My Thoughts on the Gina Tomaine Interview

The first thing that struck me about the interview with Gina Tomaine was thinking about magazines in relation to publishing; that I don't think people often think about non-literary magazines when discussing publishing, especially in literary circles. I think popular culture gives us all a specific idea of what it means to work in a magazine: Kate Hudson in "How to Lose A Guy In 10 Days" or Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada” are what immediately come to mind, and I think it’s fairly obvious that it’s over-glamorized and not necessarily the only career that a woman is allowed to have (despite how rom-coms seem to think it is). I had never thought about there being specific awards for the people who write and edit magazines, not just for the magazines themselves. It makes sense that magazines would be overly (not the word I’m looking for, something more like “moreso”, but I think it kind of gets the idea across) concerned with fact checking; I’d never thought about it much, but the fact that any mistake could seriously damage the credibility of the magazine puts that much more pressure on the people in charge of making sure that those mistakes don’t happen. It sounds like magazines operate more closely to newspapers than I would have thought. Also, the idea about editing yourself being harder than editing other people’s work definitely hit close to home; I’ve written things and edited them and thought “yes, good, this is good, this is done” and then shared it with a friend who immediately points out at least three spelling mistakes and two places where the idea I was trying to communicate was fully incomprehensible. The pressure of knowing that your writing will affect not just your reputation, but the reputation of everyone you work with is absolutely terrifying. And the scheduling aspect of it all seems incredibly overwhelming; to be working on the June edition at the end of March is absolutely mind blowing to someone who rarely starts things three hours before they’re due, let alone three months. I have to wonder how the coronavirus is affecting publication of magazines; they’re still being sent out (or at least, the ones I’m subscribed to are), but what is the cost for the people working on them? And what kind of permanent effect will it have; obviously more magazines and newspapers and publishers of all kinds are going to be shifting to digital and online platforms, but I have to wonder if physical publishing will ever fully recover from the hit it’s taking right now.

my version of goodreads (well sorta I think)

Ah, yes. Welcome to my realm.

To be fair, I've never used Goodreads. My only exposure to it until literally just now was the rating in the google quick info box whenever I've looked up books. And after a cursory look through the site, it's quite similar to the site I use to categorize manga and light novels (they're kinda like the step between manga and novels, they're full prose but they read really easily and have a similar feel to manga despite being prose), myanimelist. It's got anime in its title because it started as just a platform to categorize and rank anime, but expanded to include manga, books, webcomics, some korean and chinese comics, and so on.

So here's my page:

It's a massive database, there's rankings out of 10, friends lists, favorites, forums, reviews, recommendations, and even its own digital manga store. I think they even host the first few chapters of a bunch of different manga for free.

A specific page looks like this:



Further down the page is background info, links to related series and adaptations, character lists, reviews, discussions, user made recommendations, links for purchase, and articles it's been featured it.

Specific characters have their own pages with bios, stats, and user favorites that are very similar to actor and author pages. A lot of this site is like a more specific version of Wikipedia in how it's built. For example, certain character pages can be super short:



And some can be long:



Like, really long.



And these differences mostly just come from exposure. If there's more people that know about the character, then there's more potential for some really enthusiastic person to pop off about a character they like and write up an essay for them.

I've noticed that mal is a lot beefier of a site than goodreads, but the most surprising thing was the lack of a top books list on goodreads. Like all I saw were the more specific lists of top 2019, and top from a genre, not just a general top of all time list. But I guess on the flipside of that, mal doesn't have many specific top lists, just break downs of major categories for of all time lists.



So yeah, the sites are pretty different, but still fill the same role. The differences probably just come from the demographic difference, like books are far more general while manga and anime are much more specific, thus resulting is more features over at mal.

So anyway, I'll end with my manga favorites list.

                               

#6 Ryouko Kui, refreshing fantasy about food

I haven't been reading much because for the last couple weeks I've just existed in this unmotivated stupor as I attempt to finish off the semester, but before I hit this state I was reading through Delicious in Dungeon by Ryouko Kui.

It's a fantasy manga about a brother attempting to save his sister from the clutches of a dangerous dungeon. Pretty typical set up, but most of the series is focused around eating and trying not to starve to death.

So the series opens on the main party losing a battle with the Red Dragon deep in the dungeon because they ran out of provisions and were wearily hunger. The main character Laius is about to get eaten, but his sister pushes him out of the way and performs a spell to get everyone else back to surface before she gets eaten. Laius immediately wants to go back in to rescue his sister, and because of his suicidal determination to do so, two of his companions leave the party. Left with only two other companions (Chilchack the Halfling and Marcille the Elf) and no supplies he goes back in to slay the Red Dragon before his sister gets digested.

        

And his plan on how to not starve? Eat the monsters within the dungeon, much to the chagrin of the other two, especially Marcille (she's great cause she's just so done with everything and eats so begrudgingly). Early on in this endeavor they meet a dwarf, Senshi, who has been living in the dungeon for a while and he joins them as a very crucial cook and source of knowledge.

      

This dude's pretty sick. And he actually turns into such a bro, which with where I am currently in the story I'm not entirely sure why? Maybe he just has a strong sense of duty, but he's become a more loyal ally to Laius than Chilchack, who had been in his party for waaaay longer than Senshi.

Most things being told through the perspective of food (and really wacky food, like slimes, mimics, krakens, mandrakes, vegetables farmed off the backs of golems, etc) makes it have a really interesting spin. It gives the monsters a lot of personality and detail, and I just think it's a refreshing take on the typical Tolkien fantasy setting.

                
               

Also, the plot isn't all just going to find the Red Dragon, they actually defeat it around chapter 25 (it's currently 63 chapters long, updating monthly). I'm only a little past this point, but it developing beyond the original concept has been great so far. It's gotten more characters and more world building and it's gotten a lot darker and everything feels graver and more pressing.

