Book News Round-Up

Work has been incredibly busy lately, so much so that I've been neglecting The Librarian Next Door, which I always hate. However, once the big event at work concludes, I promise to be a much better blogger.

And now, for a new idea: the book news weekly round-up, a collection of stories I couldn't quite get a whole post out of, so I'm putting them all together:

• Carol Ann Duffy has been namd Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, becoming the first woman, the first Scot, and the first openly gay person to have that honor. She's in good company, as previous laureates include Alfred Lord Tennyson and William Wordsworth. Traditionally, poet laureates in the U.K. were courtiers who wrote to flatter the royalty and comment on events of the time. Present-day laureates, however, have used the position to champion poetry in schools and encourage others to read more poems.
  
• Yesterday (Saturday May 2nd) was Free Comic Book Day, a day which celebrates the comic book and graphic novel form by having stores give out free copies of comics to anyone who comes in. I've always been a Betty and Veronica girl myself, though I suspect the comic book elite would scoff at my less-than-"nerd-cool" choice. I did, however, thoroughly enjoy Watchmen.
  
• Last week, the L.A. Times awarded its 2008 book prizes. In addition to standard categories like fiction, biography, history and poetry, the L.A. Times award is also given out in other categories, including "first fiction" (an author's first novel), mystery/thriller, science & technology and young adult literature. Marilynne Robinson's novel, Home, took home (no pun intended) the fiction award.
• The latest buzz in book reviews belongs to Colson Whitehead's fourth novel, Sag Harbor. Amazon.com has named the book "Best of the Month, May 2009" (which is something, since the month has only just begun) and reviews so far seem nearly universally positive. Whitehead has been awarded a MacArthur "Genius" grant and was short-listed for the Pulitzer, but this book seems destined to be his "break-out masterpiece." Stay tuned to see if predictions become reality.
  

So let me know what you think, bookworms. Short news snippets or longer, more frequent posts? Ask and ye shall receive!

[Image from Getty Images]