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 ]
Sarah Anderson, who founded the Travel Bookshop in London before becoming a writer and painter, discusses the value of quiet in 'The Lost Art of Silence' (Shambhala, Dec.). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-01 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City doubles down on supporting Drag Story Hours following a bomb threat, and is preparing to launch a new venture, Mosaics Community Bookstore and Venue. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Lydia Davis’ new collection Our Strangers, is available now from Bookshop Editions, so we asked her a few questions about her writing, reading, and more. How do you tackle writer’s block? I don’t really have writer’s block anymore. When I first started out, I certainly did just sit there... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-02 09:00:46 UTC ]
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The co-owner of San Francisco's Bookshop West Portal and founder of onetime Bay Area bookselling staple A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, died on September 6. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow overtook titles by David Walliams and Colleen Hoover to become the UK’s number one bestseller. The author, booksellers and fans reflect on how it became a literary phenomenonTomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’s distinctive cover, with its image of Hokusai’s... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-08-11 10:00:35 UTC ]
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In 2009, two bookshops a week were closing in the UK and the days of physical books seemed numbered. Now, indie stores are booming. What explains the turnaround – and can it be sustained?When Sarah Mullen was asked to set up a children’s book festival in a leafy suburb of Birmingham in 2012, she... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-27 09:00:32 UTC ]
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Jerusalem's Educational Bookshop has focused on Palestinian literature and nonfiction since its first location opened in 1984. The post Jerusalem’s Educational Bookshop at 39 Years: ‘The Palestinian Point of View’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-07-11 18:34:49 UTC ]
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The award-winning author was arrested and tortured for his work – and then tortured again for writing about his detention. Now he smuggles his latest banned book into Uganda to ensure it is readKakwenza Rukirabashaija tries to keep his scars covered around his children. Even in the height of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-04 12:53:40 UTC ]
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From working with grime legends to tackling racism, author Candice Carty-Williams’s new show Champion is landmark TV. Its team talk Shola Ama, pengness – and the greatest group chat everIt’s just after noon in Birmingham and, in the hidden depths of a city centre nightclub, a singer is about to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-23 12:00:37 UTC ]
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From family sagas that span decades to memoirs about chasing the American dream, these 6 AAPI must-reads hit bookshop shelves this May. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-18 13:00:16 UTC ]
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Doppelganger, due out this autumn, examines ‘the wildness of right now’, including personal issues arising from being confused with Naomi Wolf Award-winning author and Guardian columnist Naomi Klein is to publish a book about conspiracy theories, which she has described as a departure and “more... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-17 13:00:30 UTC ]
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At Edmonds Bookshop in the historic town center of Edmonds, Wash., Michelle Bear refers to herself not as the owner but as “the most recent and honored caretaker.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Internet is abuzz over a forthcoming nonfiction book, a 544-page memoir (including 40 full-color photographs) slated to be published by Flatiron on July 9th. Why? Because The Internet thinks it was probably written by Taylor Swift. It all started when the owner of indie bookshop Good... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-08 16:47:07 UTC ]
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A 57-year-old “self-styled poet” (aren’t they all?) has spent $116,000 of his own money to build a bookstore in a mountaintop village. Oh, and it’s shaped like the number 7 and contains 7,000 books. No, this is not a parable. As Jiang Libo told the South China Morning Post: Before my bookshop... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-08 15:04:22 UTC ]
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Tracy Deonn, the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award-winning author of “Legendborn” and “Bloodmarked,” recommends a few of her favorite young adult fantasy titles. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-05-06 09:00:20 UTC ]
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Tracy Deonn, the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award-winning author of “Legendborn” and “Bloodmarked,” recommends a few of her favorite young adult fantasy titles. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-05-06 09:00:19 UTC ]
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The owner and operator of the Mysterious Bookshop in Lower Manhattan, the oldest bookstore in the U.S. specializing in mysteries and thrillers, said his duties running Mysterious Press don’t leave him with enough time to interact with customers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Illustration by Krishna Bala Shenoi. Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso is a weekly series of intimate conversations with artists, authors, and politicians. It’s a podcast where people sound like people. New episodes air every Sunday, distributed by Pushkin Industries. * Live from On Air Fest in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-02 08:54:53 UTC ]
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The award-winning author on how Trump, Covid and anti-Asian rhetoric inspired her latest novel, digging her way out of ‘post-book fatigue’, and learning to touch type using UlyssesCeleste Ng, 42, is the award-winning author of three novels, including Little Fires Everywhere, which was made into... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-04-22 17:00:15 UTC ]
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The garlanded short story author will release her next collection solely in bookshops and select independent online outlets to coincide with Bookshop DayPrize-winning author Lydia Davis’ new collection of short stories will not be sold on Amazon, with the author saying she does not “believe... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-04-19 10:05:07 UTC ]
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