Dear Reader by Paul Fournel review – an elegy for the printed book

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 ]
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Review: Larry Elder complained we'd never reviewed his books. So we did, like it or not

David Ulin read four of the recall candidate's books, from the jeremiad "Showdown" to the memoir "A Lot Like Me," and found not a writer but a brand. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-09-08 13:00:05 UTC ]
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Books in the Media: Children's book reviews dip year on year

In August 2019, The Bookseller reported that children's books accounted for just 4.9% of review space, despite making up a third of the market. Latest figures from Books in the Media shows that this figure has dropped to 4.3%, when looking at reviews from the past 12 months.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-24 01:05:09 UTC ]
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'New York Times Book Review' Adds Excerpts to Digital Reviews

The 'New York Times Book Review' will now add excerpts from the first chapter of books being reviewed to a select number of reviews it publishes digitally. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-10-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Books in the Media: Children's books account for 4.9% of review space

Children's books account for just 4.9% of review space, despite making up a third of the market, according to data from Books in the Media.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-15 17:56:13 UTC ]
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New L.A. book fair LitLit comes to Hauser & Wirth presented by L.A. Review of Books

Book lovers! Sign up for the new L.A. Times Book Club for upcoming author events » The Los Angeles Review of Books and Hauser & Wirth Publishers are bringing a brand-new book fair to Los Angeles next month. LitLit, the Little Literary Fair, will premiere July 20 and 21 at Hauser &... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-25 17:30:00 UTC ]
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REVIEWS: David Cohen explores his famous namesake, Leonard, in Book of Cohen. Plus Nicky Pellegrino's latest. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2019-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AdoramaPix photo book review: A great tool that creates beautiful, hard-bound books

If you live in New York City, you might be familiar with the professional photography shop Adorama in lower Manhattan. The company has taken its photo printing to the web with AdoramaPix, where you can order prints and create various products, including photo books.Whatever Adorama learned... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2018-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books: The library fire, a criminal family, reviews and book news

Hello! I’m books editor Carolyn Kellogg with this week’s books newsletter from the L.A. Times. THE BIG STORY Although Susan Orlean is a staff writer for the New Yorker, she lives in Los Angeles part-time, and for the last six years has been writing a book that investigates a mystery many of us... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books: Theodore Sturgeon's overlooked centenary plus reviews and book news

Hello I’m books editor Carolyn Kellogg with our Books newsletter this week. THE BIG STORY This year is Theodore Sturgeon’s centenary, and if you’re wondering “who?,” you’re not alone. Once widely read (and still beloved in some science fiction communities, as a few on Twitter pointed out to me)... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books: A teen reviews '#Neveragain,' a World War II tragedy comes to life and more book news

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'New York Times Book Review' Announces Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2016

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Don’t ask what’s wrong with the reader, what's wrong with the books?': writing for readers with dyslexia

From tinting their pages yellow to redesigning fonts, publisher Barrington Stoke is leading the way in dyslexia-friendly books. They and their authors – including Meg Rosoff and Anthony McGowan – explain the practicalitiesMainstream understanding of dyslexia has come a long way from the days... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2016-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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January 2016: Top Reviews of Self-Published Books from BlueInk Review

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why print book sales are rising, and books are getting longer

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[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dutch Book Review of Books on Racism Lost in Translation

A debate has ensued over the use of an illustration of a man in blackface and a headline using the "N word" in a review of several US books on racism. The post Dutch Book Review of Books on Racism Lost in Translation appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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August 2015: Top Reviews of Self-Published Books from BlueInk Review

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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June 2015: Top Reviews of Self-Published Books from BlueInk Review

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