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 ]
It might seem odd for a magazine called The Bookseller to have a dedicated issue for “booksellers”, but this week’s issue is a dedicated one for, well, booksellers, including our now-annual listing of the Bookshop Heroes, those purveyors of the written word who, when push came to shove in 2021,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-03 15:21:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Black bookshop owners are finding that their efforts are paying off by sharing stories and bringing communities closer together through their local store. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-03 08:27:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Twenty-three people have been included in The Bookseller's Bookshop Heroes class of 2021, a list of some of the best individual booksellers in the UK and Ireland. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-03 04:23:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Hear how Mark Mangini orchestrated the silence of the desert. The book series Dune is one of the most celebrated sci-fi epics of all time, full of technological motifs like shield belts, hovering gadgets, and space travel. But for director Denis Villeneuve, who released the latest film remake... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2021-11-24 06:00:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Will Smith has partnered with Black-owned bookshops and artists of colour across the UK and America to celebrate his upcoming memoir Will (Century), with Sevenoaks Bookshop featuring an artist’s display. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-11 02:48:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Following the acclaimed author’s decision not to have Beautiful World, Where Are You translated by an Israeli publisher, two major retailers have removed her work from their shelvesBooks by Sally Rooney will no longer be sold in two Israeli bookshop chains, after the acclaimed writer’s decision... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-11-05 16:14:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A new children’s bookshop in Hitchin is specialising in inclusive titles, including books that celebrate neurodiversity. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-11 14:30:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
We interviewed booksellers about their experience of the pandemic and their customers. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2021-10-07 05:14:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Shah Muhammad Rais, who was made famous in The Bookseller of Kabul, has vowed to keep his bookshop open, despite having had only two customers since the Taliban retook the country in the middle of August. Founded in 1974 Rais’s store has seen regimes (along with foreign powers) come and go, and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-09-28 15:00:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this
And of course it includes a two-story library — modeled on the Bodleian at Oxford University — for his massive collection of books. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-09-28 09:00:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this
As the agency develops plans for exploring the moon and Mars, it's seeking cutting-edge research that could turn science fiction into reality. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2021-09-22 21:04:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Far too many times, I’ve been in a bookshop or a school and heard adults persuade a child away from a picture book and encouraged them to read ‘something more appropriate’. There’s a huge notion in this country that picture books are for younger children and a step into ‘proper reading’. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-13 08:06:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Sophie Lambert has been appointed to Bookshop.org's advisory board, as the company continues to grow and embarks on future development plans. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-08 04:20:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Andersen Press has partnered with children's bookshop brand Moon Lane Group to promote author Joseph Coelho and illustrator Fiona Lumbers' latest title, Luna Loves Dance, in a series of window displays. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-01 11:21:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Independent children’s bookshop Round Table Books has hired Meera Ghanshamdas as its new director. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-01 06:07:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The lead protagonist in the British TV comedy series Black Books might even relish being in lockdown. If you don’t, you might enjoy watching this show. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2021-08-27 00:11:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this
An Essex-based indie bookshop is doubling in size after "thriving" during the pandemic. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-25 20:03:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A new independent bookshop which nods to Bristol’s “radical past and present” has opened in the city’s Harbourside area, near where Edward Colston's statue was brought down last year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-25 11:33:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Headline Review has acquired two more books from Matt Cain, whose fourth novel, The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle, was published by the imprint earllier this year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-19 11:27:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A story for children about families with same-sex parents has been published in Russia as part of a campaign to have the country’s ‘gay propaganda’ law repealedA month after a Hungarian bookshop chain was fined for selling a children’s story about a day in the life of a child with same-sex... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-08-17 14:33:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this