1. Smithsonian Magazine has an interesting article on Scott Joplin and Jack Johnson and the year 1910. Here's a particularly painful bit about the fight that year between Johnson and James Jeffries:

A New York Times editorial summed up a common view: "If the black man wins, thousands and thousands of his ignorant brothers will misinterpret his victory as justifying claims to much more than physical equality with their white neighbors." Jeffries was blunter: "I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro."

2. I recently read Touch by Adania Shibli (translated by Paula Haydar). Shibli is an award winning Palestinian writer and the novella is about a Palestinian family, specifically the youngest of nine sisters and how she sees her world. It's a story told in impressions, about the sites and sounds of her family, the sudden loss of a brother, the raw emotions of joy and sorrow. I felt almost overwhelmed by the language at times, by the sheer force of Shibli telling us what this girl's life is like - misunderstood by sisters, frustrated by parents, uncertain of the future or the past. In many ways it is exactly like a thousand other YA stories and yet the telling is so different that it reads like nothing else. It's poetry in prose; an exotic fragmented tale of often mundane circumstances. I'm not sure that I appreciated it enough - or that I even can appreciate it enough - but it was certainly interesting reading.

3. There's a new collection of Ray Bradbury interviews coming out from Melville House: Listen to the Echoes by Sam Weller. I'm very excited about that.

4. Neatorama has an excellent post up with several drop dead gorgeous excerpts from RARE: Portraits of America's Endangered Species by Joel Sartore. There are so many reasons to buy this book I don't even know where to begin but really, you must go check out the pictures. Stunning.

5. I just finished reading Nathaniel Fludd Beastologist Book 2: The Basilisk's Lair by RL LaFevers to my son (who is 8) and I have to say we both enjoyed it immensely. Nate continues to be both resourceful and terrified, his Aunt Phil is as nononsense as you can be when you are a fulltime beastologist and along with his little gremlin pal, Greasle, there are more friendly critters along this time as well. What I especially like about these books though is that my son is a reluctant reader (I know - can you believe it????) and along with the Magic Tree House series (a god send, I assure you), Nate is a favorite. For all the fantastic elements he really identifies with Nate and enjoys that he thinks things through - that he's smart but not super smart, so actually easy to see as a friend. I like that everything happens for a reason, there is a clear quest from the beginning and a nice overarching mystery that ties the books together. And I like that Aunt Phil treats Nate like he has a brain and is a valued part of the team.

Book 2 ends with a teeny cliffhanger, in that they must race home to see who is behind recent nefarious events. I'm sure we will be along for the next adventure; my son really wants to know what happens next. (And isn't that the best selling point I could give you for any series book?)

6. The Madame Curie Complex by Julie Des Jardins is amazing & interesting & all things a good history title should be. More on this later, but I had to tell you that so far, I'm loving it.

7. There's a new issue of Bookslut up and it is huge and awesome! So many good things over there I hardly know where to begin other than to say GO READ IT! Especially though, note my reviews of CAPTIVITY by Deborah Noyes (fiction with the very real Margaret Fox and Elisha Kent Kane about women in late 19th century US - there's love and friendship and heartbreak and happiness) also a joint review of THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot (just go read it - it's worth the hype!) and CARRIER by Bonnie Rough (finding out if you carry a genetic disease and what that means for your unborn children - wowsers) and..............my column is about painful moments for some teens and why it can be a hard life and why some writers are so blissfully good at helping us along the way. It's one of my best columns ever.

[Post pic of Jack Johnson; he was the first Black Heavyweight champion and convicted in 1908 for transporting white women across state lines for immoral purposes (both of his wives were white). Congress & the Senate have recommended he be posthumously pardoned; Pres Obama has not acted yet. (Bush did not.) Also, Lillian Gilbreth, industrial engineer and pioneering woman scientist whose story was told in the original CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN. There is an entire chapter on her in THE MADAME CURIE COMPLEX. Can I say again how much I love this book?!]