Book Reviews Alan Levenson Ever since early Islam, Jews have been dubbed the people of the book. The title stuck in European lands too, a deferential nod to the role of the Hebrew Bible in the Western canon, the breadth of Jewish literacy (never universal, often gender-specific), and the sheer productivity of Jewish authors—or today, Jewish and non-Jewish authors writing about the subject. I prefer this paean to bookishness, bestowed by outsiders, to Ecclesiastes’ musing, “of the making of books there is no end,” which sounds like unwarranted kvetching. Elisabeth Gallas’s A Mortuary of Books: The Rescue of Jewish Culture after the Holocaust (NYU Press, 2019) and Lisa Moses Leff’s The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2015) confirm the verdict of Jorge Luis Borges, who called the book the most astonishing human instrument. It seems the desire for preserving books is also lodged deep in the human soul. These two volumes stem from the desire to recount the efforts to rescue books and scrolls and ritual items from the fires of the Holocaust. Both volumes chronicle the life-affirming response to the Nazis’ nihilistic intent to destroy not only Jewish lives but any vestige of Jewish learning. Gallas and Neff confirm the verdict of Jorge Luis Borges, who called the book the most astonishing human instrument. It seems the desire for preserving books is also... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2019-07-02 20:46:30 UTC ]
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A new series from Public Books and Columbia University Press aims to enrich culture through the exchange of ideas. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-07-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Los Angeles Times Book Club is reading "The Library Book" by Susan Orlean. Here's an excerpt. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-19 10:00:08 UTC ]
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The Los Angeles Times Book Club is reading "The Library Book" by Susan Orlean. Here’s an excerpt. The opposite of a sensory-deprivation tank might be to spend a Monday morning in the library’s InfoNow Department. The phone rings with that weird blooping electronic tone all day long, and the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-19 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Tom Burlison from Epsom, who is seven years old, has won this year’s Bedtime Story Competition, ran by Save the Children and The Book People. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-28 01:00:26 UTC ]
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The Irish writer's "exceptional" novel beat Michelle Obama to the top prize at The British Book Awards. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2019-05-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Following two prize-winning novels, Kerry Hudson has written a redemptive memoir in which she revisits the locations of her poor working-class childhood. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Will Eaves' novel uses the legacy of Alan Turing to explore the impact of torture. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2019-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book Aid International has been given a £500,000 donation from a grant-giving trust funded by People’s Postcode Lottery players. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simon Mason has been appointed chief executive officer at The Book People as William Wellesley steps down to become a non-executive director. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sally Rooney’s Normal People is the critics’ choice for book of the year, with eight publications including it in their end-of-year reviews. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Normal People, the Irish author's second novel, is named the year's best book by the UK chain. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2018-11-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A book about optical illusions has beaten off competition from titles about space and dinosaurs to win this year’s £10,000 Royal Society’s Young People’s Book Prize. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Old Barn Books has acquired a picture book by playwright Alan Pollock about a real bear who fought in the Second World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ten books have been named by the National Book Awards to its 2018 longlist in young people's literature, as the National Book Foundation begins several days of longlist announcements. The post National Book Awards 2018 Longlists: Young People’s Literature and the New Translation Prize appeared... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book People has embarked on a year of celebrations, including events, competitions and exclusive content for customers and staff, in honour of its 30th anniversary. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Book People will begin selling a refugee tale by 10-year-old Frasier Cox next month, after the school boy won its bedtime story competition, with proceeds going to Save the Children. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jann Wenner, Tina Brown, and New York magazine take center stage in our annual list of the books that remind us that magazines, at their best, represent a culture unto themselves. The post The Best Books for Print People, 2017 appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2017-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Poll by the Bookseller finds 54% of female respondents reporting sexual ‘harassment, assault or predatory behaviour’A survey suggests that more than half of people working in the books industry have experienced sexual harassment, with 54% of women and 34% of men reporting “harassment, assault or... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-11-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Alan Hollinghurst was born in 1954, so he is now in his mid-60s. It is well to remember this when you read The Sparsholt Affair. Like The Line of Beauty, the book that won Hollinghurst the Man Booker prize back in 2004, The Sparsholt Affair is a long and densely detailed novel. Also like the... Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2017-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A nine-year-old boy with autism has been chosen as the winner of the Book People’s Bedtime Story Competition and will now work with Little Tiger to turn his “incredibly touching” entry into a book. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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