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SECRETS are being whispered from inside the archive boxes of the State Library of Victoria. ''Open me,'' they seem to say, ''and I will tell you a tale beyond words.'' From the pocket-sized, hand-stamped books of abstract artist Robert Jacks to a large, monochromatic volume by Tate Adams, or the seemingly opaque glass sheets of Klaus Zimmer's Grey Book, each tale offers its own journey of revelation. Pages unfold in sculptural form, a glass sheet is held up to the light, and with each turn, an artwork is revealed and the narrative deepens. . . .
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The recent publication of "Point Omega," a novel by Don DeLillo, reminded me of an ongoing pact I have with myself. Attempting to follow the advice of Barry Hannah, the author of more than a dozen books, I vowed some time ago to read Mr. DeLillo’s oeuvre. . . .
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A campaign to encourage older people to join book clubs and even write their own novels has been launched. . . .
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In front of cameras and on the pages of widely promoted books, the wives of a few high-profile cheating husbands have been finding and broadcasting their own voices, a pronounced shift that has some who study infidelity applauding. . . .
ps. Wives cheat too.
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Cal Poly will roll out a new book rental program in the fall to give university students a cheaper option for finding their course texts. . . .
I was an underliner, and in the margins note-taker. Is this the end of that?
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What I’ve learned from 30 years of teaching The Merchant of Venice . . .
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The climactic moment in William Faulkner’s 1942 novel “Go Down, Moses” comes when Isaac McCaslin finally decides to open his grandfather’s leather farm ledgers with their “scarred and cracked backs” and “yellowed pages scrawled in fading ink” — proof of his family’s slave-owning past. Now, what appears to be the document on which Faulkner modeled that ledger as well as the source for myriad names, incidents and details that populate his fictionalized Yoknapatawpha County has been discovered. . . .
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Readers are what every novelist really wants, so isn't it about time that a reader offered them some advice? I've never written a novel, and don't expect to ever do so, but I've read thousands. More to the point, I've started 10 times the number of books that I've finished. . . .
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Story of his experience of the fatwa 'needs to be told' says author, as his archive goes on display in America.
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The issue of copyright is a global nightmare for anyone interested in digital preservation . . .
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Boys read as much as girls, but prefer the simpler books
First the good news: boys are reading as much as girls. Now the bad: the books they choose are far less challenging and easier to comprehend than those selected by girls, and this gets worse as they grow older. . . .
"Boys read as much as girls..."Another good article. Sounds right, from my experience. What I thought curious was the author saying most people don't challenge themselves as they get older. I suppose that is true, too.
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Barred from Traveling, Writer Liao Yiwu Speaks to German Readers in Open Letter
On March 1, 2010, in the Chengdu airport, dissident writer Liao Yiwu (廖亦武) was taken by police off a plane bound for Beijing, where he had planned to fly on his way to attend lit.Cologne, a literature festival in Cologne, Germany. Liao was interrogated at a local police station for several hours. Upon his release, he was told not to leave his house “during this period.” At Liao’s request, Human Rights in China (HRIC) is releasing a letter from Liao to his German readers in both the original Chinese and in English translation (below). . . .
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Mills and Boon answer call of India's new middle class for English novels
Publishers predict India will become the world's biggest market for books in the English language within a decade
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Last year we had fun comparing the U.S. and U.K. book cover designs of a sample of the Rooster contenders, . . .
Stephen wrote: "Judging Books by Their Covers: U.S. Vs. U.K."Very nice post. Thanks for catching that.
The art work was fasinating, Stephen. I often wonder, after reading a book, what on earth the cover artist envisioned while interpreting the piece. Thanks from me, too.
Gail wrote: "The art work was fasinating, Stephen. I often wonder, after reading a book, what on earth the cover artist envisioned while interpreting the piece. Thanks from me, too."Actually, having met a couple of book designers, the truth may be that they do not read the book at all, but only the book jacket. Sadly. We like to think of them as cerebral, perhaps. Maybe the ones designing the romance book jackets read them, but I tend to think not. The more lurid the better, in that case.
Trish: Indeed.I've often been moved to buy a book (well, perhaps nudged further toward buying a book) because of the use of old, sepia-toned or colored-by-the-old- photographer-artists, photos, espcially but not limited to women. The pictures often draw me in to what I hopefully imagine is an accutate, although ficitonal, depiction of the past. The recent trade paper edition of Anna Karenina springs immediately to mind. Also, there's a terrific modern photo on the trade paper edtion of Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands. And years ago I read a book called Anna with a marvelous antique photo on the front. It haunts me even now.
I've often been moved to buy a book (well, perhaps nudged further toward buying a book) because of the use of old, sepia-toned or colored-by-the-old- photographer-artists, photos,..."Absolutely. I am a book-jacket-lover myself. I am often sucked in. Imagine my distress, therefore, to discover...but I'm sure the art is still art...I actually think more of them for coming up with something so suitable on so little information. Now that's inspiration.
So lucky for those who have it, don't you think? I wish I'd been born with a bit of it. Oh well, someone's got to be there to enjoy the creative work of others, I guess.
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They revolutionised British design though Ikea; gave us fast fashion at H&M and, of course, we thanked them for the music of Abba. Now the Swedes are taking over in the world of British page and screen. . . .
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Amazon, Diamond Deal with Aftermath of Computer Pricing Snafu
Live-by-the-discount, die-by-the-discount, part II
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I love all the new literary platforms filling my days with fresh pickings, but I also miss taking one book at a time
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Nonfiction has long been treated as the lutefisk on the literary menu, unlikely to be the special of the day. The genre emits a whiff of the déclassé, served (especially in literature departments) with a garnish of condescension. The problem starts with the word: Like "childless" (why not "child-free"?), "nonfiction" packs a lot of social judgment. Nonfiction may be real, but in matters of creativity, it's not quite the real thing. . . .
