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 ]
“A True Book: President Donald Trump” describes Mr. Trump’s real estate career, as well as public perceptions of his opponent during the election, Hillary Clinton. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2017-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jenny Geras, who joined digital publisher Bookouture from Cornerstone in January this year, has made her first acquisitions: a new detective series by Victoria Jenkins and three psychological thrillers from SE Lynes. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nigerian debut novelist Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀̀ has been shortlisted for the £30,000 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction for her work Stay With Me (Canongate), alongside Man Booker shortlistee Madeleine Thien and one previous winner of the prize, Linda Grant. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sarah Odedina at Pushkin Children’s Books, has acquired world rights to a début novel of “hope, belief and familial bonds” direct from its Danish author. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams new children's book has been revealed as The World’s Worst Children 2. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This year's Baileys Prize hopefuls include one debut novelist and a previous winner. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2017-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mitchell Beazley, part of the Octopus Publishing Group, has commissioned New French Table from the mother-and-daughter team behind the Roux empire, Giselle and Emily Roux. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Teachers and librarians talk about how they are helping students navigate current events. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A transcript of the ASME-award winning editor's keynote at this week's Folio: Association Media Summit. The post Read Like Your Enemies Will: Lessons in Magazine Editing From AARP’s Bob Love appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2017-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hannah Tinti talks to her editor, Noah Eaker, about the process of editing 'The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley,' her new novel (in part inspired by the 12 labors of Hercules) about a lifelong criminal vowing to give up a life of crime as his daughter hits adolescence. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon US is offering authors $5,000 upfront in lieu of royalties to incorporate their books into its unlimited reading programme for Prime members. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Margot Lee Shetterly, whose 2016 nonfiction bestseller 'Hidden Figures' served as the basis for the unexpected box office smash of the same name, is currently taking meetings with the major publishers. Some insiders guessed that this new work could fetch well into seven figures. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rapper and producer Jay Z has partnered with the Weinstein Company to produce a feature film and documentary series about Trayvon Martin, the unarmed African American teenager killed by George Zimmerman in 2012. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As part of the blitz of new features in the Windows 10 Creators Update (see our full review here), Microsoft has added e-reading capabilities to its Edge browser. It’s a bit quirky, given its infancy, but with a bit of practice you can be lounging by the pool with an electronic novel in no... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2017-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Having seen a bid for fixed book prices stall out before, the Polish publishers' association is making its case again to legislators in hopes of improving the industry's prospects. The post Polish Publishers Call for Book Tax Deductions and Make Another Bid for Fixed Prices appeared first on... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Phoebe Roy has won Sceptre's "Sceptre Loves" short story prize for "It Was Summer", a story charting a relationship between two men as it changes with the seasons. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Poetry sales have continued to grow in 2017 ahead of World Poetry Day today (21st March), with writers driving interest on social media one possible reason for the genre's current boom. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Located in Beijing’s central business district, the two-story Juvenile & Children Reading Experience Wonderland is a full-fledged subsidiary of China Children’s Press & Publication Group. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers should stand as “beacons of trustworthiness” in an age of fake news and alternative facts, International Publishers Association president Michiel Kolman has said. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rights to Jessica Fellowes’ debut novel The Mitford Murders (Sphere), the first in a new series of the same name, have sold in four pre-empts across Europe. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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