An online debate is occuring at The Independent examining the value of prizes for literature produced by women, specifically in the context of whether the Women’s Prize for Fiction should be eliminated.
Debate: Do We Need a Women’s Prize for Fiction? Read More »
Our book choice for April 2013 is The Blindfold by Siri Hustvedt. This will be our second Hustvedt choice, our Christmas 2005 selection was The Enchantment of Lily Dahl. Iris Vegan, a young, impoverished graduate student from the Midwest, finds herself entangled with four powerful but threatening characters as she tries to adjust to life in New York City.
In celebrating World Book Day, thousands of children around the globe dress up in costumes. In a piece at BBC.co.uk, Dominic Casciani raises a concern that there is too much focus on the commercialised aspects of the day — costumes, plastic figurines, flamboyant parties and the like — and not enough where it should be: on books.
Dressing Up for World Book Day Read More »
Our book choice for March 2013 is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River.
Our book choice for February 2013 is Therese Raquin by Emile Zola. One of Zola’s most famous realistic novels, Therese Raquin is a clinically observed, sinister tale of adultery and murder among the lower classes in nineteenth-century Parisian society.
The Chinese are snapping up copies of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, a title which (reportedly) took eight years to translate. The original print run of 8,000 copies were sold in less than a month, after a Beijing marketing blitz promoted the title on billboards across the city.
Finnegans Wake a Surprise Hit in China Read More »
We should say from the start, this is not passing judgment in any way on the books behind these truly awful covers captured for (digital) posterity at the Lousy Book Covers tumblr.
The mass-migration to digital books continued in 2012, as sales of printed books fell by £74 million, according to Nielsen BookScan. It was only wildfire sales of EL James’ Fifty Shades trilogy which slowed the rate of decline to 4.6% over 2011 sales of printed books.
Book Sales Rise but Revenue Down in 2012 Read More »
Consider it another front on the battle of the e-readers. An eagle-eyed Barnes & Noble customer in the US spotted a distinctly disturbing change in the text of his digital copy of Tolstoy’s classic War & Peace: several words throughout the book had been replaced, namely the words “kindle” had been replaced by “Nook”.
Tolstoy Text in Sneaky Switcheroo Read More »
The book choice for January 2013 is Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford. Love in a Cold Climate focuses on the love life of young heiress Polly Hampton, a friend and neighbor of the Radletts.
Love in a Cold Climate Read More »
