📚 Goodreads review-bombing

Good morning! It’s Saturday, July 29 — people are talking about Rudy Giuliani’s big concession, Goodreads book review-bombing, and more.

As always, we’ve summarized and organized the different shades of perspective, so you can see the big picture quickly.

🤥 In the news: Rudy Giuliani’s concession

Rudy Giuliani, who is Trump's former lawyer, admitted that he lied about his claims of election fraud. Will that save him from a defamation lawsuit?

🤥 NYT: In response to a defamation lawsuit, Giuliani admitted that he lied about ballot fraud in Georgia during the 2020 election.

🤥 Salon says Giuliani admitted he lied so he could short-circuit document discovery, which would have gotten him in more trouble. But it likely won't work.

🤥 But Hot Air thinks it might work — if he argues in court that he didn't know his ballot fraud claims were lies at the time. It’s still a shaky strategy, though.

🤥 WaPo: It would be a lot easier for Giuliani to defend himself if there were any truth to the big lie about voter fraud — but unfortunately, there isn’t.

📚 Cultural trend: Goodreads review bombing

Angry bookworms are taking to Goodreads to review-bomb books that haven't even released yet. It’s ignited a passionate discussion.

📚 Goodreads is a site where people rate books. The NYT says it's also home to angry reviewers who have the power to mess with the publishing industry.

📚 CNN says yep, people are using Goodreads to “cancel” books that haven't even come out yet, usually in the form of 1-star reviews. It's not okay!

📚 The Atlantic agrees: Books that get review-bombed tend to be ones that tackle nuanced issues. Goodreads needs new rules for submitting a review.

📚 But this Substacker says don't hold your breath. Goodreads loves their trolls because strong opinions drive engagement!

📚 But maybe the 1-star reviews just aren’t a big deal. A Guardian opinion seems to think so: A Goodreads review doesn't mean much. It's all subjective!

Quick hits from today & yesterday

⚫ A mass shooting at a community outreach event in Seattle injured at least 5 people. (NBC News)

👽 A congressional hearing in Washington about UFOs has sparked overwhelming interest across the US. (The Guardian)

🎤 Fans at a Taylor Swift concert in Seattle shook the ground so hard it registered a 2.3 earthquake on the Richter scale. (NYT)

🇺🇸 For the first time, Biden publicly acknowledged his 7th grandchild, Navy, who is Hunter Biden's daughter. (BBC)

That’s it for today! Reply at [email protected] with your takes, topic suggestions, or anything at all. Here at Shades we’re trying something new – quick summaries from different points of view. We’d love to hear what you think.