…and also posts about all these librarian problems

“So, if a technology as ancient as the book is going to survive late into the 21st century, perhaps it’s time to reconsider—as rapidly and as radically as possible—how we collectively measure “prestige” among our authors of fiction. The old binaries, whether literary versus popular or highbrow versus lowbrow, now belong to an obsolete historical moment. But history, fortunately, always begins anew.”

Prestige Fiction Is Dead | Los Angeles Review of Books

This is a nice critique of the state of prestige fiction. Worth a read.

Thanks to a group of booksellers, Amazon is pulling out of the Paris Book Fair.

I am seeing an increasing amount customers in the bookstore I work at lean in and confess they are only shopping in the store to fuck Amazon. I know its only anecdotal, but rough brand sentiment none the less.

Booklegger Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 5 (Booklegger Press, San Francisco, CA, 1974)

Lookit this crap I wrote when I was 11? I’m sad I’m not a librarian anymore ☹️

Lookit this crap I wrote when I was 11? I’m sad I’m not a librarian anymore ☹️

When you guess a Dewey range without having to look it up

Highly encourage anyone who is invested in fighting censorship in libraries and schools to check out the documentary The Librarians, directed by Kim A Snyder, which you can now watch for free on the PBS YouTube channel:

“When lawmakers seek to review a list of books, librarians find themselves on the frontlines of a national battle. Across the U.S., librarians face the impact of uniting against library collection standards that include restrictions on race-related and LGBTQIA+ content. Drawing on historical context, The Librarians explores the broader implications for education and public life.”

So I have…two library cards now? In the same system? Is that legal? I went to upgrade my ecard and they opened a new card, but the other one is still active (thankfully—all my emotional support ebooks are there). Had some issues last night with authenticated the “old” card that turned out to just be standard system maintenance, but I discovered through the process that both cards are separate and active on libby. Is that supposed to happen?

“Performative reading” has apparently become an effective courtship strategy among Dutch youngsters. A survey of respondents (aged 18–35) found that book readers are likely to be perceived as smart (50%), more interesting and attractive (45%), and some 60% said they see reading as a sign of intelligence.

Source: Study on the Attractiveness of Reading (conducted by CPNB), David Huijzer for InCT

Ok ok ok ok, so it’s been a minute and I’m sorry about that but I have a good reason: I’ve been trying to save democracy or something, I guess!

If you haven’t seen yet, I’m still alive and now employed at a nonprofit where I do library things in the education space to bring down barriers to quality educational resources. And lately, that’s meant fighting what’s effectively been government censorship. We’ve been hush hush about it because the LAST thing we need is a target on our back, but now we’re ready to be a bit more

I’m not doing this work all by myself though – our whole team is on it, and now that it’s time for Project for Awesome, we’d love your help, too! So if it pleases the audience, we’d love your vote, which you can send our way here: https://projectforawesome.com/videos/project-for-awesome-2026-iskme

In any case, I’m glad you’re here, and I hope you’re well, and DFTBA (or ask questions)! See you during the livestream! (and by that I mean I’ll be watching with you)!

I’m seven weeks away from the publication of my second book, and I have a lot of feelings. I was proud of my first one – it was an accomplishment, after decades of trial and error.

But I’m proud of this one in a different way. I think some of the self-reflection that has been keeping me up at night wiggled its way into the book without me realizing it, at least until my edits came in and I had to look at the book again after months away.

I didn’t mean to be thoughtful, just tell a story and try to make someone laugh.

And weirdly, I think I accomplished all three of those things.

Anyway, I can’t wait for you all to read it.

Starting February 9th, The Librarians will be available on the PBS app. Or watch it live (check your local PBS station’s schedule). Please give it a watch. It’s not just about censorship and books. It’s about the moment we find ourselves in and how we got here. https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/the-librarians/

The Librarians | Book Policies Documentary | Independent Lens

“Not long ago I was invited to a librarians’ event by a lady who cheerfully told me, “We like to think of ourselves as ‘information providers.’” I was appalled by this want of ambition; I made my excuses and didn’t go. After all, if you have a choice, why not call yourselves “Shining Acolytes of the Sacred Flame of Literacy in a Dark and Encroaching Universe”? I admit this is hard to put on a button, so why not abbreviate it to “librarians”?”
― Terry Pratchett, A Slip of the Keyboard: Collected Non-Fiction

Here’s the full image of my new avatar photo. These are the books I am currently reading. I figured using books as my avatar was a cool idea, given my name. I mean, I am the son of two librarians (yeah, both parents are retired librarians, lol).