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Contemporary Fiction Views: It's book fair week [1]

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Date: 2023-03-28  

Organizing is an ongoing process

Dear fellow readers, I won’t be seeing you during the regular diary time tonight because it’s book fair week.

There was a time I was a complete supporter of book fairs at schools. They were easy ways for children to see a wide range of books, and many were affordable. Even our cash-strapped family was able to buy at least one book during the fair.

But lately, I don’t feel the same. The books are the same authors featured over and over. It’s mostly due to publishing agreements, I suspect, but a lot of my students’ favorite titles do not come. And even though I’ve talked to book fair reps over and over, when they finally do send Spanish-language books most are for far older readers than my students. This time, there is only one bilingual title. The cardboard placards above the book carts, however, are in both languages and that’s a bit misleading to my mind.

I’m also grumpy about the fact that most of the books have toys in cutouts on the front covers. And we get boxes and boxes of diaries, pens, erasers and pointers. A few more boxes of affordable paperbacks would be more welcome to me than cheap junk that’s going to fall apart before summer.

But enough carping. This is my last book fair and it’s one of the things I won’t miss upon retirement.

Meanwhile, there are many wonderful works of fiction to discover and savor, One will be featured next week, and in the weeks to follow.

In other book news, two of my favorites have advanced in this year’s Tournament of Books (trying to be spoiler-free here just in case).

Some wonderful writing and writers were honored in this year’s National Book Critics Circle Awards, including titles that have been featured in this series. What a delight to see Bliss Montage, Grey Bees and Night of the Living Rez honored, as well as the remarkable Joy Harjo.

In related news, Andrey Kurkov, author of Grey Bees, will have his Diary of an Invasion published by Deep Vellum in April. The book collects his dispatches from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

May you find something to read this week that brings you comfort, joy, enlightenment or, if the stars align, a combination thereof.

READERS & BOOK LOVERS SERIES SCHEDULE

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/3/28/2160711/-Contemporary-Fiction-Views-It-s-book-fair-week

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