Completely Conspicuous 234: Reading is Fundamental

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we talk about the state of the book industry. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded in Beverly, Mass.
- In this age of distraction, it's amazing that people read books at all
- Christian: Education system may be to blame for lack of reading

- Fiction is still a valuable commodity
- Jay: Fun to see my kids get into reading
- Christian: Treating reading like a workout
- Multi-tasking all day makes one less inclined to read later
- Authors were once treated like movie stars
- "Fifty Shades of Grey" started as Twilight fan fiction
- Many best-sellers are autobiographies of celebs
- Christian: Historical fiction is exciting
- Working on a new project, a "novel in stories"
- Looking at African-Americans attracted to Russian promise of equality
- Also working on novel about a murder in rural Alaska
- All about plot
- Success comes at the sentence level
- Many parallels to the music industry
- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
The Corin Tucker Band - Groundhog Day
The Raveonettes - Observations
Stars - The Theory of Relativity
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Black Mold

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Corin Tucker Band song is from the forthcoming album Kill My Blues on Kill Rock Stars. Download the song for free at Stereogum.
The Raveonettes song is from the band's forthcoming album Observator on Vice Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.
The Stars song is on the forthcoming album The North on ATO Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at StarstheNorth.com.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion song is from the band's forthcoming album Meat and Bone on Boombox/Mom + Pop. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at Pitchfork.com.


The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.