A grumpy friend of mine recently made what, for him, was a major concession in a long-standing war between us. We’ve been happily disagreeing with each other for almost a decade over the merits of e-books and e-reading.
Inevitably, there are one or two T-shirt-style mottos or slogans that tend to speak to me more than others. “Let the Wookiee Win” appeals to my not-so-inner curmudgeon.
The professional side of my reading ledger is always both pleasingly full and pleasingly regular, although no matter how many times I used it, that “professional” always feels a little odd as a description. After all, the new releases I read every month might be my profession, but they’re also my passion, which makes them feel entirely personal instead of professional.
For well over a century at least, publishers have tended to load the month of November with
their “heaviest,” most serious books. You might get a work of military history in May, but you’ll
get a whole West Point of them in November.
Those of you who pay attention to movie-news will know that the biggest cinematic event of the last month involves a book: it’s celebrated director Denis Villeneuve’s $170 million production of Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction novel Dune.