Pantomime misanthropy is tempered with bursts of sweetness in the secondhand bookseller’s latest dispatches from WigtownThere’s a moment in the first season of the short-lived but influential sitcom Black Books in which an elderly customer appears with a box of attractive old editions of classics to sell to Dylan Moran’s crosspatch bookseller Bernard. Barely looking at them, Bernard offers him £40. But they’re worth more than that, the man says. “I know, I know,” Bernard concedes. “But I don’t want them. I’ll have to price them, then, and put them up on the shelves, and store them, and people will come in and ask about them, and buy them, and read them, and come back and sell them and the whole hideous cycle will just go on and on and on ...” He gives the man £40 to take the books away.Shaun Bythell’s dispatches from the Wigtown Bookshop, which he has run for nearly 20 years, read like a knowing riff on the persona of Bernard Black. He started out grousing about his life, pillorying his eccentric staff and venting about his noisome customers on a Facebook page. Then he did the same in his hit Diary of a Bookseller, continued with Confessions of a Bookseller, and here he is – an actual franchise – with a slim little listicle-titled till-point follow-up for the Christmas market. His inner Bernard Black will be heaving a world-weary sigh. The more he parades his contemptus mundi, the more the world loves him.Much steam is enjoyably vented over customers who whistle... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-11-11 09:00:33 UTC ]
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The National Book Foundation has revealed the 2023 National Book Award longlist for Young People's Literature. The five finalists will be named on October 3, and the winner will be announced during the awards ceremony on November 15 in New York City. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The new cookbook from Bricia Lopez approaches Mexican cuisine with a festive, LA vibe. The recipes, which heavily feature open-flame cooking, are universally delicious. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2023-09-06 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Oksana Vasyakina’s first novel is a family history and a reflection on womanhood. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-09-05 09:00:20 UTC ]
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After several critics complained of being quoted out of context on the covers of Jordan Peterson’s new book, the industry body has spoken out against the practiceThe Society of Authors (SoA) has spoken out against publishers misrepresenting negative reviews on book covers and the UK publisher... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-09-01 06:02:22 UTC ]
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At a glanceExpert's Rating ProsHefty performance for a 14-inch deviceCrisp oled displayTop-notch keyboard and mouse padSturdy, durable chassisConsCan get hot to play onSome fiddling with settingsOur VerdictIf you’re looking for serious power in a tiny package, the Asus Zenbook 14 Pro OLED... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-08-31 10:30:00 UTC ]
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In 1966, after more than a quarter century in obscurity, the Dominica-born British author Jean Rhys published what is now considered to be her masterpiece. Wide Sargasso Sea is an astonishing, hallucinatory fantasy about the early life, and eventual psychological disintegration, of the first... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-24 12:59:00 UTC ]
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Nobody would dare to boil down Ursula Le Guin’s marvelous writing—all that fantasy, all that science fiction, poetry, essays, translations—into one idea. But in a pinch I’d pick two sentences from her 2014 National Book Award speech: “Capitalism[’s] power seems inescapable. So did the divine... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-24 10:00:21 UTC ]
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Naomi Duguid’s The Miracle of Salt is a magnificent single-ingredient trip around the world. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2023-08-22 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Are you a fantasy mega-fan? Well, let's put it to the test: Can you guess these fantasy books based only on their 1-star reviews? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-08-21 10:35:00 UTC ]
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The novelist discusses his career and his recent essay about cadavers in crime fiction, and the actor Richard E. Grant talks about his memoir and his love of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-08-18 17:55:09 UTC ]
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Kate Winkler Dawson’s audiobook original reveals the origins of a society of occult-obsessed supernaturalists that included Dickens, Doyle, Yeats and more. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-08-18 09:00:23 UTC ]
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Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk’s era-defining debut novel about a load of disaffected men beating the bejesus out of each other in order to feel alive, was first published twenty-seven years ago today. The book rapidly gained a cult following, was adapted into one of the most iconic movies of the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-17 15:30:58 UTC ]
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Comics source storytelling inspiration from all manner of media—video game–based graphic novels are a growing trend, but there have also been recent adaptations from such unexpected originals as a suppressed WWII opera and a 1980s cult classic film. These media tie-ins promise a timely remix in... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In 2019, Samsung released the original Galaxy Fold, the first phone with a flexible display (not counting pretenders like the Royole Flexpai). And even though it had more than its fair share of flaws, you could see its potential. Over the next couple of years, Samsung refined its flagship... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-08-09 14:00:02 UTC ]
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Indigenous-Minority Poets from China: 15 Recordings for International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, by Ming Di Audio Poetry [email protected] Tue, 08/08/2023 - 14:48 Photo by Nicolas Winkler / Flickr To celebrate the International Day of... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-08-08 19:48:59 UTC ]
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Despite recent stories about the popularity of BookTok, Neilsen’s survey found more of those aged between 14-25 searched YouTube for new reads YouTube trumps TikTok as the most popular online platform for young people to discover new books, according to a report by Nielsen BookData.Nielsen,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-08-07 14:48:11 UTC ]
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At a glance ProsResolutions up to 8K possible, direct extraction of MP3 filesConsNo downloading of videos behind paywallsOur VerdictThe Video and Audio Downloader Pro 2 is easy to use and useful, especially for users of public service media libraries. Watching videos offline has evolved... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-08-04 16:46:51 UTC ]
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From the Gutenberg press to the word processor, a detailed trawl through the history of print offers lessons for the digital ageThe Gutenberg Parenthesis is a term coined by Danish scholar Lars Ole Sauerberg, who proposed that the history of literary culture as we had hitherto known it – the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-08-02 11:00:02 UTC ]
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The Oscar-nominated actor’s new memoir is at once a Hollywood air kiss and a moving tribute to a happy marriage that ended too soon. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-08-01 09:01:10 UTC ]
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A magistrate judge in New York has once again recommended that a lawsuit accusing the Big Five publishers of colluding with Amazon to fix e-book prices should be dismissed. But in a twist, the court found that a monopolization claim against Amazon should proceed. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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