A Week in the Books: Links I Loved the Week of 10/26/18

Links I loved this week include stories from Rwanda, America’s favorite reads, a Judy Blume adaptation, and terrible and rejected book covers.

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Last Saturday, my little Hermione and I joined 600 other Hogwarts students (and parents) for a night of quidditch, Potions, butterbeer, and O.W.L.s. She was sorted into her house (Ravenclaw!), she hobnobbed with Hagrid, and she joined Snape’s entourage and followed him through the halls calling, “Snape! Snape! Severus Snape!”

And while Harry Potter is now an empire, I still just love that all of this began with a humble book series that ignited imaginations and still, twenty years later, is creating generations of readers. The volunteers were mostly college students who also grew up with Harry Potter and are now sharing the magic with kids who are experiencing it for the first time.

It was the perfect kickoff to Halloween and is likely to become a yearly tradition, for as long as she wants to attend.

Links I Loved

Here are a few things I’ve been reading this week.

Stories from Rwanda – Humans of New York
I have been riveted this week by the heartbreaking stories from the Rwandan genocide featured on the Humans of New York Facebook page. Brandon Stanton has a way of getting to the heart of people’s stories in just a few short paragraphs. They are often poignant, sometimes funny, and usually provide insightful peeks into the varied lives Brandon encounters.

But these interviews with survivors and heroes of the genocide were beyond anything I’ve read in his already accomplished photo project. They are currently on the Humans of New York home page, but I expect they will move off at some point; look for Rwanda in the country section of the site. It’s worth the time to read them all.

To Kill a Mockingbird Named America’s Best-Loved Novel – PBS Great American Read
This result is not surprising to me at all. Number 2 on the list? Outlander. Check out the link for the full list and rankings of all 100 books that were in the running. What did you vote for?

Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret to Be a Movie – Today
I was a Judy Blume superfan as a kid, so this is amazing!

 

Let’s look at book covers!

Killed Book Covers: 18 Designs that Didn’t Make the Cut – BookRiot
I like a few of these better than the final ones.

These Book Covers Are So Terrible You Won’t Believe They’re Real – Electric Lit
The commentary and the covers are both hilarious.

These pants look like they’re from the costume closet of a middle school’s underfunded theater program and get trotted out any time they do a show set vaguely in “olden times.” The twerp on the left clearly does not know what to do with his hand.

 

On the Blog

10 Books that Will Make You Think (Even When You Don’t Really Want To)
“…getting my mind focused on smart, thoughtful books is usually the one thing that can help me feel…well, smart and thoughtful again.”

 

Happy weekend! We’ll be carving pumpkins. What are you looking forward to this weekend?

 

A Week in the Books: Links I Loved the Week of 10/26/18

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6 Comments

  1. Yay for Ravenclaw!! It’s the best house after all! 😉 I’m so glad you and your little one made such beautiful literary memories and launched a brand new tradition!

    1. Yay Ravenclaw! She decided on her own that it’s the house for her. I love that she sees herself as smart and bookish 🙂

  2. Oh my goodness, those covers!! You’re right about the Book Riot list, I liked the rejected alternates more than the final version for almost all of them. But those Wordsworth covers ??? I actually own a couple, but I guess I never really looked at them properly, because I never really realised how TRULY BAD they are! Thanks for the chuckles ?

    1. Oh my goodness–I love that you actually own some of these! I’ve looked at them several times now and they still make me laugh (and some are just horrifying).

    1. The commentary plus the covers really makes it 🙂

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