It is probably a bad idea to write this, because we already spend way too much time on the web.
But as I sit at my desk looking at all the tabs I have open, all the book news and narrative nonfiction sites beckoning me, I figure I might as well let them beckon you, too.
So if, after you've read everything on the Star Tribune books pages, you find yourself still craving bookish stuff, here are some sites for lovers of long reads. Most of these sites will send digests and roundups right to your e-mail box on a daily or weekly basis. (Because we could all use more e-mails, too, right?)
Sign up. And never again complain that you have nothing to read.
The National Book Review: Started by Elizabeth Taylor (no, no, not that Liz Taylor — this one is the literary editor of the Chicago Tribune), and her friend and onetime co-author Adam Cohen. The review is a response to the nationwide shrinking of book review sections (except, thank goodness, at the Star Tribune), and it is full of reviews as well as Q&As, essays and other bookish news. A lively read. thenationalbookreview.com
Lit Hub: Lit Hub publishes book news from magazines and newspapers all over the United States and Great Britain, and also produces original content. It favors author interviews, book excerpts and essays. The site also compiles book reviews from major reviewing outlets — sort of what "Rotten Tomatoes" does with movie reviews. lithub.com
Byliner: Long-form journalism, including pieces by Pulitzer winners, National Magazine Award winners and other masters of the craft. byliner.com
Shelf Awareness: A daily news digest that focuses primarily on bookstores and the bookselling trade, but also includes other book news and reviews. shelf-awareness.com
Electric Literature: Book news, short fiction, essays and more. electricliterature.com
The Millions: Articles, essays, reviews, news. themillions.com
The Paris Review Daily: The blog of the Paris Review, which includes essays, photos, conversations and all sorts of intelligent discussion and commentary on books, authors and the written word. theparisreview.org/blog
Longreads: Like Byliner, but different. More good long-form journalism. (And, conveniently, they tell you how long it will take, approximately, to read each piece.) longreads.com
Book Riot: Book news and stories in a multitude of forms — written, podcast, photo. bookriot.com
Narratively: Storytelling in all lengths. narrative.ly
And the granddaddy of them all: Arts and Letters Daily, a compilation/aggregation from the Chronicle of Higher Education. It draws on dozens of magazines and journals, from the Village Voice to the Paris Review to Mother Jones to the Economist. You can get lost in this website — and note that it comes out daily! (You can also subscribe to the weekly roundup, which is a bit more manageable.) If you read this every day, you would be so well-informed, so erudite, so unemployed. But take a chance: It's at aldaily.com.
I bet you're really sorry you read this. Now your computer will have just as many tabs open all the time as mine does. Happy reading.
(Got a favorite book-related rabbit hole website you like to disappear down? Let me know.)
Laurie Hertzel is the Star Tribune's senior editor for books. On Twitter: @StribBooks. On Facebook: facebook.com/startribunebooks.
