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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This bracing anthology of Christopher Hitchens’s work for The London Review of Books is just the ticket. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-01-01 10:02:01 UTC ]
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Not many, according to a new collection of correspondence from a science fiction master. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-18 10:00:54 UTC ]
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In her farewell as a PW columnist, Sari Feldman reflects on the importance of reading instruction, inspired by her new full-time gig: grandmother. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-15 05:00:00 UTC ]
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In 2023, as we do each year, we published thousands of reviews of thousands of new books. But of all the reviews we published, these are the 10 you read the most. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of Liz Cheney's new book got off to a good start and three titles by Rebecca Yarros continued to be hot, but print sales dipped 1.1% last week from a year ago. The decline put an end to two weeks of higher sales over 2022. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A debut author who used fake accounts to “review bomb” other writers on the influential online platform Goodreads has been dropped by her agent and had her book deal cancelled Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2023-12-13 02:46:01 UTC ]
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Good book criticism is booming right now. I have at least some degree of confidence in saying this because for the past six years, I’ve been keeping track of my favorite reviews to prepare for these annual roundups, and my 2023 longlist was by far the biggest and most difficult to narrow down.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-11 12:47:20 UTC ]
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Paul Murray, who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize this year, wins the An Post Irish Book of the Year for 'The Bee Sting.' The post Ireland: Paul Murray Wins the An Post Irish Book of the Year appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-12-07 16:15:46 UTC ]
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Titles in the Hunger Games and Empyrean series sold in big numbers last week, leading to a 1.4% increase in sales of print books over 2022. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After 30 years in business, the company will offer direct-to-consumer sales, marketing, and printing services for what founder and CEO Charles Melcher calls "a focused list of clientele." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new feature on Apple Books gives users Spotify Wrapped–style insights into their reading habits in 2023—a year in which Jack Carr, Prince Harry, Britney Spears, and Rebecca Yarros topped the Apple Books charts. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-28 05:00:00 UTC ]
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In the anthology “Critical Hits,” gamers like Hanif Abdurraqib, Alexander Chee and Larissa Pham explain what the medium means to them. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-20 10:00:28 UTC ]
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Led by huge numbers for two Rebecca Yarros titles, unit sales of print books rose 3.9% last week over the comparable week in 2022 at outlets that report to Circana BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The bibliophiles in Christopher de Hamel’s lavishly illustrated book ensured the survival of medieval texts over centuries. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-11 10:00:39 UTC ]
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Alexandra Alter talks about her profile of the best-selling author behind “Fourth Wing” and Alexandra Jacobs discusses her review of “My Name is Barbra.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-10 18:47:36 UTC ]
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Following a one-week, Britney Spears–led sales increase, unit sales of print books fell 8% last week compared to the week ended November 5, 2022. Sales fell in all major categories except young adult fiction. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Jeanne DuPrau’s “Project F,” Patricia Forde’s “The Girl Who Fell to Earth” and Donna Barba Higuera’s “Alebrijes” answer the question, Could this be the beginning of the end? Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-03 09:01:10 UTC ]
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Led by blockbuster first week sales for 'The Woman in Me' by Britney Spears and a strong showing in the young adult category, unit sales of print books rose 1.4% last week over the week ended October 29, 2022, at outlets that report to Circana BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Unit sales of print books fell 3.2% last week at outlets that report to Circana BookScan. The performance wasn’t a bad one—it was just unable to match the same period last year, when 'It Starts with Us' by Colleen Hoover sold more than 810,000 copies in its first week on sale. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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“The Upstairs Delicatessen,” a memoir by Dwight Garner of The New York Times, traces his life’s twin passions. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-10-24 09:00:14 UTC ]
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