literature.cafe

FTA:

Here's how the scholarly publishing scam works: academics do original scholarly research, funded by a mix of private grants, public funding, funding from their universities and other institutions, and private funds. These academics write up their research and send it to a scholarly journal, usually one that's owned by a small number of firms that formed a scholarly publishing cartel by buying all the smaller publishers in a string of anticompetitive acquisitions. Then, other scholars review the submission, for free. More unpaid scholars do the work of editing the paper. The paper's author is sent a non-negotiable contract that requires them to permanently assign their copyright to the journal, again, for free. Finally, the paper is published, and the institution that paid the researcher to do the original research has to pay again – sometimes tens of thousands of dollars per year! – for the journal in which it appears.

FTA:

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Public Library (CPL) on August 15 announced the launch of “Chicago Book-Wrapped,” a new popup initiative offering instant access to a curated collection of ebooks and e-audiobooks with no hold times or library card requirements during special events in Chicago. The initial collection was curated to celebrate the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and features ebooks and e-audiobooks such as Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s The Truths We Hold: An American Journey; former President Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream and Dreams from My Father; former First Lady Michelle Obama’s The Light We Carry; as well as guidebooks for visitors; ebooks on Chicago history, architecture, and food; and much more.

Started this a while back and it wasn't too bad. After I ran out of chapters, I kinda forgot about it. Now I'm back reading it again, it's enjoyable. Not top tier, but decent.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/24201963

Good deal and great series. Just bought and redeemed it using Kobo, very smooth experience.

FTA:

*The decision Thursday went against a judge who had advised the Oklahoma Board of Education not to revoke the license of Summer Boismier, who had also put in her high school classroom a QR code of the Brooklyn Public Library’s catalogue of banned books.

An attorney for Boismier, who now works at the Brooklyn Public Library in New York City, told reporters after the board meeting that they would seek to overturn the decision.*

FTA:

*Imagine that your local public library is inhabited by an undiscovered race of tiny people. They’ve hidden themselves in the racks, tucked behind books and magazines, amidst history and fiction, new media and old. If you’re lucky, you might spy them — or at least their tiny homes, which are filled with minuscule beds, microscopic stools, itty-bitty flowers and furniture fashioned out of found objects such as board game pieces and one-use spice bottles.

And these little folks need help. You have been cast as a “Teeny Tiny Beings Residential Specialist,” charged with finding the micro-humans new homes. It appears the librarians — giants, like us, at least to the microscopic persons — have been moving things around. *

FTA:

*Three weeks ago, waist-high cardboard boxes filled to the brim with books cluttered every aisle of this industrial Georgetown warehouse. Stacked in rows, the still-to-be-processed books packed 90 boxes at its peak.

Now, two months after a ransomware attack shut down many of Seattle Public Library’s services, library workers are celebrating: They’ve finally finished sorting and processing a backlog of thousands of borrowed books. *

FTA:

*Toronto Public Library (TPL) experienced the largest spike between 2022 and 2023: in 2023, the library had 2,334 incidents, up from 1,362 the year before — a 71 per cent jump, the data shows. TPL also reported a 529 per cent increase in the number of suspected overdoses between 2022 and 2023. *

I recently read Harold by Steven Wright, and I loved it. I enjoyed reading a book where I honestly could not predict what would happen in the next paragraph, yet it still coalesced into a coherent whole.

The only other author I know who could write like that was Richard Brautigan, and I was hoping the community could recommend some other authors to try.

I did a book review of an overlooked metafiction classic: The Affirmation by Christopher Priest

Warning: mental health, violence and sexual triggers throughout.

Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

"State has ordered books by 13 authors, 12 of them women, to be removed from every public school, classroom and library"