to grunt and sweat under a weary life...

I mean, God I've neglected this place lately.
For what it's worth, I've just not been terribly excited by what I've been reading.
There are always stretches like that, but I've made a point of sticking with books that I'm not immediately grabbed by for fear that I'm giving up too soon, as I believe I may have with this or that.
It's not a big deal except, once they aren't in the TBR pile, they inevitably get elbowed out of the way.
Something always comes along though, and yesterday Ron Carlson's first novel in decades; Five Skies arrived. It's good news because I remember being blown away by the quality of the writing and the mood of his short fiction.
I talk a good game on short stories, but I don't read nearly enough short fiction. Every book seller knows thats where the quality is, but talk is cheap.
Jessa and TEV have linked to it and one of the booksellers in this LA Weekly article on the state of LA's independent shops.
As it happens, one (Vroman's Bookstore) of them tapped Ron Carlson as a particular favourite as I had it under my arm.
The mood isn't all doom and gloom, but it wouldn't be independent bookselling if said mood wasn't at least acknowledged, but it's a lovely article and it gives me a bit more reason to soldier on.
“There’s a miscomprehension that Borders has everything, and we’re curated,” says Kramer. “But all stores are curated. Ours is just generally more awesome.” Eventually, says Kramer, there will be a backlash. “People will push away from sameness. I’m 26 years old, so I grew up in a world dominated by chain stores. I, at least, want to go somewhere where there’s some humanity to it.”

Not much to be said after that.

Posted by Dave