“Signs on the doors of two Coolidge Corner bookstores told a tale challenging the conventional wisdom. The one at Barnes & Noble said ‘Closed.’ The one on the independent Brookline Booksmith welcomed the chain’s customers and solicited their suggestions. Now, three months after Barnes & Noble departed, Booksmith savors modest growth in the midst of a recession that’s battering most retailers.” And it’s not alone.
Category: publishing
When Libraries Fill In For Social Services
“Libraries across the country are seeing double-digit increases in patronage, often from 10 percent to 30 percent, over previous years. But in some cities, this new popularity — some would call it overtaxing — is pushing libraries in directions not seen before, with librarians dealing with stresses that go far beyond overdue fines and misshelved books.”
Diaz, Leavitt Shortlisted For Dublin’s Lavish Lit Prize
“Junot Diaz’s ‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,’ winner of a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Critics Circle award, was selected as one of eight finalists in the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, worth 100,000 euros ($132,200). Diaz joined David Leavitt and a mix of authors born in countries as diverse as France and Pakistan in the final round of the contest, billed as the world’s richest prize for a single work of fiction published in English.”
France’s Equivalent Of The Scarlet Letter Becomes A Political Football
La Princesse de Clèves is a 17th-century novel “that most French people are force-fed at school and are happy never to read again.” President Nicolas Sarkozy has made a habit of mocking the book, and now his “personal vendetta – cloaked in anti-elitist demagoguery – has managed to turn The Princess of Cleves into an unlikely symbol of political resistance.”
What To Read On The Subway When Service Is Cut
“Thankfully, the inability of state and city to set aside their differences and craft sustainable legislation on the transportation issue has been amply addressed in print. […] Or perhaps you’re in the mood for something that will make you feel a little more grateful to be standing on the platform.”
Microsoft Bankrolls Challenger To Google Books Settlement
“Last October, Google settled the lawsuit brought against it by book publishers and authors concerning its massive book-scanning project. … The only obstacle remaining for the settlement to take effect is final court approval.” It’s unsurprising that one interested party that’s “nudging its way into the settlement is an internet-issues-oriented group from New York Law School. But what does raise an eyebrow is the source of New York Law’s funding on this matter: Microsoft.”
Booker Judges Give Back, Sort Of, Planting Oaks In Essex
“Booker Prize judges have planted an avenue of oak trees in a symbolic gesture over felled timber used to produce books entered for the prize. The group, led by Michael Portillo – chair of last year’s panel, planted 13 saplings in a woodland site in Essex. They mark the ‘Booker Dozen’ – the 13 titles long-listed for the prestigious award every year.”
R. Crumb Redraws The Book Of Genesis
The underground comics superstar has finished his long-awaited take on the first book of the Good Book. “My problem was, how am I going to draw God? Should I just draw him as a light in the sky that has dialogue balloons coming out from it? Then I had this dream. God came to me in this dream, only for a split second, but I saw very clearly what he looked like.”
What The Fatwa Did
“Nobody would have the balls today to write The Satanic Verses, let alone publish it.” Hanif Kureishi, a Pakistani-British writer whose work (My Beautiful Laundrette, My Son the Fanatic) has roiled the U.K. Muslim community more than once, talks about how the anti-Rushdie fatwa changed his own writing.
From The Queen To Mexico’s President, A Copy Of 1984
“Pandora very much doubts that the Queen harbours many an anti-establishment tendency – though the prospect is, rather delightfully, raised by news of her gift to the Mexican President: a copy of the classic dystopian novel, 1984.”