Book Reviews Photo by Daniel on Unsplash Readers will naturally and, perhaps, unfortunately, wish to make connections between Sayaka Murata’s (b. 1979) newest novel, Earthlings, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Grove Press, 2021), and her wonderfully quirky Convenience Store Woman (which I previously reviewed for WLT). To be sure, the two novels share a focus on people who live at the margins of a stereotypically conformist Japanese society. Indeed, Natsuki, the protagonist of Earthlings, is waging a long-term battle against “The Factory,” her term for the myriad social expectations and constraints that serve to channel “Earthlings” into the dual roles of productive economic cogs and breeding receptacles for future cogs. She resolutely adopts a lifestyle that rejects such a regimented life and, in so doing, ensures that she will be the locus for society’s ire. That, however, is where the similarities end, and this is why it is well to resist the easy comparison to Murata’s earlier novel. Earthlings is a much darker work, building upon themes that privilege violations of taboos, some quite traumatic, to weave a tale that, in its conclusion, is about as different from Convenience Store Woman in tone as one might imagine. Here, Murata interrogates the transgressive potential of difference, yet we do not sense, in that exploration, the expected condemnations. Rather, we are asked to consider the forces that impinge on... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2022-04-19 20:44:40 UTC ]
During Independent Bookshop Week, author Clare Mackintosh pens a letter in praise of bookshops and booksellers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-19 07:08:54 UTC ]
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Independent Bookshop Week is in full swing with events up and down the country as Booksellers Association research reveals 82% of indie booksellers had a different career prior to owning or working in their bookshop. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-17 02:50:48 UTC ]
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For nearly 20 years, Namwali Serpell has been writing “The Old Drift.” If you don’t find that fact alone to be staggering, consider this: The 576-page book blends English with a multitude of Bantu languages spoken in Zambia. Incorporating elements of historical fiction, sci-fi, magical realism,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebury has won a five-publisher auction for Svenja O’Donnell’s book about her grandmother’s secret life in Second World War Germany. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The shortlist for the 2019 International Prize for Arabic Fiction was announced today at the El-Hakawati Palestinian National Theatre in East Jerusalem. The IPAF - often referred to as the ‘Arabic Booker’ - is an annual literary prize for prose fiction, which encourages the readership of... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-02-05 16:33:45 UTC ]
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Black & White Publishing will publish The Secret Life of Tartan: How a Cloth Shaped a Nation this autumn, by fashion designer Victoria ‘Vixy’ Rae. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pavilion Books will publish the official companion to the "hugely successful" Channel 5 series "The Secret Life of Puppies" this October. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thomas Mullen has been playing with genres for a long time. He has mixed historical fiction with magical realism, played with the spy novel, and is now mixing a police procedural with a fact-based piece of historical fiction. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kobo has said it has “no interest in fighting publishers”, after signing its first publishing deal with journalist Kevin Donovan for a book about Canadian radio presenter Jian Gomeshi, who is currently awaiting trial for sexual assault. The Canadian ebook retailer has signed world English... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This June, Canadian ebook retailer Kobo will publish its first original ebook when it releases Kevin Donovan's 'Jian Ghomeshi: Secret Life.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Singer and broadcaster Cerys Matthews and journalist and author Bidisha are among the presenters... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Beyond John Green and Veronica Roth: James Thurber compiled his own list of books that he thought young adults might enjoy, and his picks still hold up today. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-07-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sue Monk Kidd's "The Invention of Wings" comes out Jan. 7. The novel weaves together the stories of a slave girl and a slave owner's daughter. Like Kidd's best-selling "The Secret Life of Bees," the book is set in South Carolina. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Headline has bought a new novel by Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees, for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan has acquired Off the Leash: The Secret Life of Dogs by cartoonist Rupert Fawcett,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bluemoose Books publisher Kevin Duffy has decided to abandon plans to publish The Secret Life of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Thu, 23/06/2011 - 05:28 Aurum Press has bought a biography about the service that monitored and intercepted the German military's radio traffic during the Second World War. Publisher Graham Coster bought world English language rights to The Secret Listeners by Sinclair McKay... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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