Dorothy Gilman, Spy Novelist, Dies at 88
Ms. Gilman was best known for her “Mrs. Polifax” series of books about a widow who goes to work as a secret agent.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 4 February, 2012
‘Stay Awake,’ Stories by Dan Chaon
Dan Chaon’s characters wander between ordinary lives and psychological shadowlands in this collection.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
Three Books Explore the Reality Behind the World of ‘Downton Abbey’
Three books explore the true lives behind the fictional world of “Downton Abbey.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
‘The Science of Yoga’ Considers the Practice’s Benefits
William J. Broad explores yoga’s winding path and weighs claims about the practice’s benefits.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
‘Da Vinci’s Ghost’ Examines One of the Artist’s Most Famous Images
Toby Lester examines one of the world’s most intriguing drawings.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
Tony Judt Reviews His Life’s Journey
In a dialogue with another historian, Tony Judt reviews his life’s journey.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
‘No One Is Here Except All of Us,’ Ramona Ausubel’s Fablelike Novel
In Ramona Ausubel’s fablelike novel, a Romanian village shields itself from the Nazis through sheer force of imagination.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
Film Director Neil Jordan’s Novel ‘Mistaken’
Film director Neil Jordan’s fifth novel follows two men who can pass for each other.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
The Letters William S. Burroughs Wrote at the Height of His Success
William Burroughs’s letters from the years of his literary success.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
‘The Night Swimmer,’ by Matt Bondurant
An American couple’s marriage spins out of control after they become proprietors of a moldering Irish local.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
Essay: Grand Allusion
Failed allusions produce feelings of betrayal on all sides. Is the speaker a snob or the listener a dolt?... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
What Elizabeth Taylor Did For Women’s Rights
M. G. Lord sees feminist themes in the roles of Elizabeth Taylor.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
‘Immortal Bird,’ Doron Weber’s Lament for His Son
A father describes, and rages at, the loss of his teenage son.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
‘These Dreams of You,’ by Steve Erickson
Through the lens of one household, Steve Erickson’s novel spans history, continents and realities.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
Elmore Leonard Returns With ‘Raylan’
U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, now the star of the TV show “Justified,” returns to confront gambling, mining and organ trafficking in Elmore Leonard’s latest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
ArtsBeat: Book Review Podcast: The Real 'Downton Abbey' and the Feminism of Elizabeth Taylor
Judith Newman talks about three books that explore the real-life inspirations for the hit TV series "Downton Abbey."... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
ArtsBeat: Graphic Books Best Sellers: Stan Lee Puts a Sci-Fi Twist on Shakespeare
"Romeo and Juliet: The War," co-written by Stan Lee, enters the hardcover and paperback lists at No. 7.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
ArtsBeat: Notable Authors Give Snail Mail a Boost
Stephen Elliott, Dave Eggers and Mary Robinette Kowal are among the authors looking to revive the art of writing letters.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
Bridget Jones's Baby due date pushed back
Working Title still expected to deliver third instalment in series despite concerns over the scriptThe third instalment in the Bridget Jones series, Bridget Jones's Baby, has run into script problems resulting in a delay to the start of production, according... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 3 February, 2012
Up Front
Judith Newman’s interest in worlds that clearly divide the public and private.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
TBR: Inside the List
A book about JFK falls off the list, but RoseMarie Terenzio’s “Fairy Tale Interrupted,” about her years as John F. Kennedy Jr.’s executive assistant, enters the nonfiction hardcover list at No. 8.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 3 February, 2012
Paul Auster hits back at Turkish PM
After Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the novelist 'ignorant', Auster reiterates protest against country's free speech prohibitionsAmerican novelist Paul Auster has hit back after the Turkish prime minister described him as "an ignorant man".... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 3 February, 2012
James Patterson dominates library lending, with 2.3m loans in 2011
Author takes five places on PLR's top 10 most-borrowed books, with remainder also thrillers and mysteriesWith book lovers up and down the country branding library closures criminal, perhaps the stranglehold crime fiction continues to hold on borrowers' hearts should be... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 3 February, 2012
National Library Day marks a year of protests against library closures
Campaigners have saved some libraries from closure, and an inquiry begins next week – but councils are now under greater financial pressure than ever to cut servicesIn the 12 months since a surge of public protest against proposed library closures... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 3 February, 2012
Books of The Times: Christopher Bram’s ‘Eminent Outlaws,’ on American Gay Writers
Christopher Bram’s book is a critical and biographical survey of America’s gay writers in the second half of the 20th century.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 2 February, 2012
ArtsBeat: Does Siri Speak the Language of Love? A New Book Investigates
Blue Rider Press has acquired "Siri & Me," a new work of fiction by David Milgrim, about a 29-year-old writer and blogger who falls in love with the woman living inside his iPhone.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 2 February, 2012
Wislawa Szymborska, Nobel-Winning Polish Poet, Dies at 88
Ms. Szymborska was a gentle and reclusive Polish poet who won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 2 February, 2012
Dorothea Tanning, surrealist artist, dies aged 101
Tanning was the last living member of the surrealist movement, wife of Max Ernst and published her first novel at the age of 94The artist Dorothea Tanning has died in New York aged 101. She was the last living member... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 2 February, 2012
Wislawa Szymborska, 'Mozart of poetry', dies aged 88
Polish president joins tributes to Nobel prize-winner, calling her the country's 'guardian spirit'Polish poet and Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska, whose beguilingly simple, playful poems spoke to the heart of everyday life, died yesterday aged 88.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 2 February, 2012
Currents | Books: New Books on Homes, From Modest to Palatial
The handmade house, doughty and particular, is being celebrated in three new books.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 2 February, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘In Our Prime: The Invention of Middle Age,’ by Patricia Cohen
In her new book, Patricia Cohen charts the invention and evolution of middle age and considers what the concept means today.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 2 February, 2012
Samuel S. Vaughan, Publisher and Author, Dies at 83
Mr. Vaughan, known for a decorous manner and democratic instincts, worked with a wide range of writers, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, William F. Buckley Jr. and Fannie Flagg.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 1 February, 2012
Real-life Charles Dickens characters traced
Historian finds many of literature's best-known names in the London streets of Dickens's teenage yearsBill Sikes and Scrooge are among the most well-known characters in English literature but rather than being figments of Charles Dickens's imagination, their names were derived... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 1 February, 2012
Turkish PM criticises US writer Paul Auster over human rights comments
Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacks Auster, who said he would not visit Turkey in protest at its jailing of journalistsTurkey's prime minister has hit back at American writer Paul Auster, who was quoted as saying that he would not visit the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 1 February, 2012
