Even if you don’t read much fantasy, you’re probably familiar with the name J.R.R. Tolkien. Author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, he basically created modern fantasy and influence many writers in following generations. And today is his birthday! The Hub has a great post about Tolkien’s influence on contemporary literature.
To celebrate, here’s the trailer of the upcoming movie version of The Hobbit:
Let’s all be a little more adventurous today!
From an interview with children’s book legend Beverly Cleary:
Your website says that you are still writing–is there anything ahead that we should be looking for? A third volume of your memoirs, perhaps?
No, I don’t plan to publish any more. After all, I’m 95. I hope children will be happy with the books I’ve written, and go on to be readers all of their lives.
I think that’s such a lovely sentiment, and I’m sure many fans of Cleary’s work have gone on to be lifelong readers. That’s one of the reasons I love children’s literature and YA. These books touch you at such a special time in your life and can propel you on the path to reading for decades to come.
It’s easy to think that classic novels have always been considered classics. But even the most famous novels got some bad reviews. Book Riot has compiled some quotes from bad reviews for great books. My favorite:
“On J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye:
This Salinger, he’s a short story guy. And he knows how to write about kids. This book though, it’s too long. Gets kind of monotonous. And he should’ve cut out a lot about these jerks and all that crumby school. They depress me.”
Granted, I’m pretty sure you could round up a hundred tenth-graders and get the same opinion. But a review like this is a good reminder that not everyone has to love your book. Not everyone will love your book. Sometimes even important reviewers will hate your book. But that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad book or mean that it won’t connect with someone. Being a writer means having to deal with a lot of criticism and rejection, even when you’re talented and beloved. It’s not an easy life, but seeing quotes like this helps.
Click through for even more bad review inspiration!
Confession: I hated Hamlet in high school.
It wasn’t that I hated Shakespeare or English class. In fact, I tended to like most of what we read. But I found it hard to care about the original emo king (“Just kill him already!” I cried at least one) and I’m not surprised current high school students aren’t in love with Hamlet either. The #worstbookever hashtag on Twitter offers a hilarious look into high school reading requirements. Publishers Weekly features a few highlights–Hamlet included, of course.
When I reread Hamlet in grad school, I found myself with a much greater appreciation of the play. (“Alas, poor Yorick!” is a hugely famous quote, so it’s easy to forget the sadness of the scene. Hamlet is holding the skull of the one person who ever treated him with affection. Tears!) So it’s not like these kids on Twitter are totally lost. And honestly, who really loves homework? For me, this brings up the question of what kids should be reading in high school. Is it worthwhile to give them “classics” they hate? You’re not going to win every reader even with the best book, but I wonder if syllabi need to be updated.
I’d be curious to hear English teachers’ takes on this. Any books/plays your students particularly hate or love? What would you cut from your syllabus or make sure to keep?
The big news in publishing now is how to deal with e-readers. Along with that comes questions regarding publishing contracts, some of which are decades old. I’m guessing that’s the reason HarperCollins is suing Open Road Integrated Media over the latter’s e-book edition of Jean Craighead George’s children’s book classic Julie of the Wolves. HarperCollins originally published the book in 1972 ,and Open Road (founded by former HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman) came out with its e-book edition in October.
Although Open Road says they were granted rights by author George, HarperCollins counters:
“Our contract with Jean Craighead George, the author of Julie of the Wolves, grants us the exclusive digital rights to the book, and Open Road’s e-book edition violates our rights. We intend to take all appropriate steps to protect our exclusive rights under copyright against infringement, in this case and in any instances that might occur in the future.”
It sounds like someone–the author, the agent, one of the publishers–really dropped the ball on this one, and I don’t think this will be a rare lawsuit in the years to come. Publishing contracts can be hard enough to understand without trying to update each one with regard to new technology. I’m curious to see how this will pan out.
Possibly my favorite description of the Kindle ever comes from Rachel Walsh, an Illustration student at Cardiff School of Art & Design. Her assignemtn: “Explain something modern/internet based to someone who lived and died before 1900.” She chose to explain the Kindle to Charles Dickens by creating books within a book:
“All the books I made had the actual covers on them, and were the books Dickens wrote, his favourite childhood books, or books I’ve got. There are 40 little books inside.”
Click through for more pictures of Walsh’s project. So cool! (via Lit Drift)