You should listen to the audiobook of Lincoln in the Bardo. As much as I was looking forward to it I was underwhelmed until I listened too it on a long drive.

Today’s my birthday and I made a promise to myself to read more. Maybe I’ll buy this tomorrow as a late gift to myself.

This birthday fucking sucked lol so thank you for giving me something to look forward to. Sounds like it almost borders on cosmic horror which is definitely my favorite flavor of horror. Also love a good existential crisis. Plus PTSD? sounds like it was made for me. Thanks, OP!

I haven't even heard of it but your description gave me the urge to reserve it at my library

I thought the writing was insanely good even though the subject matter was so cringey. But it felt very realistic in how things started and progressed and how a teens perspective would be. I think her adult life was just as sad and depressing too. But I couldn’t put it down. Ending was meh for me but most books are.

Thanks. It works better for me to read individual stories, as opposed to the all-encompassing book I downloaded. I gave up on that years ago.

Sarah J Maas. Her books are so hated here but I think they’re fun

> Was it maybe because digital presence was not as big a thing before the 90s, when everyone started having computers in their houses?

Undoubtably this was part of the reason. However, knowing the reasons doesn't change the reality - the transition of libraries to community spaces and digital media sites is within the past few decades.

> Yeah, because libraries generally use their conference spaces for their own activities lmao

Libraries didn't have those community spaces. Perhaps the easiest way to see this is to visit a major research university and compare the newer vs. the older libraries. Those older libraries - with their endless stacks, lack of conference rooms or 'open office'-style spaces - are how libraries used to look.

> What you're saying continues to be incorrect.

Again - if what you believe is true, then why aren't any of the institutions that deal with large-scale digital data hiring graduates in library science?

What you're arguing is equivalent to arguing that astrologists are essential to space travel in the face of the reality that NASA doesn't hire astrologists.

I’m also currently reading DJ&T6! Can’t wait for the series!

At first read I thought you said “libertarians” and I was like, “ooh, tell me more!”

I personally have not read any of the author's books, BUT they are the only books that can get my wife away from her phone and she finishes them in 3 days.

If anyone wants to read it, Standard Ebooks has it on their site. The work is in the public domain.

>All of that space given over to media and digital presence? That was - at the earliest - in the 90s. Prior to that, you might have had a room full of vinyl records. But no computers, visual presentation devices, etc.

Was it maybe because digital presence was not as big a thing before the 90s, when everyone started having computers in their houses?

>If you needed a conference room for a public event, you were far more likely to use a church or school.

Yeah, because libraries generally use their conference spaces for their own activities lmao

>I know what you want to believe about librarians and their training. But they are largely obsolete, kept around mostly by the inertia of government and nostalgia.

I actually do know what I'm talking about! There is no need to condescend. What you're saying continues to be incorrect. If you hate librarians and think librarians are useless that's cool, good for you. That doesn't mean the spaces are obsolete. They aren't.

>I actually know a very great deal about the organization of digital information- and I know that actual professionals in the field consider the idea that librarians have any meaningful expertise in it laughable.

Why is your argument that librarians wouldn't be good at whole separate field supposed to hold any water in what we are talking about? Librarians are trained in the tools they need to help a modern library function (many people aren't aware of what librarians' training entails so I would take these data professionals' opinions with a grain of salt, not having any further information on them). And yes, I know a great deal about the profession of library science as well. So please assume that I'm not talking out of my ass. It's clear to me from your comments that you don't actually know the purpose of a library or how it functions - you admit you don't use them frequently. That's fine, it's not for you anymore. The world IS changing and the library spaces are going to continue to change with it. They already have changed, wildly, from what they were in the 1950s and 1960s. That's a great thing! It doesn't mean they're obsolete, it means they're adapting to the needs of the modern world, which is awesome.

This was a fairly recent book club pick, I also couldn’t put it down. (I read it over a weekend where I had a stomach virus). My issues with it were 1. Monique, I didn’t dislike her, but I didn’t really find her story engaging or necessary, 2. I didn’t like the twist with Monique’s dad. It just felt like she shoe horned it in to give a reason for Monique to be there. I think it would have felt more poignant if Evelyn really had just respected her work. 3. I didn’t really ever get a feel for the timeline outside of the news clippings. Nothing really evoked “old Hollywood” for me. I wonder if she set it too late, but I think she also wanted to get things like Stonewall and the revelation about Rock Hudson I there. 4. I thought the relationship between Evelyn and Helen was super toxic. I didn’t hate it but just felt really underwhelmed by it.

