Alan Hollinghurst was born in 1954, so he is now in his mid-60s. It is well to remember this when you read The Sparsholt Affair. Like The Line of Beauty, the book that won Hollinghurst the Man Booker prize back in 2004, The Sparsholt Affair is a long and densely detailed novel. Also like the earlier novel, this one is intimately concerned with gay life and society. But Hollinghurst is older, and there's now a stronger sense of mortality and the decaying effects of time. Where this novel goes is almost elegiac. The structure is like a generational saga, with each long section set in the different time period. In 1940, young David Sparsholt appears briefly at Oxford University before going off to fight in the Air Force. Adored by all the (closeted) homosexuals on campus, this muscular athlete is engaged to be married and appears to be strictly heterosexual. But is he? The first 90 pages of the novel â a full novella in themselves â keep us in a sort of suspense. Continue reading at 'Stuff'
[ Stuff | 2017-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#oxford university
#air force
Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 05/08/2011 - 14:23 Publishers have welcomed the news that Amanda Ross, Cactus TV md, may launch a television programme dedicated to childrens books. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amanda ross
#childrens books
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 05/08/2011 - 11:01 Canongate has bought a childrens book written by the lead singer of American indie rock band The Decemberists. Senior editor Francis Bickmore bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excl Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#lead singer
#angharad kowal
#writers house
Scam artists are selling fake early access to the Pottermore Web site or asking for personal data to register an "account." Either way, you're going to be sorry if you interact with them. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#harry potter
#personal data
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 04/08/2011 - 09:12 The Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society has welcomed the government support for the Hargreaves Review into intellectual property and growth, though it expressed concern over the proposals to extend copyright... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#government support
#hargreaves review
#intellectual property
#expressed concern
Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Thu, 04/08/2011 - 15:50 Spending on physical books in July slumped to its lowest level in seven years as ebooks continue to encroach onto traditional bookseller territory. According to Nielsen BookScan data, £111.5m was spent on printed books in the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#year low
#physical books
#lowest level
#ebooks continue
#printed books
#volume sales
#four-week period
#6m year-on-year
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 01/08/2011 - 14:32 Pan Macmillan has bought the third novel by Orion senior rights manager Pippa Wright, entitled The Foster Husband. Senior commissioning editor for fiction Jenny Geras acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Andrew Kidd... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#andrew kidd
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 01/08/2011 - 15:54 Macmillan Children's Books has appointed current Carlton Publishing m.d. Belinda Rasmussen to the role of publisher. She will report directly to Pan Macmillan m.d. Anthony Forbes Watson, and will join the Pan Macmillan... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#macmillan children
#report directly
#pan macmillan
#start date
#publishing programme
#ebook list
A casual observer of the book-club scene could be fooled into thinking that this summer was a hard one for the nation's leisure readers. Late in spring, Oprah's club shuttered, stranding publishers in what promises to be a long shoal of short print runs and offering the rest of us one literary... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-07-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#buyout offer
#reading groups
#good chance
Vanity Fair gets a compilation into the Kindle and Nook stores: Twenty previously published stories for $4, heavy on the Michael Wolff. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-07-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#rupert murdoch
#vanity fair
#nook stores
#michael wolff
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 28/07/2011 - 15:19 World Book Night will launch in the US in 2012, with the States confirmed as the event's first international partner. HarperCollins vice president of independent retailing Carl Lennertz has been appointed as chief... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#international partner
#1st september
#million books
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 27/07/2011 - 15:15 Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird has been voted the most popular title to be given away as part of World Book Night 2012. The organisation launched a public vote last month asking people to vote for the titles they... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#public vote
#popular title
#organisation launched
#jane austen
#markus zusak
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 27/07/2011 - 08:17 The Irish Competition Authority has cleared the acquisition of The Book Depository by Amazon after a three week investigation into the deal. In a short statement, the authority said: "[We have] formed the view that the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book depository
#short statement
#substantial lessening
#25th september
#relevant parties
#confidential information
#published version
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 27/07/2011 - 07:40 The Irish Competition Authority has cleared the acquisition of The Book Depository by Amazon after a three-week investigation into the deal. In a short statement, the authority said: "[We have] formed the view that the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book depository
#short statement
#substantial lessening
#25th september
#relevant parties
#confidential information
#published version
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 27/07/2011 - 15:15 Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is the most popular title among the public to be given away as part of World Book Night 2012. The organisation launched a public vote last month asking people to vote for the titles they... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#public vote
#popular title
#organisation launched
#jane austen
#markus zusak
The Google Books iOS app is now in line with Apple's newly enforced rules that ban links bypassing Apple's own in-app purchase mechanism, which means Apple can retain its 30 percent cut. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 26/07/2011 - 16:42 William Hill has installed former Man Booker winner Alan Hollinghurst as the 5/1 favourite to clinch the prize for the second time for his novel The Stranger's Child (Picador). The longlist was announced this afternoon and the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#child picador
#moved quickly
#julian barnes
Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 26/07/2011 - 16:29 The High Court has rejected an application by an Isle of Wight resident to bring a judicial review claim over the island's library closures. At a hearing in London today [26th July], His Honour Judge Pearl said the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#high court
#library closures
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 25/07/2011 - 08:46 Foyles continues its free book giveaway today (25th July), offering five titles free to children and teen readers. The five Foyles London stores have been giving away the titles free over this weekend and today, the first... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#teen readers
Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Fri, 22/07/2011 - 09:32 Books-A-Million has bid for up to 35 US Borders stores in a last-minute offer to try and save part of the 40-year-old bookselling chain. The chain, which also runs stores under the names Books & Co., Bookland and Joe... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bookselling chain
#borders stores
#bloomberg reports
Written By: Neill Denny Publication Date: Thu, 21/07/2011 - 08:45 John Blake has signed a book by a journalist-turned-lawyer on the Rupert Murdoch story, for publication next February. Called The Rise and Fall of the Murdoch Empire the book will be written by John Lisners, who worked for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#decade ago