In the age of Corbyn, is the time right for another Road to Wigan Pier?

It’s no surprise that the Left Book Club is being relaunched now, with the imprimatur of the Labour leader and Ken Livingstone. It began in the anxious 1930s, a decade that has all too many parallels with the current oneAiming to “set the agenda for a new age of political debate”, the Left Book Club was re-launched this week at a meeting at the Conway Hall in London. The Left Book Club last published a book in 1948. Jeremy Corbyn had yet to be born. Nevertheless the Labour leader has generously endorsed the revival as “a terrific and timely idea” that will give “intellectual ballast to the wave of political change sweeping Britain and beyond, encouraging informed and compassionate debate”. He added that he had a large collection of Left Book Club titles, some bought new by his parents and others that he acquired second hand. I speculate that the memory of these books in their plain red or orange covers – their flash upon his inward eye – must have provided Corbyn with a rare pleasurable moment in the past few weeks: the thought of them on his shelves having same kind of heart-filling effect that the daffodils had on Wordsworth.My own collection isn’t so large. In fact, it runs to just one book, Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier, and I didn’t inherit it. I bought it 20 or 30 years ago because I liked the idea of having such a fine book in its cheap and original form – seeing the words and photographs as its first readers must have seen them. Published in 1937, the year after... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rankin's A Song for the Dark Times hits the high note in top spot

Ian Rankin's A Song for the Dark Times (Orion) has clearly struck a chord with the book-buying public, reaching a crescendo in its first full week on sale and hitting the UK Official Top 50 number one spot. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-11 02:14:07 UTC ]
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William Collins pre-empts Finkelstein's family memoir of war-time persecution

Williams Collins has pre-empted a memoir by political columnist and commentator Daniel Finkelstein uncovering his family’s devastating experiences of persecution during the Second World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-05 16:01:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #memoir #world war #family memoir


What can ‘The Age of Decadence’ teach us about today? A great deal.

Simon Heffer’s encyclopedic book about Victorian and Edwardian England offers a fascinating perspective on the present. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-05 06:00:00 UTC ]
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Kevin Merida takes the top job at the LA Times

Yesterday, after months of speculation, the LA Times appointed its next executive editor. The paper has given the job to Kevin Merida, the editor in chief of The Undefeated, an arm of ESPN that reports on the intersection of sports, race, and culture; prior to working there, he spent twenty-two... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-05-04 12:30:57 UTC ]
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Ad Age Agency Report 2021: Rankings and analysis

Ad Age Agency Report is an annual ranking and analysis of advertising and marketing-services agencies. The report includes rankings based on U.S. and worldwide revenue. We have published Ad Age Agency Report every year since 1945. We published Ad Age Agency Report 2021 on May 3, 2021. A... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2021-05-02 18:39:14 UTC ]
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Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award longlist revealed

American authors dominate the 2021 longlist for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, the world’s richest short story prize with £30,000 for the winner. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-01 18:26:14 UTC ]
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The Independent Publishers Caucus Comes of Age

The fledgling indie publisher organization, founded in 2016, has emerged from the crucible of the Covid-19 pandemic as an invaluable resource to small presses. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette makes Times' Top 50 Employers for Women for second year

Hachette UK has been selected as one of the Times Top 50 Employers for Women for the second year running. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-28 21:32:56 UTC ]
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Publishers like The Guardian become conscientious FLoC objectors, as The New York Times and others open to testing the controversial tech

The drumbeat against Google's cookieless tracking and ad targeting method gets louder as publishers including The Guardian and The Markup block FLoC. The post Publishers like The Guardian become conscientious FLoC objectors, as The New York Times and others open to testing the controversial tech... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2021-04-26 04:01:00 UTC ]
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These are the 50 best-selling books of all time (on Amazon).

Want to read what everyone else is reading? MarketWatch reports that in honor of World Book Day, Amazon has released a list of their 50 overall bestselling books in the U.S. (at least in the 27 years since their launch in 1994). Of course, not everyone buys their books on Amazon (may we suggest... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-04-23 16:45:58 UTC ]
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How to watch former President Obama and Ava DuVernay at the L.A. Times Book Club

Former President Barack Obama and filmmaker Ava DuVernay discuss "A Promised Land" at the L.A. Times Community Book Club. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-21 21:09:15 UTC ]
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L.A. Times Book Award Winners Announced

The 41st annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were awarded in a livestreamed virtual ceremony last Friday. The awards are presented in 12 categories; 56 books were shortlisted overall. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In the Instagram age, you actually can judge a book by its cover

Social media is now a vital platform to promote new titles. And that means jacket designs that hit you ‘hard and quick’Last week’s big literary event was not the publication of a new book, the million-pound signing of a celebrity author or the announcement of a prestigious prize. Instead, it was... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-04-18 09:00:04 UTC ]
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Winners of the 2020 L.A. Times Book Prizes announced

Deesha Philyaw, Victoria Chang and Isabel Wilkerson are among the winners of the 2020 L.A. Times Book Prizes, announced Friday. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-17 01:06:54 UTC ]
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Helen McCrory, star of Peaky Blinders and Harry Potter, dies aged 52

Actor was also known for her roles in the films The Queen and The Special RelationshipA life in pictures‘How should a woman live her life?’ | Helen McCroryEngaging, enthralling, always magnetically watchableThe actor Helen McCrory has died at the age of 52. McCrory was best known for her roles... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-04-16 17:01:51 UTC ]
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L.A. Times Book Prizes and Festival of Books kick off this week. Here's how to watch

The 26th Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is going virtual again this year. The event kicks off April 17 at 10 a.m. Here's how to watch. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-16 12:00:30 UTC ]
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President Obama, Ava DuVernay bring 'A Promised Land' to L.A. Times Community Book Club

Barack Obama and filmmaker Ava DuVernay will discuss the former president's memoir "A Promised Land" April 21 in a livestreamed event for the L.A. Times Community Book Club. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-16 01:25:03 UTC ]
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New York Times's Book Review Podcast Celebrates 15 Years

‘The Book Review’ podcast began as a brief show with a rebellious touch. It became a forum for some of the biggest names in literature. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-04-15 13:38:51 UTC ]
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Time to rewatch this iconic performance of Where the Wild Things Are.

Today, April 9th, marks the fifty-eight publication anniversary of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. Perhaps the most beloved children’s book of the latter half of the 20th century, Sendak’s gorgeously-illustrated tale of a young boy in a wolf suit who, upon being sent to bed with no... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-04-09 16:58:23 UTC ]
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In Cleveland, four men helped bring baseball into the modern age

Bob Feller, Satchel Paige, Larry Doby and Bill Veeck represented integration and commercialization. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-04-09 12:00:00 UTC ]
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