Really disturbing.

So much internet today.  I don’t even know how to start.  Let me say, though: There’s too much to here for me to distill & tease with quotes from the individual articles, so please have faith and click through to the pieces.  It’s all very good.  Let’s jump in:

Over at The Millions, the venerable Garth Risk Hallberg has posted the first installment of a three part series talking about the future of literary journalism, i.e. book coverage, titled Part I: R.I.P., NYT? This is a really smart piece of criticism; it defines ‘the problem’/offers solutions/peers into the future.  I look forward to the rest.  Plus, it includes shoutouts for The Rumpus and The Quarterly Conversation, two of my favorite sites, so, Word.

And here’s an interview with N Frank Daniels at Dogmatika. Really interesting interview.  Daniels originally self-published his first novel, and marketed it creatively, and then was signed a two book deal with Harper Perennial.  And I have to say: Dogmatika is housing some of the best author interviews I’ve read.  Great job, folks.

More after the jump.

At the NYT, a peice about magazines raising their prices, and the subsequent effect on subscription base/issues sold.

One of my new favorite websites: The Awl (thanks for the tip, Gian, and see you Friday).  I really enjoy their cultural commentary & gathering.

Because Twitter is like a new pet puppy for me, and I must talk about it to my friends (you): Maureen Dowd obviously does not like Twitter, and enjoys mocking the very intelligent & nice-seeming creators.

Michael Kimball, one of my favorite living persons and artists, lists his Top 5 Novels You May Not Have Heard Of, and some bonuses.

To reiterate the beauty of this Harper’s index that Jimmy highlighted, here are two stats culled: Percentage of Americans who say they never read books: 45 — Number of times that Rod McKuen says he rewrote his latest book, The Sound of Solitude: 34

And listen to Sean recap his run of the Boston Marathon.  My favorite part, from mile 17: ‘A woman in the shape of a gourd holds up a sign reading: YOU ARE HURTING RIGHT NOW BECAUSE YOU ARE KICKING ASS!’  Congratulations, Sean!

The results for Nathan Bransford’s (who I have to say is a really nice guy) Literary Agent for a Day contest are in. The gist:  People are overconfident, and being a lit. agent is probably harder than it seems.  Thanks again for doing this, Nathan.

You Can’t Please Everyone – Amazon 1-Star reviews of ‘classic’ works of art. It all hurts, but hurts so good.

There’s so much more I’m thinking, and it’s all jittery, but to see more of it sporadically, go here.

Tags: booklyfe, n frank daniels, Sean Lovelace, twitter