so(hot)right(now)

Excellent piece by Jeff Sparrow of Overland on the social nature of reading, suggests indie press tied to events and projects, key fans to survive.

Contrary to appearances, serious reading has always been communal. In Terry Irving and Rowan Cahill’s new book Radical Sydney, Bruce Scates describes the political bookshops of the late nineteenth century as “vibrant social centres … [places that] ended the isolation, loneliness and confusion that so often plagued the working-class reader. In the reading rooms, books and newspapers, light and warmth and companionship could all be had for a penny’s admission.”

- from newmatilda.com