Reading Projects Omnibus
Note from the Flight Deck:
1.
There’s a button on the Home Page menu that takes you to the Reading Project archive, but today I thought I’d sort them into piles (and work in some not originally labeled Reading Projects).
The deeper reason for today’s post:
Substacks are good at expressing day-to-day thoughts. Posts often read like entries in a journal or commonplace book. Some are pithy/fragmentary, others akin to brief essays or op-eds (or wonderfully profane screeds in the case of Jeff Tiedrich’s everyone is entitled to my opinion). Some favor information, some personal reflection. Some (like Roxane Gay’s weekly Audacious Roundup or Oldster Magazine’s Link Roundups) have curated lists of this and that—readings, events, links, other Substacks.1
DL 2.0 aims to be less of-the-moment and more of a continuing resource. I like to picture new subscribers poking about in the archive, and the rest of you easily finding and returning to earlier posts, or scrolling back to ones you skipped.
In short, this Substack is my personal stand against oblivion. As I say often, you pay me back by giving the posts your attention.
2.
Two other developments, one personal (“stand against oblivion” category), one Substactical.
The personal: Now have a Wiki page, joining the merry band of other David Longs, the mandolin player, the linebacker, the cornerback, the New Zealand composer, the Indiana state senator, the British distance runner, and David Ryan Long, also a writer (not to mention the deceased American murderer, David Martin Long).
The Substactical: We now have 503 subscribers (plus unknown # of followers), a new high. Question: Is telling you this sufficient to send us plummeting back to the 480s, as happened when I said we’d hit 501 some months back? It was the whiff of pride in my voice, wasn’t it? I knew it! Will I never learn??
3.
Finally, a reprise of The Birth Year Project invite follows at the bottom of today’s post.
Breakdown/Taxonomy of Reading Projects:
By Place:
By Genre:
By Topic:
By Presses:
By Era:
About You as a Reader:
By Prize:
[You supply the caption]
Birth Year Project:
Reminder that the Birth Year Project is still open for business:
You supply your birth year, I respond with an overview of what was published that year—the popular/well-known titles first, then some books I’d recommend. If your year’s already been done, I’ll do an update. So far, we’ve picked off 29 years—between 1939 and 1992 (age range: 33 to 86).
The current census of years done: 1992 // 1989, 1986, 1984, 1981, 1980 // 1978, 1973, 1971 // 1969, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1961, 1960 // 1959, 1958, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1952, 1951, 1950 // 1948, 1946, 1945, 1944 // 1939
Extra credit: You read one of the books (ideally one you’re unfamiliar with), then tell me what you thought. If we get enough of these, I’ll aggregate and post.
See you in a couple of weeks.
Other Substacks: Every so often, check out the recommended Substacks list every site has. Also, weed out your subscriptions—unsubscribe to ones you routinely skip. When I get a follower, I’m asked to “follow back”—I usually do not, which seems cold-hearted, I know, but I think we over-follow, which means: a) we read only a fraction of what hits our in-box, b) if 40-some percent of your subscribers open a given post that’s considered a success, but this can lead to, c) uncharitable thoughts welling up in a Substacker’s psyche. My basic advice: Keep checking out fresh Substacks, but don’t let your lists ossify and become useless.
Always good to find your thoughts.
LOVE this new organization! Thank you.