rails a little, at the beginning, before the book settled down to being properly from Scarlett’s perspective. There were times at which the plot was predictable and I knew what was going to happen.

On the other hand, I like siblings. I like my siblings, and I like siblings in books. I like it when they have their differences but all pull together in the end, because they are siblings, and blood is thicker than water. Not to spoil things for you, but that is what happens in Suite Scarlett. It distracted me from the book’s other flaws. It was sweet. (THAT WAS NOT A PUN.) I shall read more Maureen Johnson books hereafter, particularly as Amanda has said that Johnson has written other books that are better.

Other reviews:

Stella Matutina (thanks for the recommendation!)
The Zen Leaf
Care’s Online Book Club
Angieville
bookshelves of doom
GAL Novelty
Fluttering Butterflies
The Happy Nappy Bookseller
Book Nut
Teen Book Review
The Book Smugglers
Bildungsroman
YA Fabulous
Reading Rants
Shelf Elf
Abby (the) Librarian
Becky’s Book Reviews
Miss Erin
Reading Keeps You Sane
Alison’s Book Marks
Welcome to My Den
YAnnabe
Dear Author
Stop, Drop, & Read
Reviewer X
Write Meg
The Reading Zone

Did I miss yours? I will add a link if so!

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