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 ]
World Book Night is continuing its international spread, with Germany now set to join the UK... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Daily Mirror is to run a We Love Reading campaign, backed by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The team behind the successful book Change the World for a Fiver has launched a free newspaper... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fnac, the leading French cultural products chain, will lay off 510 of its 17,000 staff and may... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp. (NWSA) for the first time publicly detailed bribery by a journalist at its now-defunct News of the World, telling a court that a former editor agreed to pay a prison guard to get a story about a child killer. Matt Nixson, a features edit ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-01-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An "unprecedented" seven novels have been shortlisted for the 2011 Man Asian Literary... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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F+W Media, a Blue Ash, Ohio-based media company serving enthusiasts in about 20 verticals including antiques and collectibles, crafts, writing and horticulture, has acquired World Tea Media, organizer of the World Tea Expo. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Reading Agency is to launch a Mood-boosting Books campaign, teaming up with Vintage and its... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A man has been arrested and bailed in connection with a £1.9m fraud alleged to have taken... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The third volume of Chris Mullin's memoirs, A Walk-On Part (Profile Books), has been named... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Health and fitness publisher Rodale is bringing in a new executive to oversee the digital division it created as part of October's shakeup. Former Barnes & Noble GM Anthony Astarita will become Rodale's general manager of digital and new brand development, one of three divisions CEO Maria... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The HMV Group made a profit of £11.5m from the sale of book chain Waterstone's, but the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has acquired an account of this year's Libyan conflict by Sky News reporter... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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World Book Night in the US has appointed Pulitzer Prize-wining journalist Anna Quindlen as its... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The History Press is in consultation with a "small number" of staff over redundancies,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary agent Fiona Spencer Thomas has sold a thriller by Alex Churton to Anthony Cheetham's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary agent Fiona Spencer Thomas has sold a thriller by Alex Churton to Anthony Cheetham's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The BBC's award for short fiction is to turn international for one year to celebrate the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The term content licensing is an ambiguous one, especially among publishers. Some consider reprints and e-prints to be a full-fledged content licensing operation; while others leasing out logos and awards for third-party use count it as their content licensing service. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Half of the one million books to be given away on the next World Book Night on April 23rd 2012... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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