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 ]
For the past 15 years or so, poets and poetry lovers around the world have earmarked January 17 as a day to pay tribute to the late poet and pacifist William Stafford (1914–1993) with public readings from his works. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 2013, Russia overtook the UK and Brazil to become the world's third largest ebook market, trailing only China (in 2nd) and the United States (first). Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The unnamed protagonist in Jack London's 'To Build a Fire' gets into trouble while hiking in the frozen Yukon with his dog. Widely considered to be London’s best short story, 'To Build a Fire' captures the cold with painful accuracy. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The unnamed protagonist in Jack London's 'To Build a Fire' gets into trouble while hiking in the frozen Yukon with his dog. Widely considered to be London’s best short story, 'To Build a Fire' captures the cold with painful accuracy. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For libraries, 2013 was an eventful year. PW takes a look back at the top 10 library stories of the year, and a look ahead to what might be on the horizon in 2014. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Reading a novel stimulates the brain for days, US researchers have found. The study,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The two stories were written in 1958 while the late writer was working at a Detroit-based advertising agency. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Last week I shared the 10 most popular Slate stories from 2013, a list that paints with a broad brush about the stories our readers loved the most. Now it’s time to dig deeper to reveal which pieces were the most popular on our three strongest social networks: Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. As... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-12-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Much as we admired the potential of the YotaPhone in our recent review, we just couldn't overlook its lack of support for popular e-reading platforms like Amazon Kindle and Google Books. That problem hasn't been solved just yet, but things are ... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital media is thriving. Online advertising is growing faster than any other medium. The Web is hot. Except for the fact that the Web has had all sorts of growing pains. And major business challenges. And it changes constantly, sometimes quite radically. It's certainly never boring, and... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2013-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A sinking ship of a drama that managed to be neither monstrous nor deep"Thar she blows!" said one of the crew as a whale came to the surface. The cetacean wasn't the only thing blowing heavily in The Whale (BBC1), a 90-minute dramatisation of the sinking of the Essex, a Nantucket whaler, by a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Coker of Smashwords, which recently inked a major content deal with Scribd, weighs in on how the all-you-can-read model changes the way we read, how authors make creative choices, and how everyone gets paid.Is a "Netflix for ebooks" nearing viability? Yesterday, Smashwords, the largest... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If Jackie French gets her way the nation's children's books will be a lot stickier and messier. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The books will be reissued in both trade paperback and ebook formats, and will feature updated interiors and new cover treatments. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sourcebooks' Put Me in the Story personalised-book series has launched a new 'universal... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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2013 hasn't been especially kind to Facebook. The Facebook Home app launcher, announced in April, was poorly received by consumers. Then, in June, the social media service fell under the scrutiny of privacy advocates as information surfaced about Silicon Valley's relationship with the NSA. But... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The first fiction acquisitions by Headline’s Mari Evans, who moved to the company from... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The self-proclaimed Great British Chefs brand has produced a free kid-friendly app for Christmas. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The fast-growing news-feature website leads the league in approvals. Is that because it publishes less rather than more?The driving belief for news websites is that more (that's more stories, features, videos, blogs) equals more hits and thus more money. But what if less can also equal more... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Australian authors and critics sift through the piles of books they read in 2013 to highlight the treasures they found. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2013-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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