I was shocked/entertained by the story of dissertations being thrown away and then rescued after dumpster images went viral this week. But in #ReadingTheComments, I can't get one out of my head:
"Libraries can't afford to be warehouses that store books that no one ever reads!"
Someone actually thought typing those words and broadcasting them to the world would make them look wise, that they were offering valuable criticism with their take. 🤦Capitalism is so pervasively engrained in westerners that we cannot imagine rare books existing without being profitable! I will tell you, besides going to far off places and accessing interesting environments, finding valuable information in a rare source is a very close second place in ranking why I love being a professor!
Today in LGBTQ May 27, 2020: Author and LGBTQ rights activist, Larry Kramer, died. He wrote the screenplay for the film Women in Love, (1969) and a novel called Faggots (1978), which was denounced within the gay community for its portrayal of shallow, promiscuous sex in the 1970s. However, he is probably most remembered for founding the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (1980), which became the world’s largest private organization assisting people with AIDS. And then cofounding the AIDS activist organization ACT UP (1987).
Today in Writing History May 27, 1894: Author Dashiell Hammett was born. From the age of 21-23, he worked as a Pinkerton detective and then joined the army. But he developed tuberculosis and was discharged shortly after joining. In 1920, he moved to Spokane, again to work for the Pinkertons. There, he served as a strikebreaker in the Anaconda miners’ strike. However, when the Pinkertons enlisted him to assassinate Native American IWW organizer Frank Little, he refused, and quit the agency. His first stories were published in the early 1920s. And his 1929 novel, “Red Harvest,” was inspired by the Anaconda Road massacre, a 1920 labor dispute in the mining town of Butte, Montana, when company guards fired on striking IWW miners, killing one and injuring 16 others. Vigilantes also lynched Frank Little. André Gide called the book “the last word in atrocity, cynicism, and horror." However, Hammett was most famous for The Maltese Falcon (1930) and The Thin Man (1934). Both were later made into films. In 1937, he supported the Anti-Nazi League and the Western Writers Congress. He also donated to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, fighting the fascists in Spain. He was a socialist and served as president of the Communist-sponsored Civil Rights Congress of New York. In 1953, he was subpoenaed by McCarthy’s anti-Communist witch hunt. And again, in 1955, he was celled to testify bout his role in the Civil Rights Congress. He was also convicted in absentia in 1932 of battery and attempted rape. He died in 1961, of lung cancer.
Today in Writing History May 27, 1884: Writer Max Brod was born. He is most famous as Franz Kafka’s friend and biographer. Kafka had asked him to burn his unpublished manuscripts. Instead, he famously published them. However, Brod was also an accomplished writer himself, well-known in Germany. He also mentored other writers. His endorsement of Juroslav Hasek’s hilarious anti-war satire, The Good Soldier Svejk, was crucial to its success. He was also a Zionist disciple of Martin Buber. And in 1939, he and his wife fled to Palestine to escape the Nazis, who burned his books in the book burning of 1933.
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is such a stunning achievement.
Invented sci fi. Deep moral and ethical themes. Taking the monsters perspective. And nailed the ending too.
Published in her early 20s, in pre Victorian England.
#followfriday
Hello! 👋🏻 My name is Rich and I’m horror novel/film junkie. Most of my posts involve spooky books and movies. You’ll also get some occasional Hawaii stuff and general all around nerdery.
I was on WUNC earlier today to chat about The #Science of Kissing on NPR’s Embodied.
It was a treat to meet the other guest, Kadar Small, a photographer, director & filmmaker behind the acclaimed photo series “PDA.” Kadar photographs moments of kissing & intimacy between Black & brown queer folks in public & at home, exploring what this kind of connection looks like through his work.
Hello, all! I'm AJ Ridley, and I'm a big time reader and writer. I enjoy fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and nonfiction. If you're a reader or writer, don't hesitate to connect with me. 🙂
Wow!!! The Week Junior Book Award shortlist is out and #TheChestnutRoaster is there for Cover of the Year!
PLEASE VOTE for it!!! 🙏🤗 https://www.theweekjuniorbookawards.co.uk/
I count my lucky stars every time I look at its design by the amazing Holly Ovenden 🧡
Trevellas Coombe in St Agnes, Cornwall and it’s neighbouring bay, Trevaunance Cove played a massive part in inspiring my dark thriller Badlands.
There’s an old wreckers tunnel running from the cliffs through to the Driftwood Spars in the village, and the pub and the tunnel also feature heavily in the book.