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 ]
Four weeks ago, I reported on how hacktivist collective Anonymous was planning its own weekly news show. The aim of Teh Weekly News is, Anonymous says, to "balance establishment media by providing unregulated investigative news that has not been molded to corporate or government interests". The... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2016-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After the ARCs went out for Sarah Domet's debut novel, its cover went through a complete redesign. Here's why. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Granta has acquired The Earlie King and The Kid in Yellow, a debut novel by Irish writer Danny Denton. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rachel Faulkner-Willcocks (née Faulkner) is to join Avon, a division of HarperCollins, as commissioning editor. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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William Heinemann is publishing in October a Regency short story collection, Snowdrift and Other Stories, by late historical romance novelist Georgette Heyer, including three newly-discovered tales. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books from Jonathan Cape and Faber and Faber, as well as new African literature publisher Cassava Republic, are on the shortlist for this year’s Goldsmiths Prize, run by Goldsmiths University in association with the New Statesman. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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To properly celebrate the 20th anniversary of George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Game of Thrones, there's a new iBooks edition of the series that offers features to help you keep up with all of the action. The first installment is officially called... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2016-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society was unveiled today by Google, Facebook, Amazon, IBM and Microsoft. Indeed, that's quite a name and quite a list of companies. Their chief mission is to promote public understanding of AI while developing standards and... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Reading books 'strengthens the spirit of faith and the will to solve social problems,' says an Iranian judge. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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OPINION: I start more books than I finish now â as is the way of the working parent, the overzealous music fan, a keen reader with eyes bigger than my, erm, mind⦠Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2016-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'The problem with the Kenyan society is that we read mostly for exams.' The country's publishers say they're troubled by children's lack of a reading habit. The post Kenya Publishers Association Cites Concern for Reading Culture appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebury is publishing two more books from Rowan Coleman, author of 2015 Richard and Judy selection The Memory Book (Ebury Press). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Proving that everything good and pure in this world will one day be snatched from us, the news broke this week that Mary Berry, the improbably named, immaculately coiffed cookbook author who has served as a judge on “The Great British Baking Show” since its inception in 2010, will be leaving the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The country’s innovative publishing industry celebrates its unique cultural identity. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Athens learns it's UNESCO's World Book Capital 2018 and that its largest bookstore, the 118-year-old Eleftheroudakis, is going under. The post Athens Named World Book Capital as 118-Year-Old Bookstore Closes appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Australia has come under further fire for publishing disgraced health blogger Belle Gibson's cookbook, with court files revealing the publisher was aware of obvious "gaps" in her story. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebury Press has signed "the backroom story" of Team GB’s Olympic success to be written by Times journalist Owen Slot. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three short stories by the queen of Regency romance have been discovered by her biographer and are being reprinted in a new volumeA trio of forgotten stories by the queen of Regency romance Georgette Heyer have been uncovered by her biographer and are due to be published, for the first time in... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It doesn't matter if you've got the biggest or best shop in the world if you can't connect people to the things that they want. It's an issue that Google is hoping to address in its electronic bookstore with the launch of Discover, a new way to show... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2016-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Booker Prize-winner Hilary Mantel, poet and author Lavinia Greenlaw, and short story writer K J Orr have all made the shortlist for the BBC National Short Story Award with BookTrust for the second time. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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