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 ]
Andrew Hilleman, author of the thrilling new western "World, Chase Me Down," picks 10 diamonds in the rough. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Costa has lifted the anonymity of its three finalists shortlisted for the 2016 Costa Short Story Award following the close of the public vote. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The FTSE 100 remains in positive territory despite a 30% plunge in Pearson shares after the education publisher issues a profit warning. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2017-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Six decades after its initial publication, a novel Roxane Gay says "remains painfully relevant" gets a re-release and a refreshed cover for a new generation. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Management have moved to reassure staff and writers that selling the 47% holding will not affect business, but authors and agents express uneaseAuthors and staff have reacted cautiously to news that Pearson is to sell its stake in Penguin Random House (PRH), the world’s biggest publisher and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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France’s inaugural Reading Night on Saturday (14th January) was a “great success,” according to the culture ministry, which initiated and partially subsidised the event. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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From Greece, Norway, Iceland, and the UK, the DBW 2017 Fellows speak about their successes, their challenges, and why they're traveling to the conference. The post A Few Words With Digital Book World’s International Fellows appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook Instant Articles update, allowing publishers to post multiple articles in each post, is a way of replicating daily email newsletters right in Facebook’s platform. Ten publishers, among them BuzzFeed, The Washington Post, The Sun and El País, are testing out the new feature before a... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2017-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Like other ex-presidents, Obama is now freer to enjoy the great pleasure of a good book. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2017-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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We travel the globe this month with tales from Canada, New York City, Somalia, and the old West. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2017-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Joanna Trollope is to chair the judging panel for the £15,000 BBC National Short Story Award with BookTrust. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oxford University Press Children’s will this year publish a new book in Gillian Cross’ Demon Headmaster series, 35 years after the release of the first title. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trapeze has acquired a high-concept love story, The After Wife, by Cass Hunter, exploring the differences between human and virtual relationships. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Instagram is testing video ads inside Stories, the section of the app that was built to challenge Snapchat, according to multiple people briefed on the new ad format."Instagram is testing them now with select publishers and content creators," said one ad agency executive, speaking on condition... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2017-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A debut novel from British Asian writer Sharon Duggal will be championed by City Reads 2017 in the Brighton and Hove area. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hodder & Stoughton is publishing a new cookbook by Alex Hollywood of "quick and delicious" mid-week suppers in March. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rakuten Kobo will take over the German Tolino ebook platform from Deutsche Telekom at the end of this month, pending approval from the German competition authorities. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gary Vaynerchuk is a wine blogger turned entrepreneurs’ self-help guru. He talks about fake news, fear of change and the future for social mediaBorn in 1975 in Belarus, Gary Vaynerchuk moved to the US with his family when he was three, part of the mass emigration of Soviet Jews agreed in the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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From politics to Potter, we take a look at some of the biggest stories in UK publishing in 2016. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The bestselling books over the holidays at the e-tailer were 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down,' 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' and a children's backlist book. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-12-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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