Also here's an animated commercial that got made for one of the book releases. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aUBQZc9h1w

I look forward to getting back to it once school allows me to be a person again.

Thai Harry Potter

time for a shotgun of blog catch up posts over the next couple days. I got really thrown off by, yanno, everything.

So I'll start with the shortest, these cool exclusive Harry Potter covers from Thailand that I came across the other day.















I'm not really the biggest fan of the magic boy but these covers are pretty sweet.

The Good Place and Jean Paul Sartre! ~some~ spoilers

While being stuck at home, I started watching the tv show The Good Place and it is quite good. It is about a woman named Eleanor who dies and is sent to the Good Place, but the system messed up and thinks that she is someone else. Eleanor is a selfish and mean woman who doesn't care about anyone else. The system that decides if people belong in the Good Place or the Bad Place apparently messed up and thought she was a humanitarian who saved lives and was an amazing person. She has to lie in order to prevent her from being sent to the bad place and is taught moral philosophy by her "soulmate", a moral philosophy professor.

At the end of the first season, the four main characters get into a huge argument. Eleanor realizes they are in the Bad Place. They do not need traditional torture devices like flame throwers or knives. They are torturing each other. This immediately made me think of Jean Paul Sartre's play No Exit. After looking more into The Good Place online, I found out that the show is actually loosely based off of the ideas in No Exit.

At the beginning of the semester, one of the attendance questions was what is your favorite book, and mine wasn't actually a book but the play No Exit so I was very excited to learn that the show's premise was based off of that play. I then went back and reread No Exit and was able to find some more similarities.

The characters in No Exit arrive in hell and are confused because it does not look like the traditional idea of hell. There are only 3 couches in a room where the characters are brought into. The Good Place does not actually look like hell either. It seems like a happy normal town. Two of the characters in No Exit have a hard time figuring out why they were sent to hell because they both thought they were good people. One of the woman however openly admits all the evil things she has done and acknowledges that she belongs in hell. This is similar to Eleanor knowing she does not really belong in the Good Place while the other main characters believe that they were great people on Earth and deserve to be there.

On top of the direct connection to No Exit, I have also just been nerding out in general watching this show every time they reference a specific philosopher or branch of moral philosophy. If any of you haven't seen it, I highly recommend watching it (sorry I gave away what happens in the first season but I was too excited not to share!). I also suggest reading No Exit because it is my favorite story! It is a short one act and an easy read; not a lot of jargon. It really reframed my thinking the first time I read it and each time I read it I feel like I notice new subtleties and learn new stuff.

Reading updates and brain mush

Admittedly, quarantine has me totally in my own head, and disparate from my academic responsibilities. I'm sure many can relate. I've been calling it "brain mush" because that's the only thing that captures it. Time is now just imaginary; everything is imaginary outside of my room. Are people not talking about it because we're still in collective shock or because we get it already and I'm just the last to adjust? Anyway....

Schoolwise, I've read Moby Dick by Herman Melville, as well as an English-professor-grade curation of Emily Dickinson poems. Moby Dick was actually really good and beautifully written, barring the slow plot and my ambivalence towards Melville. 

I put in a fairly big order at Better World Books last week, since they had a sale/free shipping special and honestly, I've been long overdue for finding a way to keep my mind occupied. The novelty and panic have worn off to make room for boredom and restlessness. 

Yesterday I read Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin in two sittings. It was published as part of Penguin's "Great Loves" series in the UK, so I had to adjust to the punctuation being a bit wonky. But it was really profound and sad and beautiful. Baldwin's writing isn't pretentious - he uses words twice in sentences sometimes - but the deeper meanings he conveys are immense, and I know I'm going to have to read it over again. He does a great job of depicting shame with raw honesty, and in a way I have never read before.

Last night I started Billie Holiday's autobiography (cowritten with William Dufty since she only went to school through the fifth grade), Lady Sings the Blues. She's a riot. It's not a literary gem, so to speak, and brings me back to our discussion of what gets published, but she was such a badass woman it's certainly an instance of the content being more important than the delivery. And yet! her personality is so infused in the retelling the delivery is something in itself. I love her music and there's something so special about hearing about an artist's life in their own words. I'm only on page 52 but that progress alone was made in a very sleepy state, so I'm sure I'll chug through it without much difficulty.

Next in my queue is Milan Kundera's The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, a translation by the author of another book I read and really enjoyed, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. He has a really cool way of bringing unexpected perspectives so eloquently to taboos and common occurrences alike that you can't tear yourself away from seeing how he's going to finish his thoughts. It's refreshing, if cynical at times, but then again I like cynicism more than walking in circles around banalities, especially if it's done tastefully. A breath of fresh air for someone who tends to dwell in heavy things.

More books are coming any day now! I don't even remember what else I ordered but I'm more than happy to be surprised. I hope everyone is staying safe and doing okay! 

on editing general nonfiction by matt weiland

Hiya, it's been a while. How's the apocalypse been?

So this delivers on exactly what the title makes you expect, and it was surprisingly similar to fiction. From the slight amount that I've dipped my toes into the fiction writing world and the bits of edits I've received are very similar in nature (although I can definitely say that that I've never received a note of just yee-haw as the Weiland said he is sometimes wont to do). It was interesting to see the editor go on about the narrative, the arc, and the "curve" of nonfiction books, which I had never really thought about. Granted, I really don't enjoy nonfiction so I haven't thought about it much in general, but it was different and a bit intriguing to see the viewpoint of someone with a burning passion for nonfiction.

One certain interesting bit was how with one book Weiland was editing a book about an author's time at the New York Times, he asked the author to "think like a chapter" and to consider the narrative propulsion of the piece and considering the questions they want to guide the reader to. Now while this sounds super like fiction, the interesting part is that elsewhere in the article Weiland was overjoyed when one of his authors included an over-the-top in-depth history and description of phosphorous. The only question I'm being guided through is "Why?" One had interesting and entertaining stories but needed direction, and the other dude had a somewhat related topic but then went ridiculously hard on it and that was fine. I guess execution is at the heart of everything in writing, but the dichotomy there struck me.

