The novelist on his new collection of journalism, why he regrets criticising Sally Rooney and how he’s never shaken off the influence of JG Ballard“I’ll see your eidolon next Tuesday,” writes Will Self, 61, when I email to arrange a video call to discuss his new collection of journalism, Why Read: Selected Writings 2001-2021, which is centred on the concern (as he later told me, or my on-screen spirit-image) that “people are dumbing down their entire response to their own culture by their unfettered use of social media”. Self’s 26 previous books include Umbrella, shortlisted for the Booker prize in 2012, and its sequels Shark and Phone, the latter a single 624-page paragraph which the Telegraph called an “epic anti-tweet”. Speaking from his home in south London, he said he liked the description “because the book was a deliberate attempt to call people’s attention to what was being lost by the digital. I don’t think the Umbrella trilogy is that hard to read at all; it’s only hard to read in contrast to a tweet. By Donald Trump!”How did you pick the pieces in Why Read?Until fairly recently, certainly since 2001, I probably wrote an average of 150,000 words of journalism every year, so there’s a vast amount to choose from. My New York editor said that in the age of the web, collections like this need a theme or else readers feel they’re just getting a grab bag they could’ve sourced themselves. So the emphasis fell on the impact on reading and writing of what I choose to call... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2022-11-26 18:00:32 UTC ]
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Sales of the six novels in contention for the Man Booker Prize trebled week-on-week following the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Orion Children's Books has acquired a new title by wildlife expert and adventurer, Steve... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel is still in the running for a second Man Booker Prize, with her historical novel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Since the Man Booker longlist was announced in July, Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Faber is teaming up with independent publisher And Other Stories to help give a wider release to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Irvine Welsh has hit out at the Man Booker Prize at the Edinburgh World Writers'... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is to broadcast an evening of readings by this year's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is there a future for tablet-only publications? The last few weeks have cast an ominous shadow over this niche industry following substantial staff cuts at News Corp.'s The Daily and a decision by the Huffington Post to give up on charging for its iPad magazine after just five issues. While... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2012-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Century has acquired a memoir by Carole White, co-founder of Premier Model Management, which has... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Retailers have spoken of “dead” high streets in London as shoppers avoid the West End... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent publishers with titles selected for this year's Man Booker longlist, published... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Two novels that have received praise in the US – 'Bring Up the Bodies' by Hilary Mantel and 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' by Rachel Joyce – made the cut. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three books from Fourth Estate have made it onto the Man Booker Prize for Fiction longlist this... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After 20 years on the newsstand, SmartMoney will end print publication with its September issue and go all digital. Dow Jones, which owns the site (and this one as well), said the print publishing schedule just couldn't keep up with volatile market news. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2012-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man' is the first novel from Nick Dybek, son Stuart Dybek, and centers on a threat to a fishing community's way of life.The title of Nick Dybek's debut novel, "When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man," hints at transitions to come, and the phrase "was still"... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat' is a not-very-filling biography of the late Craig Claiborne, a food editor, restaurant critic and cookbook author who helped shape the modern American food world.The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With ebooks and digital subscription of magazines and newspapers becoming the new hot, many are sending off the message that print is gradually losing or has even already lost to its digital counterpart, while others argue that print is far from dead. Needless to say, being one of the leading... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For Harvey Pekar's Cleveland, Top Shelf and Zip Comics recruited artist Joseph Remnant, whose work recalls longtime Pekar collaborator R. Crumb, but with a lighter touch and a charm all its own. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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South Korean novelist Kyung-sook Shin has won the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize, becoming the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hutchinson has acquired a debut novel by British screenwriter and creative writing lecturer Jenny... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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