Available only in bookshops – a magical voyage of discovery

As the curtain raises on Independent Bookshop Week, Helen Dunmore argues that, despite the convenience of shopping online, readers need to browse real shelves packed with real booksThe 10 best independent bookshops in the world – our readers recommendWe read not only with our eyes, but with our hearts. Every sense is in play. We shiver with fear, weep, laugh aloud, blaze with anger, are seduced, aroused, enchanted. We read with our senses of taste and smell, with skin and brain and intuition. We read intellectually, emotionally, erotically. We read in order to understand our lives, to become what we are not and through this to question what we are. For a few hours we enter the minds and bodies of lovers, criminals, artists. We are insiders, present as latitude is defined or Anne Boleyn murdered. We enter the minds of explorers and scientists, even though we may not be able to do the maths. Ages fly before us, and we step on to other continents. Our identity shifts. We understand other languages, even if we do not speak them. We live in 16th-century London, or Hogwarts. We run on the moors with Cathy and Heathcliff. We are watched by Big Brother, and sense our own weakness in the face of implacable totalitarianism. Related: David Nicholls: Browsing bookshops then buying online is a 'genteel form of shoplifting' Related: Weird and wonderful bookshops worldwide – in pictures Related: A life in writing: Helen Dunmore I can give you no conception of my welcome here. There... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Available only in bookshops – a magical voyage of discovery"


Tributes pour in for 'exceptional' Helen Dunmore

Tributes have been pouring in for poet, novelist and children's author Helen Dunmore, who has died of cancer aged 64. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Authors turn out to celebrate W H Smith's Richard and Judy Book Club

Authors including Jilly Cooper, David Nicholls, Robert Harris and Rosamund Lupton turned out at a party to celebrate the success of the Richard and Judy Book Club with W H Smith. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Mitchell and Smith among 220 authors and illustrators backing Carnegie occupiers

Writers David Mitchell, Ali Smith, Cathy Cassidy, Nick Hornby and David Nicholls are among the top names who have signed an open letter supporting the occupiers of Carnegie Library and condemning the proposed changes to the Lambeth library service. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Girl on the Train tops Amazon's UK ebook sales this year so far

Paula Hawkins’ bestseller leads a crop of psychological thrillers, in a top 20 dominated by womenDark psychological thrillers dominate the list of the year’s bestselling ebooks unveiled by Amazon, with MP Nadine Dorries making it into a line-up composed almost entirely of female writers.The... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Available only in bookshops – a magical voyage of discovery

As the curtain raises on Independent Bookshop Week, Helen Dunmore argues that, despite the convenience of shopping online, readers need to browse real shelves packed with real booksThe 10 best independent bookshops in the world – our readers recommendWe read not only with our eyes, but with our... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


'Rejected' Spurling wins Walter Scott Prize

John Spurling has won the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his novel set in imperial China, The Ten Thousand Things (Duckworth), a book which is said to have been rejected 44 times by publishers.   Spurling beat off competition from Martin Amis, Helen Dunmore, Hermione... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


'Us' to be adapted for BBC

David Nicholls’ Us (Hodder & Stoughton), which was longlisted for last year’s Man Booker Prize, is being adapted into a drama for the BBC. The novel is being adapted by Drama Republic, who recently produced “The Honourable Woman” for BBC2, according to Broadcast.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Nicholls claims bestseller charts top spot

Narrowly denied the top spot in the previous week’s charts, David Nicholls has bounced back to claim pole position in UK Official Top 50 with his seventh overall number one. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Brands to Publishers: Let Us Check Your Viewability Rates or We'll Stop Buying Ads

Earlier this month Google announced that video ads running on YouTube have a chance to be seen 91% of the time. That's great, and a lot better than the 46% of video ads that Google runs outside of YouTube that never have a chance to be seen. But advertisers would like to be able to check... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2015-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Child scores Personal best with third Number One

Lee Child achieves a personal best this week as his latest thriller tops the Official UK Top 50 for a third consecutive week. The paperback edition of Personal (Bantam) sold 22,680 copies in the seven days ending 9th May and marks the first time a Jack Reacher thriller has spent more than a... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Made in Chelsea's Pratt to Headline

“Made in Chelsea” star Stephanie Pratt is to give “an exclusive insight into the trials and tribulations of life on reality TV” in a new book to be published by Headline. Deputy publishing director Sarah Emsley acquired world rights to Made in Reality from Ariella Feiner at United Agents. As... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Loose Women select next book club titles

Karen Joy Fowler's We are All Completely Besides Ourselves and David Nicholls' Us are the next two books to be selected for the ITV Loose Women Book Club. The recently-launched book club called Loose Books, sees a different Loose Women panellist pick a book to read each month, which will be... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Jack Monroe: 'I'm a lefty, liberal, lezzer cook'

The blogger behind A Girl Called Jack on food poverty, bullying and standing up to Richard Littlejohn• Read recipes from Jack Monroe's book hereWhen I arrive at her flat in Southend-on-Sea Jack Monroe is where fans of her compulsive blog A Girl Called Jack perhaps imagine her always to be, in... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Big names back Authors for the Philippines campaign

Popular authors including George R R Martin, Neil Gaiman, Kate Atkinson and David Nicholls are... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


'1984' book sales surge on NSA spy scandal

'1984' book sales are rising after the Edward Snowden revelations about NSA spying. The topic of 'Big Brother' watching has spurred the sales of  George Orwell's "1984"  and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World." Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


NSA surveillance puts George Orwell's '1984' on bestseller lists

Big Brother is watching. And people are reading.Big Brother is watching. And people are reading. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Amazon Paradox: Coming to Terms With Publishing's Colossus

Despite consumer uncertainty in buying online, and publisher uncertainty in partnering with Amazon, ebooks sales are dominating the market. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2012-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Hodder's One Day crowned as 2011's biggest seller

David Nicholls' One Day (Hodder) sold almost twice as many copies as the next bestselling... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Bazalgette launches publisher with foodie memoir

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 28/10/2011 - 08:00 Peter Bazalgette, the man responsible for introducing "Big Brother" to the UK, is turning his hand to publishing, launching a new company with a biography of food critic Egon Ronay. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


de Waal and Colfer win Indy prize

Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Tue, 11/10/2011 - 08:40 Edmund de Waal's Costa-winning memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes (Vintage) has won the adult category of this year's Independent Booksellers' Book Prize 2011, beating competiton from authors including David Mitchell and Helen... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this