Litblog Roundup 57

This roundup begins with a roundup, followed by another roundup, making it a roundup of roundups and offering the opportunity to say “roundup” many times, in a sentence about roundups. Ok I’ll stop.

The Great 2017 Indie Press Preview

Electric Ink has published its third annual preview of upcoming books from independent presses . The editor notes…

In previous years, I encouraged the participation of the indie lit community in both nominating and endorsing their most anticipated titles of the forthcoming year. With the 2017 edition, I discovered how much the community has grown. In just a little over a year, so many new presses have been founded (including 7.13 Books, Catapult, Cinestate, andUnnamed Press). 2017 is already underway, but from one quick scroll through you’ll see just how much independent publishing is flourishing.

Ten More of the Best Young American Novelists

Emily Temple writes in Lithub…

Yesterday, Granta released their once-a-decade list of the “most exciting American novelists under the age of forty.” There are plenty of deserving names on the list—Ben Lerner! Ottessa Moshfegh! Dinaw Mengestu!—but also plenty of deserving names left off. As, of course, they must be. Lists are finite, after all. But knowing that didn’t stop me from immediately making a list of my own as soon as I saw the press release, so please find below ten more of the best young American novelists working today .

What is “Literature” Anyway?

The LA Review of Books has a review of Arthur Krystal’s book, This Thing We Call Literature .

The enemies of literary culture, Krystal makes clear, are usually not the stupid — the unlettered and unwashed, brutes and book-burners — but the very smart. Theory-driven academics and critics, experimentalists and populists, boosters of the avant-garde and pulp alike, have abetted the decline of literary standards, and, as a result, literary culture. Krystal asks, “Do we still have a touching faith in the idea that literature gives life meaning?” but wisely offers no definitive answer.

How to Read a Book Every Week

Speaking of things that might not be “literary,” it isn’t very often that GQ articles make the cut for this roundup, but here goes. How to Read a Whole Damn Book Every Week doesn’t deliver on the promise of its headline exactly, but it does offer some clever lifehacks for sneaking more reading time into your life.