The Reader author sues the Weinstein Company over film payments
Bernhard Schlink, whose 1995 novel was turned into a film starring Kate Winslet, claims he has not received a penny from the studioThe Reader was one of the critical smashes of 2008, broke the $100m mark at the global box... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 1 February, 2012
Children's Books: Children in Paris
Two charming picture books follow kids on adventures in France.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 1 February, 2012
ArtsBeat: Paul Auster Responds After Turkish Prime Minister Calls Him 'an Ignorant Man'
The novelist Paul Auster said in an interview that he would not visit Turkey because of its jailing of writers and journalists, which prompted a mocking response from the Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 1 February, 2012
DC Comics Plans Prequels to Watchmen Series
Before Watchmen, telling the histories of the crime fighters featured in Watchmen, is set to start this summer, even if Alan Moore isn’t happy about it.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 1 February, 2012
Writers bid to revive letter-writing
Famous names including Dave Eggers are offering to write letters to subscribers on a weekly basisA gentlemanly riposte to email is being launched by the literary world as Dave Eggers heads a group of authors who are turning instead to... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 1 February, 2012
Paulo Coelho calls on readers to pirate books
Multimillion-selling author links with Pirate Bay, saying 'the more people "pirate" a book, the better'Bestselling Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho is joining in with a new promotion on the notorious file-sharing site the Pirate Bay, and calling on "pirates of the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 1 February, 2012
Frank Cioffi, Philosopher and Critic of Freud, Dies at 83
Mr. Cioffi’s scathing critique of Sigmund Freud’s work was one of the opening salvos in the bitter debate in recent decades over the legitimacy of psychoanalytic theories.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 1 February, 2012
Media Decoder Blog: Barnes & Noble Won't Sell Books From Amazon Publishing
Barnes & Noble will not sell Amazon's books in its store to protest Amazon's continued "push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent."... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 1 February, 2012
The Carpetbagger: My Oscar Picks: Jeffrey Eugenides
The author Jeffrey Eugenides plumps for "The Tree of Life" but the writer of "Middlesex" didn't even see the gender-bending "Albert Nobbs."... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 31 January, 2012
Books of The Times: The Kama Sutra, Newly Translated
A new translation of the original Kama Sutra, like the original manuscript, has no drawings but much detail and advice on sexuality and society.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 31 January, 2012
Whoopensocker dictionary of American dialect completed after 50 years
Collecting regional English from across the US, final volume of 60,000-entry dictionary will be published next monthFrom whoopensocker to upscuddle, strubbly to swivet, 50 years after it was first conceived the Dictionary of American Regional English is finally about to... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 31 January, 2012
Carol Ann Duffy is 'wrong' about poetry, says Geoffrey Hill
Oxford professor of poetry attacks Duffy's praise of text language, and compares hers to Mills & BoonCarol Ann Duffy might have won numerous literary awards and become the country's first female poet laureate, but Oxford professor of poetry Geoffrey Hill... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 31 January, 2012
Books of The Times: Katherine Boo’s First Book, ‘Behind the Beautiful Forevers’
In Katherine Boo’s new book, the striving, perpetually sparring families of a slum in Mumbai come to life.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 30 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: A New Honor for the Hatchet Job
A new literary award honors the best hatchet job of the year.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 30 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Long Wharf Cancels Stage Version of 'Sophie's Choice'
A play based on Chaim Potok's novel "My Name Is Asher Lev" will replace "Sophie's Choice."... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 30 January, 2012
Barnes & Noble, Taking On Amazon in the Fight of Its Life
Barnes & Noble, the giant that put so many independent booksellers out of business, now finds itself locked in the fight of its life, with Amazon.com lurking in the background.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 30 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘Strategic Vision,’ by Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Brzezinski’s book “Strategic Vision” surveys current global affairs and assesses a hinge moment in time when the world’s center of gravity is shifting from the West to the East.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 30 January, 2012
Brontë museum faces closure because of council budget cuts
Supporters launch appeal to save the Red House in West Yorkshire, home of one of Charlotte Brontë's closest friendsOne of the major shrines to the Brontë family is facing closure and sale because of budget cuts and recession – a... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 30 January, 2012
Gordon Brown to publish predictions for 2025
Subtitled 'Shaping a New Future' the former prime minister's book will outline his view of where the world is headingGeorge Orwell envisaged that a totalitarian state ruled by Big Brother would be in place by 1984; Arthur C Clarke dreamed... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 30 January, 2012
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo cancelled in India
Oscar-nominated thriller withdrawn from release in India after director David Fincher refuses to cut 'unsuitable' sex scenesOscar-nominated crime thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will not be shown in India after director David Fincher refused to cut scenes depicting... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 30 January, 2012
ArtsBeat | Q. & A.: Gary Marcus, Cognitive Psychologist, Answers Readers' Questions
Readers were interested to know the best ways to practice new skills as an adult and how tactics that work for young students may or may not apply for older students.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 30 January, 2012
Jonathan Franzen warns ebooks are corroding values
Freedom author tells festival audience that the 'impermanence' of ebooks is incompatible with enduring principlesJonathan Franzen has spoken of his fear that ebooks will have a detrimental effect on the world – and his belief that serious readers will always... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 30 January, 2012
On Education: Dr. Seuss Book, ‘Mulberry Street,’ Turns 75
A tour of Springfield, Mass., where Ted Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was raised, suggests that some of the images from his books were inspired by things he saw growing up.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 30 January, 2012
Women writers turn to the horror story
Jeanette Winterson and Helen Dunmore among famous names venturing into the horror genre this yearAs an icy wind blows in from the east, the grip of a good horror story is tightening its hold on many of Britain's leading literary... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 29 January, 2012
For Jonathan Galassi, Unveiling the Heart in Poems
New poems by the noted publisher Jonathan Galassi tell the story of a married, middle-aged man who falls in love with a younger man. “It’s about me,” he said.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 28 January, 2012
Bookshelf: Books on a Pastor’s Odyssey, a Politician and Urban Gardens
Authors on the Rev. Forrest Church, the late-19th-century politician Ashbel P. Fitch and transforming vacant lots and rooftops into mini-farms.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 28 January, 2012
Scotty Bowers and His Sexual Tell-All of Old Hollywood
Scotty Bower’s new memoir, “Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars,” offers a lurid account of trawling an X-rated underworld.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 28 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Book Review Podcast: The Legacy of Henry Miller's 'Tropic of Cancer'
