Will social media and aggregated preferences sweep away book reviewing and literary culture? There’s nothing new about the death of literatureThe writer Caleb Crain is unhappy about “the intrusion of counting into the life of literature”. He believes that big data and predictive-taste algorithms are cutting humans “out of the loop”, and that social media are undermining our faith in “the mental states of other people” when those inner states aren’t acknowledged in tweets and likes. It seems we are mired in “a new kind of disenchantment”, he says, which is devolving our sense of literary merit. As big data blurs personal opinion into preference aggregates, and as Twitter-propelled article-surfing destroys reviewing communities and the authority of critics alike, Crain contends, we have no choice but to “declare war on counting”. So that, you know, “literature will survive”. Related: Computer says no: Amazon uses AI to combat fake reviews Bad criticism in public is a nuisance. Does it spell the end of days? Hardly [S]uddenly the cosmos seems like one vast plan after all, patterned in such a way that the novel you’re reading at bedtime connects to your astronomy lecture, connects to what you heard on NPR, connects to what your friend discusses in the cafeteria at lunch – and then briefly it’s as if the lid has come off the world, as if the world were a dollhouse, and you can glimpse what it would be like to see it whole, from above – a vertiginous magnificence. Continue... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#literary merit
The author wants American Jews to force changes in Israeli policy to protect the democratic legacy of Labor Zionism. He also explains why that's unlikely to happen.Nearly all the considerable attention generated by Peter Beinart's "The Crisis of Zionism" has focused on its final 81/2 pages.... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#direct action
#west bank
According to the newest figures from Bowker Market Research, online retailers accounted for 39% of all book sales in 2011, up from 30% in 2010. The increase gave the online channel, led by Amazon and BN.com, a commanding lead over bookstore chains as the largest outlet for sales. The chains,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bookstore chains
#ebook sales
#newest figures
#largest outlet
#slowing growth
Enhanced Editions co-founder Peter Collingridge is to join digital learning library Safari Books... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez examine the nature of their relationship and the ways it's shaped their lives in their loving, candid new memoir.Martin Sheen was a struggling 21-year-old stage actor when his first son Emilio was born. Sheen, seventh of 10 children in a family that knew him as... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book review
If you’re more than 50 years old, you will either think this story was coincidentally familiar to your own unpredictable publishing odyssey, or immediately upon finishing “Not Extinct Yet,” you’re going to call ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-05-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book review
In 'My Life as a Sportswriter,' the Sports Illustrated writer reminisces on his time chronicling the offbeat and the mainstream in sports.A bio on NPR's website of its commentator Frank Deford notes that the magazine GQ christened him, quite simply, "the world's greatest sportswriter." (Is he?)... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#companion website
#book review
William Heinemann has acquired an anthology of 21 stories originally published in literary... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#william heinemann
A rare week gives us three celeb memoirs by boldface names: Sissy Spacek, Gregg Allman, and Dan Rather are telling all. Turns out, fame is great and all, but what stars really want is a book deal. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#boldface names
#sissy spacek
#book deal
Mark Coker of Smashwords became the leader of indie ebook writers--including some with dirty minds--in a fight against censorship and PayPal. He also has strong feelings about the DOJ's ebook pricing lawsuit.Mark Coker is the CEO of Smashwords, an ebook publishing and distribution platform.... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#swimming pool
#jeff bezos
#steve jobs
#pricing model
#golden age
#david zax
Hot Keys Books has partnered with the Guardian to launch a new young person’s writing prize... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#young person
#writing prize
A multi-book deal for celebrity chef Lorraine Pascale, a memoir from “Strictly Come Dancing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#multi-book deal
A journey across the Pacific Crest Trail turns into an exercise of triumph over grief for Cheryl Strayed in her memoir, 'Wild.'Toward the end of Cheryl Strayed's memoir, "Wild," the author, who is in the middle of hiking 1,100 miles alone across the West Coast's formidable Pacific Crest Trail,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#hiking boots
#book review
#cheryl strayed
#west coast
Works that will be available for perusal will include Gutenberg's Bible, believed to be the first text ever printed. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bodleian libraries
With 'American Spy,' Steinhauer finishes what he started in 'The Tourist' and 'The Nearest Exit.' It's a thrilling, irresistible masterwork of love, guilt and revenge.On two separate occasions over the last nine years, Olen Steinhauer has brought a thriller series to a close. The first was the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book review
Figment is a website that gives teenagers and young adults a forum for posting their work and giving advice to others. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#young adults
#giving advice
Days after it told one publisher it had indefinitely suspended the programme to approve its Kindle newspaper edition submission, Amazon has suddenly relented. Last week, Scotland’s Herald & Times Group grumbled publicly that, after tw ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
An interracial couple navigates modern life in South African in 'No Time Like the Present,' by Nadine Gordimer.No Time Like the Present Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book review
#nadine gordimer
#south african
The author's exuberant use of words in private is as vivid as in public.The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book review
#charles dickens
The necessity of self-improvement and social betterment is thoughtfully explored in Sam Harris' and Alain de Botton's books.Free Will Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book reviews
#sam harris
The author goes from one extreme to another in this wonderfully absurdist short-story collection.Suddenly, a Knock On the Door Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book review