With bookshops dead, what's a good way of discovering new releases? Amazon is dogshit at curation and discoverability.
(Pic unrelated, although they're just about sexy enough to justify them dumping the classic designs for the hardback rereleases)
>>7859572
Conversation.
Goodreads
Why would you care about new releases?
Unless you're a normalfag and want to talk to your work mates about the latest dystopian YA release, I can't really imagine any scenario where it'd actually matter.
>new releases
Come on, I know you haven't finished your greeks
>>7860061
It's interesting to read new stuff, or at least be aware of what's available, especially since I tend to read quite a bit of non-fiction.
Also, hardbacks are sexy.
>>7860369
Also, I find it a bit annoying when I do finally go into a bookshop and discover something that I've never heard of that I feel I should have because it's from a high profile author or an interesting topic or something.
I subscribe to Any New Books mailing lists to be aware of textbooky stuff coming out but it doesn't exactly do much curation either.
>>7860061
>>7860077
This, desu, unironically. Let's not pretend there's not more quality writing in existence than can be consumed in a single lifetime.
Even though I harbour delusions of one day releasing my work to the world, I really can't think of many reasons why anyone would bother to read contemporary fiction.
I am, however, glad that not everybody thinks like this. Please continue.
>>7860397
I haven't read a book from the 21st century in at least a year but I can understand why people want this. There is a something to be said for being an actual part of a generation and seeing what literary culture is like right now, I guess.
I'm like that with music -- sure, dadrock isn't bad at all, but I don't find it as interesting because it was made for a different time. On the other hand a band like Fleet Foxes is made by my generation for my generation, I can relate to it more. My taste in literature is a lot more classical but I'm sure you get the point.
>>7859572
I subscribed to the NYRB, but surprisingly its best for non-fiction. I also use oxfordbibliographies for non-fic recs.
I use /lit/ and make sure to write down every recommendation that speaks to me.
My most desperate and plebian method is listchallenges.com, which is mindless fun and definitely alerts me to stuff ive never considered.
>>7860397
If you want people to read your work you need to throw in a few arbitrary smut chapters so you can shove it on hentai sites.
You won't get /lit/'s approval but it's nice to know someone read it.
>>7860061
>>7860397
>>7860369
>I dont read contemporary /lit/
>therefore there is no good contemporary /lit/
>i read to confirm my bias
Ishiguro has been putting out top tier book after book, to say nothing of the last 5 Nobel winners being top tier, and the Man Booker, Neustadt, and the Miguel de Cervantes Prize putting up amazing shortlists year after year.
>>7860419
Honestly, part of my problem with the focus on "classics" is the degree to which it creates a monoculture where pretty much everybody reads the same few ideas and concepts which have been collectively elevated as untouchable greatness by society, with it being near impossible for anything new to enter into the canon.
This is exemplified by the strange deification of Shakespeare as representative shorthand for hundreds of years of English literature. I don't know enough about 16th century literature to have an opinion on Shakespeare's writing, but I know I fucking hate what Shakespeare represents.
Coupled with that, you have increasingly shitty discovery and homogenisation of readership demographics, so you get a tiny amount of authors completely dominating book sales with endless releases. I'm sure this was different in the past, when things like specialised literary magazines and syndicated serialisations or short-stories provided better opportunities for new authors to break through. Or maybe I live in a fantasy world and it was always a pile of shit.
>>7860434
Yeah, I should probably check literary magazines like NYRB/LRB/TLS and newspapers. I used to watch The Daily Show/Colbert (in b4 cuck) and they often provided publicity for authors which was a neat way to discover non-fiction.
List Challenges is neat. I didn't know that existed, I've been thinking about a site like that for years (essentially, Xbox-like achievements for real life) but never set out to discover if it actually existed.
>>7860486
The Rory Gilmore one and the BBC one are my favorite (challenges).
Not trying to pretend its any more "patrician" than a game of solitaire but once in a while you go "huh" and add a book to goodreads. Also there are some garbage lists on there (goodreads yearly awards are despicable)
Anything Orson Scott Card releases is gold
>>7860842
kek