Jeanette Winterson reviews a new book about Henry Miller's controversial novel "Tropic of Cancer."... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Graphic Books Best Sellers: Life at a Paranormal Bureau
"B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth" enters the paperback graphic books best-seller list at No. 7 this week.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: 'War Horse' Film Turns Book Into Best Seller in Britain
The novel 'War Horse' sells more copies in two weeks than it did in its first 25 years.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
The Ice Balloon - S. A. Andrée and the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration - By Alec Wilkinson - Book Review
A Swedish aeronaut made headlines with his 1897 attempt to reach the North Pole.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
TBR: Inside the List
Orson Scott Card, whose novel “Shadows in Flight” hits the hardcover fiction list this week at No. 8, moonlights as a newspaper columnist who addresses everything from Christian rock to high school theater.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Essay: ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ and Its Sci-Fi Heroine
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” which opened up the world of science fiction to a generation of girls.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Palestinian bookshop owner celebrates Jerusalem residency ruling
Munther Fahmi's campaign to be allowed to stay in his birth city was backed by eminent literary figuresThe Palestinian owner of an celebrated Jerusalem bookshop patronised by politicians, diplomats, authors and activists has won a rare victory in a six-year... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 27 January, 2012
The Street Sweeper - By Elliot Perlman - Book Review
A sense of history links the characters in Elliot Perlman’s novel.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
The Translation of the Bones - By Francesca Kay - Book Review
The troubled women in Francesca Kay’s novel are caught up in strange happenings at a South London church.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Sometimes There Is a Void - Memoirs of an Outsider - By Zakes Mda - Book Review
A memoir by Zakes Mda, a writer who has flourished in democratizing South Africa.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Glock - The Rise of America’s Gun - By Paul M. Barrett - Book Review
How one semiautomatic became our weapon of choice.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
City Of Fortune - How Venice Ruled the Seas - By Roger Crowley - Book Review
Roger Crowley traces the rise and fall of Venice’s naval empire.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
New Novels by Alan Lightman, Karin Altenberg and Bret Lott — Book Review
Stories and novels by Robert Walser, Alan Lightman, Karin Altenberg, Bret Lott and Daphne du Maurier.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Up Front
Sara Wheeler’s experience with the rigors — and the literature — of polar exploration.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Jack Holmes and His Friend - By Edmund White - Book Review
Edmund White’s novel follows the friendship of two libertines, from 1960s New York to the advent of AIDS in the ’80s.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did - Social Networks and the Death of Privacy - By Lori Andrews - Book Review
Lori Andrews looks at how personal data is exploited by Web sites, search engines and other Internet technologies.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
God’s Jury - The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World - By Cullen Murphy - Book Review
Cullen Murphy sees the Inquisition as a template for the war on terror.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Wanted Women — The Lives of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Aafia Siddiqui — By Deborah Scroggins — Book Review
A double biography of high-profile Muslim women, one who denounces Islam, the other, the West.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Jews And Booze - Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition - By Marni Davis - Book Review
Marni Davis explores how Jews balanced assimilation with historical continuity during America’s failed “noble experiment.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Elizabeth The Queen - The Life of a Modern Monarch - By Sally Bedell Smith - Book Review
The author taps a host of public sources and tracks down friends and former courtiers of the queen who are willing to share intimate tidbits.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Reconsidering the Genius of Gertrude Stein
Two reissues reveal the development and revisions of a novel and a long experimental poem.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
First ever crime writing MA launched
London's City University says creation of course is in response to student demandAs the underworld steadily increases its grip on literary culture, City University in London is turning to crime, with the launch of an MA devoted to teaching crime... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Renegade — Henry Miller and the Making of ‘Tropic of Cancer.’ — By Frederick Turner — Book Review
On the 50th anniversary of “Tropic of Cancer,” this study examines how it was written and banned, and went on to become an American classic.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Battle of the authors' sexes continues
Jennifer Weiner complains of gender bias in reviewing, Teddy Wayne argues male writers are worse off than womenMale and female authors in America are competing over who has it harder, with bestselling chick lit author Jennifer Weiner arguing the New... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 27 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘The Fear Index,’ by Robert Harris
In Robert Harris’s new thriller, a hugely complex trading program runs dangerously amok.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 26 January, 2012
Umberto Eco: 'It's culture, not war, that cements European identity'
The writer and semiologist advocates a sexual revolution to make us all 'European'Outside Umberto Eco's office window in Milan looms the intimidating mass of Sforzesco castle, a reminder, with its towers and blackbirds, of various continental wars. Here once stood... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 26 January, 2012
Bloomberg, No Fan of Fiction, Finds ‘Tinker, Tailor’ an Exception
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, not ordinarily a fiction reader, made an exception for “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 26 January, 2012
Roald Dahl and CS Lewis among writers revealed to have refused honours
List of authors to turn down OBEs, CBEs and knighthoods also includes Aldous Huxley, Robert Graves and Evelyn WaughAuthors CS Lewis, Roald Dahl and Aldous Huxley all turned down honours from the Queen, newly released documents have revealed.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 26 January, 2012
Vladimir Putin plans 100-book Russian canon all students must read
The Russian prime minister prescribes his top 100 books for the nationVladimir Putin has laid out his plans to compile a canon of 100 Russian books "that every Russian school leaver will be required to read" in an attempt to... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 26 January, 2012
Gary Marcus, Professor at N.Y.U., Picks Up a Guitar
An academic who had no rhythm spent a sabbatical finding a way to learn to play the guitar.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 26 January, 2012
Books of The Times: Ryan Boudinot’s Novel ‘Blueprints of the Afterlife’
In Ryan Boudinot’s genre-bending novel, humanity struggles to survive in a post-apocalyptic world that may or may not be real but is certainly a mess.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 25 January, 2012
Kim Dotcom's brash jetset image 'hid sharp business mind'
File-sharing millionaire refused bail in New Zealand could motivate others into doing what he wanted, claim associatesHe lived a life dominated by fast cars, holidays on $10m super-yachts and an obsession with shoot 'em up computer games. But on Wednesday... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 25 January, 2012
Court Keeps Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ From German Newsstands
