The so-called ‘pocket book’ sold in supermarkets is being phased out across the US, the latest sign of an ongoing shift in how people are choosing to read
Shelly Romero has early memories of going to her local supermarket and picking pulp fiction off the shelves. “We were very working class; my mom was working two jobs sometimes,” she recalls. “The appeal of books being cheaper and smaller and able to be carried around was definitely a thing.”
For generations of readers, the gateway to literature was not a hushed library or a polished hardback but a wire spinner rack in a supermarket, pharmacy or railway station. There, amid chewing gum and cigarettes, sat the mass-market paperback: squat, roughly 4in by 7in and cheap enough to be bought on a whim.
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The so-called ‘pocket book’ sold in supermarkets is being phased out across the US, the latest sign of an ongoing shift in how people are choosing to read
Shelly Romero has early memories of going to her local supermarket and picking pulp fiction off the shelves. “We were very working class; my mom was working two jobs sometimes,” she recalls. “The appeal of books bein... The story is categorized under Breaking News with a positive tone (score 0.08).
In Week 9 2026, Breaking News accounted for 25 related article(s), with UK Politics setting the broader headline context. Coverage of Breaking News decreased by 10 article(s) versus the prior week, but remained material in the weekly agenda.
Coverage Snapshot
Week 9 2026 included 25 Breaking News article(s). Leading outlets for this topic included Fox News, Independent, Guardian Business. Across that cluster, sentiment showed a positive skew (avg score 0.09).
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Tone & Sentiment
The article tone is classified as positive, driven by the language and emphasis in the summary. The sentiment score of 0.08 indicates the strength of that tone.
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This piece fits within the broader Breaking News narrative, connecting current events to ongoing developments. Readers tracking Breaking News trends can use this article as a concise signal of what is shaping coverage right now.
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