There have been some phenomenal literature-related articles recently, but perhaps the most intriguing find for me was a post on Medium, published two years ago. It’s under Miscellaneous – Jenny Odell’s speech transcript on how to do nothing. Given its original format, it’s a very long read, but utterly worth it. I also highly recommend the article about narrating audiobooks; it’s fascinating.

Author Specific

‘I knew Christopher Robin – the real Christopher Robin’
Sylvia Plath didn’t want her mother to know she’d written The Bell Jar
Interview with Philip Pullman ahead of The Secret Commonwealth
The journey that changed Geoffrey Chaucer’s life
How The Guardian became the first newspaper in Britain to use the F-word
The trial of Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Book Specific

The politically radical family that inspired Little Women
Considering the secret of Northanger Abbey
Teaching Jane Eyre: a teacher’s perspective
An appreciation of Claire Fraser (unfortunately this link has since been made inaccessible for readers in the EU)
On the magical landscapes of Anne of Green Gables
Olivia Laing on Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, 80 years on

Writing

What is the difference between a preface, a foreword, and an introduction?
Maybe the secret to writing is not writing (on taking breaks)
Can language be understood as a spiritual medium?
When being a disabled writer means being an educator

Libraries & Bookstores

A photo appreciation of libraries
Saying goodbye to my beloved bookstore
On opening Ghana’s first subscription-model library

Misc. Literature

Authors and translators on their unique relationship
500 year old library catalogue reveals books lost to time
Why narrating an audiobook is a lot harder than you think
Picturing writerly demographics in the Norton Anthology of American Literature
2019 is the first year in 20 years that copyrighted works are entering the public domain (includes list and contextual information)
How to visit the graves of 75 famous writers
The curse of reading and forgetting

Other Links

(Reddit thread of the happiest facts people know)
What the blue hour is and how you can use it for photography
A disabled life in a superhero universe
Soft foods helped humans form ‘F’ and ‘V’ sounds
The crew of the Mary Rose may have included sailors of African heritage
The people who wear historical dress every day
Southampton’s medieval vaults
An unpublished essay by Judy Garland written to promote The Wizard of Oz
How to do nothing (long read)

This photograph was taken by Clarence.

I knew when I started thinking about compiling another of these that it had been quite a while since the previous; it turned out to have been March last year. I wondered how I should go about it – would there be too many, would some be irrelevant? What I came to acknowledge was that some might be old postings, in relative terms, but they were still good. The list has been checked for broken links.

Book-Related Links

Is There Such a Thing as a Good Book Review?

When Being a Disabled Writer Means Being an Educator

Where Old, Unreadable Documents Go to Be Understood

Church in the Netherlands converted into transformer library: books by day, party room by night

My life as a bookworm: what children can teach us about how to read

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Comes to Terms with Global Fame

The Secret Origins of Amy March (Which Might Make You Hate Her a Little Less)

What’s gnawing on Jane Austen’s hair?

Visiting an Experimental, Do-It-Yourself Library in Brooklyn

Samanta Schweblin on Revealing Darkness Through Fiction

The Stranger’s Tongue (Rowan Hisayo Buchanan on translation, empathy and what our favorite foreign words and works reveal)

‘Don’t do anything with long-term consequences’ (novelist Phillip Lewis looks at teenage fatherhood)

Amy’s Pickled Limes: Little Women

How libraries served soldiers and civilians during WWI and WWII

The Unsung Delight of a Well-Designed Endpaper

Let’s Talk Endpapers

Found: Pages From One of the First Books Printed in England

The Other Stories in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina: A Translator’s Perspective

Miscellaneous Links

Why do Dwarves Sound Scottish and Elves Sound Like Royalty?

Exit Interview: Scott Kelly, an Astronaut Who Spent a Year in Space

List of foods named after people (Wikipedia)

Have you found any interesting online articles you could share?

I thought I’d do something different this time; there have been so many book-related happenings this week I thought it’d be good to list them all as well as my usual links. Lots of the award links are home pages so they will change over time.

Awards

The Man Booker International longlist
Wellcome Book Prize shortlist
The British Book Awards list
(Bailey’s) Women’s Prize For Fiction

London Book Fair and London Book & Screen Week

The new Hay Festival in Aarhus, Denmark
Winners of the Cameo award for adaptations
Highlights of the week

Individual Authors

Chigozie Obioma: who should I write for – Nigerians, Africans, or everyone?
Naomi Frisby’s awesome interview with Sarah Ladipo Manyika
Another Sarah Ladipo Manyika interview, focused on her newest work
Jessie Greengrass on the art of writing short stories and related information on the Great Auk
Mrs Austen’s opinion of Jane’s books
On Daphne Du Maurier and her Rebecca
Anne Brontë – the sister who got there first

