Hello and welcome to the first Monday 5×5 for 2019! This seems like as good a time as any to recap what the Monday 5×5 is. Monday mornings, I post 5 interesting articles I read over the past week that are a mix of 5 different categories: publishing, literature, tech, libraries, and anything else I may have found interesting. Sometimes it’s all libraries and literature, sometimes it’s tech-heavy, just kind of depends. (I’ve never done an entire post of just “Things Jill Found Interesting This Week” but maybe I should!)

The New York Times discusses how Hollywood gets the publishing industry wrong
True story: before I decided to pursue my Masters in Library and Information Science, my original post-graduate plan was to go into publishing, which luckily didn’t pan out as I love the job I have now. That said, because of this job and as an author currently five months away from the publication of her second memoir, I do get frequent glimpses into the publishing world and I think the author’s comments about the way Hollywood glamorizes publishing is spot-on. Also, things are super fast in the Hollywood version of publishing but unless it’s a Fire & Fury situation, traditional publishing moves at a glacier pace.

Speaking of publishing, Tor has a great piece on how The Lord of the Rings changed publishing forever
This gives me a much greater appreciation for mass market paperbacks.

BuzzFeed on how zine libraries are highlighting marginalized voices
I love that zine libraries are even a thing. There’s this whole world of special libraries that exist outside the standard public library or academic library realms and there literally is no limit to what the collections can contain.

Wired on why you should give yourself over to the dark (mode) side
I was first introduced to Dark Mode (or Night Mode, as its also often known) through ebooks. These days, I exclusively read my ebooks on night mode, and as someone who wakes up way earlier than her husband (and also has random bouts of insomnia), night mode allows me to read a book at 4 am without disturbing my spouse. I can’t remember when I officially switched over my Twitter to night mode but pretty sure I’m never going back.

Just in case you missed it, the Professional Book Nerds podcast have our own 2019 Reading Challenge
SO EXCITED. Be sure to use hashtag #PBNRead2019 to show what you’re reading and to follow along with everyone else participating!