readings – a post of interesting reads, at least once a week

Months worth of $5.99 and $4.50 a pop, one-at-a-time newsstand “subscriptions” to the New Yorker and Harper’s Monthly have now, thankfully, ended. I finally had the money to pay up for full subscriptions and the will power to not spend it elsewhere. I also have online access, which is key since I often lose my copy of either magazine somewhere around the city (can someone please confirm that this is a normal part of NYC living?).

I’m a huge fan of Harper’s “Readings” section in the beginning of each issue. The magazine reprints excerpts and full-length selections of various writings, from interviews to journal publications to novels. While someone adamant about the degradation of human attention span might be critical of the jumpy, hodge-podge nature of it (note: I think ADD/ADHD is way over-diagnosed), I think the breadth of selections is more informative and educational than detrimental. While I generally don’t make an effort to learn more about all the passages and the people/events involved, I do pursue a few, opening my mind to many things that were never on my radar.

I read a lot. Online. Offline. On subway platforms and in subway cars, in regular cars, at Starbucks and at nicer coffee shops, lounging in Central Park, Prospect Park, and McCarren Park, or just sitting in my rather dark apartment (the last being my least favorite). I haven’t been reading enough novels lately, though I am trying to change that. However, one of the drawbacks of reading – as opposed to watching TV like the rest of the population – is that there are few people I know with whom I can discuss any of it (this is one of the reasons I miss taking classes, despite all the work). I’m completely out of touch with American Idol and Gossip Girls, but I know about Ann Patchet and her invitation to speak at Clemson University, and the controversy that ensued (I don’t yet have an Atlantic Monthly subscription, so I can’t share this particular article).

While this website isn’t really getting any hits right now, I’d like to use it to share some of what I have been reading lately. The unfortunate fact is that plenty of what I want to share would likely run afoul of copyright laws (despite the fact that I could hand out my copy of the magazine to whomever I wish and that I wouldn’t be giving away whole copies of the magazine online). I will probably have to make links semi-permanent and hope that my little website is obscure enough that I don’t piss off the wrong people.

There’s too much good information out there to keep everyone in the dark, transfixed by the glow of the boob-tube…or youtube for that matter…

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