Reading about the reading life: March 20, 2019 edition

Welcome to another edition of "Reading about the reading life" here at The Itinerant Librarian. This is where I collect stories about reading and the reading life. Basically, these are items related to reading, maybe writing and literacy, that I find interesting and think my four readers might find interesting as well with a little commentary. As with other features I do on this blog, I do it when I have time or feel like it. Comments are always welcome (within reason). 

Let's see what interesting things I have found for this week:

• In Niger, a story about a derelict mosque being converted to a library and community center. Yes, they also built a new mosque nearby. Via De Zeen.
• For your amusement and entertainment, a look at the art of book covers from 1820 to 1914. Via Public Domain Review. 
• Maggie Levantovskaya tells us about being a college professor without books. Via Lit Hub.
• Also via Lit Hub, something closer to home: a look at a radical bookstore in Appalachia. The story is Firestorm Books and Coffee. I am thinking road trip.  So what's the big deal? According to the article, "Since 2008, Firestorm has supported grassroots movements in southern Appalachia while developing a workplace on the basis of cooperation, empowerment and equity."
• One  more via Lit Hub, a suggestion that every book tour include a public school. 
• If you are wondering why so many children's books do not seem original, this may be why. According to a new report one in four children's books in 2018 were based on licensed properties. Via NPD Group. 
• Another look at the publishing business. From Ethan Hirsch's blog, argument that we can look at publishing as venture capital. He writes, "While cynics or the uninitiated might be prone to roll their eyes at this attempt to draw a connection between the high-flying and innovative world of venture capital investing and the seemingly staid, stagnant, and predominantly print-based publishing industry, the comparison is a lot less farfetched than you’d think."
• Do you feel like you are not reading enough books in a year? GQ has some suggestions on how to read 80 books a  year give or take. We also get some good advice on what to read and what to not read because not everything you read is good for you. Granted, you can read some fluff once in a while; I  certainly do, but it is also good to read some substantial books. 
• Houstonia Magazine presents a profile of the downtown Houston Metropolitan Research Center and its rare books collection. The center is part of the Houston Public Library system. When I worked in Houston, my job was not far from this place.
• On another bit of trivia: no, academic libraries do not buy as many books from Amazon as you might think. Via Forbes. I'd take that with a bit of a grain of salt. Most big academic libraries often have a "jobber"  like Baker and Taylor to purchase books from. For smaller places, like my workplace, a jobber may not be the best option. I will note we do get a few books from Amazon, and yes, often they are used books since budgets are tight. 
• Brian Keene on his blog announces the 2018 nominees for the Splatterpunk Awards. These awards "recognize superior achievement in the sub-genres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror." This is a genre I've been wanting to read and explore more. 
• Need to relax a bit? You like coloring books? Well, if you want something a bit different, you can download some free coloring books and images from various museums. Via Open Culture. 
• Via  The Paris  Review, a look at reading in an age of distraction. Article also looks at the book The Gutenberg Elegies, which turns 25 years this year. 
• Also via The Paris Review, an "ode to the library museum." 
• Via The American Conservative, which I admit I do not read often but peek at now and then, a look at "the Hedonism of Reading Good Books." The article looks at William Hazlitt and reading "old"/classic books.  
• Need some more reading ideas? Are you a revolutionary needing inspiration? Well, via The Paris Review, learn about what  Che Guevara and Fidel Castro read. A bit from the article: “'There are periods of boredom in the life of the guerrilla fighter,' he warns future revolutionaries in his classic handbook, Guerrilla Warfare. The best way to combat the dangers of ennui, he helpfully suggests, is reading. Many of the rebels were college educated—Che was a doctor, Fidel a lawyer, others fine art majors—and visitors to the rebels’ jungle camps were often struck by their literary leanings. Even the most macho fighters, it seems, would be seen hunched over books." 
• Via The Times Literary Supplement, a look at the Bodleian Library's holdings of "obscene material."  Turns out that "established in 1882, it was dubbed the “Φ” (Phi) collection: this was the shelf mark used by the Bodleian to identify those texts deemed too obscene, libellous or otherwise risqué to be made available to undergraduate readers." This collection includes literary, medical, and erotica materials. Much of it is being displayed now. 
• In a little trivia, it seems that letter writing is making a comeback, especially among younger people. There is a growth in pen pal clubs. Via Yes! Magazine.

On a side note, a look at the not so nice side of the reading life:

•  Via Lecturalia, (Spanish language article) a short article on Heinrich Himmler's esoteric library, which was built largely on plundering Jewish and other groups' libraries. 
• The New York Times takes a look at a world we may not know about or think about, and that is the world of racist science fiction. Yes, white supremacists put out quite a corpus of literature, including science fiction. A lot of it is self-published. 
• Via The Prosen People, "how American Fairs Became a Breeding Ground for Nazism." A lot of it has to do with the eugenics movement that was popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century.