What I've Been Reading, February Edition
Been awhile since I’ve done one of these, so now, quickly:
Publishing Related
This really brilliant analysis of the publishing industry in the latest
(which does mention Belt and an interview I did)
Said interview, in Jane Friedman’s Hot Sheet, which is full of great reporting, and includes information about the company that now owns Belt
(Book Post and The Hot Sheet are where I learn so much about publishing. They are both exemplary, and both deserving of your subscription dollars.)
Brian Alexander, who is writing some of the best and important nonfiction these days, spoke out against Ohio GOP leaders and the Ohioana Book Festival was punished in response. This is a very interesting story that I think deserves more notice. It’s similar the book banning controversies everyone is discussing but, importantly, different in terms of the institutions and money involved. Here’s Brian’s op-ed about the affair.
Type Punch Matrix’s paperback collection is, in my opinion, a brilliant way to forecast the future of books as well as book collecting.
Fitzcarraldo and the publisher as curator (that’s what I’ve been saying, better put!)
What is going on with ebook prices and higher ed? Anna E. Clark asks the right question, and here’s to whomever writes a deep dive on academic libraries, ebooks, and pricing. Someone asked me a question about ebook pricing and licenses recently and I did not know how to answer. Help us out.
There’s nothing I love more than weird stories like the delayed, insane popularity of some random book.
(Go check out what Sarah Maas books are selling for on eBay for a taste of another crazy yet less unexpected bubble)
I would love all the writers and academics up in arms about AI to read this book (along with me; I’m working through it slowly), because so much of the convo about AI is really/also about copyright, and many peoples’ positions on one do not make sense given their position on the other. Do you want stricter copyright laws? Really? Let’s all think this through more carefully. This podcast might help. Also this very smart essay by Meghan O’Gieblyn.
A fabulous story about book cover design.
A throwback to my previous obsessions, some book history on how people used to read.
Leisure
It’s been bad! So bad, when it comes to fiction. I tried some buzzy new novels only to be bummed out at how much I did not think they merited the buzz. I spent some time on Kate Middleton reddit. I scrolled. My reading life has not been healthy in 2024 and I am really looking forward to that changing, stat. In desperation (not really) I have returned to Graham Greene who can really write a sentence! But in my head I hear the voice of a former colleague who made fun of my tendency to “read old novels.” Lol. I love that something I am proud of can also be ridiculed. People! All so different!
I know the novels I will love are being written and published today, tomorrow, last month, but they are harder for me to find than they used to. I cannot trust the MSM reviews—how many times do I need to be burned?—so I rely on people whose reading taste I know well enough to know I can trust, and know is similar to mine. Word of mouth: it’s what works.
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