What’s going on with readers today? A Goodreads member survey has surprising insights into reading habits. Social media isn’t as influential as thought; readers frequently look for works by favored authors; many read books on smart phones.
VIDA: Women in Literary Arts today released its annual Count, examining issues of gender discrimination in some of the nation’s major literary venues for 2012. The previous Counts have fueled considerable media response by revealing the wide disparity in rates of publication between male and female authors in nearly every genre.
This year’s Count demonstrates that some outlets have heard VIDA’s message—critically-acclaimed magazines such as Tin House, Poetry and Threepenny Review were particularly noticeable for the positive attention editors are giving to create a more balanced publishing landscape.
But as the conversation over these issues has grown louder, some magazines seem to have become tone deaf. The 2012 Count reveals that the gender discrepancy in venues such as The Paris Review, The New Republic, New York Review Of Books, Times Literary Supplement, The New Republic and The Nation has either stagnated or grown quantifiably worse since VIDA’s Count began. See http://www.vidaweb.org/ Thanks to Goodreads for publicizing this study.
“What Kind of Book Reader Are You? A Diagnostics Guide” from the Atlantic Wire lets you determine if you’re really a book hater, a multi-tasker, a bibliophile or another and gives you ideas of how to spend your reading time.
“Everything Is Fiction,” a blog on the New Yorker by novelist Keith Ridgway, who points out we’re all living stories every day.
“I don’t know how to write. Which is unfortunate, as I do it for a living. Mind you, I don’t know how to live either. . . When you tell yourself the story of your life, the story of your day, you edit and rewrite and weave a narrative out of a collection of random experiences and events.”
The young adult novel is a literary grey area. Designed to appeal to readers from about age 12 to 18 (many facile readers are ready at ten), they often have protagonists in that age group. But perennial favorites of adults also are included, such as To Kill a Mockingbird. NPR has winnowed down suggestions to about 250 and now is soliciting votes from the public to pick the top 100. Go here to cast your votes.