So yeah, the main message I got was that what to consider when writing and editing nonfiction and fiction isn't entirely different. The subject of the reader that needs to be considered doesn't change much as both are generally marketed.

"Whether the writers I work with follow my editorial suggestions or not, what I hope they remember is the spirit in which they're made—an enduring commitment to a writer's ideas and style, a passion for making them public, and a diehard belief that there are plenty of good readers for great general nonfiction on any subject."

thoughts on Jane Friedman's "A New Age of Discovery"

Jane Friedman’s “A New Age of Discovery” concludes What Editors Do by taking a look at the present and future of the publishing industry in terms of technology and how people, particularly large publishers need to adapt to the changes the industry is going through. What I really liked about this chapter was that while so many think negatively of the way technology has changed reading, Friedman provided a more objective look and rather than suggesting that it should stop changing, she explained how publishers need to change with it through the use of metadata, SEO, and more personal relationships with consumers and readers.

Relationships seemed, to me, to be one of the main points of this chapter. According to Friedman, because publishing has increased so much, a book is no longer anything special just by being published, which means publishers and authors benefit from having a real community of readers that like their book for more specific and contextual reasons. This is interesting to me because I think we tend to assume that technology makes things less personal, but apparently this might not actually be the case for books and reading, which I think is probably best exemplified by online communities of readers like fanfic sites or Booktube. I also liked how at the end of the chapter, Friedman stressed that the relationship between an editor (or agent) and a writer are still incredibly important during these changes. Do you guys agree that relationships are more important now or do you think they’re less important? I think I agree but I could see how there might be a case for so much quantity and fast consumption limits the possibility of deeper connections. 

Going back to a previous point, do you guys think these changes are overall good and that publishers should adapt? I’m inclined to think they are; potentially amazing books can get published easier and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with businesses changing how they work as the world around them changes. If large publishing companies need to emphasize marketing more, then why shouldn’t they? That touches on a quote Friedman gave from the chief digital officer of HarperCollins: “Marketing has been the division most impacted by the need to change. There has been the change from analog to digital, but also the need to transform from trade marketing to relationship marketing.” There’s the emphasis on relationships again. 

On the other hand, Amazon is monopolizing book sales, both physical and electronic, but Amazon is kind of monopolizing everything, so I feel like e-books and self-publishing are not the problem; the problem is Amazon and the system that allows it to be a monopoly (but that’s a different topic). Overall, I do think that the widespread availability of stories and the ability to tell them is a good thing, but I’d love to hear other thoughts on it. 

Overall, I thought this was an interesting chapter and I liked that it felt a lot less negative than other things I’ve seen discussing technology in reading and publishing. And as an added positive, it didn’t make me feel bad for having an e-reader!

My Thoughts on the Gina Tomaine Interview

The initial parallel that struck me between our class and the Gina Tomaine interview is the “journey” we often talk about to land a position in a publishing house. As we have come to find out, the social foundation of this particular industry is crucial, and often will aid one in finding a job. Gina, like many others, had a winding path which eventually led to becoming the Health and Wellness Editor at Philadelphia Magazine. She talks about leaving Boston Magazine to move back to Pennsylvania, where she was doing freelance work for some time. I don’t know about you guys, but the lack of a steady income that many authors and editors alike experience scares me. I forget where, but I read something recently that said publishing is a survival of the fittest industry, and you have to fight your way through the competition. Whilst this is true of many industries, it is one of the bigger ones, I think, where being freelance is ubiquitous in nature. Do you think this is what may deter some from entering or sustaining a publishing career? Often, as seen with Tomaine, on the other side awaits a dream job.

What is described as the “best training” to see how a reporter or writer’s mind work is the job of fact-checking. In doing so, you are retracing the steps of the writer, following their line of logic, and in doing so, reviewing the history or accuracy of the subject at hand. I feel like this skill would be undeniably useful as an editor, as part of the job is understanding the writer or writer’s intent and then being able to make it universally understood. 

Something I didn’t know magazines, like Philly Mag, require is an outline of each story. I definitely see their value, especially given the shorter time frame between writing a piece and having it published in comparison to books. Does this mean some of the research or interviews have to happen before a story gets approved, or is it really basic formatting things? And how does it work when you’re trying to stay on top of the news and publish something quickly and digitally?

In light of COVID-19, many publishing industries have had to cut back on staff in order to stay afloat. Tomaine says over at Philly Mag, everyone is furloughed for a month (if they weren’t ones that were laid off), but their jobs remain intact upon their return. With print books and magazines already in trouble with modern digitalization, how do you guys think the global pandemic will affect these industries moving forward? Do you think this will catalyze a big push to digital? Tomaine explained how digital traffic has increased 75%, given that more people are spending time online and searching for cabin fever cures during this period of isolation. I’m sure smaller publishers in particular will struggle to stay open. That being said, she said regional magazines/city mags have a dedicated readership given the niche of the magazine, so who is most at risk? For those that have been on co-ops, or may have been hired recently for an upcoming one, have you heard how they’re doing? 

Other questions:

• Is anyone interested in publishing thinking about or wanting to pursue a career in magazine publishing?

• Where do you see print magazines in the future, if at all?

• Why do you think having an online presence for print magazines is important?

• As an editor for a book, the author’s voice has to shine through. For a magazine, it’s the house’s that is most important. What limitations do you see with this?

Finding Motivation

            Hello everyone! I hope you are all healthy and hopefully happy. Going on day 26 of Quarantine, I have to admit it’s been difficult. Waking up knowing there isn’t going to be much to do makes it difficult to do work. There is no motivation anymore for me to do my schoolwork or mange things for work, so deadlines are tending to creep up on me. I’m sure we are all familiar with this feeling as we are getting further into quarantine.

