A charming French novel about an old-school publisher trying to get to grips with the digital ageAt more than one point in this novel I found myself asking: could this be any more French? Early on we meet a character described thus: “She used to be incredibly good-looking and now at thirtysomething she is creditably handsome.” Sorry? What the narrator, an ageing male publisher, looks like, or how creditably or uncreditably good-looking he is, we don’t find out. Another woman leaves the room “in a wiggle of buttock” – I dropped my annotating pencil when I read that line. “Artichokes require a degree of elegance” – there’s another drop of essence of Gallic for you.But there is more to Dear Reader, and what kept me going was that one of the subjects exercising our narrator is the issue of electronic readers – Kindles or, as our hero Robert Dubois has it, the “dear reader” of the title. This book is an elegy for a dying world: that of the printed book and, that death’s darker corollary, the reader who is still interested in, or has the attention span for, the long-form narrative. (I always thought these things were arranged better in France, with no Net Book Agreement and tax breaks for bookshops, but apparently not.) In the world of Dear Reader, there has been a general collapse of cultural understanding: the interns point out to Dubois the remarkable coincidence that the publishing house they have landed in has the same name as him. Meanwhile, Dubois cannot quite get to... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#electronic readers
#attention span
#tax breaks
Deep declines in adult nonfiction and juvenile categories and only a small gain in adult fiction resulted in a 9.6% drop in print sales last week compared to a year ago. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-10-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#adult nonfiction
#juvenile categories
#small gain
#6% drop
#week compared
#print sales
Soft sales in the adult nonfiction and juvenile categories offset a 12.1% increase in sales of adult fiction, leading to a 2.3% drop in unit sales of print books last week compared to the week ended September 18, 2021. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#week compared
#adult nonfiction
#1% increase
#adult fiction
#3% drop
#print books
On the occasion of the death of the Queen of England, we've rounded up a handful of reviews of books on the queen and her court that we've run over the years. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book reviews
#ve rounded
#ve run
Near summer's end in the Northern Hemisphere, NPD's Kristen McLean sees the US market 'bucking uncertainty in the wider economy.' The post NPD BookScan: US Print Book Market Shows a ‘Strong August Performance’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-09-13 00:21:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#northern hemisphere
#wider economy
#print book
Increases in adult fiction and young adult were not enough to offset declines in the adult nonfiction and juvenile categories, resulting in a 2.4% decline in unit sales of print books last week compared to 2021. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#week compared
#adult fiction
#young adult
#offset declines
#adult nonfiction
#juvenile categories
#4% decline
#print books
Unit sales of print books pulled off a rare feat last week: sales were flat with the week ended August 28, 2021. The achievement was due to another week of solid sales increases in adult and young adult fiction and only a small decrease in sales of adult nonfiction. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#adult nonfiction
Last week’s sales pattern looked a lot like the previous week: a modest sales decline compared to a year ago, with higher sales of adult fiction and young adult titles offset by lower adult nonfiction and juvenile sales. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#previous week
#higher sales
#adult fiction
The first major review for Breaking History—odious lickspittle Jared Kushner’s memoir about his tenure at the Trump White House—has dropped, and it is a doozy. Published by Broadside Books (a lamentable neocon imprint of Harper Collins which boasts a stable full of prize grievance ponies like... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-17 15:19:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#jared kushner
#major review
#broadside books
#harper collins
#memoir
A debut novel views a middle-aged organic farmer through the eyes of a 21-year-old woman he preys upon. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-08-15 19:37:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#daisy lafarge
#debut novel
In a 'steady' market, NPD sees print sales in the United States decline 1.6 million units in July, typically a month for some losses. The post NPD Books on July’s US Print Market: 6 Percent Lower, Year to Date appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-08-10 18:34:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#date appeared
#print market
#npd books
#print sales
Lynne Tillman’s taut memoir of caring for an aging parent runs an emotional gamut. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-08-08 19:30:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book review
#lynne tillman
#taut memoir
#memoir
In his latest book, the French author celebrated for his deeply personal accounts of tragic events embraces meditation as a means of learning to write “without fabrication.” But telling the truth is complicated. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-07-31 09:00:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book review
#emmanuel carrre
#french author
Roving grammarian Ellen Jovin helps settle questions about commas, split infinitives and more in “Rebel With a Clause” Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-26 12:00:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Following the "Don't Say Gay" bill, Florida teachers have been told to pull their classroom libraries until each title has been approved. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-07-25 17:58:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#classroom libraries
#libraries
Sorry to Kindle loyalists: people who read paper books tend to be more advanced readers, according to a recent study of the reading habits of thousands of teens around the world. The study, conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, looked at the way teenagers in 30... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-25 17:18:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#recent study
#reading habits
#economic cooperation
#kindle
A 23% increase in unit sales of adult fiction was offset by a big decline in adult nonfiction sales, resulting in a 2.5% drop in total sales last week compared to 2021. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#week compared
#adult fiction
#big decline
#5% drop
#total sales
The Fable app is a new platform that aims to make reading more social. Here's what one writer thought of it. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-07-20 10:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#make reading
#book club
Sales of print books began the second half of 2022 on a down note, with units falling 8.8% last week compared to the week ended July 10, 2021. The sales pattern was a familiar one, with gains in adult fiction not enough to offset deep declines in adult nonfiction and the juvenile segments. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#8% drop
#week compared
#adult fiction
#adult nonfiction
#juvenile segments
As sales of nonfiction continued to struggle, unit sales of print books fell 9.4% last week compared to the week ended June 26, 2021. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#week compared
Despite a good sales increase for adult fiction titles, unit sales of print books fell 5% last week at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |