September 20, 2007

Interrupted

I know I’ve been silent awhile. I was waiting for someone to start a rumor about my going silent at the same time Maureen Dowd did. But I see she’s back now so I might as well pick up the keyboard again.

August 21, 2007

Kaloo Kalay

Yes, I know that Roland Barthes would never have used "readerly" this way.

August 14, 2007

I sing a simple song

I do love those books that are not quick reads.

July 31, 2007

out of stock, out of mind

Somewhere in the background I hear publishers and editors and marketers lamenting again that reviews no longer sell books.

July 24, 2007

an aside

But first I (too) have one thing to say about HP7.

July 18, 2007

The Text Entire

In the Tang years we were constantly being told that in the future all of our nutritional needs would be met in pill form, as though our palates were not an integral part of who we are.

July 10, 2007

bLinking

Publishing—an entrenched old industry, made rigid by fear and habit, instinctually conservative, codified, hierarchical, exclusionary, and terrified—is in historic throes at a moment of radical forced change. When I say it’s busier than any other industry I know of, I mean it’s busy being reborn.

July 03, 2007

trouble in mind

A few weeks ago, a publishing colleague and good friend told me he thought I might be trouble to deal with because I’ve spent my life reading novels.

June 19, 2007

Designating and Signifying

The post was to be something about “designated” and, therefore, undesignated books—a term I first heard at Putnam sales conferences. I wanted to get something in there too about Amazon’s selling the new Harry Potter at a loss and about what that used to be called . . .