            As a result, I have not been reading much. Besides not being able to leave our property, the weather in New York has not been very forgiving either. I am writing this while a thunderstorm booms in the background. We did have 2 days of sunshine though; it was nice and warm with the sun shining perfectly on my family’s back deck. I took complete advantage of it. At home, that is my favorite place to read. Every year in high school, during spring break I would come home from work and just sit on my deck for hours reading. Because of this, I finally finished Sally Rooney’s Normal People. I liked the book a lot. It is not the type of book I normally read since I tend to go for more adventure-based plots, but I really enjoyed this book. I also read Michaela’s blog post about it being Stargirl for adults and it really had me noticing all the similarities while reading it and I really appreciate the comparison!

            I have found that planning a reading break during my day has kept me more motivated. It gives me something to look forward to and makes me think I have to work for it, so I get some of my schoolwork done. I am also getting up earlier, I have found that what works for me is setting my alarm. If I wake up at 12 I never want to start my work, but if I get up a little earlier it makes me think of all the time I have and I voluntarily start my work. I'm trying to find different ways during this quarantine to keep me busy and pass the time. So, now I have a pile of books to look forward to reading and hopefully you all are managing well too! 

Final Reflections

As the semester draws to a close and we're all (hopefully) locked inside our houses for the indefinite future, I've had some time to reflect on this class and myself as a reader. Having to be responsible for a blog post each week about what I'm reading made me realize a lot about myself as a reader. When I'm at school, I put reading on the back-burner. I read so much for class that when I do have time I'd rather just mindlessly watch Netflix or go be with friends. While I definitely think it's valid for me to do that regularly, I want to push myself to make time for pleasure reading. I'm hoping that over the next few weeks once the semester ends, I'll really rediscover my love for reading. With no deadlines, no assignments, no highlighting potential quotes for essays, I hope I'll enjoy reading again. I really want to see how many books I can read during quarantine, and I'm hoping its some ridiculous number. While it's been easy to think about all the negatives in our current situation, having all the time in the world to read is definitely one positive for me.

During this time, I definitely want to explore genres I haven't read before. I typically stay in my lane and read fantasy or science fiction, so reading more realistic fiction or even moving into more adult fiction in general would be a great change for me. I'm kind of tempted to buy one of those cringey, sexy romance novels that moms read. I've always wanted to read one of those, and now would definitely be the time to pick one up. Especially with all of the Love Island I've been watching in my free time, odds are I'd probably enjoy it.

Continuing on with the reflections, I want to reflect on what this class has taught me. Do I want to go into book publishing? I honestly don't know. This class definitely gave me the inside look into publishing that I was hoping for, but I don't know if it gave me the career answers I was looking for. There are things that are appealing about book publishing, like children's publishing. After reading the chapter on that, I think that would be the area of book publishing I'd be most likely to go into. However, while doing my final project on magazine publishing, I find myself leaning more toward that field of publishing rather than in books. There is a magazine for literally everything, and I like the options that that field could give me. I could align who I work for with my interests. Not only do I love writing and editing, but I love fashion, beauty, movies, music, and traveling too. I think working for a magazine could be a much better way to combine all of these interests, that perhaps book publishing couldn't. Regardless, I'm glad that I have both as options. I know I definitely want a career in publishing, it's just a matter of what field specifically.

I hope everyone is doing okay. I know everything is scary and overwhelming right now, especially with finals on top of everything. I hope you all can find some solace in reading too!

Thoughts on "The Self-Hating Book Critic"

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is staying healthy and sane while locked in the house. I volunteered to talk about the chapter in Literary Publishing in the 21^st Century, “The Self-hating Book Critic” by Jessa Crispin. Going into the chapter, I cannot say I have had a lot of experience with book Critics, or reading their work, unless it was assigned for a class. I thought reading this chapter might give me some insight.

            Overall, the chapter came across pretty pessimistic. It started with the removal of book review sections in newspapers. People picketed and protested against it, but Crispin goes on to explain that everyone doing that was relying on the book review sections for their jobs. It was authors and critics themselves, no one in the public was really concerned with it. The only reason people were angry was because they were losing money. She further goes on the explain the impact of newspaper book review sections. We talk a lot in this class about “Who decides what makes a book good or profitable”, to Crispin it seems to be the critics. She explains that the “The death of the newspaper review meant the end of the literary authority who would declare that books by straight, white men are always the best books”.  It can be true, that the people with the power to advertise their opinions get to make all of the decisions. They have the platform, the power, money and voice. And if they are published in a well-known newspaper, they have credibility. People will listen to them when they tell them what to read. So, the fact the industry was controlled by a specific group of people with very clear and isolating views would definitely play a role in what books become successes.

            At this point I thought the chapter was taking a turn for the positive, the corrupt newspaper reviewers no longer had their control and now the culture online took over. Reviewers could still post their reviews online, but now they had to be met with everyday citizens and the online culture that would keep them in check. Making sure they were including women, people of color and LGBTQ writers. You would think the widespread nature of the internet and people’s opportunities to share their voices on an equal level would keep the reviewing community even. But the popular book review websites are run by old, white men, that push the same ideals as they did when they were reviewing in newspapers. Crispin explains that the “the internet literary culture gave us all absolute freedom, so we basically recreated newspaper culture.”, with the freedom people were given to use their voice, they weren’t sure how to harness it, so they went back to something familiar. Or they became too scared of saying their ideas on the internet, that they decided to only post “positive reviews”. Now, I don’t normally read book critic reviews anyway, but I wouldn’t go to a website that only posted good reviews. When I look into reviews, it’s because I want to know the honest opinion on a book and not an advertisement. I think Crispin summed it up best with “But of course that is not criticism, it is enthusiasm”.

