'It Could All Be a Very Enjoyable Book'
“I have made myself a stranger to kindness, and live in darkness, away from the light. My debt is enormous, but were I allowed to pay it, my thanksgiving would be endless, and I would pay beyond measure, again and again, without thought for anything else.”
'Each Day Has Become Its Own Thanksgiving'
Forty-three years ago this time of year I was as close to homeless as I’ve ever been. Cleveland was cold and wet. I was alone and without a job, and the money was running out. I was living in such a way as to guarantee nothing but trouble. In time things mitigated but I was a few years away from anything like sanity and security. I don’t dwell on those days but was reminded of them on Friday by a poem-in-progress Aaron Poochigian posted on his Twitter account:
The Bestselling Adult Novel Of 2019 Started Small In 2018, And Has A Very Long Tail
It’s a tough selling environment for fiction; the numbers are bleak and falling fast. But Where Late the Crawdads Sang has been going, and going, and going, and going … “Crawdads has sold more print copies than any other adult title this year — fiction or nonfiction — according to NPD BookScan, blowing away the combined print sales of new novels by John Grisham, Margaret Atwood and Stephen King. Putnam has returned to the printers nearly 40 times to feed a seemingly bottomless demand for the book. Foreign rights have sold in 41 countries.” What the heck? – The New York Times
Automobile as Debt Collector - What does your car know about you? Washington Post – “Our privacy experiment found that automakers collect data through hundreds of sensors and an always-on Internet connection. Driving surveillance is becoming hard to avoid…Cars have become the most sophisticated computers many of us own, filled with hundreds of sensors. Even older models know an awful lot about you. Many copy over personal data as soon as you plug in a smartphone…We’re at a turning point for driving surveillance: In the 2020 model year, most new cars sold in the United States will come with built-in Internet connections, including 100 percent of Fords, GMs and BMWs and all but one model Toyota and Volkswagen. (This independent cellular service is often included free or sold as an add-on.) Cars are becoming smartphones on wheels, sending and receiving data from apps, insurance firms and pretty much wherever their makers want. Some brands even reserve the right to use the data to track you down if you don’t pay your bills…”