The controversy surrounding the attempted publication of “Mein Kampf” is the latest round in an ideological clash over whether modern Germany can cope with the work that sowed the seeds for the Holocaust.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 25 January, 2012
Charla Krupp, Self-Help Author on Women’s Looks, Dies at 58
The author dispensed down-to-earth style tips.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 25 January, 2012
Children's Books: In the Company of Bears
Three picture books about bears, both teddy and real.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 25 January, 2012
Planned copyright changes could stop authors writing for schools
Hundreds of authors including Philip Pullman and Anne Fine say government plans would drastically reduce writers' incomesHundreds of writers including children's laureate and Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson, Philip Pullman and Anne Fine are protesting the government's plans to amend educational... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 25 January, 2012
Megaupload investigation: Kim Dotcom denied bail
File-sharing multimillionaire faces four more weeks in jail in New Zealand after judge warns he could try to flee to GermanyThe file-sharing multimillionaire, Kim Dotcom, is facing a further four weeks in custody after a judge in in New Zealand... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 25 January, 2012
Costa adds short story award to its books prizes
Publishers hoping that Costas' prominence could provide 'breakthrough moment' for neglected genreNews that the Costa is to add a new short story category to its roster of awards this year has left the book industry hoping that this will prove... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 25 January, 2012
Jodi Kantor on her book The Obamas: A Mission, A Marriage - video interview
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 25 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘The Mormon People,’ Matthew Bowman’s Timely Church History
Matthew Bowman’s timely new history offers rich context while delivering few opinions.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 24 January, 2012
Costa book award: Andrew Miller wins for sixth novel, Pure
Vivid tale of life in pre-revolutionary Paris beats Matthew Hollis's biography of Edward Thomas to £30,000 prize chequeA vividly told story of life in pre-revolutionary Paris on Tuesday won the 2011 Costa book award in what turned out to be... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 24 January, 2012
Council spent £70,000 fighting judicial review of library closures
Conservative-led Somerset county council lost high court battle over its plan to withdraw funding for 11 librariesA council that had its library restructuring plans quashed in the high court spent more than £70,000 fighting the judicial review.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 24 January, 2012
Salman Rushdie goes on offensive after Indian festival appearance is cancelled
Satanic Verses author attacks Indian politicians for failing to protect free speech after video link appearance is scrapped... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 24 January, 2012
Jaipur festival cancels Salman Rushdie video link
Owner of festival's hotel venue scraps event featuring Satanic Verses author following police warning of violenceThe organisers of Asia's biggest literary festival have been forced to cancel a video-linked appearance by British author Salman Rushdie after owners of the venue... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 24 January, 2012
Shortlists revealed for British Science Fiction awards
Former winners China Miéville and Christopher Priest vie with Lavie Tidhar, Adam Roberts and Kim Lakin-SmithA murder mystery that unfolds within a travel guide is up against a far–future reimagining of the Fall myth as former winners of the British... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 24 January, 2012
In ‘Love, InshAllah,’ American Muslim Women Reveal Lives
A new book, “Love, InshAllah,” brings together 24 essays about the love lives of American Muslim women.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 23 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘How It All Began,’ by Penelope Lively
In Penelope Lively’s “How It All Began” the mugging of an elderly woman sets off a chain of events that disrupts the dreams and ambitions of numerous people.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 23 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Tale of Comic Adventures Wins Newbery Medal
Jack Gantos's "Dead End in Norvelt" was deemed 2011's most outstanding contribution to children's literature.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 23 January, 2012
Mary C. Henderson, Scholar of the Theater, Dies at 83
Ms. Henderson wrote books that have become standard works on America’s players and playhouses.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 23 January, 2012
Thérèse Delpech, French Political Adviser, Dies at 63
Respected as a debater, an author and an intellectual, Ms. Delpech counseled foreign ministers. Until her death, she was a director at her nation’s Atomic Energy Commission.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 23 January, 2012
Doubt Cast on Death Threat That Kept Rushdie From Festival
An Indian newspaper said the assassination plot was invented by the police to keep Salman Rushdie from attending a literary festival in the country.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 23 January, 2012
The Rest is Noise: Southbank festival to celebrate contemporary classical music
London's Southbank Centre to host year-long festival inspired by Alex Ross's study of 20th-century classical musicWhen Alex Ross started writing The Rest is Noise in 2000 he never expected that a book about 20th-century classical music would go on to... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 23 January, 2012
'Screwball mystery' by Jack Gantos wins oldest children's books prize
Dead End in Norvelt takes prize for 'most distinguished' American children's book of the yearJack Gantos's "screwball mystery" Dead End in Norvelt has won America's most prestigious award for children's writing, the Newbery medal.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 23 January, 2012
Salman Rushdie may address Jaipur festival via video link
The Satanic Verses author could make screen appearance at book event after admitting 'intelligence' of threat may be falseSalman Rushdie, who was forced to pull out of Asia's biggest literary festival in India after authorities revealed "specific intelligence" of a... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 23 January, 2012
Diane Kruger set to star in Stephenie Meyer's The Host
German actor in talks to join cast of forthcoming science-fiction film based on novel by Twilight authorDiane Kruger is set to join the cast of science-fiction film The Host, based on the novel by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer, which posits... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 23 January, 2012
Anyone for Quidditch? Harry Potter game kicks off at Oxford
The game that enthralled students at Hogwarts is starting to stir an interest at Oxford UniversityHuddled together in the chill January wind, the players listened as a PPE fresher in a black cape read the rules of the game: a... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 23 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘What It Was’ and ‘Chalk Girl,’ Crime Novels - Review
George Pelecanos’s latest book, “What It Was,” takes place in Washington in 1972; Carol O’Connell’s “Chalk Girl” visits New York City’s Special Crimes Unit.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 22 January, 2012
How Birdsong creates a replica of first world war's tunnels
Expert archaeologist helped drama producers make exact model of underground networkThe horrors of tunnel warfare are key to Sebastian Faulks's first world war novel, Birdsong. Much of the action is set beneath no man's land in a terrifying world where... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 22 January, 2012
Books: In Beetle’s Creation Story, a Plot Twist
“The Extraordinary Life of Josef Ganz” is an intriguing book about a Jewish engineer whose designs in the 1930s laid out the basics for the Volkswagen Beetle championed by Hitler.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 21 January, 2012
Rushdie Backs Out of India Literary Event, Citing Security
Salman Rushdie’s cancellation is the latest in a series of blows to free speech in India that have included a court challenge to Internet sites Google and Facebook.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 21 January, 2012
