I do seem to be collecting hypothetical “sources that one ought to read.” I’ve
been a subscriber to the New York Review of Books from its inception. I can’t
remember when I began subscribing to the Times Literary Supplement and the
London Review of Books, but those three are sources I will continue to accept .
. . with reservations. I recently subscribed to The Spectator, which seems to
have a long standing right to be called a source one ought to read. I have yet
to receive my first copy however, so I’m reserving judgment.
When the prospect of wobbling out on dark mornings to retrieve the morning the
local paper became an adventure not worthy of the results, I discontinued it
and subscribed to the on-line edition of the Los Angeles Times. Also, a few
years back I tried out the New York Times on Kindle. It was a trial
subscription and I decided not to continue it. However, I could not make it
disappear. It has appeared as an available choice on my Kindle ever since. I
don’t believe I am paying for it, but I’m not sure . . . in any case, because
of the covid-19 situation in New York I decided to see if I could start reading
it again, and I could – I don’t understand their system, but I don’t suppose I
care very much.
I have several on-line (but not on my Kindl) publications that I don’t pay for
and I can’t make go away. The best I can do is to tell my email utility to
classify them as junk mail and send them directly to trash.
I enjoy keeping hard copies of the TLS, NYROB and LRB because so many of the
articles are not time sensitive. I have stacks of them in the garage mostly
but when I become bored with which-ever book I’m reading and look for a change,
I’ll bring in a stack of the above and go through them. I’m hoping that the
Spectator will have articles that are of the same quality. The LA & NY Times
provide news that is time sensitive so I don’t mind reading them on my Kindle.
I assume the Guardian will be mostly time-sensitive as well.
Lawrence
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On ;
Behalf Of david ritchie
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2020 10:41 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: What's with the Guardian?
On Apr 7, 2020, at 10:10 PM, Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Okay, I signed up – with reservations. J
Lawrence
I spring to the defence of the Guardian, not because I think they have some
claim to Truth but because they are among the sources that one ought to read.
I get my news from it and the Telegraph and Le Monde and die Zeit and PBS and
the New York Times, and to see what the world thinks I travel around virtually
(I hadn’t seen before this moment that virtually has virtue in it) and read
what a South African newspaper or an Australian newspaper or a South American
paper says. Am I annoyed by the fact that they ask me for money? No. They
are unsure how to stay in business now that department stores and other sources
of advertizing revenue are gone. Will I send money to them all? No. Do I
believe we shoud help pay for reporting? I do. Governments are unlikely to
support their critics. And without these people doing their bit, what will we
know? The rumor from the next valley, metaphorically speaking. What some
small essay-writing journal says?
We need as broad a picture as our minds can deal with. And that’s what makes
web-access so wonderful. So send your dollars in, wherever you choose, but
don’t be insulted by begging. It’s the norm. In these times.
David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon