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He is the publishing colossus behind Britain's superstar authors. How does Dan Franklin stay ahead? He talks to Susanna Rustin about McEwan, Amis – and the death of the boozy lunch . . .
Stephen wrote: "Dan Franklin: 'I am a tart. I am deeply shallow'"I really like that bit about the difference between a publisher and an agent is that being an agent is likened to "having sex but not able to achieve orgasm."
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Do Irish writers engage with contemporary life or are they stuck in the past? As the debate around this question continues on our letters page and elsewhere, EILEEN BATTERSBY argues that while some writers catch the frenzy of the moment, others who deal with the past are not looking back, but investigating today . . .
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Novels don't have to be long to say something — just look at A Clockwork Orange, The Great Gatsby and The Outsider, all of which barely break the 100-page barrier and fit nicely in your back pocket
Stephen wrote: "Novels don't have to be long to say something ..."I absolutely agree with this. I still think authors who write very long books must have egos of comparable size--
Miss you when you don't post, Stephen.
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I appreciate the fact that you at least try to read the posts Trish. I sometimes I feel I'm talking to a group of three.
Stephen wrote: "I sometimes I feel I'm talking to a group of three...I don't think your posts are that visible because the system set up only sends emails to those who post on a thread, and displays recent comments only to group members after the most verbose (no. of comments) threads to which they belong are shown, which entails too much scrolling through crapola. There has to be a better way to showcase these thought-provoking articles, which are infinitely more interesting than the usual chit-chat.
I just bookmarked this particular discussion/thread, so that I can refer to it/read it without having to scroll and scroll and scroll through some, er, other material I might not want to deal with on a busy or crabby day.Stephen, your efforts are always appreciated. I hope that your health difficulties will soon be resolved to your satisfaction.
And back to posts 164/165: it was my experience that boys were more interested in nonfiction---not always of course, but often, and would attempt works much above their supposed "reading level" if sufficiently motivated by fascination with a particular subject. As for when we get older: I'm mixed on my opinion there. While it's true that I often just laze right out with a literate and, one hopes, witty detective story, I still challenge myself with unread or, sadly, forgotten masterpieces. I must have done the same when I was younger, else how to explain the huge number of mysteries I read in my youth, as well as the almost incessant/obsessive re-readings of certain authors? At least the re-reading part has lessened with increasing age. That's an interesting, thought-provoking article.
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For once, the story about the Orange Prize is not that the women-only prize excludes half of the writing population from its consideration.
We've probably got used to that, just as we're used to prizes with other apparently random exclusions – first novels, second novels, novelists under 35, first-time novelists over 40 (the McKitterick Prize). No, the controversy raised this time is over something less surprising. Women write terrible novels, too. . . .
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Ian Rankin thinks crime novelists have been placed at the bottom of our literary hierachy. But who's topping the pile?
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Russia has been accused of abandoning its literary past after it emerged that the Kremlin has no plans to mark the centenary of Leo Tolstoy's death, and an acclaimed film of "Anna Karenina" has failed to find distributors. . . .
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Mr. Shields’s book consists of 618 fragments, including hundreds of quotations taken from other writers like Philip Roth, Joan Didion and Saul Bellow — quotations that Mr. Shields, 53, has taken out of context and in some cases, he says, “also revised, at least a little — for the sake of compression, consistency or whim.” He only acknowledges the source of these quotations in an appendix, which he says his publishers’ lawyers insisted he add. . . .
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John McNally's After the Workshop, Peter Bognanni's The House of Tomorrow, and James Greer's The Failure . . .
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The lives of a black abolitionist and a fugitive slave show the violent tensions of pre-Civil War America
Stephen wrote: "Barnes&Noble Sold!"Things change, life goes on. Spend a lot of time imagining how it will be, but just come up with faster and more prevalent online reading devices--something like iPads.
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Each episode of HARDCOVER MYSTERIES pairs an author with an incredible real-life case close to their heart, whether it inspired one of their own creations, mirrors the themes presented in their bestsellers or resonates with their personal life story. For example, crime novelist David Baldacci examines the 1964 murder of Mary Meyer, a Washington D.C. socialite and confidante to President John F. Kennedy, which partially the basis for his first best-seller, "Absolute Power."
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“A lot of adult literature is all art and no heart,” Foreman, who is currently working on a book about British involvement in the American Civil War, said. “But good Y.A. is like good television. There’s a freshness there; it’s engaging. Y.A. authors aren’t writing about middle-aged anomie or disappointed people.”
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To much fanfare, [Jeffery:] Deaver was recently invited by Ian Fleming Publications to pen a James Bond novel, for publication next summer. Provisionally entitled Project X, the book will follow on the heels of Devil May Care, Sebastian Faulks’s colossally successful homage to Bond which, to date, has sold around half a million copies worldwide.
Literary News Stories
Books mentioned in this topic
The Farm (other topics)The Red Tree (other topics)
The Gate to Women's Country (other topics)
The Song of Achilles (other topics)
Parable of the Sower (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Joanne Ramos (other topics)Sheri S. Tepper (other topics)
Ed Lynskey (other topics)
"This is obviously a misguided Flanimal Rights group or an organised gang of eight-year-olds," said the comedian. "Just like the books, the thieves will fold under questioning." The publisher said the theft would not affect availability. . . .