What's What in the Sunday Salon, "Star Wars Day" Edition

May the Fourth be with you!

What I’m reading

• in print / on screen

The day after the Readathon, I finally finished what was supposed to be my first book of 2014. Because that was a self-imposed deadline as opposed to an external one, I picked it and put it down several times, but after nearly four months, I’m done with The Book Thief. I haven’t written up my thoughts about it yet, but I think I’ll get that done in a much shorter time (maybe even this week) However, this much I can say now: it’s joining The Sparrow on my short list of Books Everyone Must Read.

Having caught up on several unfinished books (and my “read in 2014” shelf on BookLikes), I’ve moved on to June ARCs for Shelf Awareness. I’m actually looking forward to my two cross-country plane trips later this month to and from BEA for the reading time!

• on audio

I’m a little past halfway through The Cuckoo’s Calling. I have to be honest: if it hadn’t come out that it was actually written by J.K. Rowling, I doubt I’d have even thought of reading it–but I’m liking it quite a lot, and really enjoying Robert Glenister’s narration. That said–and I’m not complaining–Rowling seems to be pretty much incapable of writing short fiction any more.

What I’m watching

As I write this on Saturday evening, we’re watching Jim Gaffigan: Obsessed for the second time this week–he’s really that funny (and family-friendly, too)!

What I’m writing

Writing is not coming in very high on my list of Things I Have Time to Do lately, but I’m seeing a light at the end of the annual-audit tunnel, and starting to think there’s a chance of getting back on the blogging-journaling-expressing-thoughts-in-words train by June…

In the meantime, I revisited some thoughts about reading diversely on Throwback Thursday. It seemed like a good time…

What caught my eye this week

…because readers and bloggers are talking about how #weneeddiversebooks and authors.

“As readers, we need authentic stories to better our experiences, and as writers we need our voices to be authenticated. The few mainstream stories that feature minority characters are often still written by the majority speaking for those groups, not the groups themselves. For example, stories about women of color written by white authors (see Secret Life of Bees and The Help) soar to the top of best-seller lists, while stories about people of color written by people of color still have problems getting traditionally published.”

–“Why All Bloggers Should Care About BookCon’s Lack of Diversity” (Queerie Bradshaw on BlogHer.com)

BookCon takes place on the last day of Book Expo America, May 31. From Left to Write offers “13 Tips for Book Expo America Attendees”, like this one:

“Don’t take every book handed to you. Really, it’s ok. I know it’s hard to turn down free books, but be honest with yourself. Are you going to be able to read all of them? You might take one to give to friends, but be realistic. Besides, your shoulders will thank you.”

And if you won’t be going to BEA, hopefully this caught your eye–the Armchair BEA agenda is posted!

Gratuitous Photo of the Week

Sorry, Duolingo, but this will never be true if I can help it!