Demand for tickets to literary events skyrocket
Reading aloud is fast becoming the hottest ticket in town.
In NYC one of the most popular things to do right now is to attend a live book reading.
In the New York of the recent past, readings were events one could wander into, perhaps as a recent college graduate aspiring to be a published writer or simply looking for something to do. But these days, McNally Jackson and a handful of other independent bookstores across the city have begun requiring people to buy tickets or R.S.V.P. to attend readings. Tickets can cost anywhere from a few bucks to some $30, depending on whether you buy the book, too, sometimes rolled into the price.
Yes!
What used to be something reserved just for book nerds and those with too much time on their hands, has now become a night out and a chance to mingle with like-minded people all in search of collective intellectual nourishment.
What it feels like to us is that long-form reading - within the context of the abundance of shit that there is out there i.e. the Internet - has become a luxury. Reading a book, a magazine, listening to a record / CD is a way of ritualistically taking time back for yourself. Do it with others and you've started a revolution.
Nothing is more mundane and depressing than the sterile-flatland of digital swill that is social media. The antidote to this hellhole is art, it's community, listening to an author read her own work aloud.
Book Lounge? - we're looking at you. Exclusive Books Waterfront on a Thursday night? - where do we get tickets?
Yes please.
Previously:
Jon Cherry