Friday, July 8, 2011

Beyond Newsweek: Questions for Magazine Readers

When I was a kid, my parents got Time and Newsweek.  Somewhere before high school, I decided to read one, and picked Newsweek because it had a page of quotes and political cartoons.  I subscribed to it starting in college, and continued for 17 years.  Cover to cover every week for 17 years.  And now I'm done.  A few months ago, the DailyBeast bought it and turned it into a fashion/gossip rag.  3 weeks in a row the covers were royal couple (pre-wedding), Olsen twins, and royal couple.  Not like any economic or political or even meteorological news was going on.  No news left it week.

I replaced it with The Economist thanks to a Groupon, but I've gotta say reading Economist and New Yorker each week is getting a little overwhelming.  Are there any other magazine readers out there who have any tips on how to get that done, and still read books on the side?  Any suggestions for a decent news magazine without the heft of the Economist?

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What If Snape, like he does every other time for seven years, reads the kids' minds in the Shrieking Shack and blocks their curses?  Sirius gets the Dementor's Kiss, Lupin might be killed or maimed to "protect the children" (I can so hear Alan Rickman saying that line), and Buckbeak dies.  I don't think much changes in the bigger story, though - Pettigrew still escapes and the biggest players are all still in the same shape.  Besides the Time Turner would just reverse it all anyway sooner or later.

fyi I'm running out of What Ifs, but am hoping for 4 more to lead up to the movie's release.  If you have any suggestions, I welcome them!

1 comment:

  1. Charles, Lisa and I could not agree more about the decline of Newsweek. It used to be one of my go-to news sources until Tina Brown took over. We have subscribed to a magazine called The Week for several years. It is a digest of news from many other newspapers, magazines, online sources, columnists, etc, and a very well-done one at that. It has the added advantage of digesting news from a lot of international sources, which is sometimes very enlightening. You won't find any long-form journalism here, but then you are already getting a lot of that elsewhere. In addition to the usual news-y stuff, it also has coverage of science, business, technology, economics, food, and, for some reason, real estate. A fast reader like you could read it all in a sitting, without feeling you read anything fluffy (unlike with the new Newsweek). I'd say The Week might fill that informative-but-not-exhausting sweet spot you're looking for.

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