The Unexpected Benefits of Reading at Random
“Elspeth Wilson on Becoming a Literary Omnivore”
Scottish writer Elspeth Wilson, author of These Mortal Bodies (July 2025), concludes “reading at random won’t solve all the issues with unequal advances, difficulties in sustaining a career, and lack of diversity in publishing. But it has helped me encounter the unexpected.”
The Perils of Killing the Already Dead
‘Fear of what the dead might do to us didn’t start with Dracula, and it didn’t end with him, either.”
Rivka Galchen addresses some of the issues John Blair, professor emeritus of medieval history and archeology at the University of Oxford, discusses in his book Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World: “The cases in Blair’s book, however gruesome, catalogue methods that our species has used to manage terror, sorrow, and disbelief in the face of the irremediable and unpredictable arrival of death.”
Love, desire and community: the new generation of readers bonding over romance novels
“Young women drawn to ‘morally grey characters’ are driving a boom sparked by TikTok, Instagram and online friendships”
The article focuses on “women in their 20s and 30s who grew up with online fan communities” in Australia.
Six Books You Can Get Lost In
“These novels highlight the power—both good and bad—of unchecked fantasizing.”
“Daydreams can illuminate our hidden, anarchic, or even seductive inclinations, and they can say a lot about our conscious lives. Their conjurers, who refuse to accept the rules of the real world, can also be great fun to read about,” writes novelist Erin Somers.
Gluttons for Punishment
“Justin McDaniel has developed a cult following for getting his students to read — as long as they follow his rules.”
Lila Shapiro, a features writer for New York Magazine, introduces us to professor Justin McDaniel, chair of the religious studies department at the University of Pennsylvania. McDaniel “has found a way to make his students read again. They don’t write papers or take tests; instead, he asks them to follow a strict set of behavioral constraints. They must give up their cell phones and other worldly distractions, including, in one course, sex.”
The Lost Art of Reading an Actual Book
“What happens when people stop reading books? We’re starting to see what a postliterate society looks like—and it’s very lame.”
“Have you noticed this term gaining traction, the Postliterate Age?” asks Michael Sebastian. “It broadly refers to the decline of the written word and the return, in some senses, to an oral culture in which knowledge is shared through speech.”
So what happens when we stop reading books? Democracy falters, liberalism retreats, stupidity abounds, and—perhaps equally as bad—we become less … cool.
People with personality disorders often use language differently – our research reveals how
“[T]he words people choose quietly reveal deeper patterns in how they think, feel, and relate to others,” writes Charlotte Entwistle, a fellow in psychology at the University of Liverpool. “Noticing these patterns can help us learn about and understand others, support those who may be struggling, and navigate our social lives safely – online and offline – with greater awareness.”
“My Life Is Filled With Guilt and Shame”: Karl Ove Knausgård, by Jeremy Strong
Succession actor Jeremy Strong, who has a reputation for seriousness, and Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgård talk about many subjects, including “ego, empathy, transgression, violence, and the Faustian bargain of giving oneself over to art.”
© 2026 by Mary Daniels Brown
