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 ]
News and Events World Literature Today, the University of Oklahoma’s award-winning magazine of international literature and culture, will host the 2021 Neustadt Lit Festival on Zoom from Oct. 25–27. The festival features numerous panels exploring the... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-10-11 18:55:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A new children’s bookshop in Hitchin is specialising in inclusive titles, including books that celebrate neurodiversity. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-11 14:30:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
We interviewed booksellers about their experience of the pandemic and their customers. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2021-10-07 05:14:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Shah Muhammad Rais, who was made famous in The Bookseller of Kabul, has vowed to keep his bookshop open, despite having had only two customers since the Taliban retook the country in the middle of August. Founded in 1974 Rais’s store has seen regimes (along with foreign powers) come and go, and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-09-28 15:00:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this
And of course it includes a two-story library — modeled on the Bodleian at Oxford University — for his massive collection of books. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-09-28 09:00:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Far too many times, I’ve been in a bookshop or a school and heard adults persuade a child away from a picture book and encouraged them to read ‘something more appropriate’. There’s a huge notion in this country that picture books are for younger children and a step into ‘proper reading’. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-13 08:06:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this
State prosecutors in Nicaragua have ordered the arrest of one of the country’s most prominent writers, Sergio Ramírez, accusing the 78-year-old novelist of inspiring hatred and conspiring to destabilize Nicaragua. With only two months to go until the presidential elections in November, dozens of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-09-10 15:58:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Sophie Lambert has been appointed to Bookshop.org's advisory board, as the company continues to grow and embarks on future development plans. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-08 04:20:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Andersen Press has partnered with children's bookshop brand Moon Lane Group to promote author Joseph Coelho and illustrator Fiona Lumbers' latest title, Luna Loves Dance, in a series of window displays. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-01 11:21:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Independent children’s bookshop Round Table Books has hired Meera Ghanshamdas as its new director. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-01 06:07:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The lead protagonist in the British TV comedy series Black Books might even relish being in lockdown. If you don’t, you might enjoy watching this show. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2021-08-27 00:11:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this
An Essex-based indie bookshop is doubling in size after "thriving" during the pandemic. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-25 20:03:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A new independent bookshop which nods to Bristol’s “radical past and present” has opened in the city’s Harbourside area, near where Edward Colston's statue was brought down last year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-25 11:33:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A story for children about families with same-sex parents has been published in Russia as part of a campaign to have the country’s ‘gay propaganda’ law repealedA month after a Hungarian bookshop chain was fined for selling a children’s story about a day in the life of a child with same-sex... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-08-17 14:33:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this
More than 60 bookshops launched in the UK and Ireland in the past 18 months – but who would open one in a pandemic? We asked five to share their stories, while bestselling author Val McDermid remembers the bookshops of her youthWhen I was growing up in a small Scottish town, we had a bookshop... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-08-15 11:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The fourth outing of the award produced by the Desperate Literature bookshop in Madrid features work centered on colonial oppression. The post Madrid’s ‘Desperate Literature’ Short Fiction Prize: Paige Cowan-Hall appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-08-13 21:40:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A steadfast member of the radical bookselling community is to retire after 45 years at Liverpool store News From Nowhere. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-10 05:23:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
An independent bookshop spotlighting women’s writing is opening in Edinburgh today (6th August), inspired by a successful book club. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-06 19:47:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Before Covid, A Good Used Book was a pop-up bookshop thriving across L.A. It's back to physical business this month — at the end of a long, hard road. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-08-05 13:00:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Matt Haig has become the first author to feature on Bookshop.org's Indie Champions list with two titles in the same month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-01 01:03:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this