Activity tagged "books"

Posted:

well that sucks. apparently the ALA/Freedom To Read Foundation have trademarks on the phrase "free people read freely", which i use in a lino print i made into stickers a few years ago.

Why we're reaching outFreedom To Read Foundation recently let us know that they believe some of your listings infringe their intellectual property (IP). In line with our Intellectual Property Policy, we've carefully reviewed their report and have removed these listings from our marketplace.
Review the full report from Freedom To Read Foundation Freedom To Read Foundation Representative's Information [redacted] Freedom To Read Foundation Intellectual Property FREE PEOPLE READ FREELY trademark Trademark registration number: 7446426  
A sticker made from a linocut print, which has the text “Free people read freely” in block capitals above a person in a dress reaching to take a book from a large bookshelf. The sticker is resting on a pile of old books.

i got the phrase from a 2023 speech by librarian and former ALA leader Tracie D. Hall. i didn't think to check if it was trademarked because, lol, what a wild thing to trademark. turns out the trademark had been granted two months before i made the print.

it's no big deal from a business perspective — i don't sell these stickers for much more than they cost, because i mostly just think it's an important message that i want to help people share. i've probably given away at least as many as i've sold, which i guess is now what i'll have to do with the rest.

anyway if you were wondering what happened to the stickers, now you know.

Read:
“Why "Book-Shaming" Won't Solve the Children's Literacy Crisis”.
Jessica Winter in The New Yorker. Published .
Barnett’s concerns about literary merit and professional esteem may be timeless, but they are not terribly timely; they seem to float high above the current on-the-ground realities of what many educators and researchers agree to be a literacy crisis. In urging his audience to see children’s books as “real books,” Barnett skips over larger, more pressing questions about why so many children aren’t reading books at all, real or otherwise.
Read:
“No, AI Written Romance Novels Are Not Inevitable”.
Gita Jackson in Aftermath. Published .
Even according to the Times’ own reporting, readers do not seem to like AI romance novels. One of the two AI critical sources quoted in the article said that she would never knowingly pick up a book written by AI. Another, an author whose work had been scraped by Anthropic to train their AI model, pointed out that flooding the zone with slop makes it much harder for real human authors to be discovered by readers.  What I found most curious was Coral Hart’s reasoning for using a pseudonym in the article. Coral Hart is a retired pen name and the source would not give any of her current pen names “because she still uses her real name for some publishing and coaching projects. She fears that revealing her A.I. use would damage her business for that work.” Huh! That’s weird!
Posted:

Reviewing the 13 books I read in September and October

Missed my reading wrap-up for September and have been too busy to read as much as usual, so here’s a combined September/October wrap-up. Lots of litRPG, and James S. A. Corey’s Caliban’s War (The Expanse #2) was definitely a highlight!

@molly0xfff September and October reading wrap-up, reviewing the 13 books I read those months (no spoilers) #readingwrapup #octoberreadingwrapup #booktok #litrpg #bookrecommendations ♬ original sound - Molly White
Storygraph September 2025 wrap-up page. Books: 10; pages: 4,124; av. rating 3.94. Highest rated reads: Demon World Boba Shop Vol. 2 (4.5 stars), Discount Dan (4 stars), Demon World Boba Shop Vol. 4 (4 stars). Average book length: 400 pages; average time to finish: 4 days. 100% fiction. 60% digital, 40% audio.
Storygraph October 2025 wrap-up page. Books: 3; pages: 2,426; av. rating 4.0. Highest rated reads: Caliban's War (4.5 stars), Cul-de-sac Carnage (4 stars), Mage Tank (4 stars). Average book length: 653 pages; average time to finish: 11 days. 100% fiction. 67% digital, 33% audio.
September 2025 reads: The League of Frightened Men, Rex Stout (4 stars) The Concrete Blonde, Michael Connelly (4 stars) The Last Coyote, Michael Connelly (4 stars) Trunk Music, Michael Connelly (4 stars) The Rubber Band, Rex Stout (3 stars) Angels Flight, Michael Connelly (4 stars) Demon World Boba Shop #2, R.C. Joshua (4.5 stars) Demon World Boba Shop #3, R.C. Joshua (4 stars) Demon World Boba Shop #4, R.C. Joshua (4 stars) Discount Dan, James A. Hunter (4 stars) Caliban's War, James S. A. Corey (4.5 stars) Cul-de-sac Carnage, James A. Hunter (4 stars) Mage Tank, Cornman (3.5 stars)
Posted:

i never realized that "getting lit", as in getting drunk, dates back at least to the 1930s

“You could have phoned him last night.”
“I could not. I got lit last night. This is the first job I’ve had in a month.”
“Got any expense money left?”
“Enough for a couple of days. I’ve learned self-control.”
“How drunk are you?”
“Hell, how do I know?”
Wolfe’s brow lifted. “Gentlemen?”
Farrell said, “Mike’s all right. Forget him. He’s all right.” Julius Adler the lawyer, about the build of a lead-pencil stub, looking like a necktie clerk except for his eyes and the way he was dressed, put in, “I would say yes. We realize that this is your house, Mr. Wolfe, and that Mr. Ayers is lit, but after all we don’t suppose that you invited us here to censor our private habits. You have something to say to us?”

(via The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout, first published 1935)

Posted:

This month's fiction: very gay, very outer space.

Highlights included Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove, The Alliance series by Elaine U. Cho, and Charlie Jane Anders' Lessons in Magic and Disaster.

@molly0xfff August reading wrap-up, reviewing the 16 books I read this month (no spoilers) #readingwrapup #augustreadingwrapup #booktok #bookrecommendations #scifibooks ♬ original sound - Molly White
Storygraph August 2025 wrap-up page. Books: 16; pages: 5,756; av. rating 3.34. Highest rated reads: Of Monsters and Mainframes (4 stars), Lessons in Magic and Disaster (4 stars), Teo's Durumi (4 stars). Average book length: 352 pages; average time to finish: 4 days. 100% fiction. 56% digital, 44% audio.
August 2025 reads: Dark Angel, John Sandford (2 stars) Fugitive Telemetry, Martha Wells (3 stars) Righteous Prey, John Sandford (3.5 stars) System Collapse, Martha Wells (3 stars) Automatic Noodle, Annalee Newitz (3 stars) Judgment Prey, John Sandford (3.5 stars) How High We Go in the Dark, Sequoia Nagamatsu (DNF) The Bullet That Missed, Richard Osman (3.5 stars) Ocean's Godori, Elaine U. Cho (4 stars) Teo's Durumi, Elaine U. Cho (4 stars) Toxic Prey, John Sandford (3 stars) Lethal Prey, John Sandford (4 stars) Lessons in Magic and Disaster, Charlie Jane Anders (4 stars) Of Monsters and Mainframes, Barbara Truelove (4 stars) The Black Echo, Michael Connelly (3 stars) Space Team, Barry J. Hutchinson (3 stars) The Black Ice, Michael Connelly (3.5 stars)

The essay I mention in the video is "On the Joy of Building a Sci-Fi World with a Korean Inflection".