I was thinking earlier about why some of my favorite American writers aren’t even published in the states anymore, but have huge, eager fan bases elsewhere, particularly in France...

I think the reason for this, like it or not, is that Americans read what they are told to read. There is the story and there is the machine that spins it, and the value of those two things rarely reconciles.

Want simple proof? This country has been reading the same book for two years. And that’s not a shot at the book, but is a shot at the industry and the impressionability of American readers. A lot of very important, needed books have gone unnoticed in that wake.

As for why some writers do well elsewhere, the machine abroad often seems less influential. Yes, the big books here tend to become big books there, but there seems to be a desire for discovery. The French, for instance, seem to love finding an author. They take ownership of that.

I want that to happen more here. I want smarter, more independent readers. I don’t know that the art itself suffers under our capitalism, but the recognition and the importance of that art most certainly does. There is the story. And there is the machine.

To end on a more positive note, Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass hit the list six years after publication. Of all books that should remain on that list for multiple years, it’s that one. And it sure is nice to see it finally got some of the attention it deserved.