Book Reviews Photo by Dominik Scythe / Unsplash A new book by a Nobel laureate and Booker award-winning author always brings with it a sense of trepidation. Will the new novel live up to the already established high expectations? Klara and the Sun (Knopf, 2021) is particularly tricky because it revisits questions about life in posthuman futures, explored partly in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (2005). However, Ishiguro’s new novel and its nonhuman narrator, Klara, weave a spell on the reader from the opening pages that continues to be all-absorbing. We forget that the narrator is a robot and remain involved in the vicissitudes of her life, till the final pages when she is waiting for an end to her powers by the slow decline of her electronic circuitry. As we are immersed in the trajectory of Klara’s life, Ishiguro invites us to explore the question of what it is that constitutes us as human. To what extent can machines approximate the qualities of a human, and is there anything unique in the human mind in a world where artificial intelligence is increasingly powerful? The novel begins with Klara being displayed in the window of a store selling AI “friends” to children. Klara is very observant and records her perceptions in her memories for future use. She forms an instantaneous bond with Josie when she comes in to check out AI friends and then waits for many weeks for Josie to come back and take her home as promised.... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2022-03-01 21:50:34 UTC ]
Who doesn’t love an independent bookshop? Think of the Shop Around the Corner in You’ve Got Mail! Think of the Travel Book Co. in Notting Hill! Embryo Concepts in Funny Face! Black Books from the British sitcom of the same name! Think of the real brick-and-mortar bookshop in your own community.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-08 19:34:19 UTC ]
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Ernest J. Gaines, award-winning author of the acclaimed novel 'The Autobiography of Jane Pittman,' and a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant recipient, died of a heart attack at his home in Oscar, La. He was 86. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-11-06 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine EvaristoSince studying Lara as a student, I have been a fan of Bernardine Evaristo’s work, and am delighted to see her win the Booker Prize this year. Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives of twelve black characters with different backgrounds and experiences, most... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-10-30 09:49:28 UTC ]
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Independent bookshop Telling Tales has moved aboard a purpose-built canal boat to roam through London's canals and beyond. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-30 00:02:15 UTC ]
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The soon-to-launch platform aims to give booksellers an edge against the e-tail giant. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-10-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Almost 6,000 copies of Girl, Woman, Other sold in the week after Evaristo’s win alongside Margaret AtwoodBernadine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other more than doubled its lifetime sales in the week following its Booker prize win, with joint winner The Testaments by Margaret Atwood also flying off... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-10-22 16:25:45 UTC ]
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The only store in Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire, to exclusively sell new books will open on 26th October. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-21 06:24:17 UTC ]
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The head of Otava Publishing, one of Finland’s largest books beasts as well as an owner of its biggest bookshop chain, says the domestic market has been ‘bipolar’—but reckons new formats present a massive opportunity for brave publishers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-18 03:01:17 UTC ]
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Tommy Orange, the award-winning author of “There, There,” recommends his favorite books by Native writers. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-10-14 22:12:55 UTC ]
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The award-winning author of ‘Her Body and Other Parties’ on writing fiction for today, the tyranny of genre, and reading outside of our comfort zones. The post We’re in a Rough Place in History Right Now: The Millions Interviews Carmen Maria Machado appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2019-10-08 16:00:06 UTC ]
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Ahead of Bookshop Day, bookshop owner Sarah Dennis highlights what makes independent bookshops special. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-04 03:15:59 UTC ]
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Retailers are gearing up for a bumper Super Thursday ahead of this Saturday's Bookshop Day 2019 when events will be taking place up and down the country. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-03 08:58:18 UTC ]
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ONE DAY IN a Los Angeles bookshop in the mid-1970s, a thick City Lights softcover with a stark black-and-white spine magnetized a suburban adolescent’s eyeballs. “BUKOWSKI” the cover read at the top in big block letters, and at the bottom, in smaller letters: “Erections, Ejaculations,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-10-01 17:00:44 UTC ]
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Jeffrey Archer, Marian Keyes and Stacey Halls were among the authors at this year's Bertrams Christmas conference which saw Abingdon indie Mostly Books win bookshop of the year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-30 10:31:00 UTC ]
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Independent bookseller Topping & Co will open a new bookshop in central Edinburgh this weekend. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-25 21:51:55 UTC ]
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The award-winning author on her mission to diversify publishing — and why she turned back to adult readers with her new novel, “Red at the Bone.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-09-19 09:00:02 UTC ]
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The Booker Prize has reassured readers the £50,000 literary award has “not yet been decided” – after a bookshop mistakenly branded copies of Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments with a “winner” sticker. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-17 10:52:14 UTC ]
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Award-winning author Kiran Millwood Hargrave talks to us about her reimagining of Dracula, The Deathless Girls. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-13 13:55:19 UTC ]
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W&N has netted a new novel by "astonishing" award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson, which is already garnering huge praise in the US. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-12 19:21:10 UTC ]
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Quercus held a sales conference with a difference yesterday by sending out its teams to booksellers around the UK, Ireland, France and Belgium. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-12 08:22:12 UTC ]
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