Welcome to Revise and Resubmit, where we break down big ideas, one book at a time. This is Weekend Book Review, and today, we’re turning the page on how we read—literally.
Reading has always been a solitary act. A quiet moment, a private escape. But what happens when books become conversations? When every sentence can be highlighted, shared, and discussed in real time? Digital Social Reading: Sharing Fiction in the Twenty-First Century by Federico Pianzola takes us into this new world of reading—one where Wattpad, Goodreads, and fanfiction archives aren’t just platforms but living, breathing ecosystems of literary exchange.
Pianzola, a computational humanities professor, doesn’t just ask if digital reading is different—he shows us how it's reshaping everything we know about books, from comprehension to community. Does reading socially deepen our understanding, or does it fragment attention? Does it nurture literary culture, or does it drown it in endless noise?
A huge thanks to Federico Pianzola for this fascinating deep dive into the future of books. Don’t forget to subscribe to Revise and Resubmit on Spotify and check out Weekend Researcher on YouTube. You can also find us on Amazon Prime Music and Apple Podcasts. Until next time—when you read a book, do you read it alone, or are you always reading with the world?
Reference
Pianzola, F. (2025). Digital Social Reading. The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14588.001.0001
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