Last week, Ruth Rendell claimed that reading novels is a dying art. Sadly, she might have a pointNo one can say precisely why John Williams's novel Stoner has become a bestseller almost 50 years after its first publication. After all, plenty of books, "forgotten" or otherwise, are recommended by word of mouth and yet most will not go on to sell more than a few hundred copies. And it's hard to know in what ways, if any, its story – a young man falls in love with literature and thus a new world is revealed to him – might have touched people. Many of those who rushed to buy it will not yet have got around to opening it and some will never read it. Stoner will languish on their shelves, its spine unbroken, just like Jung Chang's Wild Swans, the non-fiction hit of 1992.But still, it has given us something to think about, this dusting down of so plangent and substantial a novel. On Radio 4 last week, Ruth Rendell, the novelist and Labour peer, suggested that Stoner is a book for our times, her argument being that we live in an age when reading is for most an alien pastime, just as it is to William Stoner until he has an epiphany. (Asked to elucidate a poem by a professor, he is unable to say anything except: "It means... it means..." and yet, in this moment, everything changes; the verse, whether he understands it or not, has touched him on some powerfully deep level.) "We are told that it isn't happening," said Rendell. "But it is. Reading is no longer something that everybody... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
Last week, Ruth Rendell claimed that reading novels is a dying art. Sadly, she might have a pointNo one can say precisely why John Williams's novel Stoner has become a bestseller almost 50 years after its first publication. After all, plenty of books, "forgotten" or otherwise, are recommended by... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Don’t miss these short stories featuring firefighting drones, lab-grown mammals, long-buried fan fiction, and much more. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2022-12-30 10:50:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#make sense
#digital lives
#short stories
The range and caliber of Joel Agee's work proves he's much more than the son of the late, Pulitzer-winning James Agee. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-02-22 12:00:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#make sense
The new memoir takes you inside a dysfunctional American family—and into Donald Trump’s mind. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2020-07-09 19:25:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#memoir takes
#memoir
Toby Ferris traveled across Europe to see all of the Dutch Renaissance painter’s surviving work. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-11 18:07:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#short life
#strange world
How did everything get so bad, so fast? For young Americans, trust in society and its various institutions is at historical lows. These books comprise a solid intro to the mechanics of our totally fucked up and bullshit American society in 2020. There’s no Trump on the list, but if you read the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-25 09:49:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bullshit society
#making sense
#malcolm harris
#young americans
#totally fucked
The eight stories pay homage to fantasy, horror and science fiction greats, while charting new territory. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-05-20 15:43:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Speculative writers flesh out our passing thoughts into complete, functioning societies and explore how they might unfold. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2019-04-18 09:22:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#make sense
#science fiction
The reaction to the exposure of the bestselling American author as a serial liar reveals more about our own insecurities than his duplicityWhat’s the difference between something going viral and a storm in a teacup? Not an awful lot, it often seems to me. Last week, everyone in publishing and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#awful lot
#dan mallory
#book trade
#william morrow
This year, we took a look at one cookbook’s journey from Broadway and ate Shake Shack burgers at home. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-12-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Expanded regional publishing group will be able to increase digital investment and also present digital advertisers with a larger audience across the UKSo Trinity Mirror has become the UK’s biggest regional newspaper publisher by acquiring full ownership of Local World.The deal has been... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#trinity mirror
#larger audience
#local world
#simon fox
#digital investment
A meta-narrator has an authorial awareness of a story being told. They make their presence known, intervening when they deem necessary. In the case that they are also the protagonist (which is often) then they must be as adept as immersing themselves in the real-time story unfolding up close as... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-24 08:15:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Inspired by another Rioter's bookish rituals, I'm trying my own. I wake up earlier than usual to enjoy a slow morning reading short stories. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-11-18 11:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#short stories
Devised as a highly participatory hub of more than 2,500 events, the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival opens in the coming UNESCO World Book Capital. The post Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival: ‘Making Reading a Lifelong Habit’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#sharjah children
#reading festival
#making reading
In his new book, former F.C.C. Chariman Tom Wheeler deftly explores 500 years of network revolutions, and offers an invaluable take on the challenges we now face. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
From one girl’s aspiration to Olympic gymnastics glory, to a boy’s stint living in the Idaho wilderness in hopes of fixing his unruly behavior, something that remains a guiding principle in Black storytelling is the breadth of our lives. These stories, a collection of some of EL’s most-loved... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-02-22 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#black writers
#guiding principle
#electric literature
#short stories
Short stories and anthologies can open up new horizons in reading. If you want to explore more short fiction, here are some tips. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-01-08 11:32:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#short fiction
#short stories
During the often-dread-inducing/dreadful time of year when publications are putting out there “best of the year” lists, I’m glad to shine a light on a book I loved and deserved more attention than it seemed to receive. This is always a hard task, especially for small press books. I would have... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-14 09:44:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#year lists
#annotated nightstand
#rachel zucker
#hard task
#small press
Her solution? A packaging business that sells ideas for commercial genre fiction featuring characters from broadly diverse backgrounds. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-10 10:00:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#dhonielle clayton
#book world