I was considering doing a Top Ten list of books I read in 2014, but then I realized that lists are not how most of us experience reading.
We read things and they interact with other parts of our lives in ways that often run perpendicular to any quality in the writing itself. A list of the “best” books I read in 2014 might not convey as much meaning as telling you about the adventures in reading I had.
So, that’s what I am going to do instead…
Remember when I defended Marvel’s new, female Thor on religious grounds? Well, according to Evan Bevins, apparently the new comic books series is pretty good in its own right:
Three issues in and I’m sold on the all-new, all-distaff Thor.
The gender-bending take on one of Marvel’s mainstays shifted into high gear after an anti-climatic debut issue, with writer Jason Aaron delivering a book that reads first and foremost as fun and interesting, not a P.C. stunt like some feared …
[E]ven without prior familiarity with the storyline, the new “Thor” is a fun and accessible read. The villains are characters spotlighted in the two Thor feature films – the Frost Giants from the first and Malekith, the dark elf king, from the second. Malekith in this … has far more personality than the generically malevolent figure from “Thor: The Dark World.” He’s almost like a magical Joker, but with some restraint …
The art by Russell Dauterman (“Cyclops,” “Supurbia”) is bright and energetic, although once in a while there’s a panel that’s a bit too frenetic to follow clearly.So far, the story, dialogue and mystery elevate “Thor” from a curiosity to a promising read.
Check out the rest at Graffiti.
NUTS of the anchor, two little prominencies, appearing like short square bars of iron, fixed across the upper part of the anchor-shank, to secure the stock thereof in its place; for which purpose there is a corresponding notch, or channel, cut in the opposite parts of the stock, of the same dimensions with the nuts.
-William Falconer’s Dictionary of the Marine.
Reviewing the screenplay for The Wall, a story about a sniper pinned behind a wall by an enemy sniper who clearly knows him, Christopher Pendergraft at Script Shadow makes a fantastic observation on dialogue that every writer needs to read.
You may have heard about the recent study “proving” that reading e-books will destroy your sleep cycle.
Well, you didn’t really, because that’s not at all what the study shows, if it in fact shows anything. What you did hear was yet another round of mindless whooping among the prejudiced, paper-loving Luddites who don’t care how much pseudoscience and misinformation they have to spread in their crusade against e-books.
To show you what I mean, below the jump are three stories about the study, including details that show that it’s not completely the fault of science journalists. The researchers themselves are corrupting science with false dilemmas, false attribution of cause, and laughably poor methodology.
omenclature (n.) A set of terms for things yet to be.
mose in the chine [unclear meaning] be in the final stages of the glanders TS III.ii.50 [Biondello to Tranio as Lucentio, of Petruchio’s horse] possessed with the glanders and like to mose in the chine
glanders (n.) horse disease affecting the nostrils and jaws
– Shakespeare’s Words : A Glossary & Language Companion by David Crystal and Ben Crystal
Sara Gruen has finally finished her celebrated Elements for Animals quadrilogy!
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Book 4
From Melville House‘s latest ironically Ahab-like rant against their white whale, Amazon:
Remember that ol’ lawsuit between Apple and the Department of Justice? …
Just a reminder: Apple is appealing because the case didn’t go smoothly the first time around. The company called it a “fundamentally flawed endeavor that could discourage competition and harm consumers.” Judge Denise Cote ruled that Apple had violated antitrust laws by intending to set ebook prices through the agency model.
The publishers couldn’t afford to fight, but Apple could. On Monday, the company’s lawyer called attention to its competition, as if no one had thought to bring up Amazon before…
Publishers were trying to set prices along with other retailers like Apple because Amazon owned 90% of the ebook market. [bold emphasis mine] Apple’s lawyer Theodore Boutros argued this week that this is a legitimate way to “come into a market dominated by a monopolist.”
And this from Forbes, which we can assume is more reliable than Apple’s paid advocates:
E-books now make up around 30% of all book sales, and Amazon has a 65% share within that category, with Apple and Barnes & Noble accounting for most of the balance.
Dominating your competition by 40 points and dominating them by 15 points are worlds apart. And, how many of those Amazon sales are due to their insanely user-friendly KDP self-publishing platform? Are we even comparing apples to apples? (Sorry, B&N, but your e-book self-publishing platform is clumsy. I use it, but it’s like you’re not even trying.)
And this logic! “Our anti-trust violations were to fight monopoly…” Orwell is rolling over in his grave.
So, for this reason, I am removing Melville House from the side bar and will no longer waste my time looking to them for reliable information on publishing. Their fevered prejudice against Amazon has gotten to the point where the ratio of information to hate has slipped decidedly toward maniacal hate.
As the Forbes story points out: “An abusive, alcoholic father; a snake-oil salesman; a predatory lion; Nazi Germany: These are some of the metaphors publishers invoke to express their feelings toward Amazon.” There’s no room for that sort of counterfactual idiocy among serious-minded professionals.
