" one of the most interesting points, though the writer didn't spend much time on it, was how the serialised nature of some of the famous older novels meant everyone was much more likely to be reading them at the same time"
Hmmm… I thought that the point being made there wasn't so much the serialisation, but the delivery mechanism. The newspaper then, and the television now, is in everybody's home. It's not something special that needs seeking out.