Jeff Bezos steps down as CEO of Amazon (This week in books)

This week! Books!

Upstart online bookseller Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO of Amazon, ceding the spot to Andy Jessy, who led Amazon Web Services. Bezos will serve as Executive Chairman, and he’s still expected to stay involved in Amazon’s future.

More and more of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories are in the public domain as the years tick by, and The Guardian has an interesting look at the Conan Doyle estate’s last attempts to either shape the canon or “squeeze the last few drops out of their lemons,” depending on one’s point of view.

Documentary filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s next subject will be none other than Ernest Hemingway, and it will air on PBS in April. Hemingway will be voiced by Jeff Bridges, and Patricia Clarkson, Mary-Louise Parker, Keri Russell, and Meryl Streep will voice his four wives.

The New York Times Magazine has a fascinating profile of esteemed classics professor Dan-el Padilla Peralta, who has spoken out about the extent to which the entire classics discipline is bound up in foundational myths of whiteness and western culture. Many popular conceptions of ancient Greece and Rome took root in the 18th and 19th centuries, and have also been long seized upon by white supremacists.

Author Jennifer Hubbard has a great piece on the value of small goals.

And over at David Gaughran’s blog, Karen Inglis has advice on how to successfully self-publish and market a children’s book.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

1. The Russian by James Patterson and James. O. Born
2. The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
3. The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
4. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
5. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. Just as I Am by Cicely Tyson with Michelle Buford
2. A Promised Land by Barack Obama
3. Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
4. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
5. Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Young adult hardcover:

1. Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
2. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
3. Lore by Alexandra Bracken
4. Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
5. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Middle grade hardcover:

1. The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling
2. Little Leaders by Vashti Harrison
3. Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison with Kwesi Johnson
4. Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure by Jeff Kinney
5. Wonder by R.J. Palacio

This week on the blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

• How are you moving forward? (Or are you?)
• Weave themes into the plot description (query critique)

Don’t forget that you can nominate your first page and query for a free critique on the blog:

• Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
• Nominate Your Query for a Critique on the Blog

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Twitter
• Follow my page on Facebook
• Join the Facebook Group
• Check out the Bransforums

Comment! of! the! week! Well, it would be way too difficult to choose just one of the great comments on Monday’s post about pushing vs. accepting that things are going to go slow. So a collective Comments of the Week and my heartfelt thanks!

And finally, many people produce art without any notion of whether the person they wrote it for is really listening. I love this poignant comic strip about the song the original saxophonist for the Dave Brubeck Quartet wrote for Audrey Hepburn.

Have a great weekend!

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