links worth reading
Not-that-fun fact: I typically write and schedule these posts weeks ahead of publishing them. Today I’m writing to you from a hotel in London, but by the time this one goes out, I’ll be back in Brooklyn, hopefully with a new apartment lease signed. (Matt and I decided not to renew the lease on our current place for the boring usual reasons: crappy management, loud neighbors, rising costs.)
Cross your fingers for future me!
While I trek around the city in what will almost certainly be 95-degree heat and 84% humidity, I hope you are gulping frozen drinks somewhere, or at least are sitting in a room air-conditioned to the exact temperature you prefer. Below are some of the most thought-provoking articles I’ve read recently. Thinking about making this a regular feature, so let me know in the comments if you are for/against.
Why do some people become lifelong readers? - Proud “avid reader” over here. The logic of this piece is a bit no duh, but it never fails to surprise me how many adults still view books as homework/punishment/something they must do for the same reasons they brush their teeth and eat their vegetables. (If you’re here, you’re probably not one of them.) When I was a kid, my mom and dad didn’t care what I was reading so long as I was reading something… which has to be at least partly why reading has always, always been a pleasure—and often a refuge.
Goodreads has no incentive to be good - I don’t know a single author who enjoys Goodreads in a professional context. Michel does a superb job outlining why.
Why are movies so dark these days? - I respect your artistic sensibilities, but for the love of God, turn up the brightness!
How books are translated - Many readers are surprised to hear that authors usually don’t have a say on our international covers, other than granting quick approval once the process is finished. Nor do we meet or even know the names of the writers who translate our books (with the exception of my lovely Hungarian translator, but that’s another story for another day). In some ways, it feels strange when the author copies of a foreign edition show up at my front door. My name, or some version of it, is printed on the spines of these books, but nothing else about them feels like mine. I have often wondered how translators do their jobs, so I found this NYT piece fascinating. By the end of it, I’m convinced that translating a novel is harder than writing one. Similar to copyediting, I suspect translation requires a very specific skillset—beyond the obvious need for multilingualism—that I do not possess. Three cheers for all the translators out there.
The myth of the broke Millennial - So the kids are all right!
What’s the most interesting essay/article/thing you’ve read lately?
Stay cool (in temperature, obviously),
