Reading about the reading life: November 2, 2018 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).  

The month of October just flew by. I celebrated Halloween attending a wedding of friends; it was a wedding in costumes. Simple, nice, and fun. We're now into November, and it seems like before we know it the holidays season will be here. So stay tuned for my annual series of holiday posts coming up later. Meanwhile, let's have a look at the reading life.

• Inc. has a small piece telling us why it is a good idea to make reading a part of your daily routine. 
• This seems a bit like a First World Problem. Readers for the Man Booker Prize are complaining some book selections are way too long. Even the term "book inflation" has been tossed around. Story via The Guardian.
• End of September means Banned Books Week in many parts of the United States. With Banned Books Week you always get a fuckbagel or two who clearly do not get the concept of irony. For example, some pastors in Maine wanted to ban some books from a local public library, and of course, they wanted it done during Banned Books Week. However, their local community  "were in fact concerned, mostly by the good pastors' bigotry and small-mindedness; others were entertained by the irony of their protest." No matter how much the asshat "men of God" whined they "not a man of hate. I help everybody, whether it’s homosexuality, fornication, adultery. . . "(and apparently they do not know how to phrase things neither. Really, they help others with fornication? I do not even want to know), things went poorly for them and the books stayed. Stories via National Coalition Against Censorship and Alternet.
• In Germany, a bookstore faces the usual challenges of less people buying books and competing against e-books and online sales. Their solution? They sell bread and sausages in addition to books. Story via The New York Times. 
• The New York Times also offers an opinion piece "In Praise of Mediocrity." The idea is basically to, you know, relax a bit and enjoy your hobbies if you have them. The columnist is also author of the book The Attention Merchants, which looks like an interesting book to add to my ever growing TBR list. 
• Via Longreads, it seems physiognomy, yes, that old pseudoscience, has never really left and may even be making a comeback. 
• Via Mental Floss, a new study that confirms that growing up in a house full of books is good for you. I certainly was lucky enough that growing up we always had books in the house. 
• It seems fiction sales between 2013 and 2017 have been decreasing. Story via Publishers Weekly.I found that a bit counterintuitive. I mean, in the Hard Times, fiction is definitely perfect for escapism, especially if it has nothing to remind you of the Hard Times. However, part of the answer is  how the book publishing industry itself works. 
• The New York Review of Books offers an article arguing Thucydides may have known quite a bit about the United States today. I may need to reread Thucydides sometime soon.
• LitHub has been doing a series on books that defined the century, running from 1900 to today in the 2010s. You might or not agree with all their choices, but it is interesting to look over their lists. 
• Via Atlas Obscura, a look at Barter Books, a secondhand bookstore inside a Victorian train station in England. 
• Via First Things, a look at the bookish life and what is it good for. 
• Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Book Review ponders why we need erotica.
• I've shared this piece in a few places, and I think it does need to be widely disseminated. As a book reviewer myself, I can appreciate what it states. Via Cornerfolds, "How not to request reviews and six thing[s] you should be doing." Much like Tracy the blogger, "I've realized that expecting an author to look at a review policy is a fantasy and I've moved on. I've passed denial and anger and now I'm into acceptance and laughing at the ridiculous requests that come through my inbox." So please, authors, agents, publishing aides, etc, read this and then plan accordingly. Book reviewers everywhere will appreciate it. By the way, you can find my book review statement here and on the right side of my blog. 
• Via Vulture, a look at the growth in audiobooks.