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MARCH 15, 2019

Happy Friday! This week we celebrated some big milestones. Thirty years of the World Wide Web (remember when we used to call it that?)! Fifty years of The Godfather! And 45 years of our own dear editor Courtney. Since it’s her birthday week, we’ll let her kick things off with the first story—especially since we know she’s more of a starter than a finisher, when it comes to Audible books that is 😘

Literate tenacity pays off, literally.

While certain editors on our team would never win such a contest (OK, we’ve already outed serial incompletist Courtney), a schoolteacher’s tenacity with contractual fine print was richly rewarded. Never one to skim, Donelan Andrews was overjoyed to come across these words buried in the document: “It pays to read.” It was part of an insurance company’s contest, which gave $10,000 to a lucky winner who made it that far. We can’t offer a similar prize for knowing the answer to the question “What are the final words at the end of every Audible listen?” but when you hear them, it means you get to check off another listen on your #TBLT list—and eagle-eyed readers will notice we’ve hidden them somewhere in this newsletter!

Hindsight is 20/20.

Editor Abby is all the way here for The New York Times’ current penchant for reckoning with its distant past and noting mistakes. First they remedied the fact that many notable women, such as writer Emily Bronte and photographer Diane Arbus, didn’t garner obits at the time by giving them one now. And this week they pointed out the many scathing reviews of books that would go on to become classics. From calling J.D. Salinger a “short-story guy” as thinly veiled disdain for A Catcher in the Rye, to saying that Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 lacked “craft and sensibility,” they were misses that burn brightly today. Seriously. Who could ever give Anne of Green Gables short shrift?

Romance has no love for plagiarism.

The romance community is saying “thank you, next” to Brazilian author Cristiane Serruya, who is being accused of plagiarizing from popular authors such as Courtney Milan, Tessa Dare, and more. Fans quickly rallied around the affected authors, calling attention to the issue on social media using the hashtag #CopyPasteCris. Serruya is blaming the incident on a ghostwriter she hired, but she’s since left social media and her books are being removed from major retail sites. There’s plenty of love in Romancelandia to go around—when authors use their own words!

Authors spoke out on the higher-ed scandal…

Though it makes for an interesting premise in fiction, using money and privilege to game the university system is all too real, as we saw when the country’s largest college admissions scandal came to light this week. Federal prosecutors charged 50 people in the scheme involving bribes, fake test taking, and more. We were riveted to see two best-selling authors, Anand Giridharadas and Tressie McMillan Cottom, appear on MSNBC to talk about how their books Winners Take All and Lower Ed address this issue at both ends of the economic spectrum.

…while a smaller, furrier scandal played out underground.

Mass transit has its tradeoffs. While it’s convenient and environmentally friendly, it can also be dirty and overcrowded. And then, dear reader, there are the subway rats. Earlier this week, New Yorkers bonded over video of a rat who’d gotten herself trapped inside a metro card machine. Inside!!! Now, most subway riders have spotted a subway rat or two in their day, but this is next level. At the Audible offices, our editors were divided: Is this the grossest thing ever, or maybe just a tiny bit cute? Editor Rachel, for one, is fond of the little subway critters and points to the litany of adorable fictional rodents to help make her case.

And in a more welcome animal invasion:

Butterflies swarmed the skies of Southern California this week, delighting West Coasters and getting inadvertently squashed by them in equal measure. It felt like the opening to a Stephen King novel, noted the best-selling authors otherwise known as the Fug Girls; others might have been forgiven for wondering if the insects were a somewhat romantic sign of apocalypse. Actually, the annual migration of painted ladies is simply much more noticeable this year as the population has indeed exploded, which is good news for California’s butterfly crisis. Add another species to our list of Nature’s Movers & Shakers!
Audible hopes you have enjoyed this program. Till next week!
—the audible editors

Audiobooks in This Edition

How the Internet Happened Audiolibro Por Brian McCullough arte de portada
Wuthering Heights Audiolibro Por Emily Brontë, Ann Dinsdale - introduction arte de portada
Diane Arbus Audiolibro Por Arthur Lubow arte de portada
Three Early Stories Audiolibro Por J.D. Salinger arte de portada
Catch-22 Audiolibro Por Joseph Heller arte de portada
The Godfather Audiolibro Por Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola - introduction, Anthony Puzo - note, Robert J. Thompson - after
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