Readers Respond
Last week, novelist Claire Fuller wrote a Soapbox column about the strange things readers leave in books, noting that librarians have found, among other unlikely objects, raw bacon, a pressed flower, a taco, and an unsent letter. After the column made its way around Facebook and Twitter, our social audience was quick to respond with some of the strange things they’d found in used books. Here are some of the highlights:
@theroyalcrabbit: Working in bookstores, I found cash, airline tickets, and a garter belt.
Jay Shep (via Facebook): The weirdest (and grossest) thing I’ve found inside a book is a squashed lizard!
Andrew Lark (via Facebook): The most awesome thing I found in a book was a $100 bill from the 1930s!
Phyllis Hamm Grubbs (via Facebook): I found an obviously doctored college diploma in a library book. The person had altered a B.S. diploma to look like an M.B.A.
Dan Sullivan (via Facebook): Four joints, lots of foreign currency, flowers... The joys of a secondhand bookstore.
Karyn Craw (via Facebook): A thong. It was purple and green.
From the Newsletters
What the data says about which current popular author uses the most clichés, and other surprising statistical findings Ben Blatt made while researching his new book, Nabokov’s Favorite Word Is Mauve.
Remembering memoirist and children’s author Amy Krouse Rosenthal, who died last week aged 51.
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The most-read review on publishersweekly.com last week was Theft by Finding: Diaries, 1977–2002 by David Sedaris.
Podcasts
PW senior writer Andrew Albanese breaks down a busy London Book Fair, and how political uncertainty around Brexit and the Trump administration energized fairgoers.
Cartoonist Pénélope Bagieu talks about California Dreamin’, her unconventional new graphic biography of Mama Cass Elliot.
From the PW Radio archives: educator Nisi Shawl discusses her debut novel, Everfair. Plus, meditation teacher Lodro Rinzler talks about his book, Love Hurts.
Blogs
One bookseller shares her secrets for running a successful costume event.
