From new voices like NoViolet Bulawayo to rediscovered old voices like James Salter, from Dave Eggers's satire to David Thomson's history of film, writers, Observer critics and others pick their favourite reads of 2013. And they tell us what they hope to find under the tree …Curtis SittenfeldNovelistMy favourite books of 2013 are Drama High (Riverhead) by Michael Sokolove, Sea Creatures (Turnaround) by Susanna Daniel, and & Sons (Harper Collins) by David Gilbert. Drama High is incredibly smart, moving non-fiction about an American drama teacher who for four decades coaxed sophisticated and nuanced theatrical performances out of teenage students who weren't privileged or otherwise remarkable and in so doing, changed their conceptions of what they could do with their lives. Sea Creatures is a gripping, beautifully written novel about the mother of a selectively mute three-year-old boy; when she takes a job ferrying supplies to a hermit off the coast of Florida, her world is upended. & Sons is a fabulously clever, warm-hearted novel about fathers, sons, literature, art, lust, envy, fraudulence, and Manhattan.As for a book I'd love to be given, Mohsin Hamid has recently been writing wonderful columns for the New York Times that make me curious about his novels. If Santa's reading this, I believe I'll start with How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (Hamish Hamilton).Hilary MantelNovelistTime to recall the more energising parts of the year's reading: Kate Atkinson's... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury has created an ebook to mark of the 150th edition of the Wisden Cricketers'... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A German court has ruled that digital books cannot be resold by purchasers. The German District... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Givers across the country are gearing up to take part in this evening's World Book Night,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Printed book sales fell below the £20m market last week - for the first time in almost 11... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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World Book Night 2013 is being marked by a free hand out of 500,000 books and hundreds of literary events around the country. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jingdong, China's third place commercial online bookstore, is boosting its challenge to Dangdang and Amazon's dominance by focusing on service and international titles. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The China Shanghai International Book Fair is launching a new children’s book fair, which... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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L.A. Times Festival of Books: Joyce Carol Oates, Carol Burnett, Lemony Snicket and Jamaica Kincaid are among the 500 authors appearing at this weekend's festival for readers of all ages.Since background-check legislation was voted down in the Senate on Thursday, Adam Winkler, author of... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The books series cited as being most often subject to complaints in 2012, as determined by a study by the American Library Association, wes Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants books. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This week's London Book Fair saw a return to the hectic fair auctions of pre-recession years... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The first book printed in America is expected to fetch up to $30m (£20m) when it goes under the hammer in New York later this year. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As World Book Night approaches again, a list of rankings shows where volunteers – who give away free books on April 23 – are most heavily clustered in the US. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of printed books jumped more than £1m last week, after the value of the market hit a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Pulitzer Prize for fiction has been won by author Adam Johnson for his novel based in North Korea, The Orphan Master's Son. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books with first hand accounts of life in North Korea are rare, so John Sweeney's Zombie Nation and Jang Jin-Sung's Crossing the Border are generating unique buzz at the London Book Fair. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The most-challenged book series of 2012 was the 'Captain Underpants' books by Dav Pilkey. Former list-toppers 'ttyl' and 'The Hunger Games' are missing from the list entirely. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon’s quest for industry domination is “scary” and it could have the ability... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book publishing has been famously slow to embrace technology, but some industry executives are hoping it's never too late to change. Taking a page from the tech community, an independent publisher and a top talent agency will announce Monday that they have joined forces to host the first-ever... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2013-04-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new James B. Hunt Library at North Carolina State University shows what can happen when you marry a library with cutting-edge technology and interesting design--plus an automated librarian. In a digital age where many commentators tolled the death knell for the book-bound library, we’ve... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Years of quiet sacrifice boil dry as a father in his late 50s fears he's losing everying, including his beloved daughter."Parental love is the sacrifice made in silence," says Jorgen Hofmeester, the protagonist of "Tirza," Arnon Grunberg's latest translated novel. In "Tirza," the quiet martyrdom... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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