Thank for reading it so we don’t have to.
09.03.2026 19:13
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Thank for reading it so we don’t have to.
A tale as old as time…
And if they only read for fun, who cares??? I wrote a recent newsletter on this very topic: buttondown.com/TheLazyEdito...
At the same time, I am concerned that reading comprehension skills and literacy in general are in decline across generations, but especially with kids and young adults. Idgaf if someone only likes to read first-person romance or fanfic. I’m just glad they’re reading!
The discourse of “we are dumber as a society, we don’t read hard books anymore” is likely as old as reading itself. People have always been saying this, as if language is static and not always changing. We’re not stupid because we don’t speak Shakespearean English.
This whole thread is a banger, and this post gets at precisely my approach to both my personal reading philosophy and my views on mass literacy: I see great value in reading widely across genre and format for many reasons. Some of those reasons can just be “this is fun!”
the funniest part of this article is when the author hits pause to be like "I personally don't read romance, I am in a book club called the Difficult Books Club where we read the Brothers Karamazov and kind of hate it." seems like the wrong person to be writing about romance and fanfic then idk
He hasn’t. In part, I voted for him because he is so open about how his faith shapes his views while simultaneously emphasizing separation of church and state. It’s a refreshing change imao in how Christianity gets talked about in politics, especially in Texas.
This is the Texas race that matters most.
Don’t disparage gnomes like that.
Based on what I’ve observed of both campaigns, I agree. I’m ready for this primary to be over. We have to do the hard work of building coalitions and rally behind whoever wins. And especially work to elect Gina Hinojosa as governor. That race matters a lot more for Texans in the day to day.
I’m very tired of people who don’t live in Texas commenting on a senate race they can’t vote in.
I haven’t talked this much about a 19th century novel since college.
One of my recent joys has been talking to all my friends about Wuthering Heights and swapping stories of how it traumatized us.
We're really close to $10,000 raised for Black Zine Fair. It's 50% of what we need to raise. gogetfunding.com/black-zine-f...
Over 275 authors, editors, critics and diehard readers came together over the last month to vote on their favorite transfeminine books of the year.
It's my honor to present the 2025 TFR Reader's Choice Awards!
Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who voted 🩷
But if you’re inclined, subscribe! I mostly read literary fiction, memoir & essays, romance, and SF/F.
I’ve been posting book reviews on Instagram for 7-8 years, and I’ve become more and more disillusioned with that platform. I’m experimenting with this email newsletter as an alternative. I don’t expect a big audience, and I’m not sure how often I’ll send out updates.
I’ve started a newsletter for my book reviews: buttondown.com/thelazyeditor
Speaking as a librarian at a university whose primary job duty is training students and faculty on scholarly search tools, AI is a shit search tool.
Really important to stress that the Crown Jewels of the US higher education system were never the Ivies or elite SLACs (other countries have equivalents of these) but the well-funded, large, cheap, and excellently staffed public state university systems bringing high quality education to the masses.
We don't have enough people doing what they can but I am so grateful to those who are. Thank you.
Actually taking the time to make the call, send the letter, show up to the meeting, write the check, go to the protests, do actual mutual aid. Thank you.
I hope so. I’ve observed that some (emphasis on some, not all) faculty struggle with pragmatic actions & grunt work. Staff have to be good at these things to do our jobs, but like I said, we are burnt out! We need you all to step up with the boring & tedious stuff to make organizing work!
It’s frustrating because we have models and even in TX, we have unions! But they have to prioritize this work and actually participate. That might mean giving a little less time to the next book project or conference talk.
One challenge I’ve observed as a staff member is that it’s hard to engage faculty in collective efforts, in part because their work is often solo and competitive. Even in WGS (a more community-minded discipline), it’s hard to get faculty attention and time. And staff are so burnt out.
Holy hyphen use, Batman!
We are overly reliant on in my unit. Some of it is culture, especially post pandemic. I would prefer to talk to people more often. But there’s not much I can do to change the culture at such a large place.
It’s hard to schedule in person or Zoom calls with coworkers. Even then I have to tell them, it’s urgent and needs to be offline. Then it still takes multiple days to schedule. This world is shitty & I don’t have the energy to constantly censor myself. Also I’m not JE.