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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Sales from publishers reporting to the AAP's StatShot program were down 6.4% in 2022 compared to 2021. Sales were down in all publishing categories, with print sales off in both trade segments. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-10 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Britney Winn Lee is bringing body-scan meditation to young readers in ‘Good Night, Body: Finding Calm from Head to Toe,’ featuring a guide to acknowledging and relaxing each body part, tranquil illustrations, and notes for parents. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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In his memoir “Holding Fire,” Bryce Andrews confronts the violence and guilt of past generations. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-07 10:00:30 UTC ]
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A welcome revival of a 1980s comedy prophesying the collapse of the Soviet UnionHere is a revival of a 1983 film from the Georgian director Eldar Shengelaia (still alive at 90) and it is revealed as an intriguing, and perhaps even remarkable creation: a dapper, droll satire on Soviet... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-02-06 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Five days ago, a review code for Hogwarts Legacy landed in my inbox. I’ve been thinking about this moment for more than a year, ever since the backlash against the game started gaining traction online. The author of the Harry Potter novels is transphobic and she’s targeted transgender women in... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-02-06 11:00:18 UTC ]
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A debut novel from Kira Yarmysh, a longtime critic of Vladimir Putin, offers an intimate look at political imprisonment. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-06 10:00:09 UTC ]
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A Kenyan nonprofit is restoring iconic public libraries, leaving behind a segregated past and turning them into inclusive spaces. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-04 10:00:30 UTC ]
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“Essex Dogs,” the first novel in a projected trilogy by the historian Dan Jones, imagines a hard-bitten band of mercenaries hired to invade France on behalf of their English king. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-03 10:00:06 UTC ]
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The paleobiologist and author of Foyles’ nonfiction book of 2022 on Earth’s deep past, the joys of the British Library, and how early four-limbed vertebrates helped him find his feetThomas Halliday was born in 1989 and raised in Rannoch in the Scottish Highlands. He studied zoology at Cambridge... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-01-28 18:00:26 UTC ]
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Her second memoir — about her small-town coming-of-age, her multiple traumas and Hollywood escapades — is an attempt to set the record straight. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-01-27 10:00:07 UTC ]
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A collage artist, a Jewish educator, an editor, and an art director team up on a unique children's book. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-25 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Rachel Wightman, the author of 'Faith and Fake News: A Guide to Consuming Information Wisely' (Eerdmans, May), emphasizes the importance of fact-checking as an expression of faith in online spaces. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-25 05:00:00 UTC ]
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In his latest novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Harding reimagines the history of a small mixed-race community’s devastating eviction from their homes. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-01-24 10:00:17 UTC ]
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John Hendrickson's memoir “Life on Delay” recounts his experience with this poorly understood neurological disorder, tracing an arc from frustration and isolation to acceptance and community. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-01-18 10:00:22 UTC ]
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“Teller of the Unexpected,” an elegant new biography, sidesteps the ugly side of the children’s book author while capturing his grandiose, tragedy-specked life. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-01-17 20:39:40 UTC ]
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Electrified by outrage—and elevated by a gifted ghostwriter—his blockbuster memoir “Spare” exposes more than Harry’s enemies. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2023-01-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Electrified by outrage—and elevated by a gifted ghostwriter—his blockbuster memoir “Spare” exposes more than Harry’s enemies. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2023-01-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
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There’s no denying that Colleen Hoover has had an incredible year. Still, despite the relentless appetite for her novels, it seems that the people do not, in fact, want a coloring book based on her number-one bestselling book It Ends With Us, which centers on an abusive relationship faced by... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-12 17:27:54 UTC ]
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At once emotional and embittered, the royal memoir is mired in a paradox: drawing endless attention in an effort to renounce fame. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-01-10 21:07:46 UTC ]
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On the 125th anniversary of “J’Accuse,” a picture book for older kids places the lives of Alfred Dreyfus and Émile Zola side by side. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-01-06 07:36:52 UTC ]
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