Fiction Photo by Peter Boccia / Unsplash After renting a room in an Indian family’s house in England, the Croatian tenant becomes privy to one member’s dreams of return. “This is it!” Parvati, a young Indian woman, shows me a tiny room with scarcely space for a bed, a chest-of-drawers, and a chair. The place is so small we can barely both fit in it. The walls are covered in scruffy wallpaper, moisture has accumulated near the windows, and the curtains smell of dust. So, the room is minute, the house is neglected, the street is nondescript, and it is a long way from the city center. They told me it is known as Little Asia. It’s not ideal, but I don’t have a lot of money. I moved to England two weeks ago and urgently need a place to lay my head. Parvati is charging a reasonable rent, and I don’t need much. Also, I like her family. Her husband, Arjun, and two sons with big brown eyes greeted me excitedly when I entered the house. “I’ll take it!” I nod. Parvati claps her hands joyfully and then steps to the window and opens the curtains. “And here is the garden,” she says timidly. I peep out of the window. Before my eyes emerges a typical English backyard, only this one is entirely overgrown and unkempt. You can barely see to the fence, it is so overrun with ivy. The roof of the garden-shed has collapsed, the walls are higgledy-piggledy, and it looks as if the whole lot is about to collapse. Potted plants, rain-soaked toys,... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2021-06-07 20:25:08 UTC ]
Is there anything better than (safe, socially distanced, double masked, sanitized) browsing at your local indie? I was having the crumbiest day the other day, and I passed by my local bookstore (the Greenlight on Flatbush, if you know it) as I was running errands. Well, I couldn’t not go in.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-09 13:30:25 UTC ]
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Yesterday’s slate of Super Bowl commercials can be divided into two heavily-overlapping camps: cringey pop-culture nostalgia garbage fronted by stars you hoped were better than that, and expensive “unify the divided country through capitalism” garbage fronted by stars you hoped were better than... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-08 16:56:30 UTC ]
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At Philadelphia’s Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books, bookstore manager Evisa Gallman sees a long future for herself in bookselling. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
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After 27 years, Jeff Bezos, the entrepreneur who turned an online bookstore into one of the most powerful companies in the world, announced his plans to step down as Amazon CEO. In an email to employees on Tuesday, Bezos said the transition will come in Q3, at which point he will become... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2021-02-02 21:43:59 UTC ]
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On February 2, 1922, Sylvia Beach, through her legendary bookstore and occasional imprint Shakespeare and Company, published the entirety of James Joyce’s modernist novel, Ulysses. (It was also Joyce’s 40th birthday.) Two years later, she sought to have at least some of it recorded in Joyce’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-02 15:29:36 UTC ]
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Some fun news (thank goodness!): China’s first 3D-printed bookstore has just been built in Shanghai and is scheduled to open to the public at the end of January. With a floor area of thirty square meters, it can accommodate fifteen readers at a time. The bookstore is in Wisdom Bay Innovation... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-28 16:35:33 UTC ]
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Given that we’re all justifiably afraid about the breath of others right now, it’s a weird time to be dating. While the warmer months at least offered the possibility of outdoor meetings, now it’s winter and, like all other things, dating has become an exercise in futility and endless Zoom... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-28 15:42:07 UTC ]
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More than twenty years ago, walking into a foreign bookstore in Tokyo, the first thing I noted was a slightly musty yet soothing scent. It came from the paper used for these books and magazines, which had been shipped from overseas—the paper either thicker or thinner, and certainly rougher, than... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-27 09:48:22 UTC ]
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How one bookseller found herself idiotsplaining a certain bookstore bathroom predicament to the legendary musician Lou Reed. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-01-25 11:34:00 UTC ]
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Before I spotted Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia on the shelves of a Borders bookstore near my Pennsylvania college, I had never seen a book about a Saudi woman before. Princess, according to its book jacket, which featured a fully veiled woman in high heels, was... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-25 09:48:19 UTC ]
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It’s rare to see Raven Leilani’s Luster next to Doctor De Soto, William Steig’s children’s book about a mouse that performs dental surgery—but this is par for the course at Oh Hello Again, Seattle’s newest bookshop. Oh Hello Again, rather than shelving books by genre and author, categorizes... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-22 16:19:24 UTC ]
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Notorious fake journalist and target of deadly vegan milkshakes Andy Ngo has a new book coming out called “something something Antifa is under your bed” or some shit; after a small protest yesterday at Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon (where Ngo is from), the store—which is one of the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-12 15:29:06 UTC ]
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The Jagriti Publishing House and its bookstore are Razia Rahman Joly's memorial to her slain husband, publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan. The post AAP’s 2020 Freedom to Publish Award: Bangladesh’s Jagriti Publishing House appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-12-17 19:19:51 UTC ]
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When I was young my parents enrolled me in a speed-reading course, which was held in what felt like the basement of a used bookstore on a former main street in a town just west of Kansas City. The post A Year in Reading: Farooq Ahmed appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2020-12-16 16:00:11 UTC ]
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Independent Denver bookstore BookBar has launched its new publishing division, BookBar Press, with the publication of an anthology of micro-plays written by area playwrights. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-15 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Denver's iconic Tattered Cover Bookstore, which has been owned by Len Vlahos and Kristen Gilligan since 2015, has been sold to two entrepreneurs and Denver natives, Kwame Spearman and David Back. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
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My local bookstore is long, narrow, and outlined in wooden bookshelves. It’s wedged in an old Victorian building that sits across from the Salish Sea, where orcas, seals, and otters are frequently sighted. It smells like paper and salt water, and holds some 3,000 titles that reveal to tourists... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-07 09:49:19 UTC ]
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YES! The volunteer-run, collectively owned radical bookstore and activist center Bluestockings is reopening in a new location after shutting down over the summer and fall. In July, Bluestockings announced they were shutting down their original location at 172 Allen Street for both pandemic and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-03 16:23:15 UTC ]
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In the mood for a little holiday shopping? You know what they say: November is the new December! Who says that? Independent bookstores that need your support now! So here are a dozen new books hitting shelves today. Go forth! * Ernest Cline, Ready Player Two (Ballantine) “This sequel, nine years... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-24 12:39:52 UTC ]
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We’ve got a star-studded stack of new books today, folks! To name a few: President Barack Obama’s memoir, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend creator and star Rachel Bloom’s musings, Julia Child’s culinary wisdom, and Steve Martin’s cartoon pigeons (???). You can get them all at your local bookstore today! *... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-17 15:30:14 UTC ]
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