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 bought world English rights in the first three books in a seven-book fantasy... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Target, the first brick-and-mortar store to sell the Kindle, will soon pull Amazon’s popular e-reader from its shelves. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2012-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital book sales have gone up 54% in the past year to £243m but total book sales have fallen by 2%. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2012-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Consumer ebook sales increased by 366% to £92m in 2011, with sales across all digital... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Science fiction publisher Tor UK has announced it will stop using the technology that restricts copying from all of its ebooks, in a possible precedent for the industry. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 'My Life as a Sportswriter,' the Sports Illustrated writer reminisces on his time chronicling the offbeat and the mainstream in sports.A bio on NPR's website of its commentator Frank Deford notes that the magazine GQ christened him, quite simply, "the world's greatest sportswriter." (Is he?)... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Byliner.com, a digital publishing company, withdrew the ebook “After Friday Night Lights” by Buzz Bissinger from Amazon because of a pricing dispute involving a promotional giveaway. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Coming up first: A Metro-style Nook e-reader app for Windows 8 that will be available to U.S. and international users. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ben Hur and Casablanca are among the film scripts to be released as ebooks for the first time by Warner Bros. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Steve Kloves, the screenwriter who brought all seven Harry Potter books to the big screen, is in talks to direct a live action remake of The Jungle Book. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Weidenfeld & Nicolson has acquired one of the hotly-tipped books of London Book Fair, Golden... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Haymarket Books, the book publishing arm of Chicago’s progressive Center for Economic Research and Social Change, has enjoyed a 43% spike in sales this year, driven by a hot title and the Occupy movement. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital Rights Management software was originally meant to restrict pirating of ebooks, but many complain because of the restrictions it places on users. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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LONDON (Dow Jones)--Pearson PLC (PSON.LN), the publisher of the Financial Times newspaper and Penguin books, Friday produced a healthy rise in first-quarter revenue, but warned profit will be down in the first half of 2012 due to seasonal effects an ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Emily Smith, executive director of Lookout Books, has been in and out of the office more in the past few months than she has been in years, thanks to the success of her imprint’s very first release, a collection of new and previously published work from a 75-year-old master of the short story,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The publishing industry has a problem. The old guard haven't innovated. And neither their business models nor their products embrace the digital books revolution. Take the ongoing and complicated spat between Apple and the Justice Department over the agency pricing model and alleged collusion... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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JoJo Moyes’ Me Before You has come top of an online voting poll for the Richard and Judy... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Man Booker-longlisted novel A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvette Edwards, published by small... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The value of the UK's book exports rose a little over 3% to £1,741.5m in 2011,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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World Book Night founder Jamie Byng spoke about the "need" for stories as the 2012... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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