Miscellaneous Book-Related Articles

British humiliation and The Cursed Child
Book Riot’s list of 100 must-read lesser-known classics (some aren’t so lesser-known). There’s also a list of 100 books about books
Sex, death, and the short story
By fellow book blogger, Jenny, A rallying cry for more subgenres
How we read and how it affects us
The lost art of illustrating your favourite books
Technology and the evolution of storytelling
Salvador Dali’s illustrations for Wonderland
A very brief piece: the Japanese word for buying books and not reading them
When celebrities are photographed with books (on Marilyn Monroe)
Forgotten libraries of the ancient world
Chetham’s Library in Manchester
Fiction vs non-fiction: English literature’s made-up divide
A look at the ‘___’s Daughter’ trend
When pop culture respects readers
The right book at the right time
Podcasts and literary criticism

Other

Sara Forbes Bonetta – the West African god daughter of Queen Victoria
Aphantasia – where one cannot visualise imagery
What ‘my body, my choice’ means to me as a woman with a disability
Newly discovered 700-year-old Knights Templar cave
In search of language’s missing link

Today we’ve someone else’s article about Daphne Du Maurier’s jealousy because I’m definitely writing too much on that topic – and this one I’ve found is very interesting; we’ve a brief piece about Irving Bacheller’s work which I found whilst researching my discovery post; and some great stuff from The Toast which Mallory Ortberg has sadly stopped updating but is leaving online for further perusal. I’m liking this current format, fewer posts, more links in them. What do you think?

Ever wondered about the woman Daphne Du Maurier was jealous of?

About three of the houses Daphne Du Maurier used as inspiration.

A photographer writes about finding a rare edition of Irving Bacheller’s most famous book.

Google search tricks you may not know about.

Questions and answers with Ursula Le Guin.

Yay to a female scientist on Scottish banknotes, says York University, let’s have more.

Author Nicola Cornick discusses the historical Bluestockings literary group.

Lesser known old coming-of-age novels.

A hand-painted feature film about Van Gogh’s paintings.

In defence of literary conflict.

What makes a book a classic? asks children’s’ publisher Scholastic.

Out with the newer and in with the older: An abandoned Walmart is (or was at the time – I’ve included this for interest rather than breaking news) America’s biggest library.

On the rise of literary tourism.

Baffled by all the lights and darks? Here’s a guide to coffee roasts.

When a girl’s fiancé dumped her a month before the wedding she couldn’t cancel the reception so she threw a party for homeless women and children instead.

Should fiction be timeless?

I wrote the accent: a black writer on urban romance.

A literary pilgrimage to the Jane Austen Centre.

We often look at our shelves and feel bad about all the unread books but here’s a thought: unread books are more valuable to our lives than read ones. There’s this article, too.

Any links you’d like to share with us?

This photograph was taken by Brandon Warren.

It’s Christmas, let’s go all out. This is Next Stop Procrastination: the mega edition.

An Oxford student looks at how many requests to drop books from courses deal with works that are about oppressed groups that need to be read.

The Pool looks at the age-old question of how to find the time to read which was inspired by this longer piece on the same subject.

The Millions on prolific outputs and problems.

The meaning of literary pilgrimages.

On Denver’s Tattered Cover bookstore.

Ever wish you could live in another period? This couple wished it so much they’ve decided to live it as best they can.

Timing is everything: Slate looks at a British writer whose book could have hit the big time.

Meike Ziervogel, author of Kauthar discusses being both a writer and publisher.

Shaina looks at the recent McDonalds books for Happy Meals and asks if there is a wrong way to encourage reading.

An argument as to why the Amish lifestyle shouldn’t be used in inspirational fiction.

“My reading experience is not your reading experience.”

When author Clare Dunkle was doing research for her book, she came across a lot of information about Emily Brontë’s novel.

There are lots of tips on how to sell your book out there, but these from a bookseller are particularly good.

Including a new word to me: on the perils of authorial parochialism.

We’ve marginalia and summaries, and now we’ve literary annotations.

Those non-fiction stories that sound a little too like fiction? It’s a business, says The Millions.

Simply a good article on Alcott’s most famous novel.

Delilah explains why self-promotion as an author doesn’t work and then lists some self-promotion that does work. Yes, she has noted the irony.

Amazon have opened a physical book store. Book Riot visited it.

When popular fiction isn’t popular. Oh, and there’s no such thing as a fake reader.

Miranda writes about her search for a character she could relate to as a young tomboy.

Grounds may be better than instant, but using them means you’ve waste to consider. What should you do with the remnants of your coffee?

I gave it one round whilst working and just that made me sleepy: the breathing exercise that may put you to sleep in a minute.

Have you any links to share?