San Francisco is my favorite city. Not least of all because one of the local indie bookshops hosts events like this one. I love the idea of a book club where friends and strangers meet regularly and share books related to some sort of theme. Everyone goes home with a new book through a trade and bookish friends can meet for dinner and drinks and talk about bookish things without having to commit to reading the same book at the same time. I’ve unsuccessfully tried to organize a real life in person book club among my friends and acquaintances, which is why it’s so awesome to do teen book club at the library. Still, I’d like a book club where wine was allowed. Maybe hosting regular “book swap” parties is a way to get booze in my book club.
There is this fantasy author photo calendar Kickstarter going on, and it seems like a cool project. Some of my favorite authors are involved. You can get prizes for supporting the Kickstarter, and the proceeds form the sale of the calendars will benefit bookish charities.
This post on the bane of Twitter—absurd and superfluous hashtags—prompted a response from Noam Chomsky. If that doesn’t make you want to read it, I don’t know what will. I can say we’ve had meetings at the library where deciding on the hashtag to use for an event is on the agenda, so I don’t think they are going away.
Victoria Schwab shared her opinions on publishing fanfiction, and it prompted me to revisit my own feelings on the subject. You all know I love me some fanfiction, both as a way for writer’s to practice and as a way for a reader to continue to live in his/her favorite story world, but I am also ambivalent about pull-to-publish fanfiction. I think there’s a difference between changing names only and taking a 10,000 word fanfic and completely expanding upon the idea, giving it its own unique characters, etc. All ideas start somewhere. I think some writers, like Marissa Meyer, have acknowledged their fanfic roots but used it to hone their craft and published quality work without going the pull-to-publish route. It’s interesting to watch this phenomenon develop.
When I compiled a list of YA fantasy selections for book clubs, I was surprised by how few featured male protagonists (which prompted this post). In my search, I found this compilation of young adult novels with male protagonists that breaks it down my genre. I’ve found some more in my own research, as well, and have been updating reader’s advisory lists.
The Pew Research Center released a study on the demographics of social media users. While most of the numbers lined up with my suspicions, there were some surprises. I’d be more interested in what kind of results a local survey would yield, but this was still fascinating.
We always do a cat-themed post on the library’s Facebook page on Saturdays, which we dub “Caturday” and it’s great to know I’m not the only one who likes cat and book themes pictures when I see all the likes it gets. This is what our Facebook master posted this week, and I kinda love it.
What did you find during your recent Internet travels? Share in the comments.
Previous Link Roundups:
Souvenirs from my Internet Travels: Fall Edition
Souvenirs from my Internet Travels: Summer Edition
wrapped up in books 
Love the hashtag convo. For all my Twitter tips, I have never had a good handle on hashtags. I hardly use them or follow them.
Nina, I actually thought of you when I first read the article. Hashtags are great for events, such as conferences. When I was at the YALSA Lit Symposium, I could follow the hashtag for key points from sessions I wasn’t able to attend and it was easy to connect with people. They can be great for localities, too. The hashtag #LFK is used in my hometown for local updates. A lot of it is silly, some is informative, but it’s a way to connect with locals. I also have followed librarian chats that use hashtags. They are a great Twitter tool when used effectively rather than randomly. Maybe I’ll write a post about them someday.
I suspect my view of published fan fiction is similar to my view of updates/spinoffs of out-of-copyright classics (like Margot Livesey’s “The Flight of Gemma Hardy,” an update of “Jane Eyre”): They are often rip-offs and not worth my money. Creativity depends on a certain amount of borrowing, but I have a problem with a supposedly new work that is too similar to an earlier book. Is the person who lifted the plot or characters from an earlier book an author (who deserves a publishing contract) or nothing more than a plagiarizer?