            Crispin finished out the essay with a description of what she thinks book critics should be. She struggles with her job title and what her purpose. I know I mostly use reviews if I’m really unsure if I should purchase a book or not. Crispin explains that she doesn’t want to simply be a thing to help people make decisions. She makes a really good point, books are meant to make us think, Critics say how a book has affected them and want to start a discussion. It was never about saying if a book has worth or not, but about using the book to its full potential. One quote I liked was “[Books are] not external objects, their function is to become internal. Sometimes the fit needs adjusting”. Though I haven’t had this experience with book reviews, I’ve had it in discussions. Talking about a book in class, or book club can completely change my feelings about a book. I remember reading Catcher in the Rye for my AP Lit class senior year of high school, I hated reading the book and so did most of my classmates. But it became one of the most heated and interesting discussions we had in that class. Now I always tell people they should read the book, not because it’s a good book but because it makes for great discussions. Crispin ends with saying a book Critics job is not to decide on books but to help people think their way through them. Book critics don’t always have a strong grasp on their purpose and write only because they think their opinions deserve to be listened to, but she is working on herself becoming a better critic and hopes for others to do so.

            Reading this chapter gave me a lot to think about. I might want to start reading book reviews, but maybe after I finish the book this time. I wonder what you guys think?

·      What are your opinions on “only positive reviewers”?

·      To what extent do you think book reviewers control if a book is good or not?

·      What do you think about the online book review culture?

·      Have you ever used a book review, to “think through a book” as Crispin says?

Reading Update

Hi all! I hope you are doing well. This week has been very productive in terms of reading and very unproductive in terms of every other school project that I have to do before the end of the semester. Instead of working on essays and assignments that are due in a few days, I have instead been reading non-stop while simultaneously listening to the Heathers the Musical soundtrack on repeat (which I highly recommend if you at all like musicals, the original 1988 movie, or just genuinely great content).

Last week I placed an order at Book Depository hoping that the addition of some new books will help continue to keep me from boredom while also distracting me from homework that I actually have to do. While they probably won’t get to Atlanta for at least another week I am eagerly awaiting their arrival. The novels I ordered are...

1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - I watched the movie for the first time around a week ago and now really need to read the book. I normally don’t read classics but hopefully, I will soon be able to add this one to the list.
2. Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher - I read one of her other autobiographies called The Princess Diarist and absolutely loved it. Not only is Carrie Fisher an icon but she has a very distinct voice and manages to make everything she writes hilarious. 
3. Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments For Economic Independence by Kristen Ghodsee - I don’t read non-fiction often but one of my friends recommended it and I trust her judgment.
4. Uprooted by Naomi Novik - I can confidently say that I have read almost every beauty and the beast retelling written and when I found this one I couldn’t not buy it. 
   
   

This week I finished Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin which is a Young Adult Fantasy about a witch and a witch hunter. Before reading it I did notice that Sarah J Maas wrote a blurb for the book that was placed on the front cover; while I didn’t know this while buying the book I have to say seeing her endorsement did give me a reason to start it sooner than I normally would have. Overall it was a decent novel and I look forward to reading the next book in the series on its release in September.

I also finished Moby Dick! After around two weeks I was able to conquer the book and finally get it off of my “currently reading” shelf on Goodreads. While I was surprised and impressed with the ending I will not be returning for a reread unless specifically asked to do so by a professor. 

After over a year stuck on page 126 I have restarted my attempt to finish Pride and Prejudice. The fact that a new movie adaptation of Emma recently came out will hopefully fuel my interest.

My Take On The Future Value of Literary Publishing By Jane Friedman

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and staying safe. 

Today I am going to be giving my take on The Future Value of Literary Publishing by Jane Friedman. This essay does a great job of presenting multiple perspectives on how the internet is shaping the publishing industry. While Friedman mainly focuses on journals, news outlines, and magazines she also briefly touches on how this shift is affecting the production of novels.

She starts by addressing the fears that this change will in some way “compromise our writing and editing time to cultivate an online presence” (277). It’s interesting to hear her talk about forming an online presence as a possible burden as I so heavily depended upon the reputation of books within online circles when picking what I read. I get a lot of my recommendations from BookTube (a Youtube community that talks about books) and a lot of what they advertise is based on what publishers send them. How much does an author's/publisher’s presence online affect your decision to buy a novel? Do you get any recommendations from online? 

Friedman also brings up the shift to an online marketplace: “in 2010, about 25% of books, whether print or digital, or purchased through online channels (that means Amazon, mostly). By the end of 2012, the percentage was closer to 44%. Most industry experts estimate we are now at 50%” (279). This statistic made me wonder how much the ads we see on Amazon or Goodreads affect the books that we buy since according to this most books are bought on a website. Of the books you buy, what percentage comes from Amazon? What percentage is bought online? 

The author also points to a speech made by Morgan Entrekin suggesting that the internet has led to a crowded marketplace and has heavily decreased the value of publishing houses. Friedman responds to this by talking about how the formation of a community can help publishers and magazines maintain their prevalence within readers' lives. She argues that the creation of a brand is now a necessity: “what I’ll argue is imperative in the Internet era: community. But doing that effectively means the editors and authors have to give up some long-held beliefs and myths about online marketing and what it means to develop… Dare I say the dirty word? A brand” (280). She explains that it’s important for “every publisher to think beyond the next book on the release schedule, and consider how to engage their community in a variety of media and channels” (283). She voices that it is critical for publishers to “stop being so attached to our containers, and think more about how we are relevant to our reading community, who now turn first to digital tools for discovery, information, and entertainment” (284). Her emphasis on how building a community can lead to a dedicated readership is very interesting. How important is brand to you? I personally don’t subscribe to any magazines or journals but if you do, do you feel like they try to create a sense of community among their subscribers? 

Friedman also discusses how the content that readers are looking for has shifted from something academic to something more personal. She talks about the success of Buzzfeed and how instead of looking down upon companies that highlight the importance of the individual others should take note of their model “ because they’ve got at least one thing right: most of us want to read, watch, or feel something that has meaning and potential to provoke a life change, or help us see the world anew” (284). If I ever do end up reading articles they are normally about a subject that pertains to me or offers some sort of emotional story. What sort of content do you think you gravitate towards? Buzzfeed also tends to be a controversial news source when brought up in an academic setting. What are your thoughts on the company? 

