5 things worth sharing this weekend (8/31/24)
a thing on magazines, can you remember popular books, east nashville author, why are authors expected to be authentic?
It’s a long weekend.
Have a good time!
1. Magazines are dead. Long live magazines. (by me!)
I missed having magazines at the beach and then wrote about how I missed the big-time era of magazines in NYC
2. Books last (just not in our memory)
From CounterCraft
Lincoln Michel plays a fun parlor game: Which bestsellers can you identify from 20 years ago? 40 years ago?
“Everything is ephemeral” — probably from Ecclesiastes
3. East Nashville author wrote an indie music novel.
I don’t know who this person is, but I know all the places mentioned in this article, and I may try out her book, it looks good
It’s about the local indie music scene in Nashville
From The Tennessean
4. One of those big library carts would be nice
From Austin Kleon
5. Why are authors expected to be authentic?
From The Conversation
Discusses the “American Fiction” movie, which I highly recommend and have mentioned in this newsletter a few times
“Who qualifies as an “authentic” author? The demand for “authenticity” – within literary culture, in particular, and postmodern culture in general – has become a problematic, paradoxical idea. Authors are now expected to depict an authentic experience – and yet the form of such authenticity is pre-determined on their behalf.”
authors are too often falsely equated with the worlds they create
this is the autofiction problem too, Lauren Oyler’s new book has a lot of good stuff on this
… then they become a semi-public figure
Reading:
(More on these books in last week’s notes)
Still reading: “On The Edge” by Nate Silver (also audiobook)
learned about how many people *don’t* make money playing poker
not a lot of progress on this one
Still reading: “Wellness” by Nathan Hill
some of these conversations about marriage in this book were too relatable, others were really foreign, but interesting how some things are very universal
enjoying this enough that I ordered “The Nix,” his previous one which is one of those books I always saw at the library but never got around to checking out
Stopped: “Notes from the Underground” by Dostoevsky
Didn’t make much progress on this!
Watching:
Finished: Seinfeld, “The Comeback”
my friend Russ mentioned this when I saw him in Nashville
Elaine gets video store recs from a teenager, hilarity ensues
one of my favorite shows to rewatch
Listening:
Keep going-
Josh Spilker