Tasters of the reviews competing for the annual prize that recognises 'the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review of the past 12 months'News: Hatchet Job of the Year award draws and quarters shortlistCraig Brown on Distant Intimacy: A Friendship in the Age of the Internet by Frederic Raphael and Joseph Epstein in the Daily Mail"A few years ago Raphael emailed Epstein with the suggestion that 'there might be some fun, not to mention $$$' in emailing each other for a year, then publishing the results. And so they get going, each of them dutifully delivering between 1,500 to 1,800 words a week, every week for a year. The first thing to be said about their exchanges is how extraordinarily unpleasant they are [...] Anyone unfamiliar with the literary world will, I think, be astonished at the ease with which these grand old men of letters turn into queeny old hairdressers, furiously bitching about their younger, prettier or more highly regarded rivals.Rachel Cooke on Strictly Ann: The Autobiography by Ann Widdecombe in the Observer"When Ann Widdecombe appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2010, the judges were not complimentary, describing her variously as "a dancing hippo", "a Dalek in drag" and "the Ark Royal". [...] Is Widdecombe's writing any better than her dancing? No. About the best you can say for her prose is that it is accurate. Her grammar is fine – Ann is a stickler for grammar – and her anecdotes make sense in that they have a beginning, a middle and an end.... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Mon, 04/04/2011 - 08:50 Titles by Jane Fallon, Katie Fforde and Lucy Diamond have been shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance 2011. Fallon was shortlisted for Foursome (Penguin), Fforde for A Perfect Proposal (Random House) and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 11:14 Six titles spanning imperial Japan to 19th-century Jamaica have been shortlisted for the second Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction, worth £25,000. Andrea Levy's The Long Song (Headline Review) and Tom McCarthy's C (Jonathan Cape) both shortlisted... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#historical fiction
#tom mccarthy
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 31/03/2011 - 09:14 Blackwell UK hopes to become profitable in two years, after nearly halving its operating losses to £5.6m. The academic booksellers year-end results to 26th June 2010 show the company has narrowed its operating losses from... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#local ownership
Administrators for Borders and Angus & Robertson have announced new lay-offs and warned that more bookshops could close. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2011-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#angus robertson
Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Wed, 16/03/2011 - 16:23 Atlantic Books has made five positions redundant, including commercial director Daniel Scott, a cut of around 15% to the 34-strong staff. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 15/03/2011 - 09:58 Price and range have been highlighted as the most important factors in buying habits of online book buyers, with recommendation and review less crucial. In a survey of 91,500 customers worldwide on the Book Depository's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 15/03/2011 - 15:56 Sales of the six £1 World Book Day books fell 36% week-on-week, to 159,000 copies solda figure down 9% on the comparative week last yearbut they nonetheless continue to dominate the sharp end of this weeks Official UK Top... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 11/03/2011 - 09:04 Continuum has been crowned the Independent Publishers Guild's Independent Publisher of the Year at the IPG awards, in a night when it and Faber won two awards. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 08/03/2011 - 08:50 Hodder author Jojo Moyes has won Romantic Novel of the Year at the Romantic Novelists' Association's (RNA) Pure Passion Awards, scooping the prize with The Last Letter from Your Lover. Both Josephine Cox and Penny Jordan,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#7th march
Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Fri, 04/03/2011 - 09:06 Booktrust Teenage Prize-winner Patrick Ness has been shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. The shortlist of six was chosen from 54 eligible submissions which award director... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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More than 2000 staff who work for the failed Borders and Angus & Robertson bookshop chains face a nervous month. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2011-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 01/03/2011 - 08:50 Berg, Faber, Grow Story Grow and Search Press lead the nominations at this year's Independent Publishers Guild awards with two each. Twenty-two publishers have been nominated across eight awards. The winners will be revealed on... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 28/02/2011 - 09:42 Penguin UK had its best ever year in 2010 as parent company Pearson reported a profits increase of 21% to £857m. For the year ending 31st December, sales at Pearson were £5.66bn, up 10% on 2009. Sales at Penguin were... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 28/02/2011 - 09:20 Bloomsbury is anticipating 2011 to be the "year of the ebook", as it reported ebook sales were just under 10% of trade print sales in its latest results. For the 12 months ending 31st December 2010, sales were up 4.01%... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 25/02/2011 - 08:40 Gordon Willoughby, Amazon's director of the Kindle in Europe, is to address London Book Fair's digital conference to be held on the eve of this year's fair. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Fri, 18/02/2011 - 00:01 A Mills & Boon bonkbuster, an examination of the ongoing debate surrounding organ procurement, and a guide to managing a dental practice in a Mongol warlord kind of way, are among the titles vying for the Diagram Prize... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#latest instalment
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By Tim Conneally, Betanews Amazon on Monday pre-released a software update for Kindle e-readers running the 3.0 software which updates the interface for magazines and newspapers, adds a quick review section at the end of each book, and adds page numbers that match Kindle books with their print... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It seems like most of the subway car empties at the Grand Street stop in the heart of New York Citys Chinatown. Just as the last person makes it off, the conductor announces, Stand clear of the closing doors, and Gong Hey Fat Choy! Happy New Year! Its the first day of Chinese New Year and... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams The Publishers Association [PA] has attacked the culture secretary's decision to allow communications watchdog Ofcom to "delay" the Digital Economy Act. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced yesterday [1st February] that Ofcom is to assess whether the Act's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Sadly, I must reaffirm my position stated during Apple CEO Steve Jobs' last medical leave, in January 2009: His health situation isn't a private matter, and, frankly, it's even less so now. The seeming suddenness of Jobs' more recent medical leave, which this time is... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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