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 ]
Barnes & Nobles advertising campaign for the Nook Color, an e-reading tablet, features no company stores in the ads, a nod to changes in the publishing industry. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 09:19 Authors including Iain M Banks and Michael Moorcock have written to the BBC's director general Mark Thompson, attacking the treatment of genre fiction in its recent World Book Night coverage. In total 85 authors, across the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 08:46 Titles on topics from Second World War bombers to the life of Roald Dahl have been longlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2011. The list of 18 books also includes Edmund De Waals Costa-winning The Hare with... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 11:32 Independent publisher Choc Lit has bought a contemporary debut thriller and a modern day version of Jane Austen's Persuasion. Director Lyn Vernham bought world rights to Never Coming Home by Evonne Wareham, directly from the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 11/04/2011 - 15:45 Sphere believes it has a smashing winner with the acquisition of the autobiography of Rafael Nadal, the Spanish tennis ace and current world number one. Non-fiction publishing director Adam Strange bought UK and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-books, mobile apps and e-learning modules are hot. That's the conclusion from a quick survey of 18 content services vendors operating in India. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 11/04/2011 - 14:00 Two titles from Atlantic feature on the "compelling" 2011 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist, revealed today (11th April) at London Book Fair. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 05/04/2011 - 15:22 Quercus has nearly matched the £1m digital revenue it made from ebooks last year in the first three months of 2011. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With their food blog aimed at 20-something cooks, college cooking website, and forthcoming book, In the Small Kitchen: 100 Recipes from Our Year of Cooking in the Real World (Morrow, May), Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine might seem a lot older than their (combined) 51 years. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As you may have heard, the cookbook sensation of the season, if not the decade, is Modernist Cuisine, a six-volume magnum opus on contemporary cooking principles that will set you back roughly $500. Self-published by Nathan Myhrvoldthe genius founder of Microsoft's research division,... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Wed, 30/03/2011 - 09:15 Three authors from the UK have made it onto the list of finalists for the Man Booker International Prize 2011. James Kelman, Philip Pullman and John le Carré have joined the list of 13 for the biennial £60,000 award, which... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 15/03/2011 - 15:56 Sales of the six £1 World Book Day books fell 36% week-on-week, to 159,000 copies solda figure down 9% on the comparative week last yearbut they nonetheless continue to dominate the sharp end of this weeks Official UK Top... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell and Philip Stone Publication Date: Fri, 11/03/2011 - 16:27 Sales of the selected 25 World Book Night titles soared by over 100% at W H Smith, amid a wider trade sales boost, following television coverage, events and book giveaways to mark its inaugural year. On 5th... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 10/03/2011 - 15:22 Christian book wholesaler STL Distribution is cutting a quarter of its 124-strong workforce following poor sales. The Carlisle-based company said 30 positions will be affected, with only around 5% of employees opting for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 08/03/2011 - 16:01 The latest crop of £1 World Book Day books, led by Cope & Davies' Spy Dog/The Great Pet Shop Panic (Puffin/S&S) take positions one-through-six in this week's Official UK Top 50, with sales totalling 247,235 copiesa... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Tue, 08/03/2011 - 08:57 The Galaxy-sponsored advertising campaign for Quick Reads has been unveiled, with advertising, posters and bookmarks lined up for the literacy campaign. The 10 Quick Reads, all published on World Book Day, 3rd March, include titles by Linwood Barclay,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/03/2011 - 09:14 HMV Group has moved to reassure publishers of Waterstone's future, revealing the bookseller is on track to achieve its predicted 2%3% operating margin by the end of its financial year. Tuesday's [1st March] trading statement... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone and Felicity Wood Publication Date: Fri, 04/03/2011 - 09:43 The majority of the books to be handed out tomorrow (5th March) as part of World Book Night have already received a sales boost in 2011. The figures will be a welcome fillip for the organisers, with founder... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 04/03/2011 - 09:12 National Reading Group Day is among the new features designed to boost the importance of indie retailers during this years Independent Booksellers Week. The Booksellers Association has just announced that the annual IBW will... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As the bookstore chains grew in the 1980s and 90s, the number of independent booksellers fell dramatically, but those that survived expect little pop from the impending closing of 200 Borders stores as part of the retailer's bankruptcy reorganization. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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