How can we make sense of the world without reading stories? | Rachel Cooke

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 ]

Other Publishing stories related to: 'How can we make sense of the world without reading stories? | Rachel Cooke'

Children's Books in China 2018: Survival in China: The Bear Grylls (Middle-Grade) Story

As of February 2018, 12 volumes of Bear Grylls’s Mission Survival series have been published in China, with overall sales exceeding 6.8 million copies. The numbers are a surprise to many, including some at the Jieli Publishing House, though not to editor-in-chief Bai Bing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bear grylls

Children's Books in China 2018: The Continuing Story of the Children’s Book Market in China

Eleven years ago, in 2007, China Children’s Press & Publication Group (CCPPG) participated in the Bologna Book Fair for the first time. Their booth in Hall 29 was small, shabby, and minimally decorated and very few visitors dropped by. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book market

International Women’s Day: Hay Kicks Off #Vote100Books, Cambridge Offers Free Readings

'We want a new library of 100 great books by women' says Hay Festival founder Peter Florence, as Cambridge University Press opens this year's selection of free-to-read International Women's Day content. The post International Women’s Day: Hay Kicks Off #Vote100Books, Cambridge Offers Free... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #international women

The books world is sexist – and a one day promotion isn't enough to fix it

For International Women’s Day, Waterstones has given over its website front page to female authors. This is welcome, but it’s far from enoughWomen are used to living off scraps that fall from the table. Whether we’re being patronised by politicians touting for our votes, or being told by... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bookseller waterstones #international women #celebrate women #books world #female authors #good pr #fiction reveals

Mozley, Honeyman and Hermes Gowar make Women's Prize longlist

Six debut authors, including bookseller Fiona Mozley, Gail Honeyman and Imogen Hermes Gowar, have been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #prize longlist #gail honeyman #debut authors

Galassi, After Two Decades, Makes Way for Angel at FSG

After more than two decades as publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Jonathan Galassi is stepping down from the role. Later this year, Mitzi Angel, the former publisher of Faber and Faber, will take the reigns at the Macmillan division. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jonathan galassi #mitzi angel #macmillan division

Big freeze hits World Book Day, but 'Brain Freeze' tops chart

Tom Fletcher and Shane Devries’s World Book Day title Brain Freeze (Puffin) has nipped into the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, leapfrogging three-week wonder Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (Harper), with 37,879 copies sold through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #tom fletcher #shane devries #eleanor oliphant #nielsen bookscan

Snow blights World Book Day celebrations but tour goes ahead

World Book Day organisers have said all events for the Biggest Book Show on Earth tour will go ahead despite the snow, although some authors have had to cancel their school appearances. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

Elizabeth Strout’s ‘Anything Is Possible’ Wins The Story Prize

Strout was awarded The Story Prize and a $20,000 cash prize for her acclaimed short story collection 'Anything Is Possible,' at a ceremony at New York's New School. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #elizabeth strout #story prize

Calm down everybody - it’s just World Book Day!

Award winning children’s author Ali Sparkes reflects on ten years of World Book Day. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ten years

Bologna’s Top Five 2018 Children’s Publishing Companies from Six World Regions

In the run-up to this spring's Bologna Children's Book Fair, a total 30 children's publishing companies are nominated for Best Children's Publisher of the Year, an awards program turning six years old this year. The post Bologna’s Top Five 2018 Children’s Publishing Companies from Six World... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post bologna #publishing companies #book fair

Channel 5 to mark World Book Day

Channel 5’s Milkshake! team is celebrating World Book Day by reading 10 picture books after striking a partnership with BookTrust. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

'A different story'

Philip Jones looks back on "maverick" Richard Johnson's nine years at the helm of Bonnier Publishing. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #philip jones #richard johnson #bonnier publishing

Reading comprehension falls in secondary schools, study claims

A new report from Renaissance Learning suggests the reading comprehension of secondary school pupils is falling below that of primary school children because teenagers are not reading challenging enough books. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #secondary schools #study claims

Lafaye to tell story of Scrooge's ghostly colleague

HarperCollins has bought a novella about Ebenezer Scrooge's ghostly business partner, Jacob Marley, and his sister. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

Two debuts make Arabic Fiction prize shortlist

Two debut novels are battling it out on the shortlist for the $50,000 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, including one soon to be published by Oneworld. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #arabic fiction

Fewer pre-school children are being read to, Egmont report warns

Only 51% of pre-school children are read to on a daily basis, a “steep decline” from 69% five years ago, Egmont Publishing has revealed. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #pre-school children #daily basis #steep decline #egmont publishing

Self-Censorship in Publishing Today: World Industry Leaders on a Subtle, Growing Challenge

From the director of Frankfurter Buchmesse to the founder of a Thai publishing house and a Norwegian publisher who was shot in Oslo: sharp cautionary remarks about self-censorship and its dangers. The post Self-Censorship in Publishing Today: World Industry Leaders on a Subtle, Growing Challenge... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishing today #growing challenge #frankfurter buchmesse #norwegian publisher