A couple more highly anticipated fall books now have cover art. J.K. Rowling’s post-Harry Potter effort The Casual Vacancy features a simple, bold design. And the cover of Ian McEwan’s Sweet Tooth is a throwback to the design motifs of several decades ago.
New Covers for Anticipated Books
RIP Biggie
To celebrate her father's memory, T'yanna Wallace, daughter of Christopher Wallace (better-known as Notorious B.I.G.) dropped by Hot 97 with her mother to discuss "her father, working, and relationships with Faith Evans and Lil Kim."
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In Moominland
"After [WWII], the other Finnish artists formed themselves into political groups but Tove wasn’t a joiner; besides, the only political activity she enjoyed was tyrant-baiting. She decided to emigrate to the island kingdom of Tonga but the governor wrote back saying there was a housing shortage and she wouldn’t be welcome. So she created her own Tonga: Moominland." A new biography looks at the "conflicted life" and creative work of Tove Jansson, whose name has appeared several times here at The Millions.
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Roaches are Red, Violets are Blue
Looking for a last minute Valentine's gift? Well, in the words of The Bronx Zoo, "How better to express your appreciation for that special someone than to name one of the Bronx Zoo's 58,000 Madagascar hissing cockroaches after them?"
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Libraries In Trouble
Since 2003, Spain has seen its “average number of regular readers” climb from 47% (one of the three lowest in the EU) to 60%. During that time, writes Alasdair Fotheringham, the number of library borrowers in the various parts of the country has risen between 50 and 150%. Yet in spite of this burgeoning trend, library budgets are still at risk of further austerity cuts. Meanwhile, almost the exact same thing is happening in Florida’s Miami-Dade County.
Cockroaches in Skinny Jeans
Is that an iPod Nano? And a fixed gear bike? Uh-oh: you might have hipsters (via).
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James Salter (1925-2015)
Writer James Salter died on Friday. We interviewed him in 2012 and he reflected on memory and on his long life as a writer. He said, "Everything you know, nobody else knows, and everything you imagine or see belongs to you alone. What you write comes out of that, both in the trivial and deepest sense." Prior to that, in 2010, Sonya Chung wrote about Salter's legacy and how he finally seemed to be getting his due as more than just "a writer's writer."
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Foxconn Workers Get Pay Raise
It started with Mike Daisey, and eventually led to a series of profiles in The New York Times, but ultimately Apple launched a serious audit of their Chinese sub-contractors at the Foxconn Technology plants. Now, thanks to increased awareness, those workers will see 16-25% raises in pay.
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