How do you feel about Library of America?

How do you feel about Library of America?

I'm thinking of buying pic related but I've never owned anything from them before.

I've had nothing but good experiences with their books.

They remind me of skipping class and hanging out in the library when I was in high school.

I own one from Philip K Dick and all i can say is that it is a gorgeous edition. Can recommend!

lol dork

For quite a few authors their collections are the shit.

There is a Raymond Carver collection that I have wanted for a very long time. Carver's short story collections are all great, but to have it all in one book would be very nice. Library of America is the only one that has that.

The one downside for me is having a picture of the author on the dust jacket. If only that wasn't there.

They seem to be running out of authors that they can secure the rights for, but they still need to keep printing new books to keep the money turning over and so questionable decisions are made.

Can't think why anyone decided a David Goodis collection was a good idea. I like crime fiction (their Hammett and Chandler editions are excellent), but Goodis is nowhere near the top rank of crime writers. I assume it's probably Geoffrey O'Brien who pushed for it. He's LOA editor in chief, and in his book Hardboiled America it's clear he has a liking for Goodis' books.

The Elmore Leonard collections are questionable too. Leonard's books are fun but forgettable, hardly anything that needed three archival volumes dedicated to them.

>running out of authors
Pynchon, DFW, McCarthy, Morrison when?
Markson? Obama?

They have to die first.

"Running out of authors that they can secure the rights for" - the rights part is crucial.

They've apparently been wanting to publish Hemingway for years but can't come to an agreement with the estate.

They published a set of Fitzgerald's public domain stuff, but they haven't been able to include any of his later still-copyrighted work.

So while they try to make deals with various estates, they still need new product being rolled out regularly, and we get their release schedule of the past few years.

What are some of your favorite Carver stories? Off the top of my head some of my favorites were "Tell the Women We're Going" "Feathers" "Gazebo" "They're Not Your Husband" and "The Bridle". I recently read through his first three short story collections and though some of the stories blend together, he's one of the best writers I've come across.

willa cather is seriously based

I have the benjamin franklin book by them. Really, really happy with it.

Most of the comments seem to be about the collections/authors they choose. I can't speak to that, but I have several books of theirs and they're very neat, simple, sturdy books. Definitely worth the money, though I prefer them without the dust jackets.

If you wanna read an author, it's definitely a nice alternative than buying several separate books.

This is all that I have ever bought from them and it is quite nice.

Overrated. Why are the pages so fucking thin?

this.

I have the Raymond carver, Eudora welty...uhhh hp lovecraft and some others.

I like the super thin pages too. reminds me of reading the Bible.

It's archival quality, which means its made from cotton instead of wood, and will last centuries.

Some people dislike the bible paper, but for my money they're one of the best publishers around.

>Why are the pages so fucking thin?
Because it's not a cheap Bantam or Signet "classic" made from grey pulp that will turn orange in a year?

Not him but read Small Good Things. It's maybe the best thing he ever wrote.

In terms of curation, they're very good, with a broad range of interest (though of course they do privilege a whiter canon) and obvious expertise. And I really like that they are willing to put out expensive, high quality editions of authors that the general public has stopped caring about like Ring Lardner or A.J. Liebling -- I feel like this type of publishing is a really important way for future readers and scholars to re-dscover forgotten classics.

In terms of the editions themselves, some are undeniable and some are pretty stupid. The best are definitely when LoA collects a previously uncollected short story writer's oeuvre, like Raymond Carver. But what I think is totally useless is cramming three or more entire novels into a single edition, like in the OP Cather edition. Like who the fuck needs to carry around every early Cather novel in a single edition? It's useless for the general public as well as for scholars. The only benefit could be that it's cheaper to buy the one book then all the books separately, but because LoA makes pricey books, this isn't really a good argument.

The pages a bit too thin, like I can read ahead through the pages.

Not op but what about notes? Are there any notes and essays in these books?