Latham, a bookseller for 35 years, has put together a heady mix of history, philosophy, anecdotes and entertaining factsWhat most people know about the American librarian Melvil Dewey is his phenomenal classification technique, the Dewey decimal system, which is still used in 135 countries. Less well known is how he liked to classify people, too. In a chapter entitled “Dubious Dewey”, Martin Latham describes how the great librarian created groups from A to D, banning all in the D group – Jews, African-Americans, Cubans and the “new rich” – from his Lake Placid resort. He was also a prolific groper of women. Latham speculates that Dewey’s hypocrisy, and his “obsessively domineering persona”, were what caused his lifelong constipation and piles.This is a book that is down on banning, rigidity, abuse of power and all kinds of snobbery, bookish and otherwise. It celebrates stories, scribbling in margins and the collecting, cherishing and even kissing of books – something done with surprising frequency, apparently. Latham, a bookseller for 35 years, currently runs Waterstones Canterbury, where he proudly filed the biggest petty cash claim in the chain’s history to pay for the excavation of a Roman bath house under its floor. But this is not one of those funny “anecdotes from a bookshop” books that have recently been popular – though anecdotes there are aplenty. It is rather a history and celebration of all things bookish, from Alexander the Great’s unusual habit of reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-12-19 09:00:45 UTC ]
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The organization, which has had offices in the New York City metro area since its formation in 1900, confirmed this week that it will become a “permanently remote organization” at the end of February. CEO Allison Hill said that the closure “doesn’t change the way we've been working.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-25 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Canadian author Margaret Atwood has received a high honour from France's ministry of culture for her contributions to literature. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2024-01-18 18:47:25 UTC ]
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The anthology “Burn Man” selects from decades of Mark Anthony Jarman’s work, bringing the writer’s lush and searing stories to new readers. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-01-14 10:00:16 UTC ]
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From Richard Osman and Millie Bobby Brown to the upcoming book by Keanu Reeves, celebrity novels are everywhere. What’s behind the boom? And how do non-famous writers feel about it?I understood that if I was going to do it, I would have to put 100% of myself into it,” says Richard Osman about... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-01-13 09:00:12 UTC ]
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The audiobook might be less, well, useful than it is entertainingly honest, unfiltered and even bizarre. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-01-12 10:00:27 UTC ]
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Tamara Megrelishvili, founder of Georgian bookstore Prospero's talks about the impact of diminished tourism, war, and political unease. The post In Tbilisi: Bookseller Tamara Megrelishvili on Sales Trends appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-01-10 17:45:34 UTC ]
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Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency has acquired cookbook-focused literary agency the Ekus Group, which will operate as a boutique culinary division. Owner Sally Ekus will head up representation of cookbook and lifestyle titles as senior literary agent. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Thanks to mild weather and a strong economy, December sales at bookstores across the Midwest were up, with booksellers reporting increases ranging from 13% to 31%. Adult fiction and political nonfiction were popular, as were children's picture books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A Rush of Indian Stories: A Review of Redolent Rush, by Dustin Pickering Book Reviews [email protected] Mon, 01/08/2024 - 14:12 In Redolent Rush, a recent short fiction collection published by Hawakal, based in New Delhi, India, we have nineteen... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-01-08 20:12:06 UTC ]
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The 2022 Survey of Literary Translators' Working Conditions collected data on income, royalties, copyright, and more from the responses of nearly 300 literary translators in the United States. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Reading her audiobook memoir, “How to Say Babylon,” the poet gives voice to her Jamaican roots, her early ambition and the Rastafari father who would have quashed it. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-01-05 13:11:49 UTC ]
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My longtime girlfriend is a longtime bookseller. Her relationship with bookselling predates ours three times over. It is a surprisingly taxing career path—one that asks of the body, and of the mind. There are the bad days, where she brings home the classic bookseller gripes: failed hand-sells,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-01-05 09:56:55 UTC ]
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This bracing anthology of Christopher Hitchens’s work for The London Review of Books is just the ticket. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-01-01 10:02:01 UTC ]
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In “Alice Sadie Celine,” Sarah Blakley-Cartwright’s first novel for adults, a lauded feminist becomes entangled with her daughter’s best friend. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-22 10:00:21 UTC ]
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Not many, according to a new collection of correspondence from a science fiction master. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-18 10:00:54 UTC ]
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Roy Gainsburg, president of St. Martin's Press from 1987 to 1997, died on December 9. He was 91. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A new volume of the Black feminist’s previously unpublished writing is read in audiobook form by a full cast of Black women. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-15 10:00:20 UTC ]
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To the members of the literary community we lost this year, we say a last thank you, and goodbye. You will be missed. * “Belated literary star” Edith Pearlman, who broke out with Binocular Vision at the age of 74, died on January 1. She was 86. Suzy McKee Charnas, award-winning author of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-14 09:51:11 UTC ]
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In 2023, as we do each year, we published thousands of reviews of thousands of new books. But of all the reviews we published, these are the 10 you read the most. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A debut author who used fake accounts to “review bomb” other writers on the influential online platform Goodreads has been dropped by her agent and had her book deal cancelled Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2023-12-13 02:46:01 UTC ]
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