Books of Style: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip - Books of Style
Two new books help readers appreciate this complex pair in the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Book Review Podcast: Ben Jonson, In and Out of Shakespeare's Shadow
Charles Isherwood talks about a new biography of Ben Jonson, the famous British playwright who was eventually eclipsed by Shakespeare.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Crime: Cheaters Never Win
Walter Mosley’s latest novel starring Leonid McGill ranges from an East River mansion to a shabby house in Coney Island.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Hergé, Son of Tintin — By Benoît Peeters. Translated by Tina A. Kover — Book Review
In this biography, Georges Remi, creator of the Tintin comics, emerges in three dimensions from behind his famous comic books.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Salman Rushdie readings threaten future of Indian literary festival
Writers read excerpts from The Satanic Verses in support of Rushdie who pulled out of Jaipur event amid security fearsOrganisers of India's biggest literary festival said on Friday they feared for the future of the event after several high-profile writers... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Speaking American - A History of English in the United States - By Richard W. Bailey - Book Review
From earthy frontier expressions to late-20th-century urban slang, Americans have eagerly reshaped language.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Justice And the Enemy - Nuremberg, 9/11, and the Trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - By William Shawcross - Book Review
Long before Guantánamo, military tribunals had a history.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
The Lives of Margaret Fuller - A Biography - By John Matteson - Book Review
A biography of Margaret Fuller: feminist, writer, editor, traveler.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Graphic Books Best Sellers: X-Men Take Over Top Spot
"X-Men: Schism" lands at No. 1 on the hardcover graphic books best-seller list this week.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Ben Jonson - A Life - By Ian Donaldson - Book Review
A new biography argues that Ben Jonson, Britain’s first literary celebrity, was as central as Shakespeare to the development of the British theater.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
TBR: Inside the List
Jayne Ann Krentz, whose paranormal romance “Copper Beach” hits the fiction list at No. 8, is an ardent defender of her genre, arguing that romances are by nature feminist and subversive.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
This Is a Call - The Life and Times of Dave Grohl - By Paul Brannigan - Book Review
Tracing a star from Nirvana to the Foo Fighters.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
The Flame Alphabet - By Ben Marcus - Book Review
In Ben Marcus’s novel, the sound of children’s speech has become lethal.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
The Quality of Mercy - By Barry Unsworth - Book Review
Dispute over the slave trade looms large in Barry Unsworth’s follow-up to “Sacred Hunger.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
That’s Disgusting - Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion - By Rachel Herz - Book Review
A Brown University psychologist looks into the revolting science of everything that makes us gag.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Life Sentences - Literary Judgments and Accounts - By William H. Gass - Book Review
William H. Gass — novelist, essayist, philosopher — looks back on a lifelong attachment to literature.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
The Age of Austerity - How Scarcity Will Remake American Politics - By Thomas Byrne Edsall - Book Review
Scarcity turns modest policy differences into showdowns between “haves” and “have-nots,” Thomas Edsall writes.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
The Flight of Gemma Hardy - By Margot Livesey - Book Review
With guidance from Charlotte Brontë, the heroine of Margot Livesey’s novel goes in search of herself.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
An Available Man - By Hilma Wolitzer - Book Review
In Hilma Wolitzer’s novel, a widower struggles with grief and dating.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
India Ink: A Macabre Start to the Sprawling Jaipur Lit Fest
The Indian-born author, Salman Rushdie, said on Friday he would miss Asia’s largest literary festival because of an assassination threat against him.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Up Front
Charles Isherwood shares his earliest experiences in theater, in the audience and on the stage.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Essay: Guidebooks to Babylon
For anyone researching a “golden age” of vice, there is nothing quite as satisfying as a guide to local harlots.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Babel No More - The Search for the World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners - By Michael Erard - Book Review
How are a select few people able to learn a staggering number of languages?... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Tiger Woods criticises Hank Haney over 'unprofessional' book
• Coach's book 'unprofessional and disappointing', says Woods• Haney defends memoir as 'fair and honest'Tiger Woods starts his season in Abu Dhabi next week unhappy that his former coach Hank Haney is writing a book about their time together. "I... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 20 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: India Ink: Salman Rushdie's Statement on the Jaipur Lit Fest
Author Salman Rushdie put out a statement Friday afternoon about his decision not to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Salman Rushdie pulls out of Jaipur literary festival over assassination fears
Salman Rushdie says intelligence sources warned him that 'paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld' might try to kill himSalman Rushdie has pulled out of Asia's biggest literary festival after being warned he is being targeted by killers sent by an... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Heiresses of Wharton’s Era in Fashion on Her 150th Birthday
As the popular television series “Downton Abbey” proves, stories of Americans mingling with members of the British aristocracy titillate as much as they did when Edith Wharton wrote of them. Jan. 24 is the 150th anniversary of her birth.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 19 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘New York Diaries: 1609 to 2000’ - Review
“New York Diaries: 1609 to 2009,” edited by Teresa Carpenter, presents a portrait of the city as drawn by residents and visitors.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 19 January, 2012
Eight female writers among Waterstones's pick of debut novels
Most talked about novel on Waterstones 11 annual list, however, is by a man – The Art of Fielding by Chad HarbachWaterstones has named its annual pick of the forthcoming year's best debut novels.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 19 January, 2012
Apple: iBooks 2 will 'reinvent textbooks'
Although price is likely to be a barrier, the software will let students watch videos and take notes inside the virtual booksApple has unveiled a glimpse of the classroom of the future, launching a new version of its iBooks software... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 19 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Edgar Allan Poe Fans Say 'Nevermore' to Vigil for Mystery Admirer
For the third year in a row the Poe Toaster has failed to make an annual birthday visit to the Baltimore grave of Edgar Allan Poe and the organizers of a vigil say they will no longer stake out this... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 19 January, 2012
Salman Rushdie Jaipur festival appearance in doubt
Event cancelled following protest, but festival insists 'invitation still stands'Salman Rushdie's appearance at the Jaipur literary festival in India is still in doubt, after a controversial Muslim cleric said that the author "should not be allowed to visit India".... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 19 January, 2012
Pearson reveals profit upgrade and predicts 10% boost in full-year earnings