Every time I read, I click on the book and write what page I'm on. If I'm listening to a book, then I input the percent that I'm on (you can either write the page number or percent).

After you finish a book, there are a few general questions and once you click save, that data gets added. Quick and easy.

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> I'd allow the 70s, but 90s is wildly recent. This is incorrect.

The change in libraries is very recent. All of that space given over to media and digital presence? That was - at the earliest - in the 90s. Prior to that, you might have had a room full of vinyl records. But no computers, visual presentation devices, etc.

Likewise, most of the 'social' functions of libraries are within the past few decades because that space was taken up by physical books. If you needed a conference room for a public event, you were far more likely to use a church or school.

> Library science programs teach the tools to organize digital archives. Aka their job.

If this were true, library science graduates would be paid lavishly by private sector organizations. They are not. They are public sector-only employees that no organization that has to organize digital data on a large scale has any interest in hiring.

I know what you want to believe about librarians and their training. But they are largely obsolete, kept around mostly by the inertia of government and nostalgia.

> So this is again, incorrect, and frankly incredibly rude and dismissive of an entire profession you very obviously know nothing about.

I actually know a very great deal about the organization of digital information - and I know that actual professionals in the field consider the idea that librarians have any meaningful expertise in it laughable.

Again, there's a reason that the serious people who do this for money (rather than simply being on the government payroll) don't recruit from library science programs.

I get it. Change is scary. You have fond memories of a world that is going away. But that world is going away and neither you nor I can stop it.

Check out Flatland (the film) on YouTube. It's a trip.

This book is a blast.

People always read aloud until medieval (in Europe) times.... even worse, there often wasn't even punctuation or even spaces between words!

Tons of info about that all over the internet, but if you are especially interested in the history of original aural communication by poets such as Homer and his Asian equivalents shifting gradually into writing, then eventually into books, then even later into printing presses etc.....I recommend Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World by Irene Vallejo.

One of my favorite books everywhere -- AND you can get an audio version!

>More like "since the 1990s" - and was largely a reflection of the declining utility of warehousing printed material.

I'd allow the 70s, but 90s is wildly recent. This is incorrect. "Warehousing printed material" also isn't a very accurate description of what a library does and it proves your disdain for the field.

>Library science programs do not teach the mathematical tools for the organization of digital data. That's why you don't see organizations operating large-scale repositories of digital data hiring librarians.

Library science programs teach the tools to organize digital archives. Aka their job.

>Again, if this were true you'd see non-library organizations hiring library science graduates. But you don't.

Well, firstly, librarianship is a specialized field and most people who get their MLIS go on to work in a library of some sort since that is, you know, what they paid to go to school for. However, some MLIS graduates change careers and work elsewhere. So this is again, incorrect, and frankly incredibly rude and dismissive of an entire profession you very obviously know nothing about.

I agree with you! There are some books that should be made on the screen and this is such a great storyline to make it on tv or film! I almost had the same feeling with A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. With the same multiple characters and backstories. The only difference is that, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was able to capture the reader's attention 100%, from start to end and The Goon Squad was just too much to grasp with all the different characters and time flashbacks. It really is the book you wouldn't want to put down even if you have to come to work the following morning, lol. I am yearning to feel the feeling it again after reading The Seven Husbands few years ago.

Us Against You, the sequel to Beartown, because I know it's going to be an emotionally exhausting read.

The Tomb is really cool because it was written about the graveyard he was buried at

I would highly recommend also reading Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Dunsany, and Clark Ashton Smith if you like Lovecraft. He and Smith would even reference each other works sometimes.

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> This has always been part of the purpose of libraries, especially since the 1960s or so.

More like "since the 1990s" - and was largely a reflection of the declining utility of warehousing printed material.

Most of what you see as the modern purpose of libraries was more commonly performed by churches and other religious institutions in the past.

In any case, it doesn't really matter. If you're using a stables as a restaurant, that doesn't magically make stables relevant just because restaurants are.

> Current librarians are trained in organization of information in a DIGITAL age

Library science programs do not teach the mathematical tools for the organization of digital data. That's why you don't see organizations operating large-scale repositories of digital data hiring librarians.

> ALSO in the logistical matters that go into organizing community activities like the ones I described

Again, if this were true you'd see non-library organizations hiring library science graduates. But you don't. Whatever training they receive is not sufficient to make them experts in the tasks they're being asked to perform.