Month: March 2021

“The Hill We Climb” out today

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During the inauguration of President Joe Biden Amanda Gorman just about stunned all of us with her inaugural poem. It was the first time (myself included) many had heard her name. As announced shortly after her reading, her inaugural poem is now available in book form today. Talking to someone last night I realized I don’t read poetry. But there’s no specific reason why I don’t. Amanda may just change that when a collection of her poems released later this year.

Do you have a favorite poet or poetry collection?

Not a post about books

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Sometimes you just have to do something because of the hype. That was me recently when I started the series Schitt’s Creek. I remember last fall and into this year the show seemingly winning every award imaginable. So I started it a few weeks ago.

The show follows the Rose family, who has lost their entire family fortune that had grown into hundreds of millions of dollars. As a result they’re forced to relocate to a rural town they bought as a joke many years before.

I always go into new shows with an open mind. Though some I just can’t get behind. This was one of the greats. From just about the very beginning the show depicts LGBT characters as just regular people like everyone else. I can’t recall a moment during the show when I felt like someone was trying to teach me something or trying to lecture me about how I should feel about the community. This made it more genuine, in my opinion.

The Roses are not meant to be ordinary people. But the creators managed to really show growth from all of the main characters season after season. They’re different people in episode 80 than they were in episode one. For these and many more reasons, it’s a must watch and can be streamed on Netflix and Prime Video.

Amazon can sell whatever it chooses to

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Last week there was a bit of “uproar” over Amazon’s decision to no longer sell certain books on its platform. Several US Senators had sent a letter requesting additional information regarding this decision. Amazon’s lengthy response stated rather clearly that the company would no longer sell books that label LGBTQ identity as mental illness.

Personally speaking, this is another great move within the book industry. Knowing books like that are being written reminds me of where we were as a society a hundred years ago when seemingly every ailment or condition was treated as a mental illness.

But that’s also not the point. The point is Amazon is a retailer. Retailers decide what they will or won’t sell on their platform. Every retailer makes this decision. So it should come as no surprise that Amazon made a decision about products listed on its site, though many would have you believe this is akin to censorship. If I own a bookstore down the street and decide to only sell romance novels or audiobooks or erotica, that’s my choice. Just like it’s Amazon’s choice here.

Dr. Seuss did what kind of sales numbers last week?

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Last week it was announced almost out of nowhere that several books published by the prolific author would no longer be published because of racist stereotypes. I remember reading an article the following day that showed his books taking half the top 50 slots on Amazon’s charts. That’s insane.

Now I’ve just read an article that says his book sales quadrupled last week. I mean, what? It seems many people think there’s a possibility that this may happen to some other titles, so they’re buying and buying and buying his books before it happens. People can spend their money however they’d like, but this comes across as a bit tone deaf. Rather than acknowledging that he likely has other titles that may be problematic, it seems everyone is just buying the books as quickly as they can.

Call me Unimpressed

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EL James is best known for her Fifty Shades trilogy. It ended several years ago. More recently, she has published (and will be soon) the same stories from Christian Grey’s perspective.

We all know about the nature of capitalizing on successful franchises is to keep them going or relevant as long as possible to keep the dollars coming in. But this just comes across as lazy and lacks creativity. Maybe I’m in the minority here. Her name is more than enough to make an instant bestseller, so why not write something completely new?

On Not Reading…Again

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I could search through the archives on here and find several posts about not reading. I started the year on an all-time high. I’d finally reached my goal of 50 books in a calendar year. There was no stopping me. Fast forward two months and I haven’t read a single page since mid-January.

At first I was pacing myself. No need to fly through every book in sight. Then life happened. February gave me some phenomenal memories. Then things fell apart. I became distracted by every possible thing, besides my books. But I’ve made a recent decision that will hopefully give me lots of free time in the coming days, weeks, and months. What better to do than get back into a reading groove?

Just have to round the corner and get back into it.

What’s happening with Dr. Seuss?

John Guillen7 Comments

This morning when I opened Twitter I read multiple articles from different sources about Dr. Seuss. What’s being reported is that several of his works will no longer be published because “they portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong”.

One might think this is just cancel culture at its best, but this is coming directly from the company responsible for his catalog of work. This isn’t the internet or the media. The decision is a good one, but one must wonder why Dr. Seuss is so revered at all when you look at his work prior to becoming the household name we all know. Spoiler alert: it isn’t pretty.

This is a decision that should be applauded, but of course that won’t happen from everyone. What do you think?