Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
From Martin Luther King, Jr. and nonfiction beach reads to reclaiming passionate love in the 21st century, today’s links encourage readers to open their minds and learn something new. Whether you’re a kid obsessed with sci-fi or an adult tugging at the seams of “practical” love, we have something to expand your horizons.
- Out of print for over a decade, several of Martin Luther King Jr.’s major works will return to bookstores in January 2010. Beacon Press has been given exclusive rights to re-print previously published works, and the publisher notes that King “seems to be speaking not from the 1950s or 60s but from the post 9/11 era, even from the Obama era.” The Guardian has more information, including which books will be among the new editions.
- Finally, summer camp for kids who want to escape Earth for a couple weeks! Well, okay, it’s actually in South Carolina, but at Shared Worlds sci-fi and fantasy writing camp the theme is “creating your own world and then imagining what life is like in it.” Instructors include award-winning fantasy authors like Tobias Buckell and Jeff VanderMeer, who develop students’ writing but also sneak some politics and history into the mix. For details about applications and the (out-of-this-world) cost, check out The Washington Post‘s Short Stack blog.
- “Summer nonfiction” is a phrase you don’t hear too often, but critic John Freeman suggests five gripping, nonfiction beach reads on NPR. From the memoir of a line chef turned foodie to an account of modern science’s beginnings in Romanticism, Freeman suggests fun books that might actually (gasp!) teach you something this summer.
- A new book from Cristina Nehring, A Vindication of Love: Reclaiming Love in the 21st Century, argues that modern relationships, pressured to be “healthy” in every way, lack the passion and pain that it takes to truly live. Citing examples from literature and history, Nehring explores the euphoria and suffering of romantic love and challenges readers to step outside their comfort zone. A review in the New York Times admits that Nehring’s arguments are a bit evasive and her claims too grand, but it praises the book for its assertion of new ideas, calling it “one of those rare books that could make people think about their intimate lives in a new way.”
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