Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 15h

Differences in type notwithstanding, in the world of recent notable disagreeing-dudes-podcasting-it-out, TNC/Ezra Klein would’ve been well-served by a bit more of today’s Pablo Torre/Mark Cuban energy.

Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 16h

Books smell good.

buy my book @nmamatas.bsky.social · 18h

What's your totally ordinary opinion about books that you nonetheless find compelled to share when asked on a social media site such as this one for your most extreme/unhinged/hottest takes?

I'll go first: manga is popular among young people because manga often features young people.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 21h

I dare you to read the "About" section here and not feel desperately-needed optimism and heart-racing excitement about the possibilities of a literary publication truly in and of a place. Follow the work of these good folks, and subscribe if you can.

Oakland Review of Books @oaklandreviewofbooks.org · 22h

We have a new website! It's a monster eating buildings! Hopefully it's friendly! www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org

(scroll down and check out the "Oakland in Books" feature! we have fun.)

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 1d

Never trust someone who says that they love "books." What an insane thing to say! Vibes-based book culture makes people very silly. I do not love "books"—I love writing that is beautiful, that is true, that is doing something interesting and new. As such, I hate many books. Many are also good.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 2d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 1d

Publishing advances.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 1d

Re-reading Kim Brooks' SMALL ANIMALS: PARENTHOOD IN THE AGE OF FEAR, which I listened to on audio shortly before my kid was born, and wanted to revisit now that said kid is well and truly a toddler. It is really excellent.

Small Animals

"Kim Brooks's moving narration is the perfect vehicle for the drama surrounding her arrest for a momentary lapse in judgement...Brooks's lyrical writing and ...

us.macmillan.com

Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 2d

The soundtrack in my head to this novel was the Drive-By Truckers’ “Putting People on the Moon”, which I consider to be very high praise. This is a playful, viscerally descriptive, morally serious novel from the great folks at @graywolfpress.bsky.social that is well worth your time and attention.

A picture of a hand holding a copy of THE HIGH HEAVEN, a book by Joshua Wheeler.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 4d

It's Friday afternoon! If there's a sentence or a paragraph in something you read recently that really stopped you in your tracks, whether because of the beauty of the prose, the clarity of the mind at work, or anything else, I'd love to read it.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 4d

Something I did not anticipate about becoming a parent is that I now actually love hearing other parents talk about their kids (inspired by listening to this).

Pablo Torre @pablo.show · 4d

So great to finally have @minakimes.bsky.social — our first guest, back in the pre-launch days of 2023! — in the @pablotorrefindsout.bsky.social studio:

Bad Bunny Super Bowl Reactions (and Smelling Salts!) with Mina Kimes | PTFO

YouTube video by PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT

youtu.be

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 5d

Krasznahorkai! One of my first tasks as an intern at the Paris Review in 2017 was transcribing portions of his Art of Fiction interview, which was a beautifully disorienting experience. I love thinking about all the imminently-disoriented readers out there.

László Krasznahorkai, The Art of Fiction No. 240

László Krasznahorkai was born in 1954 in Gyula, a provincial town in Hungary, in the Soviet era. He published his first novel, Satantango, in 1985, then The Melancholy of Resistance (1989), War and Wa...

www.theparisreview.org

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 6d

Wealth, boredom, and greed, a truly toxic brew.

Gabe Fernandez @thelatinochild.bsky.social · 6d

49ers legend Steve Young invests in Saudi-supported basketball league that aims to compete with the NBA
www.sfgate.com/49ers/articl...

49ers legend Steve Young invests in Saudi-supported basketball league

The league aims to actively compete with the NBA.

www.sfgate.com

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 7d

I look down at my phone for five seconds, I swear, and when I look up my two-year-old’s got a damn apple balanced on her head.

A picture of my two-year-old daughter with an apple balanced on her head.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 7d

Got an extremely kind note this morning from someone who read a book review I wrote six years ago, thanking me for the review and for introducing them to the book. Feeling keenly aware of just how easy + important it is to encourage folks whose work you admire (and how often I fail to do that!).

Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 8d

Hey I’d say weekly is laudable!

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 8d

Exactly what someone who needs the ever-so-slight mood bump of a fresh sponge would say

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 8d

If you’re reading this, change your sponge out. You’ll feel a little bit better.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 10d

This morning’s example of the genius of toddler sense-making: “I feel sad in my mouth” is actually a great way to describe a bad taste.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 11d

From this great piece: defector.com/toward-a-the...

Toward A Theory Of Kevin Roose | Defector

“You can’t be a serious critic,” New York Times technology reporter Kevin Roose wrote on Tuesday, on Bluesky, about artificial intelligence, “if you’re in denial about how useful it is.” Narrowly, in ...

defector.com

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 11d

Ever since reading this @albertburneko.bsky.social paragraph a while back, I find myself thinking about it, encountering unwelcome exemplars of it, far more often than I wish.

Text of a screenshot from a piece at Defector by Albert Burneko, titled "Toward A Theory Of Kevin Roose": "My suspicion, my awful awful newfound theory, is that there are people with a sincere and even kind of innocent belief that we are all just picking winners, in everything: that ideology, advocacy, analysis, criticism, affinity, even taste and style and association are essentially predictions. That what a person tries to do, the essential task of a person, is to identify who and what is going to come out on top, and align with it. The rest—what you say, what you do—is just enacting your pick and working in service to it."

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 12d

Yeah, exactly. When I was 18-21 what I looked for and what I saw in their comments were particular pieces of feedback. Now, I can really see how generous they were being with me, how generous it was that they took me so seriously, and can trace the impact that has had on me in very real ways.

Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 12d

I had occasion today to dig out papers I wrote as an undergrad English major, to go through notes written by my professors. Some real shit in there but the care and attention I was given, the way my ideas were taken seriously—this is a beautiful thing whose value I dearly hope we're not forgetting.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 13d

Oh absolutely, yes.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 13d

Many of your favorite authors owe their careers to someone at a small press seeing the value in what they wanted to do, even if there was no guarantee (or even likely chance) of it having real fiscal value. These places deserve your support.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 13d

Small independent presses and university presses are almost always the ones taking these chances, opening doors to authors with book ideas that most large publishers would balk at. Sometimes those books are successful, often they're not, but we keep doing them because it's what we believe in.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 13d

"Boy, someone's finally doing something really different."

For a small publisher like us, not much feels better than this kind of praise. We took a big chance on this weird Steely Dan book. It has been a huge success and hasn't really stopped moving since 2023, but that's sort of beside the point.

University of Texas Press @utexaspress.bsky.social · 13d

"QUANTUM CRIMINALS is an absolute breakthrough in terms of how to write about music, how to write about a band, how to write about songs...I was crazy about that book. I felt so gratified—‘boy, someone’s finally doing something really different.’”

THE Greil Marcus, folks.
tinyurl.com/4zjm79he

Greil Marcus on 50 Years of 'Mystery Train': "I Know These Stories Keep Traveling"

We talked to author Greil Marcus about a new 50th anniversary edition of his classic book 'Mystery Train'

www.rollingstone.com

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