Reading about the reading life: November 10, 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).

• Austin Kleon offers some serious advice for young writers: get yourselves a good, but not expensive, paper dictionary. He writes, "The dictionary not only gives you a gives you a list synonyms for the word you’re looking up, it also gives you a deeper understanding of the meaning of the word, and sometimes the definition can lead you to a better way of phrasing altogether." I have always made sure I keep a good dictionary in my bookshelf, and though I do not use it as often as I probably should, I do feel it is a good thing to have as a writer, blogger, and librarian. And by the way, in the Bad Economy, you can probably find one pretty cheap in the second hand market. 
• Asymptote has a profile of Magna Terra Editores, Guatemala's longest lasting publishing house. Want to learn even more? Here is a link to their website (Spanish language). They also have a Facebook page (just search for Magna Terra Editores).
• The Atlantic has an article looking at philanthropists like Carnegie, probably the most well known robber baron turned philanthropist, and others who gave money to build public libraries. 
• Inside Higher Ed reports on a recent study by Ithaka S+R that " found that students see libraries as a valuable space for services, including nonacademic services." A variety of thoughts come to mind, but I will just say that where I work we have remodeled (or rather "refreshed") in part to provide better spaces for our students. 
• Did you know at one point people feared library books could spread diseases? In the late 19th century and into the 20th century, there was a big book scare, "this scare, now mostly forgotten, was a frantic panic during the late 19th and early 20th centuries that contaminated books—particularly ones lent out from libraries—could spread deadly diseases." Read more about it in this article from Smithsonian. 
• A couple of items on reading cookbooks. I find this interesting because I do read cookbooks now and then, not so much for the recipes, but to see the photography and read any trivia and other content in them. I may write a post about that down the road. 
• Via Literary Hub, "Cookbooks are so much more than recipes and photographs."
• Via RA for All, on providing reader's advisory to cookbook readers. This is one I will reread both to keep up my RA skills as well as for ideas on reading more cookbooks. 
•  Finally, on some news from the world of children and young adult books, the comic Asterix will feature its first female hero in 60 years. I used to read Asterix comics as a kid, and I still do now and then, so looking forward to this one. Story via Literary Hub.