The Fall of Language in the Age of English, by the Japanese novelist and scholar Minae Mizumura, has all the ingredients of a rage-read. Indeed, when it was published in Japan in 2008, it infuriated commentators, who dismissed Mizumura as “reactionary,” “jingoistic,” or “elitist” and swarmed across Amazon deleting positive reviews. More than 65,000 copies have sold since then—which suggests the slender work’s declinist soothsaying continues to touch a nerve. The book appears this month in English (enemy territory!), where—if we Yanks could be trusted to read something first penned in a non-Western tongue—it would likely inspire more umbrage, more name-calling, more amorphous unease. The book’s basic premise, developed in a sinuous line through seven chapters, is that every language creates and nourishes untranslatable truths. Dominant languages infuse their verities into the wider world, crowding out alternative visions from more minor tongues. Linguistic asymmetry isn’t new—over the past two centuries, Latin, classical Chinese, and French each took a turn in the sun—but never has one language so completely eclipsed the rest, Mizumura says, as today, in the age of the Internet, with English. Continue reading at 'Slate'
[ Slate | 2015-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The National Literacy Trust and the Premier League are teaming up to distribute nearly 25,000 books to five to 11-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds this World Book Day, Thursday (4th March). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-02 18:07:28 UTC ]
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Fourth Estate has swooped for Magpie, the “exhilarating” new novel by Elizabeth Day, written mostly during the first lockdown. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-23 23:47:19 UTC ]
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Faber is to publish Lucy Caldwell's first novel in nearly a decade, These Days. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-23 01:30:10 UTC ]
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Alison Jones, founder of Practical Inspiration Publishing, is coming to the end of a 1,000-day running challenge to raise funds for the National Literacy Trust. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-16 00:52:37 UTC ]
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Journalist and author Caitlin Moran is to curate a Mother's Day selection box for book subscription service LoveMyRead. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-14 22:50:45 UTC ]
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Chicago’s only Black woman-owned bookstore opened in the summer of 2019. Over the past two years, Semicolon has served as a vital and vibrant cultural hub and gallery space. Last summer, as the coronavirus began to tear through our country and small businesses had to close their doors, Semicolon... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-12 16:25:48 UTC ]
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Published a century ago, Eleanor Farjeon’s “Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard” delivers charming stories of love in its many forms. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-10 17:02:45 UTC ]
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Reading choices for your night in — whether you like sweet, steamy or need a good cry. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-05 13:00:00 UTC ]
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President Biden’s oldest surviving child is publishing a memoir about his struggles with addiction and drug abuse. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-04 18:54:06 UTC ]
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It’s Friday, so why not look at some pictures of beautiful (literature-inspired) dresses that cost as much as pretty nice cars! Designer Kim Jones told British Vogue that his first collection for the luxury fashion house Fendi was inspired by the Bloomsbury Group, specifically Virginia Woolf’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-29 16:52:04 UTC ]
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Bliss is rare these days. Enjoy it. For me, that means burying myself in twenty-year-old manga to get through the day. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-01-28 11:37:00 UTC ]
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Elizabeth Day and Johny Pitts are to be the new presenters of BBC Radio 4’s "Open Book" programme. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-14 20:35:02 UTC ]
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The novel, which follows four young people in Ireland, is part of a two-book deal for the best-selling author of “Normal People” and “Conversations With Friends.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-12 14:00:10 UTC ]
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Faber will publish Sally Rooney's third novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You, this September, following bestsellers Conversations with Friends and Normal People. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-12 03:36:01 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury Continuum has acquired When America Stopped Being Great by BBC New York correspondent Nick Bryant. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-11 12:55:05 UTC ]
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Winter takes center stage in books by George R.R. Martin, Peter Hoeg, Tove Jannson, Tanya Tagaq and more Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-18 14:00:00 UTC ]
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Drinking sherry, bingeing Downton Abbey ... how authors keep up the spirit of the season, even when writing during heatwaves and a nightmarish ChristmasChristmas novels are not a new phenomenon. Charles Dickens sold out of his first print run of A Christmas Carol in days in December 1843, while... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 15:22:04 UTC ]
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Barack Obama's first presidential memoir, 'A Promised Land,' sold more than 887,000 units in all formats and editions in the U.S. and Canada on its first day on sale, its publisher said. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-19 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstones has seen "strong" online orders for A Promised Land (Viking), with the title also at number one in Amazon's bestseller charts. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-18 06:17:45 UTC ]
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Oprah Winfrey's interview with Barack Obama premieres on Apple TV+ on Tuesday morning, just as copies of the hotly anticipated former president's memoir lands on bookstore shelves around the world. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
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