View Previous Roundup and Next Roundup (View All)
MAILING LIST: I just started a mailing list for my publishing company. Will mail out every 2 months and will include excerpts from my Robert’s Roundup columns and other random stuff. https://booktoot.club/@nagletx. (Mastodon) and nagletx.bsky.social. (Blue Sky).
My Personville Press sells literary titles (mainly short stories) at budget prices (and several freebies). Gradually I have been doing “elevator pitch” videos on YouTube summarizing several of these ebooks in three minutes or so.
Abbreviations: KU means Kindle Unlimited and NYP means “Name Your Price” (that’s an option on Smashwords and other booksellers). If you’d like to submit an ebook to me for review or mention in this column, see my instructions here. Here is my article about methods and search queries I use to locate ebook deals. See also: Indie Author Spotlight, Interviews by RJN,
Introduction
Here’s a Gemini AI query I did about non-Kindle ebook platforms globally. Here’s another AI query about whether kids have a strong preference for more recent children’s books over classics (and things their parents recommend). The answer seems to be yes, especially because more recent books have more graphics and have more diverse themes (like handling emotional regulation, racial diversity and eco-awareness).
I never explained why I list some of my ebook purchases as Under the Radar and others as Blink and It’s Gone. Basically Blink and It’s Gone are ebooks which are rarely discounted. 90% of the time, these are books by known authors publishing by well-known publishers. In contrast, the Under the Radar titles are often by indie authors or self-published titles which I obtained either for free or for less than $1. In fact, some of the Under the Radar authors are very distinguished; sometimes a major publisher is publishing them, but for one reason or another, the prices are low and generally stay that low.
Frankly though, I pay a LOT MORE ATTENTION to the indie authors on Under the Radar than I do with the Blink and It’s Gone authors.
I produced two more “literary elevator pitches” for Jack Matthews ebooks. I show up myself in both videos near the end, but primarily it features Jack Matthews audio.
Articles/Essays
Some random reddit guy has been posting longish reviews of novels from each decade: the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s.
David Wallace-Wells has second thoughts about the recent Atlantic article about reading habits:
You might assume, especially given social stereotypes and caricatures, that the reading decline would be concentrated among the young, with that turn away from books and toward phones therefore spelling doom for future literacy. You might think the problem would be exacerbated by schools and universities turning away from demanding reading curriculums and the arrival of artificial intelligence to do our reading for us. But in fact, young Americans are — according to this survey, at least — reading more than they did a couple of decades ago.
In 2003, for instance, Americans ages 15 to 24 read 8.4 minutes a day; in 2016 they read 7.8 minutes a day; and in 2022 they read 11.7 minutes a day. Also in 2003, those between the ages of 25 and 34 were reading 9.6 minutes a day; in 2016 that group read nine minutes a day; in 2025 they read 10.2 minutes a day. If these numbers represent a crisis, it doesn’t appear to be a new one.
Among Americans 65 and up, the base line is higher and the decline in time spent is larger, too: For decades, at least, the bulk of the country’s reading has been done by Americans in their golden years. In 2003, older Americans read on average just under an hour each day — 58.5 minutes. By last year, that had fallen nearly by half, to roughly 32.4 minutes each day, a drop that represents the lion’s share of overall reading declines. To the extent that we can talk about the decline of reading as a mass phenomenon, it seems concentrated not among the next generation but among the previous ones. The pattern may seem counterintuitive, but it echoes some other findings about social media use and disinformation: For all the hand-wringing about the effects of new technology on kids, the impacts may be just as corrosive, if not more so, on their grandparents. (Perhaps this is one reason The Wall Street Journal recently declared that “Dad Books Are a Dying Breed.”)
Death of a bookseller/rebel. Lam Wing-Kee was a Hong Kong bookstore owner imprisoned and who later denounced mainland China for keeping him locked up for 8 months. Here is a link to a longer profile Alex W. Palmer did of him in 2018.
Under the Radar
Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand: A Novel of Adam and Eve By Gioconda Belli. Noted Nicaraguan journalist writes a meditation on the Adam-Eve story. Prolific author/poet rarely translated into English, but this FSG book was translated in many languages. PW wrote, ” The unfolding of knowledge and humanity is both primitive and breathtaking in Belli’s view. And without abandoning the timeless biblical story, Belli manages to introduce a modern Darwinian element that’s both stark and eloquent. Belli tackles Genesis with perception-rattling gravity. ” Alan Cheuse does a NPR review (with audio)
Two books by W. Royce Adams (Home,) Scar Songs (short stories about males at various stages of life) and As Time Goes by (a reflection on aging). Amazingly, Adams is a 94 old retired English professor who started writing actively after retirement. He wrote several books for young readers including an adventure series based around a mythical place called Rairarubia. Here’s a reading of Adams talking about As Time Goes By (YT) Here’s a promotional vid about one of his Rairarubia books. (YT) Here’s a better organized list of his writing credits and awards.
Blink and It’s Gone
All We Know of Pleasure: Poetic Erotica by Women (Edited by Enid Shomer).
Library Purchases/Printed Books
Several collection of (public domain) folk tales by Cyrus MacMillan: Canadian Fairy Tales and Canadian Wonder Tales.
Podcasts/Media
Leave a Reply