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 ]
Special World Book Night copies of '12 Years a Slave' will be made available to schools. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Will and Ann Eisner Foundation unveiled an international slate of events to mark Will Eisner Week 2014, held March 1-7, to celebrate the life, work and influence of Will Eisner, a pioneering golden age comic book artist and one of the most innovative creators in the history of comics. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Frozen didn't click until the main characters were reimagined as sisters with a complicated relationship. Co-director Jennifer Lee talks with Fast Company about the collaboration that resulted in the highest-grossing Disney animated film of all time.The fact that Jennifer Lee is a woman isn't... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The leading French cultural product chain Fnac may have turned the corner financially,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Leicester Mercury down 14.4% on the year while rival titles belonging to Johnston Press and Trinity Mirror also sufferSeveral Local World flagship evening regional newspapers suffered double digit year-on-year circulation falls, according to the latest ABC figures.Many of its regional rivals... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mossless has put out just two issues of its magazine, and for its third issue, the new photography publishing outfit is putting out a book--a very large book. With 550 photographs by more than 100 American photographers, it will fill more than 280 pages. It might be the largest independent... Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2014-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Launched in October of 2013, StoriesAlive is an app and subscription service offering access to a library of multimedia-rich, interactive childrens’ stories for $7.99 a month for the iPad and Android tablets. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Allison Pataki, daughter of former New York State Gov. George E. Pataki, grew up gazing across the Hudson River at West Point Academy and hearing about the life of Benedict Arnold, the most notorious turncoat in American history. But when Pataki uncovered a forgotten romantic triangle and the... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Inc.'s All You is broadening its distribution, moving beyond the exclusive newsstand deal it had with retail giant, Walmart. The April issue of the smart-shopping magazine will be available at major retailers across the country, including Target, CVS, Walgreens and Barn Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2014-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rudi Lehnert asked if there’s a way to open and read .epub books in a browser. Most of the ebooks I read are in the .epub format, primarily because I’m allergic to Digital Rights Management. (An .epub can have DRM, but they usually don’t.) A handful of e-tailers sell unprotected .epub books,... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2014-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With ebooks and print-on-demand, readers never again have to want for a much loved, long forgotten, or previously unpublished book from a cherished writer. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The private investment firm G Asset Management has made a proposal to buy a 51% stake in Barnes & Nobles in a deal valuing the company at $22 per share. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How To Poo On A Date and The Origin of Faeces make the Diagram Prize shortlist for the oddest book title of the year. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2014-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers put out some very curious books on strange topics, as exhibited by this year's shortlist for the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Earlier this month, there was yet another lengthy public debate about Upworthy, the two-year-old publisher that has become one of the most popular sites on Facebook due to its knack for overselling its bite-size content with "curiosity gap" h ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Technical books, with charts and graphs, have always been a challenge for e-readers like the Kindle. DCL, working with MIT Press, believes it has come up with a solution. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The blogger behind A Girl Called Jack on food poverty, bullying and standing up to Richard Littlejohn• Read recipes from Jack Monroe's book hereWhen I arrive at her flat in Southend-on-Sea Jack Monroe is where fans of her compulsive blog A Girl Called Jack perhaps imagine her always to be, in... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Valentine's Day: Many bookstores have embraced the holiday in manners both touching and funny. Two bookstores celebrated Valentine's Day by offering to set up customers on a 'blind date' with a book. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Got a kid with an insatiable appetite for books? You may want to sign up for Oyster, then. The subscription ebook service has just launched a children's section, giving young readers all the titles they can handle. The deal also brings Disney... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2014-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google’s Android is now the most popular smartphone operating system in the UK – so publishers can no longer just talk about iPhone and iPad apps. But despite its increasing market dominance (on mobile anyway) the Google propo ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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