The Bookseller's Tale by Martin Latham review – a literary celebration

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 ]

Other news stories related to: "The Bookseller's Tale by Martin Latham review – a literary celebration"

Booksellers Find Ways to Connect

In the absence of in-person regional trade shows and conferences the past few years, two Midwestern booksellers who craved connection began organizing in-person bookseller gatherings on their own. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Fall Bookseller Gatherings Preview

This season’s regional shows mark the first time that many booksellers have been able to get together in person since the start of the pandemic. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Publishers on the Future of the Regionals

Large houses and small presses discuss the need for face-to-face fall bookseller gatherings. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Programming Highlights Fall 2022

This year’s bookseller gatherings offer plenty of opportunities for meeting authors and illustrators and sharing bookselling tips. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

7 Books That Epitomize Bookseller Noir

Noir has long been obsessed with books—books as objects, as evidence, as repositories of the past, and occasionally as glimpses into other worlds of possibility. It’s no wonder, then, that booksellers often turn up in fiction, and especially in mystery. There’s something intoxicating about the... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2022-07-29 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Amazon Books’ Fantastical Campaign Aims to Inspire Reading in the Scrolling Era

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 ]
More news stories like this

Bookseller, Former ABA Board President Gail See Dead at Age 94

Gail See, a Minneapolis-area bookseller for many years and a leader in Minnesota's literary community, who served as president of the ABA board from 1984-1986, has died at age 94. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Love the Smell of Old Books? This Bookseller Would Like You to Leave.

In his grouchy, funny memoir, “A Factotum in the Book Trade,” Marius Kociejowski writes about what a good bookstore should feel like, famous customers he’s served and more. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-07-18 18:02:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this

The 25 Most Significant New York City Novels From the Last 100 Years

Four writers and one bookseller gathered over Zoom to make a list devoted to fiction in which the city is more than mere setting. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-06-22 09:08:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this

How Big Can the Fall Regional Bookselling Conferences Get?

Executive directors at regional bookseller associations across the country believe that conditions are right for big turnouts at their in-person fall shows. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

ABA to Debut Virtual Children's Conference

The American Booksellers Association is launching a Virtual Children’s Institute on July 13; the daylong digital event includes online education sessions, bookseller idea exchanges, and keynote speeches. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

8 Literary Friendships Told Through Letters

In 1995, I left the Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle to teach English in Vietnam. Around that time, my friend and fellow bookseller Janet Brown traveled to Thailand to teach as well. There was no email then, and overseas phone calls were a luxury. So we wrote to one another, meditating on the... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2022-04-28 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Barnes & Noble is finally offering an audiobook service

Barnes & Noble finally has a direct answer to Amazon's purchase of Audible. The bookseller has launched a B&N Audiobooks service in the US that lets you either buy recordings or pay $15 per month for a subscription that offers one recurring monthly credit. You'll have access to more than... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-04-07 16:21:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Everything Old Is New Again (Maybe?) (shelftalker)

In which a bookseller appreciates the return of old rhythms from a pre-pandemic past. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-02-17 13:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

The beloved Gaza bookstore destroyed by an Israeli airstrike will open again next week.

A brief but happy update: The Bookseller has reported that Samir Mansour Bookshop, the largest bookstore in Gaza, will reopen next week after being destroyed by an Israeli airstrike last May. The reopening was made possible by a GoFundMe campaign led by human rights lawyers Mahvish Rukhsana and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-07 16:07:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Centenary recording of Ulysses to be read by Eddie Izzard, Margaret Atwood and others

More than 100 writers, artists, comedians and musicians will voice James Joyce’s seminal novel in celebration of its publication a century agoOne hundred years ago, in February 1922, Sylvia Beach, owner of the Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company, published James Joyce’s Ulysses, in full, for... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-01-20 09:30:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this

In Defense of Recommending Books You Haven’t Read

Whether you're talking to a bookseller or watching a TikTok, you may be getting a rec from someone who hasn't read the book. And that's okay. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-01-05 11:37:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Ben McFall, ‘the Heart of the Strand,’ Is Dead at 73

He was the longest-tenured bookseller in the history of New York’s most storied bookstore, and he perpetuated its bohemian character. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-12-30 23:42:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Survey says: the Booker is the most important literary prize in the world.

An interesting dispatch from prize world: as The Bookseller reported, a new international survey conducted by Nielsen Book shows publishers, writers, booksellers and media consider the Booker Prize the “most important” literary prize. The Booker’s status isn’t completely out of left field, but... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-12-23 20:28:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this