The NEW Social Life of the Mind

A letter from the editor

Photo © Susan Ragan

In the nearly 8 years since Readerville first appeared online, it has taken many forms. It was first (and has always been foremost) a community — a place where readers and writers and publishing insiders could meet each day to find out what's interesting in the world of books and, even more important, to talk about it. (Hence our long-standing tagline, The social life of the mind.) In 2001 we added a full-fledged online bookstore and also began publishing some small but terrific bits of content, including The Odd Shelf and Most Coveted Covers. In 2002 the bookstore went away and a print magazine was launched, called The Readerville Journal. Though much loved and still lamented, The Readerville Journal ceased publication in 2003, but the website survived and continues to be the wacky and thought-provoking community it started out as. But I still hear regularly from people who miss TRJ and want it back. And I feel the same way.

So here it is. With the illustrious Doug Cruickshank as our Features Editor, Kat Warren on the new releases beat, and many of our original print contributors on board, we're bringing content back to the Readerville mix. Think of it as TRJ 2.0, if you will — the high-tech version. We'll continue to publish Most Coveted Covers and will revive The Odd Shelf. We'll highlight noteworthy developments from around the web and point you to the most interesting new releases (along with Book of the Moment, naturally, which has been part of the Readerville landscape since day one). But we'll also be bringing you all of things you loved about TRJ, including reprints of some of our favorite pieces: bookshelf voyeurism, author interviews, compelling excerpts and essays. In fact, our first piece is an essay about E.B. White, one of my personal favorite writers, that was originally written for TRJ and never had a chance to see print. It pleases me tremendously to be able to bring it to you now, along with all of the other great stuff Doug has lined up. In the coming weeks, you'll find tributes to Barbara Pym and Thomas McMahon; interviews with photographer Pieter Hugo and Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood, who most recently scripted the Julian Schnabel adaptation of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; and lots more.

Of course, the Readerville Forum marches on, now with this new fraternal twin of sorts, and is undergoing a minor makeover of its own. In addition to discussions on everything a booklover could possibly want to talk about, we've got one of the best book groups online and we'll be reviving Readerville Events in the coming months, which you won't want to miss. If you've never dipped a toe into the Forum, I hope you'll give it a try. It is a welcoming, challenging, entertaining and endlessly enlightening environment that has proven deeply addictive to avid readers from around the globe.

I'm extremely excited about these new developments with Readerville and hope you will be, too. Welcome to the new Readerville.

—Karen Templer is the founder and Editor in Chief of Readerville. She spent much of 2007 reading the works of W. Somerset Maugham and highly recommends Cakes and Ale.