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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Longtime book representative Charles “Chuck” Morrell died on January 17, after a period of declining health, in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 88. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-23 05:00:00 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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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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Her Denver bookstore, the Tattered Cover, was among the country’s best, and she often found herself in the midst of First Amendment fights. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-01-07 20:10:30 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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With the acquisition of the literary agency Fletcher & Company, UTA added hundreds of authors to its client roster. The deal comes amid consolidation in the entertainment industry. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-01-04 17:18:03 UTC ]
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In a newly reissued photo book from 1967, Ernest Cole surveys the ever-present atrocities of European oppression. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-12-29 10:00:35 UTC ]
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Joyce Meskis, the long-time owner of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Col., has died. She was 80 years old. Meskis was known as an innovative indie bookseller and a champion of free speech. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-27 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Joyce Meskis, the long-time owner of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, has died. She was 80 years old. Meskis was known as an innovative indie bookseller and a champion of free speech. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-27 05:00:00 UTC ]
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From Bloomsbury to the Billboard Hot 100, these audiobooks will hook you based on story alone. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-12-23 10:00:15 UTC ]
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“Thomas Pynchon is a young writer, just twenty, who has previously published fiction in Epoch. He is a Cornell graduate and now lives in Seattle.” Writers know that the time between when a piece is accepted by a literary magazine and when it is actually published can be rather protracted—my... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-21 09:53:25 UTC ]
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Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books bookstore chain in Miami, has launched HUBB — Helping Ukrainian Books and Booksellers. Together with a group of literary friends and booksellers, HUBB is sending its first grant of $10,000 this week. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-21 05:00:00 UTC ]
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‘Tis the season for schadenfreude. Yes, for the sixth year running, we’ve emerged from the bowels of the book review mines trailing behind us an oozing sack of pans—each one riper and more wince-inducing that the last. Among the books being gored and devoured by feral hogs this year: Jared... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-20 09:55:19 UTC ]
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Way back in the mid-aughts when I first started writing about books, pitching a print publication was the only reliable way for book critics to get paid, and third-person point of view was all the vogue. Much has changed in the years since: Newspaper and magazine book sections have shuttered,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-19 09:55:21 UTC ]
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The longtime agent of Samuel R. Delany, Dean Koontz, and Robert Ludlum died November 2. He was 86. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-19 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Beatrice Alemagna’s “You Can’t Kill Snow White,” a picture book for older kids, mines the brutal envy that underpins the original Brothers Grimm tale. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-12-16 17:24:59 UTC ]
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As an author whose own books never find their way to supermarket shelves, it’s frustrating work – but it puts food on my family’s tableOnce a rare species, celebrity authored children’s books have become stalwarts of supermarket books aisles. Perfect for a grandparent hunting a last-minute... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-12-16 10:41:27 UTC ]
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