online "zines" such as Salon.com and other randomness to slosh through

OK, so happy holidays, xmas, chanukah, kwanza, satanic worship campfire type
devil worshipping. Whatever.....I'm moving on to something else.
Doot do doo.
I recently broke down and paid the $6/month fee to have "Premium" access to
Salon.com, the online magazine (left leaning for anyone who is interested) and
was wondering if anyone else subscribes to this or to any other online
magazines and what your opinions are on the difference between print and
online media publishing. I finally subscribed because I found myself
continuing to go back to their website and finding it a pain in the ass when I
was not able to finish an article because I was not a paying subscriber. I
actually prefer online magazines and find I read them more often. This is
probably due to a combination of my being on my computer a lot and my dislike
of dealing with another something I have to hold onto and keep track of (I am
constantly misplacing the many books I read at a time). Now if only I could
get back into reading my New Yorkers. They arrive every Tuesday and go unread
about half the time....... Another advantage that an online magazine seems
to have is that it can be updated much more quickly and can be more inclusive.
 I also enjoy the discussion apparatus which works well with the often
politically charged articles. I'm interested to hear the experiences of
others on the list.

So last week I started "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman and finished it a few
days ago and absolutely loved it. I highly recommend it to anyone interested
in mythology, gods in general, and an interesting little critique of American
pop culture, and one hell of a good read.

After putting "American Gods" down I have moved on to "Dubliners" by Joyce and
in the introduction the wordy academic informed me that Joyce was not a big
fan of quotes and so did not use them, but that the version of the book I have
uses the first U.S. publication as its guide and includes quotes so go figure.
 The introduction was so frustrating because the author decided to include
quotes from the stories as about half of the content. I have encountered this
before and it makes for difficult and painful reading. Anyway, I am looking
forward to the stories and have finished the first two, "Sisters" and "The
Encounter" and can already tell I am going to have to re-read the stories a
few times to feel comfortable with them.

I've also began to go back through all 22 of Salinger's stories.
Incidentally, in "American Gods" Gaiman presents the interesting idea that
when we do something like drive our cars or admire a vehicle or wreck a car
(ie. make a sacrifice) we are worshipping the car gods. The same holds true
for any other god you might have heard of and ones stemming from activities
that are mundane to everyday life. If Salinger had been mentioned in
"American Gods," no doubt would he have been his own pseudo-god as he has an
unusual following that consists of people who can't quite say he is wonderful
but who can't pull themselves away. Being on this list might be a form of
worship. Ah.....that book "American Gods" is just great people, I'm telling
you.

....>Still trying to make my way through Tender is the Night.

Sorry for the rambling and quite possible incoherency that flows through this
email.

Best,
Levi

Check out my site at http://ruonthelevel.com/
and if all else fails this might work http://ruonthelevel.no-ip.com/

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Received on Thu Dec 26 02:53:17 2002