Halloween Reads, Zines' Comeback, and Steve Jobs’ Power

This weekend, bolt your doors and curl up with a Scary Good Indie Book for Halloween as recommended by Amy Edelman on the Huffington Post.

Laura Miller, a columnist for Salon talked to The Rumpus about literary criticism. She said:

“When you’re writing literary criticism, you do need to think about your audience, and it sometimes helps to envision a particular person as the reader you’re aiming the piece at. It’s different depending on the venue―a book about Narnia, the New York Times, Salon, etc. Will this reader understand a reference to Edmund Spenser? Some won’t. It’s particularly important to keep this in mind with American readers because they tend to get angry when they don’t understand references, which is unfortunate, but once you’ve put someone’s back up by indicating that you know something they don’t, they tend to be unreceptive to whatever else you’ve got to say. And to be fair to those readers, some critics really are just interested in showing off.”

In a piece for the New York Times, Jenna Wortham wrote about the resurgence of zines, that, while remaining true to their DIY and underground nature, are receiving some help from the Internet to attract readers.

“In 2011, it feels like a rare pleasure to hold up a bunch of pieces of paper that are bound together and read them, instead of reading off a screen,” said David, a prominent New York blogger/zine-maker.

Jennifer Lawrence of Jenn’s Bookshelves is generating support for indie bookstores through #IndieThursday, a Twitter event inspired by a suggestion from author Ryan Jacobson. To participate, readers simply tweet about a book or books that were recently purchased at a local indie bookstore. And don’t forget the hashtag!

Water Isaacson, Steve Job’s biographer, was interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air, where he discussed many aspects of Jobs’ life, and the power of his thinking, up until Isaacson’s last meeting with him.

“[Jobs] said, ‘I’ll make you this promise. I’m not going to read the book until next year, until after it comes out.’ And it made me feel a grand emotion, of ‘Oh! That’s great. Steve is going to be alive for another year.’ Because when you’re around him, the power of his thinking really grabs you. I remember leaving his house and thinking, ‘Oh, I’m so relieved. He’ll be alive in a year. He just told me so.’”