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 ]
Raj Haldar looks to delight "word nerds" as he presents No Reading Allowed as a panelist at the Children’s Book & Author Dinner at BookExpo Online. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Editors from several South Asian news publishers including The Quint (India), The Hindu (India), Times of India (India) and The Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2020-05-26 18:00:38 UTC ]
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Find out how some libraries are shifting summer reading programs into digital spaces, maintaining their communities, and learning from the process. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-05-26 10:33:13 UTC ]
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A Murdoch media exclusive about China covering up the origin of Covid-19 appears to be based on an unclassified US state department reference paper It was touted as a world exclusive – a “bombshell dossier” that exposed China’s “batty science” and backed up Donald Trump and US claims that... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-05-26 09:08:59 UTC ]
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Although it was the nineteenth century when the novel arguably came into its own, with novelists like Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, George Eliot, and the Brontë sisters writing novels that are still widely read and studied today, the eighteenth century was the age in which the novel emerged as a... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2020-05-23 14:00:38 UTC ]
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Parisian bookstore and lending library Shakespeare and Company is digitizing decades of its records, revealing the reading habits of its famous patrons. The post The Reading Habits of Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2020-05-22 20:30:26 UTC ]
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As stores slowly reopen, commisson reps see a host of issues they will need to navigate to have a successful second half of 2020. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Indigo has reopened less than 10% of its bookstores across Canada and will close 15 outlets permanently this summer. In Winnipeg, McNally Robinson says customers are returning, but sales are still down 60% from last year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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“The Poster,” edited by Gill Saunders and Margaret Timmers of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, is a beautiful survey of the medium. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-05-21 14:34:13 UTC ]
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If you think lit fic endings are all sorrow or question marks, think again. Here are some happy literary fiction books that will leave you hopeful. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-05-21 10:34:27 UTC ]
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We've got suggestions for classics to rediscover, what to read if your brother is driving you nuts, plus ideas to help you process this whole Covid situation. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2020-05-20 12:00:00 UTC ]
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On May 21st at 7:30 pm. EST Community Bookstore is hosting a virtual conversation about Curzio Malaparte’s Diary of a Foreigner in Paris between writer Gary Indiana and NYRB Classics editor Edwin Frank. You can register for free and learn more here. * Curzio Malaparte is a phrasemaker before... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-20 08:48:48 UTC ]
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The billionaire philanthropist’s regular reading list is informed by the coronavirus crisis, with books about pandemics, how to survive difficult times, and what policies can help us recover Bill Gates, who has spent years warning the world about pandemics and whose foundation is now supporting... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2020-05-18 13:00:16 UTC ]
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The juiciest fashion memoir of the year is out. But is it a tell-all, a tragedy or a harbinger of things to come? Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-05-14 15:03:20 UTC ]
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Emily St. John Mandel, Susan Orlean, T.C Boyle, Marlon James and others share apocalypse reading picks. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-05-13 18:56:28 UTC ]
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On this episode of Personal Space: The Memoir Show, Sari Botton interviews Maggie Downs, author of the memoir and travelogue, Braver Than You Think: Around the World On the Trip of My (Mother’s) Lifetime about the year she spent traveling around the world, fulfilling many of her mother’s unmet... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-11 18:38:48 UTC ]
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Check out our THE NICKEL BOYS book club questions and discussion summary to help you prepare for your next book club discussion. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-05-11 10:35:51 UTC ]
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Sink into an excellent adult book for YA readers with these must-read crossover books featuring the themes you love in YA literature. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-05-11 10:33:44 UTC ]
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Editors and agents have backed escapism and feel-good fiction to succeed during the pandemic and in its aftermath, with Covid-19 fiction appearing to be some way off. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-10 15:38:41 UTC ]
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Reading is a natural act of social distancing, though that hasn’t always been so. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-05-09 11:00:00 UTC ]
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