A deliciously original study of the cheap editions of Pride and Prejudice and other novels – ignored by literary scholars – casts new light on her readershipJane Austen aficionados think that they know the story of their favourite author’s posthumous dis-appearance and then re-emergence. For half a century after she died in 1817, her books were little known or read. A few discriminating admirers such as George Henry Lewes and Lord Macaulay kept the flame of her reputation burning, but most novelists and novel readers were oblivious to her. Then, in 1869, her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published a memoir about her and the public got interested. Her novels started being republished and widely read. She has never looked back.Janine Barchas’s The Lost Books of Jane Austen puts us right. Her book about books is a beautifully illustrated exploration, indeed compendium, of the popular editions of Austen’s novels that have appeared over the last two centuries. This includes those decades when Austen was supposedly lost from sight. The first chapter is a “vignette” on a copy of Sense and Sensibility, published in 1851 for George Routledge’s Railway Library (books suitable for reading on the train). It cost one shilling and was bought for the 13-year-old Gertrude Wallace, the youngest daughter of a Plymouth naval officer. It is the first of many examples of cheap and popular editions of Austen’s work that kept it alive for ordinary readers and that literary scholars have... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-12-11 07:30:31 UTC ]
Penguin Michael Joseph has signed a “unique” Holocaust memoir about the unlikely friendship between a young Jewish girl and a stray cat by Mala Kacenberg. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-26 02:08:45 UTC ]
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Canongate has scooped a personal memoir from Scottish writer and visual artist Amanda Thomson. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-24 15:10:24 UTC ]
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Antrim’s memoir offers an unvarnished portrait of suicidal thinking and finding a way out. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-22 12:00:00 UTC ]
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A memoir and a history of Iran’s turbulent 20th-century politics, one comic strip frame at a time. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-10-21 15:21:11 UTC ]
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The Times would later call this 1995 memoir of a hardscrabble Texas childhood “one of the best books ever written about growing up in America.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-10-21 14:55:16 UTC ]
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This brilliant 1976 memoir evokes the author’s Chinese immigrant family and summons the ghosts who haunt it. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-10-21 14:55:13 UTC ]
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Britney Spears’s younger sister has had her offer to give proceeds from her forthcoming book to the non-profit organisation This Is My Brave turned downJamie Lynn Spears’s offer to donate some of the proceeds from her forthcoming memoir to a mental health organisation has been declined after a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-10-20 11:37:23 UTC ]
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Australian dramatist David Williamson’s new book is a mash up of memoir and autobiography, which casts himself as a former ‘plunderer’ of other’s lives. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2021-10-20 03:57:12 UTC ]
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Schiff’s “Midnight in Washington” is that rare memoir by a politician that actually has something to say. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-10-19 18:00:03 UTC ]
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In his memoir “Unprotected,” Billy Porter recounts his lifelong struggle to heal the deep wounds buried under the sheen of his charismatic presence. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-10-19 09:00:04 UTC ]
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A book that takes place in one day offers immersion in a character’s life and consciousness, with the added resonance of a creative constraint that mirrors our own lived experience of 24 hours with changing light, ticking numbers, and the book-ends of sleep. My attempt to try this in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-10-19 08:50:02 UTC ]
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Scholastic has swooped on Welcome to St Hell, a "groundbreaking" YA memoir about being a trans teen, written and illustrated by influencer and filmmaker Lewis Hancox. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-18 19:31:24 UTC ]
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Fiction that lazily predicts a dystopian, ecologically decimated world is doomed to fail; instead novelists must engage on a new level with the climate crisis Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-18 12:54:39 UTC ]
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Dave Grohl's memoir The Storyteller (S&S) was one of the critics most reviewed this week, picking up mentions in The Bookseller, the Observer, Guardian, Times, Sunday Times and Irish Times. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-17 21:25:03 UTC ]
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The longtime anchor’s memoir settles scores and reexamines some regrettable choices. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-15 07:39:38 UTC ]
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Amor Towles’s 'The Lincoln Highway,' which became this month’s Read with Jenna pick for the Jenna Bush Hager Book Club, hit #1 overall. Plus Grunge god Dave Grohl, the Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman, has the #2 book in the country this week with his memoir The Storyteller'. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-10-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Like the complex Philippine history the book aims to depict, there is no single sentence that can sum up Albert Samaha’s Concepcion, especially when he renders that history through the lens of his own diasporic family, dating back to his ancestors’ first encounter with Europeans. Though... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-10-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Granta Magazine has opened submissions for the fifth edition of its Best of Young British Novelists list, to be released in spring 2023. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-13 08:19:00 UTC ]
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In “Those We Throw Away Are Diamonds,” Mondiant Dogon, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, recounts a saga of horror, frustration and hope. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-10-12 09:00:07 UTC ]
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“Concepcion,” by Albert Samaha, combines the epic sweep of global history with an intimate family narrative. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-10-12 09:00:07 UTC ]
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