Literary Links for Weekend Reading
Hello fellow book lovers. I’ve come across some very interesting articles in the past week and thought I would share them with you. There is so much out there, it’s easy to miss noteworthy pieces. I hope you find something of interest here. And my apologies for causing you to add more books to your TBR list.
The Benefits of Reading (The Today Show)
Love to curl up on the couch with a good book? You aren’t alone.
According to a Gallup poll published in 2022, in 2021 Americans read roughly 12 books a year, amounting to around one a month. That number is the lowest it’s been since Gallup began tracking Americans’ reading habits back in 1990.
Whether the decline in reading books is the result of busy lifestyles or the lure of binge-watching the latest series on TV, the time has come to get back on the book bandwagon.
If the latest bestseller is collecting dust on your nightstand, knowing the benefits of reading might be just the motivation you need to pick it back up. . .
A Pandemic Reading List (BookBrowse)
Between autumn 2020 and spring 2021, lots of COVID-themed books started to appear on bookstore and library shelves in the UK, where I live. It felt like nonfiction was quicker to respond to the pandemic than fiction. Some of my favorites were too niche for US publication because they focus on the UK’s National Health Service (Intensive Care by Gavin Francis, a Scottish GP) or England’s lockdown spring (The Consolation of Nature by Michael McCarthy, Jeremy Mynott, and Peter Marren). It soon became a low-key obsession of mine to read whatever I could about COVID. . .
Meet the 10 Best New Novelists for 2023 (The Guardian)
For the 10th year running, here’s the Observer New Review’s annual pick of debut novels we reckon you won’t want to miss. No one could accuse us of failing to read the runes last time out, when our selection included Bonnie Garmus’s gazillion-selling Lessons in Chemistry, Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses – the title most frequently cited as the best book of 2022, according to industry magazine The Bookseller – and Sheena Patel’s I’m a Fan, another favourite, proclaimed “book of the summer” by the Evening Standard and “the summer’s slow-burning must-read” by the Sunday Times. . .
The Story Prize finalists have been announced (The Story Prize)
The Story Prize, now in its 19th year, is pleased to honor as its finalists three compelling short story collections chosen from 119 submissions representing 79 different publishers or imprints. . .
Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2023
2022 had its ups and downs, along with some very good books. But now that you’ve read all the books last year had to offer (right?) it’s time for a brand new list.
Here are the books Literary Hub editors are most looking forward to (so far!) in the months to come. . .