What I've Been Reading

I love Pierre

Publishing Related (And Adjacent)

• This great write-up by David Wilson about his art for Rust Belt Arcana book and tarot deck.
  

• This great Publishers Weekly review of American Made: Stories of Work from the WPA :) (I’m really thrilled—pull quote is “A mesmerizing combination of voices…Readers will be hooked.” The reviewer’s thoughts about my introduction I find flattering, if surprising in focus (it’s often surprising to see what people respond to in your book).
  

• This truly excellent new way at looking at book sales created by Jim Hanas:

• Publisher of Hub City Meg Reid’s newsletter!
  

• The now essential ChatGPTIsEatingtheWorld on Claude and copyright.
  

• The also essential Authors Alliance on what happens with two bad guys (Elsevier and Meta) sue each other over AI and copyright.
  

• A review of Matthew Brown’s new book, which I cannot wait to read. I’m saving it for June, when I head to the Banff Centre for Arts and and Creativity for a residency in Literary Journalism to work on my research on the history of publishing and copyright in light of AI. (yes, I am freaking excited).
  

• We have to preserve the web, and the role of the Internet Archive.
  

• Rumaan Alam (former student amongst other accomplishments!) has a great new newsletter filled recommendations.
  

• It’s always a good idea to better understand fair use.
  

• Linotype!
  

• Commas and crime solving!
  

• The delightful Rare Book Chat podcast.

For Fun

• I was delighted by the The Guardian’s list of 100 best novels. Not because I care about rankings: a younger me would have railed against such canonization. No, older me is just always looking for new novels to read, and this helps me remember which undeniably good ones I haven’t yet. So I just started The Transit of Venus.. Thanks for the rec, critics! (It’s much more fun to hone in and read the top ten lists of writers you admire, and make note of their titles. I am delighted by those chosen by Hermione Lee. Custom of the Country is criminally underrated, and deserving of an updated, 10 episode series about influencers! And now I need to get to some Brookner.
  

• Not on the list is Elizabeth Gaskell, but I read my first by her this month: North and South (I’ve seen and loved the adaptation). It’s so good! It’s a page-turner! A banger! I now plan to read Cranford and Wives and Daughters.
  

• I’m a huge fan of Patrick Radden Keefe but I did not think London Falling was very good. Well—correction—it’s a very well-written book, and was gripping. I read it for hours on end. He’s so good! BUT he cannot figure out what the book is about, or the ‘answers’ to the various questions of the book’s premise. Ultimately I found myself spending a lot of time wondering about and judging the mother? Which is not what Keefe wanted me to do nor what I wanted to be doing! I have a cynical theory about how this book came about that explains its lack of ‘there there’ and it involves publishing, money, quick turnarounds and the like. Still: I remain a fan of Keefe! Read Say Nothing!
  

• I read The Ending Writes Itself which was like watching an episode of Traitors in being a pure entertainment delivery device that you both thank for helping you pass the time and cause you to question your choices.
  

• I finished War and Peace. I love Pierre. I told my friend this and she rolled her eyes and said “of course you love Pierre.” ???!!!
  

• The description of my forthcoming class on book proposals that you can sign up for, as well that for my course on author-publisher relationships that you can also sign up for!