Reading About The Reading Life: December 2, 2016 edition

Welcome to another edition of "Reading about the reading life" here at The Itinerant Librarian. This is where I collect stories about reading and the reading life. Basically, these are items related to reading, maybe writing and literacy, that I find interesting and think my four readers might find interesting as well with a little commentary. As with other features I do on this blog, I do it when I have time or feel like it. Comments are always welcome (within reason).  

Once more, it  has been  a bit of a while since I have done one of these. We are down to one full week of classes and then finals week at the college, so I am making a little time before the holidays really hit. Please remember to come back for my traditional holiday posts series later this month. Meantime, let's have a look at the reading world this month.

• Read about a man who collected 12,000 road maps. Via National Geographic.
• In Egypt, they have a bookstore with a room where you can scream and break things to let out stress. I think we need a few of those here  in the United States. Story via CNN.
• In India, there is a bookstore where Russian books and books of the Soviet era are still being sold. It is almost as if it is frozen in time. By the way, if you want something from the era, you better go while you can. "When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, the books from Moscow stopped arriving. Therefore, the shop only has Russian books from the last stock. The focus has now shifted to books in Hindi, which are not being stocked by renowned retail bookstores in the city." Story via DNA India.
• If you live in the Minneapolis area, here is a list of their coziest independent bookstores. Story via Minnesota Monthly. 
• It happens in academia. If you do not get your book out quickly enough, someone else will scoop you up on it. And very often it is a matter of either write a book for the masses people will read or try to make it an academic book no one will probably read but that will look good on your CV for tenure and promotion. Personally, I prefer the book for the masses I can actually read. Story via Inside Higher Ed. 
• The New Yorker has a piece on what Barnes and Noble does not get about bookstores. As much as I like B&N, let us be honest, what is keeping them alive is mainly the fact they have become a fancy toy store with a cafe and hipster stuff like LPs. In the end, you want a good bookstore experience, an independent is where you will find it. 
• Pew Research Center has a study out on "who doesn't read books in America."  
• Signature takes a look at One Hundred Years of Solitude.
• And finally just because I found it interesting, Dangerous Minds takes a look at some rare photos of Anton LaVey performing satanic rites. The article also mentions some books that my be of interest to readers.