Financial Times publisher says it earned £2bn in digital revenues last year and £600m from emerging marketsPearson, the owner of the Financial Times and book publisher Penguin, announced a profit upgrade and now expects full-year earnings to be up 10%... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 19 January, 2012
Shopping With Arthur Phillips: Writing Desks — Shopping With Arthur Phillips
Arthur Phillips, a novelist, seeks a desk suited for longhand and a computer.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 18 January, 2012
Corey Robin’s ‘Reactionary Mind’ Stirs Internet Debate
Reviews of Corey Robin’s “Reactionary Mind: Conservatism From Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin” set off an Internet debate.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 18 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘God’s Jury’ by Cullen Murphy - Review
Cullen Murphy provides a guide to the Inquisition and its contemporary echoes.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 18 January, 2012
New Books From Joe Dunthorne, David Finch and Stef Penney
New books from Joe Dunthorne, David Finch, Jessica Keener, Stef Penney, Matt Bondurant and Melissa Pritchard.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 18 January, 2012
Currents | Q&A: Anthony Giardina on How a House Speaks for Its Owner — Q&A
The writer discusses his new novel, “Norumbega Park,” which features a character who becomes obsessed with a house.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 18 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Instead of a New Novel, Cormac McCarthy Delivers a Screenplay
Cormac McCarthy has written his first speculative screenplay, a tale of a respected lawyer in the Southwest who tries his hand, unsuccessfully, at dealings in the drug business.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 18 January, 2012
Children's Books: Baby Brothers
In two new picture books, a sheep and a bear cope with the arrival of new siblings.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 18 January, 2012
The Road author Cormac McCarthy turns in first original screenplay
Novelist's 'spec' feature-film script deals with a lawyer who becomes embroiled in drug trade in south-west USHis novels have been adapted into critically acclaimed films such as the Coen brothers' No Country For Old Men and John Hillcoat's The Road,... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 18 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘Hope: A Tragedy’ by Shalom Auslander - Review
Shalom Auslander’s “Hope: A Tragedy,” a comic novel about an older Anne Frank, questions the role of optimism in Jewish history and tradition.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 18 January, 2012
Reginald Hill, Prolific Writer of Crime Novels, Dies at 75
Mr. Hill is best known for his 24 idiosyncratic but elegant crime novels featuring the Yorkshire police detectives Andrew Dalziel and Peter Pascoe.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 18 January, 2012
And lo! Gove's Bible project did run into a spot of bother
Sources say thousands of copies are in a warehouse abroad after the education secretary fails to find a private sponsorA plan by the education secretary, Michael Gove, to send a copy of the King James Bible to every school in... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 17 January, 2012
World's largest Qur'an unveiled in Afghanistan
Calligrapher created the 500kg book to show that his country's rich cultural heritage and traditions had survived the warA calligrapher worked for five years to create the world's biggest Qur'an in a bid to show the world that Afghanistan's rich... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 17 January, 2012
Buy the Guardian ebook, Jazz: From New Orleans to the new generation
Read a collection of the finest writing on jazz from Guardian and Observer critics, including Kingsley Amis and Benny GreenFrom early appearances in London in 1917, to boogie woogie, bebop and beyond, the Guardian and Observer have been writing about... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 17 January, 2012
Thomas Jefferson's revolutionary take on the Bible reissued
Former US president took a razor to parts of the Gospels he did not agree with to compile his own versionHe was one of the men who laid the foundations for God's own country, but Thomas Jefferson had his own... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 17 January, 2012
Michael Jackson's Robert Burns songs to be released
Singer's collection of showtunes inspired by Burns's poetry could be donated to a Scottish museum by David GestA Scottish museum may soon be home to one of Michael Jackson's unreleased albums. More than a decade after Jackson and David Gest... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 17 January, 2012
Louise J. Kaplan, Psychoanalyst and Author, Dies at 82
Dr. Kaplan used a psychological lens, literary allusion and a feminist sensibility to soberly define and explain seemingly titillating topics like sexual perversity and fetishes.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 17 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘The Real Romney,’ by Michael Kranish and Scott Helman - Review
Two reporters for The Boston Globe try to explain Mitt Romney by pulling together lots of details into a narrative that is absorbing and fair-minded.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 16 January, 2012
John Burnside wins most controversial TS Eliot prize in decades
Scottish poet's Black Cat Bone beats strong shortlist in contest mired in protest over City fundingThe Scottish poet John Burnside has won the most controversial TS Eliot poetry prize in years, for a collection described as "haunting", after two of... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 16 January, 2012
Books on Science: Scott’s South Pole Times: Penguins, Hockey and Serious Stuff Too
On the centenary of Robert Falcon Scott’s arrival at the South Pole, a London publisher is issuing copies of the 12-volume South Pole Times, which captured the substance and spirit of his expeditions.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 16 January, 2012
Harry Potter magic helps Bloomsbury Publishing to bumper Christmas
Sales of ebooks up 38% thanks to bestsellers such as Heston at Home and Harry Potter box setBloomsbury Publishing has reported a bumper Christmas with sales of ebooks up 38%, thanks to bestsellers such as Heston at Home and the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 16 January, 2012
Ian Rankin wants tax incentives to help new authors
Inspector Rebus creator fears for new writing talent as publishers cut advances and internet transforms industryIan Rankin, the author of the Inspector Rebus series, is calling for tax incentives to support new writers, as cash-strapped publishers cut advances.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 16 January, 2012
Twilight Saga may continue beyond Breaking Dawn, says studio boss
Lionsgate chief executive suggests vampire series could spawn more sequels – despite there being no more books to adaptIt is a quandary faced by studio executives over the years: what to do with a successful movie franchise that has run... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 16 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘Wanted Women: Faith, Lies & the War on Terror’ - Review
Deborah Scroggins has written a dual biography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Aafia Siddiqui, whose lives have shared “a weird symmetry.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 15 January, 2012
Editorial | Sunday Observer: The Whirling Sound of Planet Dickens
Charles Dickens, who would have been 200 next month, had amazing energy, for writing and for life.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 14 January, 2012
Bookshelf: Books on N.Y. Crime, Sage Remarks and Brooklyn Heights
Recent written works about New York include a criminologist’s look at the city’s policing, and a compilation of quotations and thin volumes about Brooklyn Heights.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 14 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Julie Andrews to Direct 'Mousical' Based on Her Children's Book
Julie Andrews will direct a musical version of her children's book, "The Great American Mousical," for Goodspeed Musicals.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 14 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Book Review Podcast: Nietzsche Bewitches America and the Science of Middle Age
In this week's Book Review, Alexander Star reviews a new book about how Nietzsche bewitched and bedeviled American readers.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Riff: ‘Why Write Novels at All?’
