Return of the Round-Up

From Combreviations, today we have Laura to round it up:

It has been forever, reader types. Weeks. Months. A super long time since a round up. So forgive me for the stuff that's now old hat, and thus, no longer interesting. So chin up, noses up, in we go.

I figure we should start with the literary end of things, because we're intellectuals, darlings. It will please you to know, no doubt, that there were literary vampires long before Twilight came around (although LolCat Eclipse, courtesy of one Janet Reid, is faboosh). Some indie bookstores are holding their own in the end times of publishing and also the economy and potentially the universe, and readers have weighed in on their favorite indie books. Literary magazine Tin House is embroiled in a "scandal," there are lots of new literary magazines in the underground, and...wait, is that James Franco in Gary Shteyngart's new book trailer? That seems as unlikely as having seven editors at four houses...oh. Hmm.

Well, sometimes things are awkward like that, like when fiction dies (again), and letter writing dies, and there are no great novelists, and challenging books may just be too hard. Gosh darn, and sometimes good writing gets in the way of a good story. Is this the apocalypse? No? Well, you can pretend it is with this list of great apocalypse summer reading. Or just read the best books of the year so far. Maybe you can buy some books from Harlan Ellison, and maybe you're already one of the buyers of the million e-books James Patterson has sold. Don't forget to wear your Dr. Seuss Converse while you read—it adds to the magic.

Sometimes its hard to tell what an author was thinking when you read his/her work. Like The Overton Window—what's going on there, Glenn Beck? I hear it wasn't that good, although it doesn't have the worst first line. While some authors are too reclusive to get comments from, sometimes you can figure out the real people behind fictional characters. Or the fictional characters behind real people...wait...

That's all for now, reader types—I hope you realize you would have read this faster if you printed it out (and then put it in a binder with all of the other round ups, that you lovingly keep and reread for the writing, of course, since the links are just an added bonus). Until next week!