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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). See also my annotated list of litbloggers/book reviewers.
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 and an Index of All my Columns.
Taking a Look Back
I just realized that the numbering of my columns is off by 1. This is actually the 60th Robert’s Roundup Column I wrote; the first one was specific to Smashwords and was unnumbered. I’m going to revisit the ebooks I obtained for each column. That column was particularly remarkable:
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, the 2000s, the 2010s, and the 2020s.
Humorist Dave Barry writes his own version of Nolan’s Odyssey movie.
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.
Thurber Prize for American Humor (W). A surprisingly useful list.
I jokingly like to claim credit for helping to “discover” the literary talent of Joy Castro (because I begged her to submit a story to the undergraduate literary magazine of the university I attended (Trinity U). She has since established herself both as a literary academic and prolific author. Here’s a story she published a while back (titled “Betrayed”) about a trip she took down to Port Aransas and recalling an earlier trip she took there with an old boyfriend. Here’s a video (YT) of a talk & reading Castro gave about how her Cuban grandfather in Key West had worked a cigar factory as a lector. The lector’s role was to read aloud novels and leftist political ideology while the workers rolled tobacco into cigars. She used this setting as an inspiration for her 2023 novel ONE BRILLIANT FLAME (which she reads excerpts from). Here’s her website, Wiki page and a good long interview she did in 2020 with craftliterary.com
Under the Radar
Happiness: Ten Years of N+1. (Collection of essays from the influential lit journal).
Metamorphosis: Climate Fiction for a Better Future. (Edited by Grist).
New Stories from the South 2010: Year’s Best by Amy Hempel.
Gone like a Goldfish by Anonymous.
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.
Group Sex Novel by Ann Arensberg. (W, Obit) Despite the racy title, it’s a more mundane but satirical look at publishing and sex. (First chapter was great). Her first novel Sister Wolf won the National Book Award for best novel in 1981.
In Session: Dark Female-Led Novel by Laine Ashford.
March Book (Poetry) by Jesse Ball.
Rental Sister Novel by Jeff Backhaus. A young Japanese woman is hired by a man’s wife to break down the walls between them.
Clear: A Transparent Novel by Nicola Barker. Strange tale of real-life magician David Blaine who sits suspended in a transparent box. It’s fiction!
Augustus Carp, Esq. by Himself, Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man
by Henry Howarth Bashford. Comic 1924 novel about a conceited oaf.
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)
Running the Rift: A Novel by Naomi Benaron. Story about a gifted runner in Rwanda who overcomes political turbulence to become a marathon runner. Bellwether Prize winner. Kirkus: “where Benaron shines is in her tender descriptions of Rwandan’s natural beauty and in her creation of Jean Patrick, a hero whose noble innocence and genuine human warmth are impossible not to love.”
Cleopatra Dismounts: A Novel by Carmen Boullosa (W)
Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green by Joshua Braff. Jewish teenage boy in the 1970s deals with growing up, sex, etc.
Defenestrate by Renee Branum (Home). A brother and sister fascinated by the idea of defenestration move to Prague and grapple with family myths. I think “falling” is the book’s recurring metaphor. Lots of positive press from NYT, New Yorker, etc.
Furious Future Stories by Algis Budrys.
The Price of a Haircut by Brock Clarke. Stories.
Voyage of the Morning Light: A Novel by Marina Endicott.
Like Flies from Afar Novel by K. Ferrari.
Valleyesque: Stories by Fernando A. Flores.
One Day at a Time: and other stories by A.K. Frailey.
Rat in the Kitchen: A Comedy Crime Novel by Rick Gene.
Groceries by Matt Gibson.
Red Magician by Lisa Goldstein.
Urban Bestiary: Encountering the Everyday Wild by Lyanda Lynn Haupt. Essay about common creatures you might encounter in one’s backyard (or a field across the street). Insightful, informative.
Camel Bookmobile Novel by Masha Hamilton.
The Casualties Novel by Nick Holdstock. (Home) Some sort of apocalyptic mystery taking place in Edinburgh about a man who likes finding the secrets of the city’s residents. Polarized reviews, but some highly positive (See here and here) Holdstock is a journalist and China expert who has written both nonfiction and fiction.
