Category: publishing

The U.S. is as politically polarized as it has been in decades, politicians can’t seem to stop smearing each other, and oh yes, there’s always that terrorism threat to consider in case you were thinking of feeling upbeat today. All that gloom and doom may explain why the political satire is suddenly hot again in the literary world, and several new offerings from well-known authors are testing the limits of dark comedy concerning world events.

“Librarians consider themselves defenders of the First Amendment. On philosophical grounds, they are loath to restrict access to material.” So Banned Book Week, which begins Saturday, is a platform for some of their most elemental beliefs.

A Bookspan survey of avid readers finds the Bible is the book they most recommend to President Bush and Sen. John Kerry. John McCain’s “Why Courage Matters” and Walter Isaacson’s “Benjamin Franklin” were also favorites.

If you like British history and scholarly biography, it’s time to clear some space in the library, and possibly invest in some reinforced shelving as well: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is ready for shipping. Speaking of which, you may want to make that parcel post, since the collection weighs in at 280 pounds, with 60 volumes containing a thousand pages each. The project, which chronicles the lives of the great (and not-so-great) men and women of Great Britain over the last 1,000 years or so, was 12 years in the making, and more than 10,000 authors are represented in its pages.

This year’s shortlist for the Man Booker prize is long on star power and short on women. David Mitchell, a veteran of the shortlist, is considered the favorite, but he’s up against two other heavyweights in Alan Hollinghurst and Colm Toibin. The panel of judges was reportedly well split between the finalists, and if history is any indication, there will be plenty of speculation in the weeks to come. The Booker will be awarded on October 19.

“A fire which ripped through a historic library in Germany destroyed many more rare books than previously thought. Despite attempts by volunteers to rescue as many books as possible from Weimar’s Duchess Anna Amalia Library, 50,000 were still irreparably damaged.”

“Writer Anne Rice, whose extravagant fictions about vampires and witches have made her famous and rich, vents her anger at readers who dare criticize her latest book ‘Blood Canticle’ on the Amazon.com website and ends her lengthy, single-paragraph tirade by giving her home address in New Orleans and promising refunds to the disgruntled.”

“While the 9/11 Commission Report — a surprisingly readable work addressing an issue of supreme national importance — is in a category of its own in the annals of government-funded literature, it’s also serving as a high-profile case study of the effects of free online distribution on sales of printed works. One lesson: Just because someone can read something for free online doesn’t mean they will want to.”

“British author David Mitchell was installed on Tuesday as the hottest favorite ever for the Booker prize with his complex time-machine of a tale: ‘Cloud Atlas.'”

A 34-year-old creative writing teacher has captured Australia’s $20,000 Vogel Prize for a “gritty tale of drugs, despair and teenage runaways is set in a truck stop in the Central West of [the Australian state of New South Wales] where the teenage protagonist fries chips, fills the Coke fridge and pie-warmer and hides from the law.” Julienne van Loon lives in Perth these days, but grew up in the bush town where her story, which took nearly a decade to write, is set.