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'


Putting the Asian Experience of World War II at Center Stage: A Reading List of Essential Books

Almost eight decades after the end of World War II, that conflict continues to define political discourse throughout the Western world. Still, for American, British, French, and Canadian readers, the war overwhelmingly means the European theater, with the Asia-Pacific campaigns against Imperial... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-02 08:40:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #center stage #essential books #canadian readers


20 spooky short stories you can read for free online.

The leaves are amassing, the skeletons are out, and enormous bags of candy fill the grocery store aisles and threaten to spill their chocolates right into your mouth, through absolutely no fault of your own. Yep, it’s officially spooky season. But if you still need some help getting into the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-23 16:13:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #free online #short stories


Why publisher teams are making the case for a CDP in a first-party world

Anne Curtin, director, corporate marketing, BlueConic Amid deprecating cookies and rising consumer expectations for privacy, first-party data represents the future for media and publishing companies that want to build stronger customer relationships, gain a competitive advantage and drive... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2023-10-10 13:57:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #competitive advantage #first-party data #publishing companies


Making Formulas Fresh Again: A Reading List of Fantasy Tropes Reimagined

Quests are a true bedrock of fantasy: the hero’s journey, the wandering hero. From Odysseus to Gawain, to Don Quixote to Bilbo Baggins, to Genly Ai to Geralt of Rivia. Generally a male-coded trope, episodic in format. When I began turning the concept of Godkiller over in my head, I knew I wanted... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-15 08:30:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #don quixote


Back from Behind Like Patrick Mahomes: A Reading List of Comeback Stories

At halftime of this year’s Super Bowl, the marquee game of the NFL season, the Kansas City Chiefs trailed the Philadelphia Eagles 24-14 in Glendale, Arizona. What transpired next was the latest remarkable comeback in the career of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, one of the most compelling... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-24 09:55:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #nfl season #patrick mahomes #super bowl


Local newspaper group National World makes ambitious bid for Daily Telegraph

Edinburgh Evening News and Yorkshire Evening Post owner is ‘possible participant’ in sale, despite strike ballot and staff exodusA local newspaper publisher facing a staff exodus and a strike ballot over low pay has announced it is considering a bid for the Daily Telegraph.National World, which... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-10 12:57:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #daily telegraph #low pay #yorkshire post #stock market


Nathaniel Rich Reads His Story Hidden Bayou

Emergence Magazine is an online publication with annual print edition exploring the threads connecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. As we experience the desecration of our lands and waters, the extinguishing of species, and a loss of sacred connection to the Earth, we look to emerging... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-12 08:51:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #emerging stories #emergence magazine #online publication #sacred connection #narrated essays


A More Introspective End of the World: A Reading List of Quiet Apocalypse Books

Apocalypse brings to mind cataclysmic events, often involving Mad Max-esq fighting, cannibalism, and what horrors one must endure, or commit, to survive. I love such stories. I like to imagine that I would survive, thrive even, conveniently forgetting that my life of indoor pursuits, reading,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-25 12:26:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


20 Must-Read Short Stories on Audio

These must-read short stories on audio will help you break out of reading slumps and give you a taste of an author's style, like Some People Have Real Problems by Brit Bennett. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-05-17 10:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #brit bennett #short stories


‘Wilderness Tales’ unfolds short stories with a sense of place

Collected stories about the wild, uncharted frontiers of North America expand to include everything from classic nature tales to dystopian climate fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2023-03-29 16:23:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #collected stories #short stories


10 of the Best Shirley Jackson Short Stories Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Shirley Jackson (1916-65) wrote six novels and around two hundred short stories during her brief career. Probably best-known for her novel The Haunting of Hill House and her oft-anthologised short story ‘The Lottery’, Jackson was a writer with a... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-25 18:00:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #short stories


10 of the Best Flannery O’Connor Short Stories Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) In a short life beset by ill health, the American writer Flannery O’Connor (1925-64) wrote two novels, Wise Blood (1952) and The Violent Bear It Away (1960). But it is for her short stories, many of which were collected in just two volumes, that […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-14 18:00:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ill health #short stories


Some of the Best Stories from a Century of Weird Tales (That You Can Read Online)

A century ago, on February 18, 1923, the first issue of Weird Tales appeared on American newsstands. Subtitled “The Unique Magazine,” it was, as the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction puts it, “the first pulp magazine to specialize in supernatural and occult fiction,” including horror, fantasy,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-17 09:56:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #weird tales #century ago #read online #science fiction


Theorizing the Basis of Our World: A Reading List on Quantum Reality

Quantum Mechanics is the science behind nuclear energy, smart phones, and particle collisions. Yet, almost a century after its discovery, there is still controversy over what the theory actually means. The problem is that its key element, the quantum-mechanical wave function describing atoms and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-10 09:52:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #quantum mechanics #smart phones #key element


Scholastic and LitWorld: A 24-Hour ‘World Read Aloud Day’ Event

As the shift to a younger readership is examined in Italy, Scholastic and LitWorld roll out a new format for World Read Aloud Day. The post Scholastic and LitWorld: A 24-Hour ‘World Read Aloud Day’ Event appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-01-26 08:47:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post scholastic #scholastic


PW’s Most-Read Comics Stories of 2022

Explosive growth in the popularity of manga; librarians organize to fight censorship; and the impact of the book format on comics publishing were among the most-read stories on comics and graphic novels published by 'PW' in 2022.  Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-04 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #comics publishing #explosive growth #fight censorship #most-read stories


10 of the Best Kate Chopin Stories Everyone Should Read

The short stories of the American writer Kate Chopin (1850-1904) are important precursors to twentieth-century modernism, and can be viewed as forerunners to the short fiction of Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, and other high modernists. Where other nineteenth-century writers tended to... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2022-12-28 15:00:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #short fiction #katherine mansfield #virginia woolf #short stories


Review: The biggest, most intricately ambitious little story you'll read this year

Irish author Claire Keegan is one of those U.S. 'discoveries' who have been known back home for years. With 'Foster,' she earns that acclaim and more. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-11-01 14:00:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ll read #back home #irish author


20 Must-Read Horror Short Stories

There's no better time to read horror short stories than October. With Halloween fast approaching, dive into these 20 spooky tales. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-10-17 10:31:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #short stories


Too Busy for a Novel? Read These Short Stories Instead

One of the central questions I had when shaping my story collection, Proof of Me, was how to invite into it a unified feel, how to place each story to be in conversation—geographically, thematically, linearly—with what follows. I also sought for each story to stand on its own, offering a... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2022-08-05 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #story collection #electric literature #short stories