This huge Europa hit, a Deep Vellum book making Obama's book list...I can't help feeling like publishing's woes could open up an opportunity for readers to understand that independent press books (by US authors and in translation) are not only vital literature but also...as good, as big 5 books?

I'd love to be directed to books/resources about 1899 New Orleans. I'm particularly interested in daily functioning--level of segregation enforcement by venue and workplace type, road composition, streetcar electrification by street, indoor plumbing status by neighborhood, bicycle prevalence, etc.

High on my to-read pile are Karen Palmer's She's Under Here, Jessica Francis Kane's Fonseca, and additional works by Richard Campanella as I research fin-de-siecle New Orleans. (Thanks to him I found out Iberville Street wasn't so named until 1901 and saved myself a fact-check.)

This past week's reading: Finished and immediately re-read parts of Flanagan's Question 7, re-read Ondaatje's Coming through Slaughter (research), read Campanella's Cityscapes of New Orleans (research), and listened to Christoffer Carlsson's Blaze Me a Sun while walking dogs and preparing for xmas.

Three books blew me away this year: John Trefry’s prose fiction Plats, Richard Siken’s brand new volume of poetry I Do Know Something, and Martha A. Sandweiss’s non-fiction The Girl in the Middle: A Recovered History of the American West. sebald.wordpress.com/2025/12/23/n...

"If the world is torn to pieces, I want to see what story I can find in fragmentation." ~ Terry Tempest-Williams

I am being decimated by Richard Flanagan's Question 7. I will read his full oeuvre, possibly in order, probably soon.

"The worldview that produces slop is one in which only a sucker would make something for the love of making it. Only a weirdo would feel a need to experience art as the authentic response of a human mind to the conditions of its moment." (I wish the preview screen didn't look like slop.)

Found out my childhood measles vax was inactive, and I live in a state with an outbreak. Swung by CVS on the way home from the gym: no appointment, four minutes, zero dollars (with insurance), nicely boosted.

I will not pretend that I have done actual scientific analysis on this, but I’ll nonetheless make the claim that Nancy Lemann’s favorite adjectives are “decrepit” and “deranged,” and both are almost always used as compliments. What more do I need to tell you? Read Nancy Lemann.

Pro tip: don’t show a photograph of a victim under a headline that says “new photos of Brown shooter released.” @cnn.com

I realize that 2026 probably won't make the stupid stop, but it's very pretty to think so.

One citizen said that federal agents in Idaho pointed guns at her children, ages 6 and 8, and dragged her 14-year-old daughter out of a truck and zip-tied her. The mother told investigators that an agent threatened to “fucking blow your head off.” By @nicolefoy.bsky.social

The right choice.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind; Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave. I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned. - Edna St. Vincent Millay

Unfollowing folks who share AI videos. Sorry, y’all.

This is such a rich list, featuring several novels in translation by excellent presses: necessaryfiction.com/reviews/reco...

Planning to start Richard Flanagan's Question 7 later. #FridayReads

So happy to see this.

When I start a book, I write a mess of scenes and passages, by hand and on the computer, without any real order or structure. On the side I compile research. Then comes the day I open a file that starts on page one and will proceed to the end of the first full draft. Today is that day.

teaching a small press course for MFA students in spring, might give them an assignment to interview someone about their publish experience. If you're an editor and/or have published at least one small press book + would like to be included on the list of possible interview subjects, please lmk

“We must teach ourselves to navigate the torrent that is replacing consensus reality.”

I had an interesting conversation about The Calculation of Volume at work yesterday that helped clarify why I fell out of love with it over the second book. When one person experiences the impossible, it is a philosophical conundrum. When two people experience it, it becomes a political conspiracy.

Steve Cropper, perfect guitarist, RIP

After a 2025 hiatus, I will be hosting another Monterey writing retreat in 2026. Treat yourself to four days of dedicated writing time to jump start your work. Details are posted here: www.tothelighthouse.net/retreats

Hey all, The Onion is accepting applicants for our writing, video and graphics fellowships. Fellowships last six months, pay well, and provide full benefits. You can apply at theonion.com/fellowship.

Police knocked on my door tonight. Neighbors reported seeing someone get out of a car, put something under my car, and take off. Police found nothing but said private investigators sometimes plant trackers. Hoping not to make the news when I next start my car.

This is a thrilling list of books that deserve attention and love. Small press publication is thriving.

Sometimes all you want is some shelf-stable hurricane food and what you get are emails about the Seven Seals of Revelation.

Practicing that age-old Thanksgiving weekend ritual: writing rec letters.

Girding my loins for the grocery store. (I'm hosting two Thanksgiving dinners this year--with one parent coming midday and the other in the evening. Grateful to be able to do, more or less.)

Help us send 2,000 books to readers who are incarcerated this winter through our Books Not Bars program

A movie that takes place where you’re from. (Bonus: a movie with a scene in the bar you tended to pay tuition.) www.sundance.org/blogs/how-se...

Normally surrounded by people (and happily married), I fell into a solo date: Gamecock Women’s Basketball laps their opponents (121-49), followed by reading a book over a ridiculously caloric vegan sandwich. Columbia, SC—better than you might think.

Beginning @danchaon.bsky.social's Ill Will this afternoon. #FridayReads

Looking forward to moving through @colindickey.com's four-part series on "The Devoid," a 21st-century gothic. (Up at Hilobrow, which I used to read all the time before it slipped from front of mind.)

I'm really enjoying teaching this semester-treasuring the students.

Maybe I'm living right, because I didn't even know about the Cloudflare Outage until someone told me.

Looking forward to reading this.

winstonsdad.blog/2025/11/12/w... on blog this German book about the Ukraine war from Alexander Kluge #translationthurs

Is your publisher reluctant to hype your novel? Shoot them a copy of Kathleen Norris's Motionless Shadows!

Fonseca is on two(!) Kirkus best of 2025 lists: Best Fiction and Best Historical Fiction! #penelopefitzgerald www.kirkusreviews.com/best-of/2025...

I'm trying to be all right with *alright,* but I'm really not.

He didn't just "know."

Reports of the death of the bachelor’s degree have been greatly exaggerated. Enrollment is near pre-pandemic levels, real tuition is flat or down, and the college wage premium remains high. I explore how the narrative became disconnected from the data. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/is-college...

Not getting the full show that some of y’all are seeing, but we do have Northern Lights in South Carolina tonight.

Saw Bugonia last night, and I'm still not sure whether I think it's much good. (It's definitely *some* good, particularly the two central performances.) Glad I saw it in a theater, though. Not pausing the discomfort feels essential.

I reached the point in the first draft of a new novel where the world has become real and I long to dwell in it, to turn a street corner and find out what's there.

"He built a life for himself and runs a barber shop in Atlanta. He recently became engaged to be married. He is a job creator in his community and is well loved by friends and neighbours." What can we do? I don't know, but (especially if you live in Georgia) you can at least make a phone call.

Workshopping a short story that was probably (but not definitely) written with genAI is easy but demoralizing.