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Much of the media coverage of the suicide of Kevin Morrissey, the Virginia Quarterly Review‘s managing editor, was downright sensationalistic, teasing out allegations that he may have been driven to it by the bullying of his boss, editor Ted Genoways. Now, in Slate, Emily Bazelon’s “Tragedy at the Virginia Quarterly Review” offers a more nuanced and [...]

In reviewing Bob Woodward’s new book, Obama’s Wars, I made my first foray into the world of e-books. First times are never all that pleasurable, are they? Getting the book online was a no-brainer. Obama’s Wars was embargoed and it would be faster to get it Monday morning first thing than wait for the stores to [...]

From the Department of I’m Shocked, Shocked, NPR reports that the NYTRB is mostly by and about white males (“Are ‘The New York Times’ Book Reviews Fair?“). Also on NPR.org (“Books Have Many Futures,” although I couldn’t find audio), Linton Weeks presents this amusing scenario: Other types of books are not only meant to be [...]

It’s a headline that will hearten the e-evangelists and terrify the p-book lovers: “Mass Paperback Publisher Goes All-Digital” (Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, Wall Street Journal). In response to declining sales, struggling Dorchester Publishing announced that it will print books on electrons, not paper. Publishers Weekly (“Dorchester Drops Mass Market Publishing for E-Book/POD Model,” by Jim Milliot) added [...]

On Slate, in “Judging a Book by Her Cover,” Mark Oppenheimer offers the following lament: ”Simply put, our gadgets give us too much privacy.” Someone should tell Cory Doctorow! Oppenheimer is talking about the charm of seeing what people are reading, rather than which e-book reader they own, of course — a sad turn aptly summed up in [...]

It’s been so long since I wrote a Weeklings that this is really a Monthlings–and that’s being charitable. Here are a few of the things I’ve read recently that have lodged in my brain…due to the length of this post, I have introduced subject headings. First Editions Much as I covet first editions, I only [...]

While agents and authors cheer Macmillan’s stand against Amazon, some e-book aficionados are angry at authors. In an anecdote-rich but fact-impoverished article in the New York Times, Motoko Rich and Brad Stone quote a bunch of people who are willing to pay a few hundred books for a gizmo — but balk at a few [...]

I finally made time to read Jonathan Mahler’s profile of James Patterson (“James Patterson Inc.” New York Times) — since it was published, two weeks ago, Patterson has already written three more books and signed a contract to publish 38 more. I kid, I kid. But, certainly, this profile of the prolific Patterson’s powerful publishing [...]

J. D. Salinger has died. The writer who lived so privately has, in death, once again become the subject of the kind of intense public scrutiny that infuriated him. After the reflections of our own Daniel Kraus,  the pieces I enjoyed the most were sort of quirky, personal views: Joanna Smith Rakoff’s memories of working for Salinger’s [...]