It was my pleasure to do a half-hour interview with Dorian on WFMU-FM’s “The Speakeasy” last night. Our talk ranged from A Field Guide to the North American Family to Julio Cortazar to print vs. online to James Wood (natch). Check it out at www.wfmu.org/playlists/SE, where you’ll also find interviews with Lawrence Wright and Charles D’Ambrosio, among others. (Segment starts at 27:00, following…that’s right…Ashford & Simpson!)
More Millions on the Air: Solid as a Rock
The Millions Membership Drive: Update
Our readers are leading a revolution.
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The Millions Hits Facebook
I’ve never been big on social networking sites. In fact, until Friday I’d never joined one at all, but the rising clamor of millions of Facebook fans convinced me to finally check it out. After a couple of days I can see the appeal. The site can offer hours of mindless entertainment, checking on updates from dozens of friends. And while it’ll be interesting using the site to connect with friends, colleagues, and acquaintances, I quickly saw that one of Facebook’s features might offer some fun for us here at The Millions.I’ve gotten to know quite a few Millions readers over the years via email and comments on the site. The very nature of the blog, however, does not provide much of a forum for Millions readers to interact. Those who aren’t frequent commenters, meanwhile, rarely make themselves known at all. And so, to provide this sort of forum, I’ve created a group on Facebook called The Official Millions Fan Club. If you read The Millions and are a Facebook member, please join the group. I’ll be sure to keep the group updated on Millions-related news, and members can use the discussion boards and “the wall” to shoot the breeze. See you there.
Summer Hours
I do this every summer don’t I? If you haven’t noticed, posting has become a bit sparse at The Millions, and I expect it to be more sparse as the summer wears on. We’re leaving Chicago soon, and we’ll be heading to temporary digs in Washington, DC, before finding a permanent place to live (the final destination is as yet undetermined though we’ve narrowed it down somewhat.) So, essentially, I’ll have a lot of stuff going on and so blogging will take a back seat. And anyway, it being summer, I’d guess that most folks will be enjoying themselves outdoors and on the road rather than in front of the computer. So, look for just a couple of posts a week give or take until the fall months roll around, and maybe by then I’ll be unveiling some changes at The Millions. Or perhaps it’ll stay the same.In the meantime, here’s a small cache of links for your purusal.An old link, but new to me. Slate commisions pulp covers for classic novels. (via BoingBoing)The Book Critics Circle blog decries litbloggers linking to Amazon. (My response is in the comments.) The Literary Saloon weighs in as well. (via Scott)Alan Cheuse presents his “summer reads” at NPR and shares some background on the selections at the Happy Booker.
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Introducing ‘The Staff Recommends’
The Millions is excited to be a founding member of a new ad venture called The Staff Recommends, John Warner and Andrew Womack, both of whom are associated with The Morning News and its wonderful Tournament of Books are behind the effort. The Staff Recommends is unique in that it only features books that “pass muster” with Warner, the venture’s editor and ombudsman. The first selection can be seen at the end of our “Recent Articles” section on The Millions front page and also in the sidebar on article pages. Enjoy!
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Thank You Millions Readers
A word we head into the holiday season: Thank you readers of The Millions for your thoughtful engagement with the site, and especially those of you who have generously supported our efforts. Happy Thanksgiving!
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Programming Note
Thanks to an onslaught of comment spam, which until now I’ve been dealing with manually, I’ve decided to turn on Blogger’s “word verification” to put a stop to it. It’s annoying because it adds an extra step to commenting here, but it’s the best solution right now. If a better way of dealing with the spam problem comes along, I’ll switch it off. For now though, it’s been added to the Commenting at The Millions primer (if anyone needs a refresher.)
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