Category: words

A University of Washington professor worked hard to get the overlooked and forgotten 1957 book No-No Boy republished through the university press, and it’s become an Asian American literary success story. Then Penguin Classics stepped in. “Dorothea Okada, John Okada’s daughter, said her family was unaware of any issues with their claim to the copyright, and that the family wasn’t contacted by Penguin before the new edition was published.” – The New York Times

The author, or is that “the author,” of a new book that emerged from a diary found in 2004, says that she learned to write while reshaping the diary into a book, and that there’s a certain cost to that: “By selecting and shaping the material in this way I’ve distorted, misrepresented the ‘real life’ of the diary to suit my purposes—or, as Davis says, I’ve made it into a fiction.” – The Millions

“People trust books. When they read books by experts, they often assume that they’re as serious, and as carefully verified, as scientific papers — or at least that there’s some vetting in place. But often, that faith is misplaced. There are no good mechanisms to make sure books are accurate, and that’s a problem.” – Vox

“A quarterly that began publishing in the spring of 1999, [Tin House] quickly set itself apart, injecting the staid world of literary magazines with humor, adventurous design and an expansive editorial mission that mixed risky work by new and established writers. This month, Tin House will publish its 80th and final issue.” Nicole Rudick looks at what made the journal so special and talks with the people who made it happen. – The New York Times

Publishers Lunch’s Michael Cader writes that the deal is for “a modest $6.50 per share,” putting the value of the transaction at some $477 million, “plus the assumption of long-term debt makes the cash purchase ‘valued at’ approximately $683 million.” – Publishers Weekly

“I don’t feel respected as a reader when I feel like the subtitle was created not to give me a feeling of what kind of reading experience I may get, but for search engines.”  – Washington Post

“As the baby boom was hitting its peak and Sputnik was prompting much hand-wringing about the state of American education, a vigorous debate over literacy was beginning to take shape, and [Theodor Seuss] Geisel found himself thrust to the forefront of the battle.” – The New Yorker

“Jones’s portrait of a young African-American’s wrongful incarceration and its devastating impact on his marriage … [won over] last year’s Booker winner, Anna Burns’s Milkman, and former Booker winner Pat Barker’s new novel, The Silence of the Girls.” – The Guardian