But what happens if and when writers begin to outnumber readers? What happens when writing becomes more attractive than reading? Will we become — or … - Heidi Pitlor

I think our hopes are made when we are young, and we can never adjust them to the real world.

We — editors, writers, teachers, publishers — need to do whatever we can to enliven readers, to help create communities for them if we want to continue to have readers at all. Our independent bookstores are the front lines, and many booksellers are fighting the good fight. Here, books stimulate conversation. Conversation stimulates a sense of community. Listening happens. Thinking. The exchange of thoughts.

after a luncheon party with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Luise Rainer, Greta Garbo, and two producers — “I think it was a psychological test to see how I would act” — Knopf offered O’Brien work as MGM’s “European Scenario Editor.