The finalists for the John Leonard Prize — for a first book in any genre — were announced by the National Book Critics Circle. This year’s finalists are Lesley Nneka Arimah‘s What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky, Julie Buntin‘s Marlena, Zinzi Clemmons’ What We Lose, Layli Long Soldier’s Whereas, Carmen Maria Machado‘s Her Body and Other Parties, and Gabriel Tallent‘s My Absolute Darling. The winner will be announced in January. Pair with: Buntin’s 2017 Year in Reading entry.
2017 John Leonard Prize Finalists Announced
Delicate Husk, Inconvenient Hair
Recommended Reading: "So Often the Body Becomes a Distraction" by Kaveh Akbar.
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Sad Face
A new service called linkmoji will translate the letters in URLs into -- you guessed it -- emojis. What are the chances novels aren’t that far behind? At Salon, Erin Coulehan explores the possibilities of the emoji novel.
Need something to read?
If you're in need of a great read this week, you'll be glad to know that Byliner has compiled a list of 101 spectacular nonfiction stories from 2011. They run the gamut from investigative to personal to borderline trivial: There's Mac McClelland's incredibly daring and disturbing essay on working through PTSD through controlled sexual violence, alongside Jon Mooallem's history of the high five. Happy reading!
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Amazon Announces Free One-Day Shipping
As the holiday shopping wars heat up, Amazon has announced a surprise offer of free one-day shipping through December 22 on thousands of items, but not, as best as I can tell, books. Of course, in Amazon's eyes, all those ebooks already ship instantaneously.
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Susan Orlean’s Library Book
Year in Reading alum Susan Orlean's next book will be entitled The Library Book. It will be “a love letter to an endangered institution, exploring their history, their people, their meaning and their future as they adapt and redefine themselves in a digital world.” The book will focus in particular on the unsolved 1986 razing of the Los Angeles Central Library.
A GIF Search Engine
Last weekend marked the debut of Giphy, a new search engine for animated GIFs. Of course, I’m not willing to give a verdict on its utility just yet – the database doesn’t seem to list my three favorite GIFs of all time: therapist lion, slow motion corgis, and Kermit meets Christian.
