Category Archives: On the Web

Book Talk, On the Web

Nonfiction November 2024 Week 1

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It’s officially Nonfiction November #nonficnov and one of my favorite times of the year. Basically, it’s a month of planned and shared posts between bloggers around the world sharing their favorite nonfiction reads of the year. Some years are bigger than others, but I am always glad that it happens (thank you to those who organize it!) as it’s a fun way to find some new reads and hopefully a new blog or two to follow.

Most of my reading has always been mostly nonfiction, and with 29 of the 33 books I’ve read this year, 2024 is no different. So let’s dive in with this introductory week’s prompt hosted over on Based on a True Story (where you can ‘link up’ your own post if you’d like to participate): 

“Let’s start out by celebrating your year in nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorite books or topics?”

I read a lot of ‘books about books’. I’ve also read more political books than usual, but they’re all misses. I just haven’t found one that’s been worth the time. I’m not sure why that is, but maybe it’s just burnout on my part. Anyway… I didhave a few favorite reads that I want to mention, and then I’ll list the rest.

‘The Literary Decade’ cover design by Janet Anderson; ‘The Book-Makers’ cover design Hachette Design Group; ‘This Is What It Sounds Like’ cover design by Sarah Bibel; ‘Any Person is the Only Self’ cover design by June Park

My favorite book I’ve read this year is Allen Churchill’s The Literary Decade (1971), which is about the Roaring Twenties and the literary scene. Lots of names you’ll know many stories I didn’t know and I certainly have never taken a look at them all (and their books) through a cultural history lens. Lots of names and viewpoints we know now are left out, but the writing is so well done that I went out and found a copy of Churchill’s The Improper Bohemians about Greenwich Village just to keep reading his writing. 

I also got a lot out of Adam Smyth’s The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives (2024). While not a new structure, Smyth does a great job of featuring many different folks who had a direct impact on the development of print culture. The book chapters each featuring one or two people. Sometimes they’re printers, or paper makers, or publishers, and even zine artists. It was fun.

And the winner of the pinkest cover I’ve ever bought and the book I’ve talked about most at get-togethers is This Is What It Sounds Like: A Legendary Producer Turned Neuroscientist on Finding Yourself Through Music (2022). This book by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas was amazing. It lays out all the biological reasons why music can affect our moods the way it does, and it also explains how (and when) we start to form our own individual musical tastes. Lots of fun stuff in here. Not to mention all of the playlists to help demonstrate the trends and concepts that the authors are talking about.

My fourth favorite book was all over the place for a month or two, so I won’t go on too much, but if you like books then Elisa Gabbert’s book of essays Any Person Is the Only Self is one you’ll probably like. She talks about books as well as authors she really admires and spins all this together to craft entries on art and ideas and a thinking life.

Anyway, below are the rest of the nonfiction I read this year. Please share in the comments if you’ve read something you think I would like. You can also click over and read this post if you’d like to participate in #nonficnov over the next few weeks.

  • Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
  • Son of Birmingham
  • Democracy or Else: How to Save America in 10 Easy Steps
  • The Libraries of Thought and Imagination: An Anthology of Bookshelves
  • The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper
  • The Art of the Literary Poster
  • The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore
  • Parnassus Corner: A Life of James T. Fields, Publisher to the Victorians
  • In the Groove: The Vinyl Record and Turntable Revolution
  • The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters
  • Shopkeeping: Stories, Advice, and Observations from the Bookstore Floor
  • Novelist as a Vocation
  • Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning
  • Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life
  • Reading the Room: A Bookseller’s Tale
  • Improbable Libraries: A Visual Journey to the World’s Most Unusual Libraries
  • Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer: Essays
  • The Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating While Reading
  • How to Resist Amazon and Why: The Fight for Local Economics, Data Privacy, Fair Labor, Independent Bookstores, and a People-Powered Future!
  • The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: Their stories are better than the bestsellers
  • Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights Revolution
  • MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios
  • Books Do Furnish a Painting
  • Librorum Ridiculorum: A compendium of bizarre books
  • Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism
On the Web, Things to Read

THINGS TO READ – EDITION 0002

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Since the fall of Twitter I have struggled to find a place to share links and online articles that I find interesting. So I am now creating small ”link round up” posts and sharing here. Hope this ongoing series or posts surface some interesting news & thoughts for you.

Amazon is massive (that’s the kind of insightful breaking news you get here). But it is so stinking big that they have to automate many of their systems. If you did like many people have done and opted for a cheaper ad-supported kindle, be aware that ads for AI generate books are now in the mix. What a weird time to be selling books.

Here one of the most “fact of the matter” interesting take (or takedown?) on #BookTok and all of its influence. It’s worth a read. “BookTok isn’t actually a community driven by fans, writers, influencers, or even publishers. All of those people are merely a smokescreen.”

This last one is not an article but a 20-page report from the National Endowment of the Arts. It is titled Arts Participation Patterns in 2022: Highlights from the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts and drops data facts such as, in 2022, only 40 percent of American men read books only 57 percent of women did. Both of these numbers are down from previous years. So now that we know this… why is it so and what do we do about it?

On the Web, Things to Read

Things to Read – Edition 0001

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Here are three Things to Read online… and here is some background to my thinking… Since the fall of Twitter I have struggled to find a place to share links and online articles that I find interesting. I created a Mastodon account some time ago and I have had some really interesting conversations there, but it’s just never caught on with me. So I am going to start doing some book and publishing “link round up” type posts here. Mainly it will serve as an easy archive I can reference when talking books with folks. But who knows… maybe conversations will be sparked elsewhere. I’m hoping to keep these posts light enough to be able to post from mobile and have no idea if this format will work, but here it goes…

Thad McIlroy says, “Since I started pumping for AI and publishing a year or so ago I’ve had a constant concern that all of this would collapse upon itself. Just the hallucination problem is an ongoing nightmare…”

I have so very many issues with this one. It’s amazing how folks can talk about books and be sincere when saying things like what D. Watkins said on Salon, “Your bookshelf should be beautiful enough to make it onto someone’s Pinterest page.”

I was fascinated by this short think piece on the impact that book summary apps are having, when I got to this part: “Toby Mundy, executive director of the prestigious Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction, wonders if these apps might prove a gateway for readers to actual books.” I would like to report (via a Slack group I’m in) that all 12 of the 12 folks I know who use Blinkist have said that the app is a 100% replacement for the book and has never lead them to buy a book. So it seems the gate on that gateway is shut.

Book Talk, Events, On the Web

Hay Festival 2021

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The sun is shining and it feels good to have 2020 way behind us. While being safe/stuck at home wasn’t the best, one positive to come out of it is the way book festivals how to do virtual events and this year’s Hay Festival is building on last year’s experience!

Things kicked off a couple of days ago and virtual events are planned all the way through Sunday, June 6th. It’s a long weekend here in the States and I hope to get to take in some of the events.

You can check out the full schedule here. You do have to register for the events, but I haven’t had to pay anything yet. I’m not sure if everything is free or if I’ve just clicked on the freebies. What makes all of this even better is that you can go through the video archives and watch events from the past.

While attending a Hay Festival, in person, is still a bucket list item for me, I love being an armchair attendee. And now that their online shop is up and running, it’s fun to scroll through all of the signed copies of Festival books plus all of the gifts, including chairs with the Festival logo, mugs, shirts, stationery and more. All the money collected here goes to support the festival.

I hope this post finds you healthy and doing well and that you’re able to tune in to at least one Hay Festival session that interests you.

Are there other virtual events this summer that should not be missed? Let me know!