The author drives home the fact that the internet allows for more voices to be heard and opens out 
opportunities for aspiring authors. She writes “you can identify and directly reach your potential 
audience, without needing special distribution, without needing a large advertising budget, and 
without having a print book” (285). What is your overall opinion on this shift to digital publishing?

Random Updates

I haven't had much to say in terms of reading updates – and I still don't! But tomorrow I have to read some short stories for Environmental Ethics and then write one myself, so I'll update you guys on that later. Like some of you, my workload has seemingly increased tenfold, though that may have to do with some slight procrastination and season four of La Casa De Papel coming out. I have been keeping up to date with my homework, but spacing out those big assignments/projects/essays that are all due on like the last two days of school have been a pain, especially when you're a perfectionist and super particular about the minutiae. Nonetheless, everyday I have fewer assignments before Spring 2020 is officially over. I have yet to beat jet lag (as I am currently writing this at 3am), and my normal sleep schedule now is 5am to 12pm, which sucks, but I am sleeping a lot more than I did in my dorm (silver linings!).

Less tangential (maybe not), my brother saw me working on a brochure for one of my environmental classes and started asking me questions like: "why are you in a science class?" "how does this help you?" "don't you just want to do something with books?" Supportive as ever. But anyway it got me thinking about my future, and how job opportunities now can amalgamate multiple interests (e.g. publishing scientific journals at MIT Press). Along these lines, one aspect of the Clelia Glore interview that I found particularly insightful was her transition to lawyer to agent and how her past employment experiences help her in the literary world. I don't know about you guys, but constantly being asked what you want to do and even declaring majors feels like too much pressure to figure out your path at such a young age. In the UK, for example, when you're applying for universities, you have to submit a personal statement instead of an essay detailing which program/course (equivalent to major) you will pursue. There's no room for undeclared, and if you want to switch after a year, you have to start over. This is what ultimately led me to going to college in America because I'm way too indecisive to commit to something, knowing there are other fields of study I am equally as interested in... hence why I am a CSSH/COS combined major with CSSH and CAMD minors looking to add a third in D'Amore McKim. Anyway.....in a time like this, I have been more introspective and reflective, finding more things to be appreciative of, and I'm glad we live in a grey world where you don't have to choose one or the other, and that our university supports interdisciplinary learning.

Hope everyone is doing well! x

Long overdue reading update

Hope everyone is healthy and finding some interesting/fun things to do in quarantine. It's been a little while since I've given a reading update blog post, mostly because it's a been a while since I've done a blog post (oops, but I also blame the quarantine), but also because I haven't been reading too much (my own fault). That all being said, I've just finished Hari Kunzu's book Gods Without Men. The book is an absolute journey. It follows different characters scattered around different time periods, (early 1900's, the 80's, 2008, 1800's), all roughly in the same geographical location: the pinnacles in California. Each chapter of the book follows characters in their respective time periods as they navigate their life in what turns out to be a strange desert environment.

I really enjoyed the book. I found Hari Kunzru to be a really compelling storyteller and was amazed by how well he shifted between characters in different time periods, showcasing each of their personalities, elaborating on their rich backgrounds and showing how the different time periods reflected on their characters. To give some more context on what actually happens in the book, I'll give an abridged version of the blurb on the back of the book. The main story line follows a couple, Jaz and Lisa, who live in New York with their toddler son, Raj. When Raj goes missing during a family vacation to the Pinnacles, Lisa and Jaz's life goes in to a turmoil, fueled by some previous events occurring in the same location. The book examines the events, happy and tragic, that shaped the reality/setting that Jaz and Lisa ultimately find themselves in.

The book is a bit all over the place which makes it sort of hard to give a concise summary. However, certainly not in a bad way. I loved jumping between Jaz and Lisa's modern life in 2008, and say, a hippie cult in the desert of California in the 60's. It was honestly a blast. While the book can be a bit heavy, since a lot of the characters either have a very hard life and are forced to make some difficult decisions, or have a very tragic event in their life, the latter third of the book can kind of tug at the heart.

I'd really like to read some more Hari Kunzru. It was a really fun read and I want to see what else he's written. I believe we talked about him in class once or twice, when we were caught up in the American Dirt drama. Hopefully in the next few days I'll start and finish my other book, Winter Counts, by David Heska Wanbli Weiden. I'll of course write about when/if it happens. Hope everyone is chugging along through the end of the semester and doing ok!

Relatability

It is day 24 of quarantine. I have finished another season of Love Island and am currently dreading all the finals the next 2-3 weeks entail. I have been writing all my assignments down in a planner  to keep myself organized to some extent and it is kinda working? Being home is driving me a tad bit insane, I miss the normalcy of my life! On a less positive note, I do not think this is going to end by May. I am hoping (actually praying) it will end before the fall semester, but who actually knows. I wish I can say I have been reading for pleasure, but honestly, I have not! My workload has just increased, and I have been a procrastinating mess. 

On a semi brighter note, 3 bookstores have responded to my emails regarding my final project about independent bookstores. I had a phone call with one and an email correspondence with the other two. I was shocked to be completely honest I never thought anyone would respond. I was expecting some of the answers I had gotten, but some responses surprised me. I will leave you all in suspense until I finish the actual product.

I read Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey for one of my classes and I really enjoyed it. In high school, I read Pride and Prejudice, and I liked it.  But unfortunately, I have not dipped my toes into any other Austen books. I now realize dipped my toes was a weird depiction of book reading, but I am going to just go with it. I liked how in Northanger Abbey, Austen gives us a nontraditional heroine, someone very ordinary and plain. I think here she challenges the expectation and the role a hero plays. It also challenges our understanding of self.

