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 ]
Dean Atta answers our questions about his debut YA novel, The Black Flamingo (Hodder Children's Books), which is told in verse and has been shortlisted for the YA Book Prize 2020. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-08 04:20:43 UTC ]
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The bestselling crime novelist plans a virtual book tour for his new title, "Broken," as the coronavirus keeps him home in Southern California. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-04-07 15:00:38 UTC ]
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A reader who fell out of love with short story collections ponders how best to make reading short stories part of the routine again. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-03-18 10:39:38 UTC ]
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World Book Day smashed its Share a Million Stories target within 24 hours of the event, with 1,218,230 stories shared by Friday 9th March. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-11 08:50:21 UTC ]
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Armed with new and disturbing survey information about youth reading from the National Literary Trust, this year's UK World Book Day hands out book tokens. The post The UK’s 2020 World Book Day: ‘Reading in Sharp Decline’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-03-05 15:46:41 UTC ]
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Adam Sisman‘s sprightly new book follows a 20th-century fantasist who styled himself, variously, as a professor, doctor and reverend. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-02-26 15:00:00 UTC ]
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Adam Sisman‘s sprightly new book follows a 20th-century fantasist who styled himself, variously, as a professor, doctor and reverend. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-02-26 15:00:00 UTC ]
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Faber has pre-empted Leone Ross' "lightning bolt of a novel", about two star-crossed lovers finding their way back to one another over a single day. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-18 18:09:43 UTC ]
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Sure, novels can encourage empathy and other virtues, but what they offer is more subtle, more complicated, more important. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-01-09 15:00:00 UTC ]
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We're in a new golden age of science fiction, especially science fiction short stories. These are some of the best stories you can read right now online. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-01-09 11:35:44 UTC ]
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The enormous popularity of Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man graphic novel series, trends in the changing U.S. comics and graphic novel retail landscape, and the growing popularity of manga and anime-influenced Japanese light novels, were among PW’s most-read stories about comics in 2019. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-01-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The deaths of Brian Hampton and Rachel Held Evans, books undergoing big-screen adaptations, and LifeWay’s closure are some of PW’s top religion stories of 2019. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-23 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The Twitter personalities discuss their new book and making astrology — as well as poetry — accessible. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-11-11 19:14:40 UTC ]
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"If you could only read one book per country, make it this one": A Reddit post that offers an incredibly rich reading list to great global literature. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-11-05 11:38:04 UTC ]
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While all fiction writers can pull characters from their imaginations and commit them to the page, most readers can’t do what Charley Sutherland can: pull characters from the page and commit them to the real world. Sutherland’s fantastical ability is at the center of H.G. Parry’s debut novel The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-10-25 08:46:30 UTC ]
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If you loved Outkast back in the days of CDs, you might know something about their ATliens comic. If not, hop on over and discover this find! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-09-27 10:42:53 UTC ]
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When you can't choose from the plethora of great books out there, take this quiz to find an excellent children's book for your next read! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-09-24 10:33:04 UTC ]
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In filings made September 20, lawyers for publishers rejected Audible's suggestion that the dispute over Captions is a contract issue, and argued that the program, if allowed to include their works, would clearly infringe their copyrights and cause 'irreparable' harm. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-09-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
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To introduce Reading Women‘s theme this month, Kendra Winchester and Jaclyn Masters discuss books by and/or about Indigenous women, including Joy Harjo’s An American Sunrise, the anthology Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia, edited by Dr. Anita Heiss, Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lightning, and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-04 08:46:57 UTC ]
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Want your child to love reading? Two New York Times children's book editors give tips on making reading a pleasurable experience Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-08-30 18:10:32 UTC ]
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