Admin and Chat thread

So I do not spam someone's thread. :) besides - we need a thread to grumble and chat after all.

Looks like it will be ok to post any Magazine reading here? Harper's? Atlantic? My usual literary journals? Anyone have issues with me starting a topic for them?

I'd love if you started a topic for your magazines! Then my Scientific American wouldn't feel so lonely. Atlantic? Mine are languishing, and it pains me, so inspiration would be welcome.

I'm interested in reading some of the articles and short stories from the legendary New Yorker writers, particularly A. J. Liebling, Joseph Mitchell, John Cheever, Lillian Ross, John Updike, John McPhee and Vladimir Nabokov. I just finished "The Swimmer" by John Cheever from the July 18, 1964 issue, so (assuming that it's okay with Lucy) I'll create a John Cheever thread later today, and comment about this short story.

OK then. Thread coming up as soon as I get around to it.

>2 qebo:
I like Atlantic. One of the biggest problem with not reading it on time is that by the time I get to it, the current situation had changed. A lot. So I am trying to stay on top.

Literary magazines - not that much. Although I hate when I have the debut story of a new voice and manage to read it after they manage to publish a novel.

>3 kidzdoc:
Cheever is one of the authors whose unpopularity (or relative unpopularity outside of USA) always baffled me.

The Complete Short Stories of John Cheever was one of my best reads EVER. I love the Wapshots. Less unpopularity than simple obliviousness, overlookedness???

Yeah, it is simply weird.

There are a few authors like that - not just American but also a few British. They just do not make the standard canon outside of their country for some reason -- and people just don't hear about them. I found Cheever by chance. Someone else might not be that lucky.

H.E. Bates and V.S. Pritchett come to mind as English short story practitioners of the highest quality and quite overlooked here in the US.

Or outside of England really.

Anthony Trollope from the novelists shares their destiny - at least in the non-English speaking world.

Really? I know Galsworthy, at least, is beloved in France. That surprises me!

Delighted to find you!!! Will be back as soon as I think of what else to say....

I've been tinkering some more with the title of this group -- It was too long. Now it is a bit shorter although less 'fun'. I feel like Goldilocks looking for the right bed!

The New Yorker and Other Unread Magazines Support Group?

Sounds almost as "The Ghost and Other Tales of Terror" ;)

Not far off!

I read The New York Times Book Review, I get throw-aways from a library I work in, but I am two
years behind in my reading. The great thing about this is that the books which are heavily splashed
as reviews or advertised pages don't have the same impact several years down the road. Also popular books are now available because so much time has lapsed. It's mostly interesting to read what was considered essential a while back and to see how it has evolved in people's interest in the work since then.

That worked for the New Yorker too, up to a point, esp the political articles were often sooo far off..... but I got tired of never getting to be the one to say. 'Did you read the one about...."!!! But seriously, you can whip through the older ones a lot faster due to the relevancy factor.

Part of the reason I like literary magazines - you can read them 10 years later and they are as relevant as today (except when some authors dab in current politics for their stories...). :)

Very exciting, I'm spending the day flying and I have brought six NYers - June through early August, hoping to fly through them and toss into bins as I go. I've really let things go.

17: If I did that, I wouldn't have the slightest memory of what I'd read.

I rip out the table of contents....... I've done two already - sitting now waiting to board my next flight. 2 might be the limit though..... off to report on and be done with June.

I've renamed this group - to embrace all magazines and to encourage those who wish to keep track of their magazine reading to use it to make their own threads - that seems to be the way most users leaned. Myself included.

Yes! Simpler for pacing to keep my own thread.

I think I've found a workable magazine strategy, three years into this. I had been letting one subscription (of three) or another pile up each year because I didn't have time for all. This year I've become broader and shallower: I page through every magazine, and read only the articles I feel like, skim or abandon at whim. No slogging through articles out of obligation.

That sounds extremely sensible. I more or less do that with the NYers and everything else I read, somehow I don't have a problem getting through them.... especially Funny Times!

I started reading the New York Times Magazine for the first time in almost a lifetime and it's
shocking how banal so much of the content has become. There are still a few good long articles of reportage that are always interesting, but the front of the magazine is full of such triviality and junk that it's a nuisance to have to read. Like do I really care who invented the
trampoline? And what the luxurious condo of some city counsellor looks like? The trivialization of things has become so annoying. These items are always bit bites as if they are writing for people with no attention span.They have really dumbed the magazine down.

Yes, I barely read the Times Magazine anymore, although it arrives each week with the Sunday paper. I do the crossword, though.

I can't even remember when I last even looked at a Sunday NYT.

The long articles, which there are usually about two continue to be very good. It's the short silly stuff that I can't stand. A recent issue had a history of a chair. Interesting but hardly essential.

Out here in the sticks we treasure any good writing. I've got a pile of old magazines (or more than one perhaps) and I may start my own thread here. Nice to meetcha all.

>27 2wonderY: Nice to see you here!

Yes, nice to have you on board. Good luck with your pile!