Oh, good. Harlem Shuffle seemed less “finished” than Colson’s previous books.

The Splendor and Misery of Bodies, of Cities, the abandoned sequel to Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel Delany. A relationship Delany was in inspired Stars and the planned sequel, but when the relationship ended so ended his desire to write the sequel.

I accept your surrender.

How so? Aren’t you and I just trading unpopular opinions?

All I did was point out that I think you misdiagnosed the downvotes, so you responded with 10x more. That’s what we internetters call a smidge unhinged. But don’t worry, upvotes and downvotes have no real-world value.

You okay?

It was probably the “some white guy” comment, not namedropping Wallace.

Yeah, I think he’s very, very accessible, especially Vineland, which is like Pynchon smoked some weed and riffed on 1980s movies and daytime TV for 400 pages. It’s a pretty good hint at what Tommy was up to during his 17 gap between Gravity’s Rainbow and Vineland.

The immersion approach is great for Ulysses and Gravity’s Rainbow, especially for a first read. During rereads is the time to really dive in, because a first read gets you somewhat oriented so the novel doesn’t feel quite as alien.

A few of Pynchon’s books are like that. I also use that approach with r/JosephMcElroy and r/Arno_Schmidt.

Checking books out from the library is usually preferable. If your library doesn’t have a specific book on their shelves, most libraries offer free interlibrary loan services. If you can’t figure out how to use ILL through your library’s website, just ask a librarian for help. That’s what they love to do.

I use ILL regularly at my library. I read a lot of obscure books that had small printings 40+ years ago, so the books are really expensive to buy and few libraries have a copy. I’m compiling some bibliographic info for a few authors, so I really need specific editions of books. But libraries do interlibrary loans for all kinds of books, not just special/rare books. And the service is usually FREE. I’ve never paid a fee for the 20+ books I’ve gotten through ILL.

EDIT: When I buy books, I tend to buy used books from local bookstores. All three in my town have websites, so i can search their stores from home and read the description of the book’s condition.

Yeah, he’s really great. I recommend his books on George Orwell, Mother Theresa, On Mortality, Henry Kissinger, and his autobiography Hitch-22. I also loved his columns when he was a contributing editor for Vanity Fair.

Check out Daniel Dennett,too. Breaking the Spell is really good.

Yeah, I think of it as listening to a theater performance more than “reading.”

The only time I can really follow an audiobook is if I’ve read the print version first; otherwise, like you, my mind just wanders off.

When I do long, laborious home projects like refinishing floors or painting walls/fences, I listen to some classic science fiction like Snow Crash, The Forever War, or The Doomsday Book.

Aside from the Dresden Files audiobooks, the only time I’ve listened to the audio as my first time through was last year with Finnegans Wake. I had the audio going in my headphones while I actively read along. It really helped having the Irish pronunciations. Next time I read The Wake, I’m going without the audio now that I have a feel for it.

A lot of the high numbers I’ve seen are people who listen to a lot of pop lit audiobooks while they’re at work. And they listen at like 2X speed.

I’ve been listening to the Dresden Files books on 2X before bed, but I can’t take audiobooks for long.

When I read something long, like 700+, I plan to take a whole month to read it.

Though I usually finish early, it’s so nice to dedicate a whole month of reading to one book.

Check out r/52books

My goal this year is to not let the length of a book play into my decision of what to read.

I’ve read 100+ books in each of the past three years, but I have 20+ unread books at least 700 pages long. I often find myself reaching for a book and wondering if I could instead read 2 or 3 books in the time it’s take to read one long book.

In the past two year, the 700+ page books I’ve read have consistently been my favorites of the year.

I’m three days into my first 700+ of the year, The Tunnel by William Gass,_ and it’s a beautiful, dense beast. It’s been on my shelf for three years, and I’m so glad I finally started it.

In addition to this approach, I each year pick an author and read as much of their work as possible, aiming for completion. Last year was Roald Dahl, and this year will be either China Miéville (four left unread) or David Foster Wallace (three unread). Next year will be Theodore Dreiser, the most famous author from my hometown.

I also read each issue of Poetry Magazine and McSweeney’s.

Yeah, that's the key. Adult readers are also likely library users, and taking kids to the library to pick out their own books makes a world of difference.

That's exactly how my kids are. At 3-years-old, my daughter will grab a book and hop up beside me when she sees me reading.

Yeah, the takeaway isn't that you should simply have books in the house. The key is that people who have books in their house are people who tend to be preselected for certain "outcomes."

New parents who aren't readers see studies like you mention and think they should go buy books and expect those outcomes. But it's really that people who read regularly have numerous common traits: early childhood literacy, higher education, simply seeing their parents reading makes them more likely to read.

I wonder how much of this compares to childhood literacy and having books in the house. Simply buying. Looks to have in your house doesn't, on it's own, foster literacy. The connection between. Ook ownership and literacy is that people who buy books tend to be people who read books. Their children see their parents reading books and tend to mimic what their parents do.

Amazon also owns abebooks.com