I always thought I had to relate to characters in novels in order to like them, but I am not sure if this is true. Not to give the most basic example, but most of us love Harry Potter and part of the reason I fell in love with Harry Potter is that I felt like I related to the characters. In every novel, I read I try to relate to characters on one degree or another. Though I don’t think we necessarily have to relate to their persona but rather feelings. We all could relate to feelings of sadness or happiness or anger or fear, etc. I apologize for that long-winded tangent; I think my point was that relatability doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker because we all feel things and feelings could correspond with us. I also think just because I relate to a book does not mean I like it.  I read The Magicians, and the protagonist was the most annoying human. I definitely see some of his annoying traits reflected in myself and the mere fact that we relate does not make me like the book anymore.

Stargirl for adults

I almost didn’t do any reading outside of class required reading this past week, until yesterday I got Normal People by Sally Rooney on my Kindle. I’m already halfway through it and very pleased that I’ve finally read something not for class. On one hand, I was feeling really disappointed and upset that I haven’t been reading but on the other, it just feels very hard to make space in my brain right now for new things, which is probably why the only thing I managed to read was a reread of a children’s book. 

Speaking of Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, I kind of accidentally compared the beginning of Normal People to Stargirl in my head. I feel like the people in this class who really enjoy Sally Rooney might not be so pleased about that but hear me out. Stargirl is all about this girl in high school who is considered weird and different by her peers and the main character falls for her but is embarrassed about it. The results of that embarrassment then differ between the books and there’s obviously a lot less (and by that I mean none at all) drinking and sex in Stargirl, but the starting premises seem pretty similar. Maybe it’s just because Stargirl is the last book I read, but I could not help thinking that they both had these themes of conformity and embarrassment. 

Though interestingly, in my reading of Normal People thus far, Marianne, the supposedly abnormal and strange character, seems pretty normal to me. Maybe that’s the point? I suppose because Stargirl is a children’s book, the nonconformist character of it is much more outwardly wacky, but even then I felt that Stargirl was also not that weird. The main thing with both of them is that they don’t seem to care much how they’re perceived and how socially accepted they are, at least in the beginning of the book for Marianne. 

Anyway, I’m enjoying reading Normal People so far. I like how much conversation there is throughout the book, which is probably intentional. I am relatively apathetic about the dialogue not being in quotations. It is not always clear what’s being said, but for the most part it works fine for me.

Here are some moments I have enjoyed in particular: 

There’s a point near the beginning when Marianne feels like she’s a different person with Connell, but it’s not like she’s actually a different person. Rather, the difference exists somewhere between them, in the connection that they have. This is interesting because people often say that they are different around certain people, but the explanation is never quite like this, and this feels more honest and reflective of the truth to me. It’s not Marianne that is different really, it’s both of them together that feels different. 

Another point I liked was when Connell (I think) is describing the sky in Dublin, and he says that when it’s a clear day, it feels like the sky is very distant, but when it’s cloudy and overcast, everything feels smaller and more closed off. This actually seems really obvious because the sky is technically just space that’s basically infinitely far away while clouds are relatively much closer, but it was written really wonderfully. 

One last thing I liked was when Marianne and Connell are at a pool party with their college friends and Marianne is thinking about how it makes her happy that if she spoke they would all turn around and listen, genuinely interested in what she had to say, but she didn’t have anything to say.

I think I like it so far, though I maintain my Hot Take that it’s Stargirl for adults. 

Children's books in Story times

This week has been a lot. I started working again since I am home and have been doing youth services for my local library virtually. Because we can’t do as much in person anymore our director has chosen this time for us to learn, so that means I have been reading many many things on library services. Which, I’m not going to lie, are kind of interesting. I had to watch one on developing story times for younger kids and it gave a cool insight into how the gatekeeping end works for children’s books.
Since we are adults picking books to read to children, and story times are places meant to expose children to literature and help teach them reading. In this reading, the criteria for choosing a children’s book for story times were to have large illustrations. This is so kids sitting far away can see the pictures. Also, to have interactive books, ones that rhyme ask the kids questions. Most of the kids in story times don’t know how to read, and are kids, so keeping their focus isn’t the easiest thing to do. So, having an interactive story helps them feel involved. I remember one book my bosses have used in multiple story times. I can’t remember the exact title, but the whole premise of the books was for the kids to guess what was behind a shadow. The catch was that the shadow was nothing what it looked like. It would start out with a rhyme like “Who is that drinking milk on the mat? Oh, it must be my…” there would be a shadow that looked very obviously like a cat, so all the kids would scream “CAT”. We turn the page and it would be a strange looking old man, and the words would read “Uncle jim”. The kids loved it, not only were they involved in the telling of the story, but they found these jokes to be hilarious. The thing about story times is that we are meant to make the kids enjoy themselves and then they want to start reading themselves. So, getting them involved in a story is the best way to do that. I found it really interesting with what we were discussing last week, children’s books aren’t meant to be condescending, and kids totally pick up on that. They are very honest with you if they don’t like a book. So, keeping things light and interactive in kids book always makes them like it better.
Another thing I learned about in that reading was wordless picture books. I had never heard about them before, but they tell the story through just the pictures. The way they are used in story times, is the librarian will show the pictures and ask the kids “What do you think is happening in this picture?”. They do this for every page and the kids actually write the story. It sounds like a really cool idea, and gets kids thinking and being creative! 

New Reads

So as it turns out, my sister is not yet finished with Educated by Tara Westover, which means I cannot start it until she's done. Unfortunate, but the book I have started is called The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. It also has a pretty cover, so I will attach it down below.

It's not something I would typically read, but due to quarantine times, the only options I have right now are what's lying around my house. (Bear in mind, my family is a medical family – my dad is a doctor, my mom is a nurse, and my brother and sister both studied some variation of health science in college. So, you know who the black sheep is here.) One of my sister's friends gifted it to her.

