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 ]
Get to know the work of these Black science fiction authors, from the established and prolific to debut authors shaking up the genre like Cinderella is Dead author Kalynn Bayron. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-08-13 10:37:00 UTC ]
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Hodder Faith, in partnership with mini-chain St Andrew’s Bookshop, will launch a national church book club this autumn, to be known as The Big Church Read. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-12 13:00:50 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House is launching a new collection of audiobooks from the Penguin Classics list this September, featuring acting stars from "Noughts + Crosses", "Sex Education" and "His Dark Materials" as narrators. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-10 21:44:19 UTC ]
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Beloved NYC bookstore Bluestockings—long a fixture on the Lower East Side—has found a new home. This will come as a relief to downtown book-lovers who worried the iconic feminist bookstore was closing for good due to both pandemic woes and the threat of increased rent (in a pandemic 😬). After a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-10 15:01:45 UTC ]
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Algorithms routinely come up with ‘recommendations’ for anti-vax ‘bestsellers’ or juices that cure cancerIt’s a truism that we live in a “digital age”. It would be more accurate to say that we live in an algorithmically curated era – that is, a period when many of our choices and perceptions are... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-08-08 16:00:12 UTC ]
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The reading habits of people in the UK can provide golden insight for publishers. But they're all too often clouded by assumptions and anecdotes rather than actual research. Which generation reads the most? Can we predict which genres will be most popular in the near future? And what is the key... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-05 20:02:35 UTC ]
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Enjoy SOLO LEVELING? Here are ten manhwas and manga like SOLO LEVELING you should read if you really enjoy the popular South Korean webtoon. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-08-04 10:39:01 UTC ]
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Everyone wants what’s best for their children’s education. But who gets to decide what’s best? The reporter behind our new podcast from Serial shares the books that helped her answer that question. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-07-30 13:43:33 UTC ]
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Richard Barrios’s new book delves into the history of the film adaptation that did boffo business and won multiple Oscars. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-29 13:56:23 UTC ]
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In mid-March, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and Major League Soccer issued a joint statement: members of the media would henceforth be barred from locker rooms and clubhouses, to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The leagues... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-07-28 12:21:27 UTC ]
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Leaders will need to be resilient, open-minded, and creative. Poetry can show them the way. “I would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2020-07-28 03:00:09 UTC ]
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Production company Bad Wolf has optioned Terri White's memoir Coming Undone (Canongate, 2020) for TV. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-27 05:17:52 UTC ]
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Rachel Cohen never imagined that she would experience a stretch of time in which she only wanted to read Austen. Until it happened. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-07-22 22:40:11 UTC ]
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Rachel Cohen never imagined that she would experience a stretch of time in which she only wanted to read Austen. Until it happened. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-07-22 22:40:11 UTC ]
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Rachel Cohen never imagined that she would experience a stretch of time in which she only wanted to read Austen. Until it happened. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-07-22 22:40:00 UTC ]
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Ponder how long you would survive after society collapses and take our quiz to find out which post-apocalyptic YA book you should read next! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-07-21 10:33:38 UTC ]
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Trade group calls for the measurement giant to propose an alternative method to reporting viewing metrics. Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2020-07-20 13:00:00 UTC ]
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“Trick Mirror,” “The Last Widow” and “Three Women” were all hardcover bestsellers. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-20 12:00:00 UTC ]
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If you're looking for a summer reading list that highlights American history, including political upheavals and Native American stories, we got you. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-07-20 10:32:42 UTC ]
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The program was first announced in March to encourage digital read-aloud sessions for libraries and schools forced to close by the novel coronavirus outbreak. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-07-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
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