Writers of the Franzen Generation have decided that the purpose of fiction is to make us feel less alone. Will that be enough to save the novel?... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Children's Books: Bookshelf: Presidents
Children’s books about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other American leaders.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
In Our Prime - The Invention of Middle Age - By Patricia Cohen - Book Review
The scientific and social forces that brought midlife America to its current state.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Zombie Poetry Takes On a Life of Its Own
The undead seem to be everywhere in popular culture — in television series, video games and, it turns out, poetry.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Graphic Books Best Sellers and the Return of 'The Unwritten'
The latest volume of "The Unwritten," a series partly inspired by the creator of Winnie the Pooh and his son, went on sale this week.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
TBR: Inside the List
With a Spielberg movie, a newly translated biography and a place atop The Times’s graphic books best-seller list, the Belgian comic book character Tintin is having a genuine American moment.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
The Orphan Master’s Son — By Adam Johnson — Book Review
In Adam Johnson’s novel, a young man moves up in Kim Jong-il’s power structure and then becomes a rival of the dictator.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Hope: A Tragedy — By Shalom Auslander — Book Review
The protagonist of Shalom Auslander’s novel moves to upstate New York for peace and quiet, and finds Anne Frank living in his attic.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Michel Houellebecq’s Version of the American Thriller
Michel Houellebecq’s novel features an uncommonly successful artist and a gruesome murder.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
American Nietzsche — By Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen — Book Review
How Friedrich Nietzsche inspired and provoked his American readers.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Girl Land - By Caitlin Flanagan - Book Review
Caitlin Flanagan offers observations on the passage to adulthood.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
The Last Holiday - A Memoir - By Gil Scott-Heron - Book Review
Gil Scott-Heron disliked being called “the godfather of rap,” but his spoken-word performances pointed the way.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Breaking And Entering - By Eileen Pollack - Book Review
The Oklahoma City bombing echoes throughout Eileen Pollack’s novel of family strife.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Children's Books: The Tenacity of Hope
Sixteen-year-old girls with cancer are the heroines of two very different novels.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Children's Books: Switched - By Amanda Hocking - Book Review
This tale centers on a teenager who learns she’s really a troll.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Children's Books: Angel Of the Battlefield — The Treasure Chest, Book 1 — By Ann Hood — Review
Two young time travelers visit with Clara Barton — but can’t escape the challenges in their own lives.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Kate Winslet and Kenneth Branagh to team up for literary adaptation
Branagh will direct Titanic star for the first time since 1996 in version of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie SocietyKenneth Branagh is set to direct Kate Winslet once again in the film adaption of the 2008 novel The... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Children's Books: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight - By Jennifer E. Smith - Book Review
In Jennifer E. Smith’s Y.A. novel, a chance meeting on a flight to London redirects a girl’s fate.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Distrust That Particular Flavor - By William Gibson - Book Review
In a collection of nonfiction pieces, the novelist William Gibson reveals our own world to us as a science-fictional marvel.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Essay: My Berlin Airlift
An American author flies to Germany weighed down with 60 copies of a quixotic anthology.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Dalziel and Pascoe creator Reginald Hill dies
Ian Rankin leads tributes to prolific crime writer from County DurhamThe writer Reginald Hill, who created the Yorkshire detective duo Andrew Dalziel and Peter Pascoe, has died aged 75.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Guardian Viral Video Chart: the joy of books, the ugly face of beauty ads
Watch books dance around the shelves and a satire of the fashion industry in this week's rundown of the top online clipsDo you organise the books in your bookshelf alphabetically or by the colour of the sleeves? Possibly not. But... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 13 January, 2012
Lil Wayne to publish prison memoir
Gone Till November will recount rapper's eight-month stint at Rikers Island jailLike Samuel Pepys, Thomas de Quincey and Henry David Thoreau before him, Lil Wayne is writing a memoir. The rapper has signed a deal for a book that will... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 13 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Lil Wayne, the Memorist
His book is based on journals the New Orleans rapper kept during his eight-month stint at Rikers Island.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 12 January, 2012
Birdsong comes to Holmes's roost
The BBC is to fill the post-Sherlock Sunday-night void with an adaptation of Sebastian Faulks's first world war novelWith an impatient flick of his greatcoat collar, Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock has helped BBC1 re-establish itself as the home of must-watch Sunday... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 12 January, 2012
Up Front
Emma Gilbey Keller’s prime view of female adolescence.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 12 January, 2012
International prize for Arabic fiction shortlist tells story of region's tensions
Selection for 'Arabic Booker' focuses on 'tyranny formerly present in the Arab world'From family life in Tunisia to a man imprisoned in Dubai for a murder he didn't commit and a man struggling to resolve the contradictions of his multiple... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 12 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘The Orphan Master’s Son’ by Adam Johnson - Review
Adam Johnson’s novel recounts the adventures of Jun Do, a North Korean soldier, kidnapper and surveillance officer who becomes complicit in the state’s crimes and then falls in love with an actress.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 12 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Out With the New, In With the Newer at DC Comics
A few months after restarting its superhero story lines at issue No. 1, DC Comics is canceling six series and introducing six new ones, including titles written by Grant Morrison and China Mieville.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 12 January, 2012
Selfridges to open in-store library
Department store to launch 15,000-book pop-up library in Oxford Street, London, as part of Words Words Words eventSelfridges is putting the shh … into shopping – by opening its own 15,000-book library.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 12 January, 2012
John McWhinnie, an Expert in Rare Books, Dies at 43
Mr. McWhinnie was a rare-book dealer and gallerist known as a champion of words and images on paper in an age of electronic reading.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 12 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘Fug You’ by Ed Sanders - Review
In “Fug You,” the poet-publisher-singer Ed Sanders recalls the art and politics, and his role in them, of the downtown scene in the 1960s.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 11 January, 2012
Michelle Obama rejects claims of backroom conflict at White House
First lady rebuts 'angry black woman' allegations in new book as election campaign gains momentumShe is a brooding, "unrecognised force" in the White House, a new book claims; in frequent conflict with her husband's aides and quick to impose her... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 11 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Old Page Turners for a New Presidential Campaign
Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, Garry Wills and Michael Lewis are some of the authors who have provided peeks behind the curtain of American presidential campaigns.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 11 January, 2012
