Publisher says it was forced to withdraw Wendy Doniger's book The Hindus because of law threatening jail for insults to religionPenguin India has said "intolerant and restrictive" Indian laws forced it to remove a book from sale after it tried to defend an American author's religious history against objections from a conservative Hindu group.The publisher's decision this week to withdraw and pulp all copies of the historian Wendy Doniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History shocked writers and intellectuals in India, with some worrying it was a sign of rising intolerance against dissent in the country.Doniger defended Penguin India in a statement, saying the publisher had battled for four years against a lawsuit filed by the Hindu group Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti (Save Education Movement).The group objected to the book's description of mythological texts as fictional and said it hurt "the religious feelings of millions of Hindus", according to the lawsuit, which also named Doniger and the New-York-based arm of the publisher Penguin Group Inc as defendants.Penguin India said it "believes, and has always believed, in every individual's right to freedom of thought and expression, a right explicitly codified in the Indian constitution", according to a statement from the company released on Friday.It warned, however, that India's penal code would "make it increasingly difficult for any Indian publisher to uphold international standards of free expression".The code,... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Science-fiction great Ray Bradbury died Tuesday night in California at the age of 91. He was renowned for his short stories as well as for the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, which cast readers into a Cold War-inspired future of paranoid book burning. Back in 2005, Bryan Curtis argued that,... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2012-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Authors Guild is encouraging its 8,500 members to submit comments against the proposed settlement between the Department of Justice and three large publishers. The settlement, the guild argues, will only benefit Amazon. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sony unveils a Harry Potter-based book, part-written by JK Rowling, as the first Wonderbook title for its Playstation console. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2012-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Many in the book world are eager to discover if Oprah's book club – after a two-year hiatus and now on the lower-profile OWN network – will still draw readers in massive numbers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British journalist Richard Lloyd Parry skillfully goes beyond the headlines in the 2000 disappearance of fellow Brit Lucie Blackman in Tokyo. It is a dark, unforgettable ride.People Who Eat Darkness Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After two years, Oprah Winfrey's highly influential book club is being revived, with "Wild," by Cheryl Strayed, as the first selection. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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To listen to the Audio Book Club discussion of Are You My Mother?, click the arrow on the player below. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2012-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Everyone! Check under your chairs! It's a...new book club from Oprah! Yep, the former queen of daytime TV is revamping her famed literary organization for the 21st century. Winfrey says she was so taken by Cheryl Strayed's Wild, that she absolutely had to get back on the book peddling bandwagon.... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Some classic public domain books for the Nook appear to be stripped of any mention of the word "Kindle," no matter what the context, resulting in some odd reading.One blogger recently discovered that his downloaded 99-cent Nook version of War and Peace, ported by Superior Formatting Publishing... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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According to the calendar, it may not be summer for a few more weeks, but tell that to booksellers, who launched their summer selling season on Memorial Day. One week in and many independents are anticipating an up summer. A mild winter and a strong first quarter contributed to a number of... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-06-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin and Macmillan have hit back at US government claims that they colluded to fix the price... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Galaxy may discontinue its sponsorship of the National Book Awards, with the award’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A New York-based software company is taking e-reading to a whole new nonlinear level. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2012-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As temperatures soared across the UK, printed book sales slumped to their lowest level in nine... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A three month long dispute over the sale of digital books between Amazon.com Inc. and a leading independent book distributor has been resolved, both parties said Friday. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2012-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BBC Books has acquired a further Doctor Who title, written by Stephen Baxter, featuring the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen Colbert's latest release – a picture book aimed at young adults and up – follows a pole as it searches for the perfect job. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The U.S. government has sided with monopoly rather than competition in bringing a case of ebook price-fixing against Apple, the company said in a filing on... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2012-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three Random House Group titles have been picked for the Richard and Judy Summer Book Club,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Michael Joseph has acquired Six Weeks to OMG, a dieting title which has already been a self-... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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