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 ]
The Federation of European Publishers captured photos of more than 150 MEPs and heads of European publishers and writers associations posing with their favorite books. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jennie Bristow, associate fellow at the University of Kent, says grown-ups read children's books because they feel 'disenchanted with adult culture'. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Limiting Kindle Worlds to the ebook form may cater the needs of licensors, but it is counter to the ethos, habits and desires of fanfiction writers and readers. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Veronica Roth will release four short stories written from the point of view of 'Divergent' hero Four. The first will be released a month before the last book in the trilogy comes out. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A visit to the Seoul Book Fair reveals publishers are still wary of ebooks and blame smart devices for the decline in reading, even as Korean culture has become hip abroad. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An investigation by historian Guy Walters in the Daily Mail published last week says author Joe Corry's memoir "simply isn't true."A sensational upcoming British spy memoir of World War II is replete with derring-do worthy of “Inglourious Basterds”: battlefield bravado, concentration camp... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A young adult novel about a dramatic journey that transforms an East Coast boy has taken out this year's New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards tonight. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2013-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Publishing has added Hugh Howey's Silo Saga to its Kindle Worlds platform, designed... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Through First to Read, members will have the chance to get advance reading copies of Penguin Books before they are published. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nearly half the titles read by children in a national reading competition were consumed online, according to the charity Booktrust. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The free online library created for the Read for My School made children "excited" to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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JADS International creates scent for comic book iconCreate a fragrance that smells heroic with a touch of villainy — that's what Andrew Levine's Lutherville company set out to do. Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2013-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Craig Chappelow has written about how leaders can be more successful. But he'd crack One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest before the latest business book any day. Here's why he thinks you should, too. Read any good leadership books lately? Me either. It seems like popular books about leadership... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In order to better gauge social media success, and help usher foot traffic into bookstores, SIBA has launched the marketing initiative, "Code Read.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling crime writer Peter James is fundraising for The Reading Agency as he publicises his... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Atlantic Books has signed a non-fiction book detailing the crimes of a nurse dubbed “The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Celebrities including actor Rupert Everett [pictured] will read to children in London’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Patricia van Rhijin, director at CIDCLI, discussed the problems getting Mexican children's books published in the US. American publishers are 'so square,' she says. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), today invited the world's press to attend the 66th World Newspaper Congress and 21st World Editors Forum, to be held in Torino, Italy, from 9 to 11 June 2014. The invitation wa ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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England footballer Frank Lampard has become a champion of The Reading Agency’s Summer... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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