Turning literature into a numbers game makes some sense for the book trade, but none for readersWe may be halfway through January already, but the spirit of new year is still in full swing over in San Francisco, where the 2014 Goodreads Reading Challenge goes from strength to strength to strength. More than 240,000 of Goodreads' 25 million members have already committed to reading more than 14m books this year, pledging to get through them at an average of more than a book a week. And many fans of books will say hurrah for that. I reckon I'm pretty much in favour of books and literature, too, but the Goodreads Reading Challenge just sets my teeth on edge.It starts right there in the name. Since when was reading any kind of challenge? Isn't it supposed to be fun? Maybe not for children still learning to differentiate their Perfect Peters from their Horrid Henrys, or for the one in six UK adults who still struggle with literacy, but Goodreads is a site for people who are already "readers" . I don't think they have schoolchildren in mind when they suggest you should "raise your reading ambitions" and it certainly doesn't look like a scheme designed to help adult learners "make it to the final chapter". All this talk of pledging, of targets, of tracking your progress, is just another step in the marketisation of the reading experience, another stage in the commodification of literary culture.We know that literacy correlates with better social outcomes, that literary fiction... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
Sorry to Kindle loyalists: people who read paper books tend to be more advanced readers, according to a recent study of the reading habits of thousands of teens around the world. The study, conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, looked at the way teenagers in 30... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-25 17:18:30 UTC ]
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Lio Min's 'Beating Heart Baby' follows two boys who meet online and ultimately grapples with the joys and perils of making public art. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-07-25 13:00:45 UTC ]
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Many people may have forgotten that before it became a tech and ecommerce behemoth, Amazon started as an online bookseller in 1994. Nearly three decades later, Amazon is celebrating the roots of its business with a major campaign for its books division. The goal of the campaign, titled "That... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2022-07-25 13:00:00 UTC ]
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At first, I wanted to call it Forty Love. My memoir, Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, & Literature, is a deeply personal account of the unexpected plot twists in my own life highlighted by the books I was reading at the time. In my current career as publishing CEO at Zibby Books and host […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-22 08:51:36 UTC ]
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A full cast of narrators brings an audiobook to life in totally new and unexpected ways. Here are some of the latest you can't miss. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-07-21 10:36:00 UTC ]
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Today in extremely niche literary world factoids: in case you didn’t know (I did not) Zadie Smith has a younger brother named Ben Bailey Smith, an actor and standup who goes by Doc Brown, admires Taylor Swift’s writing ability, and features in Netflix’s new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-20 16:07:31 UTC ]
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If you're looking to shake up the usual book club format, consider reading these plays as a way to make meet-ups more engaging. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-07-20 10:35:00 UTC ]
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Michael Crummey, an award-winning author whose poetry and prose explore the region and its capital, St. John’s, shares book recommendations, local vocabulary and where to find a good pint. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-07-20 09:00:09 UTC ]
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Six groups will be chosen to read a shortlisted book, with the most ‘original and engaging’ readers to be invited to the prize ceremony Book clubs across the UK are being invited to take part in the inaugural Booker prize book club challenge, with seats at the prize ceremony dinner up for... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-07-12 12:21:35 UTC ]
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Rereading a beloved book is one of many strategies our readers shared for reversing a rut. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-11 15:00:32 UTC ]
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Goodreads has announced its list of the top 36 most popular historical fiction books of 2022 (so far), according to users' interest. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-07-11 14:45:32 UTC ]
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The holiday getaway takes a suspenseful turn in a trio of books, by Megan Miranda, Allie Reynolds and Alice Feeney Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-09 11:00:05 UTC ]
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Yep, as the guy in your MFA already knows, turns out reading literary fiction is better for you than reading other kinds of fiction—especially if you grew up doing it. In a new paper published this week in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, scholars Nicholas Buttrick, Erin C.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-08 16:16:52 UTC ]
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The German author Daniel Kehlmann, most recently of the novel “Tyll,” recommends books that explore the city’s painful past and dynamic present. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-07-06 09:00:22 UTC ]
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Bethanne Patrick's July highlights include romance, sci-fi and sacrilegious hijinks, as well as probing memoirs and a new Harvey Weinstein exposé. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-06-30 16:26:28 UTC ]
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Dive into a tender coming-of-age memoir by Isaac Fitzgerald, a biography of Vladimir V. Putin and novels from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Bolu Babalola and Daniel Nieh. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-30 09:00:24 UTC ]
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Grief is one of those experiences that seems like a black-out to me. To comprehend the magnitude of what death really means—that concept of forever—is so challenging on an intellectual level that part of us shuts down in response so we can attend to the thought. Or use all our energy to escape... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-30 08:51:08 UTC ]
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Ahead of the São Paulo International Book Fair, publishers explore key market hurdles for the Portuguese-language world. The post São Paulo’s Professional Days: Language Challenges appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-06-29 22:24:17 UTC ]
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That Girl knows what her goals are and is working to achieve them. Here are 9 books that can help guide us to becoming our best selves, like What a Time to Be Alone: The Slumflower’s Guide to Why You Are Already Enough by Chudera Eggerue. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-06-29 10:32:00 UTC ]
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These queer short story collections span a wide range of genres form contemporary and historical fiction to sci-fi and fabulism. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-06-28 10:33:00 UTC ]
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