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 week: the latest from Juan Gabriel Vasquez, and what it's like to be a speechwriter. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The mayor of Venice has banned books about same-sex families but I and my fellow authors don’t want our work in schools where censorship rulesThe community of children’s and young persons’ authors is a varied and nurturing collection of people, each distinguished by a unique identity. It would... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Blackwell’s has named Owen Jones’s The Establishment (Penguin) as its Book of the Year 2015. The company’s employees were asked to vote for their winner from a shortlist of six, namely Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal (Profile Books), Emma Healey’s Elizabeth Is Missing (Penguin), The Buried Giant by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This week we asked readers whether now is a good time to be in love with fiction--are great new books being written? Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-book sales in the adult and children's/young adult categories fell a combined 8.1% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the first period of 2014, according to AAP's StatShot program, Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A British speed reader has finished Harper Lee's much anticipated novel, Go Set A Watchman, in less than half an hour. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2015-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sen. Ted Cruz's memoir "A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Promise of America" has sold 12,000 copies, reports Time magazine, and is ranked at No. 16 on Amazon's list of bestselling books. Readers interested in the Texas Republican's autobiography can find it at most bookstores, but there's one... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The graphic novel 'The Guardian' represents a growing trend in which soft power and civil society initiatives are increasingly being leveraged to fight extremism. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The creator of the Bookstore Mind Share' index for comparing stores talks about the creation of his list of the world's top 40 bookstores. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The New York Times on Monday defended its decision to exclude Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz's book "A Time for Truth" from its bestseller list after discovering "strategic bulk purchases," though it did not offer any further details behind the decision."The Times's best-seller lists... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The board of directors of the retail chain has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by the Anderson family for $3.25 per share. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why we should view magazines as "everyday" or "experiential" luxury goods. The post Unpacking Print’s Luxurious Future appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman is not a book that should be read in a vacuum. It becomes fairly transparent, fairly early on, that this can only be taken as a first draft of what would become To Kill a Mockingbird. This perspective allows it to be an unprecedented insight onto a seminal novel,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Plans to hype David Lagercrantz’s Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sequel by tattooing a volunteer reader, now mercifully cancelled, took branding a little too literallyWith Go Set a Watchman finally out, it’s time to move on to thinking about the summer’s next most-anticipated/hyped novel, which has... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Just because Apple is on the hook for allegedly anti-competitive book sales doesn't mean that Amazon is above reproach. As promised, groups representing both authors and booksellers are calling on the US Department of Justice to investigate Amazon fo... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gallic Books will now operate under the umbrella company name Belgravia. The publisher of translated French fiction and non-fiction will operate under the new name along with its new imprint Aardvark Bureau, run by Scott Pack, and the company’s independent bookshop Belgravia Books. All parts... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers activate consumers on mobile recipe platforms. The post Meredith and Reader’s Digest Tap Into Mobile Shopping appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2015-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ovum’s new Digital Consumer Publishing Forecast is published tomorrow. It takes a five year view at how this sector will change. Ahead of publication, Ovum analyst Charlotte Miller gives TheMediaBriefing an exclusive look at some of t ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The first reviews of 'Go Set a Watchman' reveal Atticus Finch to be a racist, a disclosure that has only increased debate about the book, set for release tomorrow. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The San Diego Comic-Con once again hosted 130,000 avid pop culture fans, and amid the excitement a great deal of publishing news was announced. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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