Category: Books

Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was supposed to be black

First edition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Last week Roald Dahl’s widow, Felicity Dahl, revealed in a BBC interview that Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was originally a black character.

Mr. Dahl’s biographer, Donald Sturrock, elaborated on this:

“It was his agent who thought it was a bad idea when the book was first published to have a black hero,” Mr. Sturrock said. “She said people would ask why.”

Do I even need to get into the problems with lack of diversity in publishing?

The New York Times offers more details about the BBC interview in this article.

 

The 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style is out

The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition

My favorite style manual has a new edition! This is my most anticipated book release of 2017.

The publisher released the following information:

This seventeenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style has been prepared with an eye toward how we find, create, and cite information that readers are as likely to access from their pockets as from a bookshelf. It offers updated guidelines on electronic workflows and publication formats, tools for PDF annotation and citation management, web accessibility standards, and effective use of metadata, abstracts, and keywords. It recognizes the needs of those who are self-publishing or following open access or Creative Commons publishing models. The citation chapters reflect the ever-expanding universe of electronic sources—including social media posts and comments, private messages, and app content—and also offer updated guidelines on such issues as DOIs, time stamps, and e-book locators.

Other improvements are independent of technological change. The chapter on grammar and usage includes an expanded glossary of problematic words and phrases and a new section on syntax as well as updated guidance on gender-neutral pronouns and bias-free language. Key sections on punctuation and basic citation style have been reorganized and clarified. To facilitate navigation, headings and paragraph titles have been revised and clarified throughout. And the bibliography has been updated and expanded to include the latest and best resources available.

See the full press release here.

Summer reading suggestions

If you’re looking for a beach read this summer, I recommend Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller and Chemistry: A Novel by Weike Wang. I especially recommend Chemistry if you’re looking for something moving and uniquely written that won’t depress you while you’re on vacation.

How long did it take to write the world’s most popular books?

George R.R. Martin’s copy editor is too busy to edit Winds of Winter

I wasn’t able to find a non-editor in my daily life who found this funny. Maybe it requires knowledge of the way GRRM has kept us waiting for his next installment. Maybe it requires knowledge of what copy editors do. Maybe it requires knowledge of the way all editors feel about editing (hint: passionate).

So, this humor post by Tyler Schmall is primarily for editors and copy editors. Read the entire article on Mashable.

“In all honesty the book has been done for like a year now, they’re just waiting for me to look it over and edit it. And honestly I wish I could. But I am just slammed at the moment. I’m like so behind on emails, and I got like three documentary series I still gotta watch. (Don’t you even think about spoiling The Keepers for me haha.) I barely have time for anything right now, and now you want me to copy edit this mammoth of a book just because YOU want to know what happens in the next installment of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy thriller saga A Song of Ice and Fire, a book series unlike anything in the cultural zeitgeist before?

That’s kind of selfish of you, don’t you think? I’m doing my best.”

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