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 ]
Speak to us, oh lovers of short fiction: what are the most outstanding short stories you've read? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-10-27 10:31:00 UTC ]
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Every Monday through Friday, AudioFile’s editors recommend the best in audiobook listening. We keep our daily episodes short and sweet, with audiobook clips to give you a sample of our featured listens. Marin Ireland narrates Rumaan Alam’s stunning audiobook Leave the World Behind, which... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-12 08:00:42 UTC ]
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These manga like KILLING STALKING have heavy themes but if you are looking for something similar, they are what you need! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-10-07 10:38:00 UTC ]
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In "Leave the World Behind," a family on vacation tries to ignore the catastrophe unfolding outside their cozy retreat. Continue reading at The Huffington Post
[ The Huffington Post | 2020-10-06 16:35:31 UTC ]
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Every Monday through Friday, AudioFile’s editors recommend the best in audiobook listening. We keep our daily episodes short and sweet, with audiobook clips to give you a sample of our featured listens. Narrator Sisi Aisha Johnson embodies all of the joy and light of fourth grader Ryan Hart in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-02 09:13:44 UTC ]
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Your closet is asking you to add these reading t-shirts to it and up your book lover status. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-09-02 10:33:00 UTC ]
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The best-selling author talks about her latest book, “Midnight Sun,” which retells “Twilight” from the vampire’s perspective. Why now? “Because I finished it,” she says. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-08-03 09:00:19 UTC ]
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Katy Waldman writes about “Memorial Drive,” a new memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey, who pieces together memories of her mother, who was murdered by Trethewey’s stepfather. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2020-07-29 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Leaders will need to be resilient, open-minded, and creative. Poetry can show them the way. “I would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2020-07-28 03:00:09 UTC ]
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Josh Malerman’s “Malorie” and Paul Tremblay’s “Survivor Song” are timely in ways the authors could never have expected. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-07 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Short stories by contemporary Italian writers are hard to come across and almost none of them make it across the Atlantic. Booksellers and publishers seem to stay away from them because—what’s new?—they sell less, as they apparently lack “the immersive factor.” However, readers in the twentieth... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-16 08:48:49 UTC ]
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We're talking to library staff about how libraries are working to plan for summer reading programs despite the limitations caused by a global pandemic. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-06-08 10:33:48 UTC ]
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Emily St. John Mandel, Susan Orlean, T.C Boyle, Marlon James and others share apocalypse reading picks. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-05-13 18:56:28 UTC ]
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Mysteries from the Golden Age, Arthur Conan Doyle and a helluva good book about a Texas book dealer. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-05-06 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released a video of Meghan reading son Archie Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (Chronicle Books) on his first birthday, in support of the Save with Stories initiative. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-05 20:37:52 UTC ]
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Have a quick bite of these excellent small press short story collections and anthologies sampling a wide variety of genres, themes, and perspectives. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-05-05 10:34:09 UTC ]
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Even amid the chaos, you can find a quiet spot to turn pages. It may require some stealth. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-24 11:48:06 UTC ]
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An awesome daily roundup of the most interesting bookish links from around the web! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-04-23 10:30:24 UTC ]
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In many months this list contains five novels—but never before has it consisted of five story collections. Given the global pandemic, its effects on economies, and everyone’s anxieties, some of us are getting lost in long, complicated sagas—witness Yiyun Li’s #TolstoyTogether online book group.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-21 08:47:00 UTC ]
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Former First Lady Michelle Obama will be reading children's books in a weekly series of videos for Penguin Random House and PBS Kids through May 11. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-04-17 20:08:16 UTC ]
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