Though I'm only a few chapters in, the book is pretty compelling. Van Der Kolk introduces the topic of trauma by talking about the lessons he's learned from interactions and studies with Vietnam veterans. For me, when I think of trauma, PTSD is the first thing I think of. On one hand, it's really sad revealing the lives of some of these vets who have such intense flashbacks that they can't be around their family members in some cases. On the other hand, it's interesting to read about how in some support groups for these vets, these experiences – though traumatic – are what bring them together.

Expanding outward, the book doesn't solely focus on war veterans, though it starts there. Van Der Kolk explains that trauma can come in many different forms, and it doesn't necessarily have to be as extreme as fighting in a war to be considered harmful. He noted cases of childhood trauma or generational patterns as other things which affect each of us.

I'm really interested in diving deeper into this book. I'm sure personally I have some things my body holds onto that I haven't consciously thought on in a while. My mom is also really big into this kind of study, so I'm curious to learn more. For example, whenever I start to get sick my mom says it's because I'm stressed. Though this is true, it makes me wonder what else is at work when this happens, like why does my body shut down whenever I get too stressed? I'm sure there are other methods that can help coping. Not that I'll become a body-trauma expert by the time I finish this, but I think I'll definitely be more aware of what's going on in my body.

It also makes me wonder how something like our current COVID situation affects us. I've seen several articles online that say how most of our behavior right now is perhaps due to some sort of grief.

Buying Books and Book Tours

Hello everyone! Reporting to you live from day 18 in quarantine, I’m Hayleigh Evans! I’m sorry, that was bad. It’s getting to me. I turned 21 in quarantine on Wednesday, woohoo! Other than that, I don’t have any new personal updates, so I’ll just get into the books.

I’m almost done with Moby Dick (thank god), which has been really slow I won’t lie. Not my favorite school reading I’ve ever done. I've been listening to the audiobook to kind of multitask and help me get through it, which has been helpful. I’ve also been reading Northanger Abbey this week for another class, which I’ve actually been enjoying. I’ve been spending a ridiculous amount of money since my birthday, some of it from my family for my birthday, some of it from my savings. I ordered three new books from Barnes and Noble, as if my shelf isn’t overflowing with books I haven’t read yet. All three are books I’ve been wanting to read for a while but never got around to buying. The first is Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. I first heard about this book a long time ago, but I’ve decided to buy it since the Hulu show just came out. I love Kerry Washington, so I’m excited to read the book and then watch her in the show, it’ll be a great quarantine activity. Next, I got The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. This book is another popular read, as it won the National Book Award. It takes place in World War II France, if any of you haven’t heard of it. I wanted to get books that I knew were pretty popular among readers, so I’ll hopefully get really invested in reading again once I have unlimited time after school ends. Then lastly, I needed to get to free shipping, so I ordered Anna Karenina as well. The Barnes and Noble Classics are pretty cheap, and that’s another book that’s been on my list for a while. So yeah, I’m excited for those to come.

An email I got this week that caught my eye was from Goodreads. It was a message from Veronica Roth (the Divergent author for anyone who doesn’t know) inviting me to virtual book tour for her new book Chose Ones. Her original book tour was obviously cancelled, so it looks like she and her publisher, HMH Books, got creative. The book is set to be released on April 7^th, and she plans to host her virtual tour on her Twitch channel. She will be having special guests including Leigh Bardugo, Charlie Jane Anders, Seanan McGuire, C.A. Higgins, and Rita Woods. Apparently they will be talking about a variety of topics each night. The first one is April 7^th and the last April 13^th. The first “stop” on the tour is titled “Veronica Roth + Leigh Bardugo on Book-to-Film Adaptations.” I haven’t really thought about Roth or read any of her books since Divergent so I can’t say I’m her biggest fan, but I might tune in on the 7^th. I don’t have much going on anyway and I’m curious as to how this is going to go. The topic is intriguing, and I really want to see how smoothly they’re able to do this. If I get around to viewing the streams, I’ll definitely update you guys on my thoughts. I thought it’d be interesting to share one way an author is getting creative when her book tour was cancelled.

Recommending my Assigned Reading

     I know I have mentioned it many times before, but I am currently in a Jewish Literature class and have practically enjoyed all of the assigned readings to an extent larger than anticipated. For next week, we have been asked to read The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Its a novel published in 2004 which covers the 'what if' of Franklin D. Roosevelt being defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by Charles Lindbergh. As you may not have known, Lindbergh was a nazi sympathizer and a known anti-semetic, ideas that were large parts of his campaign. I have only read the first few chapters, but the book has a feeling of extreme timelines and relevance during all this madness. The writing can be a little dense at times, however the story carries through and offers an odd mix of historical fiction with the idea that this is truly something that could have occurred (and similar things still can and are occurring). 

     For those of you less inclined to add another book to your endless 'to-read' pile, HBO just made a four (?) part series on the book and they did a really great job. It has some pretty big names in it and I feel it pays great homage to the book, even though they slightly changed the ending (there's your incentive to read it too). 

     While I am in this promo, I want to reccomend a few other short pieces from this class that I have really enjoyed, the first being Perfection by Mark Helprin. I mentioned it before but I can send you the text through email if you are interested. It's a funny and odd story linking a Hasidic boy to the Yankees in a world of magical realism. Two others I will suggest were written in response to one another: What We Talk About when We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver, and in response, What We Talk About when We Talk About Anne Frank by Englander. I will try to link them but sometimes the links expires. The response text on Anne Frank, mainly follows a group of Jewish Floridians who get high and discuss the rather somber idea of "who would hide you?" A lot of Jewish texts focus on this idea of the melding of laughter and sorrow (Saul Bellow writes on this if you want to look it up) and I think this short piece covers that well; the context makes the scene funny at times, yet the material being discussed are topics no one should ever have to had thought about nor should have to think about presently. Yet, again, many of these pieces feel strangely relevant...If you have the extra time, let me know what you think!