Don’t I know you? by Marni Jackson. (Home) Imaginary encounters with celebrities by a noted Canadian journalist and humorist.
Underdog by Anne Joyce.
Balls by Nanci Kinkaid. Satirical look at football coaches and their wives. Kinkaid wrote the excellent Verbena novel.
Immediate Family Novel by Ashley Nelson Levy.
Big Time by Fritz Leiber.
Doctor Robert by Bobby Lopez.
Anomalous Events in an American Suburb by Ross Myers.
Trail of Crab Tracks: A Novel by Patrice Nganang. Camaroonian novelist. Book was named a New Yorker Best Book. A Trail of Crab Tracks becomes a singularly complex interrogation of the relationship between thought and action, between writing and the world.” ―Kristen Roupenian,
Lightning Song by Lewis Norden.
All the Houses a Novel by Karen Olsson. Daughter returns to Washington DC to care for a sick father who was involved in a political scandal.
Without a Dowry and Other Plays by Alexander Ostrovsky.
Francis and the Women: A Novel by Siggy Patton.
All you never said by H. Pearce.
Erratic Facts by Kay Ryan (poetry).
Mother Country Novel by Irina Reyn. 2019 Ukrainian novel about a Ukrainian mother living in NYC and facing all sorts of problems taking care of her child and making a living. “Mother Country is a beautifully envisioned, morally urgent novel set at the disputed borderlands of a divided family and country. Irina Reyn is a superb chronicler of America, Ukraine, and all points between, resulting in a book of uncommon power and purpose.” –
Crompton Divided by Robert Sheckley. Comic novel about a man whose psyche is divided into three parts on 3 separate planets. “Rickety, but full of inspired and often pointed foolery.” (Kirkus)
A Curable Romantic novel by Joseph Skibell.
Man in a Cage by Brian M. Stableford.
I look for You in the Crowd Novel by Michael J. Vaughn. Also Semiprecious.
Dream Merchant: Novel by Fred Waitzkin.
Self-Portrait with Russian Piano Novel by Wolf Wondratschek. Story of a jaded pianist who reflects on language, art, politics, etc. Reviewed by actor Ethan Hawke of NYTBR: It is at once egoless, sly, profound, funny, authentic and utterly mysterious―without ever seeming to break a sweat . . . An immense humility encompasses the novel. In a world that shouts, this book is a song played softly, and slowly.
Moon Goddess’s Smile by Catherine Wu.
Night of the Avenging Blowfish: A novel of Covert Operations, Love and Luncheon Meat by John Welter. Comic novel about a secret agent
Sex Academy: Three Book Collection Fun and Filthy Noellas by Lucy Xane.
Blink and It’s Gone
All We Know of Pleasure: Poetic Erotica by Women (Edited by Enid Shomer).
Steps by Jerzy Kosinski. National Book Award winner, 1969. Novel of power, libido and morality. “By some miracle of training, which recalls the linguistic bravado of Conrad and Nabokov, he is already a master of pungent and disciplined English prose. Simply as a stylist, Kosinski has few equals among American novelists born to the language. And I have also become convinced, after reading Steps, that he is one of the most gifted new figures to appear in our literature for some years.” (Irving Howe)
Lightning Song by Lewis Nordan. Southern novel by noted Southern humorist.
Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past can help us survive the climate crisis by Michael Mann. This 2023 in-depth study of earth science, paleoclimatology, the historical record and climate policy by leading climate scientist Michael Mann is a must-read. I have been tearing into this ebook. (I wish I’d studied these topics back in college!)
Siren and the Seashell and Other essays on poets and poetry by Octavio Paz.
Debriefing: Collected Stories by Susan Sontag.
Library Purchases/Printed Books
Several collection of (public domain) folk tales by Cyrus MacMillan: Canadian Fairy Tales and Canadian Wonder Tales.
I also bought another copy of Susan Sontag‘s Against Interpretation which I plan to write about.
Podcasts/Media
Today (August 4, 2026) is when Ray Bradbury’s famous story “There will come soft rains” takes place (from the Martian Chronicles). Here’s a great radio version of the story — with sound effects, etc. (YT).
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