Emily Brontë portrait goes under the hammer
Painting set to fetch £4,000 at auction, a month after smaller portrait of Wuthering Heights author was sold for £24,000For the second time in two months, a previously unknown portrait captioned "Emily Brontë" is to be auctioned, showing the Wuthering... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 11 January, 2012
Children's Books: Thorny Creatures
Three new picture books feature prickly animals seeking love, comfort and family.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 11 January, 2012
McDonald's to give away 9m Michael Morpurgo books with kids' meals
Fast-food giant will give away Mudpuddle Farm books for younger readers with purchase of foodFrom the red carpet to the golden arches: an unlikely champion in the battle to get children reading has emerged in the shape of McDonald's, which... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 11 January, 2012
Food Stuff: The Culinarian: A Kitchen Desk Reference
“The Culinarian: A Kitchen Desk Reference” is crammed with an unusual amount of information, organized alphabetically from “absinthe” to “zwieback.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 10 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘The Artist of Disappearance’ — By Anita Desai — Review
Decay and disappointment, retreat and regret, are the main themes in the three novellas that make up Anita Desai’s new book.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 10 January, 2012
This week's arts diary
Tony Blair looks different, Bath's controversial theatre season and the last chance to protest library closuresTony Blair as you probably haven't seen him beforeTony Blair is one of our least painted prime ministers – and if he were to visit... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 10 January, 2012
Book critics to get their own prize for reviews
Inaugural 'hatchet job of the year' prize announces shortlist in order to boost profile of professional criticismFrom Thomas Macaulay observing of Socrates: "The more I read … the less I wonder that they poisoned him," to Edith Sitwell on DH... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 10 January, 2012
Cleric calls for Salman Rushdie to be barred from India
Satanic Verses author's scheduled appearance at Jaipur literary festival meets opposition from Muslim seminarySalman Rushdie was at the centre of a row on Tuesday in his native India after an influential conservative Indian Muslim cleric said the British author and... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 10 January, 2012
ArtsBeat: Who Word-Processed First? Professor's History Has Writers Staking Their Claims
Writers are approaching Matthew Kirschenbaum, a professor who is working on a history of word processing, to claim that they were the first to create novels using computers.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 10 January, 2012
Elton John to write book about Aids
Love Is the Cure, due in July, will include reminiscences about Freddie Mercury and teenage activist Ryan WhiteElton John is writing his first book, a collection of memories and meditations on the fight against Aids. Love Is the Cure: Ending... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 10 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘The Last Holiday: A Memoir’ by Gil Scott-Heron - Review
In “The Last Holiday: A Memoir,” Gil Scott-Heron, who died last year, describes his life and America in the second half of the 20th century.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 9 January, 2012
Pasta Inspires Scientists to Use Their Noodle
Equations add a new twist to the way mathematicians, scientists and architects use their noodle.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 9 January, 2012
Chinua Achebe leads Nigerian authors' fuel subsidy protest
The internationally acclaimed writer joins 35 other writers from Nigeria supporting revolt against cuts to funding for fuel costsChinua Achebe is heading a group of 38 Nigerian authors who are throwing their weight behind mass protests in the country at... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 9 January, 2012
Theater Review | 'Sontag: Reborn': Moe Angelos’s ‘Sontag: Reborn’ in Under the Radar - Review
Moe Angelos has adapted the first volume of Susan Sontag’s journals and stars in “Sontag: Reborn,” a Builders Association production at the Public Theater, part of the Under the Radar festival.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 9 January, 2012
Roald Dahl stamps – in pictures
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 9 January, 2012
Labyrinth gets graphic novel prequel
Illustrator Brian Froud, who worked on the cult children's fantasy film, will oversee character designNew light is set to be cast on David Bowie's enigmatic, tight-trousered portrayal of Jareth the Goblin King in Jim Henson's cult children's fantasy film Labyrinth... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 9 January, 2012
Harry Potter director Chris Columbus to write children's fantasy books
House of Secrets, co-written with Ned Vizzini, will be out in spring 2013After directing and producing the first two Harry Potter films, Hollywood VIP Chris Columbus is now set to unleash his own fantasy adventure series for children on the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 9 January, 2012
Roald Dahl stamps honour classic children's author
Featuring Quentin Blake's famous illustrations, the stamp series showcases bestselling works including The BFG and The TwitsQuentin Blake's famous illustrations of The Twits, Matilda and Fantastic Mr Fox all feature on a new series of stamps from the Royal Mail,... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 9 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘The Obamas’ by Jodi Kantor - Review
“The Obamas,” by Jodi Kantor, is the first book about the current presidency to give the first lady, Michelle Obama, her due.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 8 January, 2012
Mystery Chinese blogger scores a hit with Cultural Revolution novel
Under The Hawthorn Tree has already sold more than a million copies in China aloneA novel by an anonymous Chinese author living in America, which started life as a blog, has become a worldwide publishing sensation. It has been snapped... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 8 January, 2012
Off the Shelf: New Investment Books Aim to Right Your Wrongs - Review
One new investment book lists 77 mistakes to avoid, while another recommends a psychology-savvy approach.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 7 January, 2012
Universities collected £50m in library fines, figures show
University of Leeds took the most, with £1.8m, while Imperial College London got the least, with only £26,703Universities have raised almost £50m from fining students for overdue library books in the past six years.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 7 January, 2012
Michelle Obama’s Evolution as First Lady
Mrs. Obama’s adjustment to the White House — including, at times, severe tension with her husband’s staff — illuminates some of President Obama’s central challenges.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 7 January, 2012
ArtsBeat Blog: Book Review Podcast: Bipolar America
New books that examine the rise of the American oligarchy, the decline of moderate Republicans and the Tea Party's core beliefs about government... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Essay: Why Authors Tweet
Social media sites like Twitter are demystifying the writing profession — and that may be salutary.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Treasure Island!!! - By Sara Levine - Book Review
In Sara Levine’s first novel, a woman decides to adopt the “core values” from Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Books About Conservatism and the Tea Party
A new book charts the decline of moderate Republicans, while another explores the Tea Party’s core beliefs about government.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Pity The Billionaire — By Thomas Frank — Book Review
Thomas Frank argues that conservative politicians and President Obama are governing to please the plutocrats.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
ArtsBeat Blog: Graphic Books Best Sellers: Zombies Continue Their Reign
Compendiums of "The Walking Dead" continue their strong performance on the graphic books best-seller lists.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
The Sounding of the Whale — By D. Graham Burnett — Book Review
D. Graham Burnett looks at how whales have been transformed from species to slaughter into species to save.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
TBR: Inside the List
Tami Hoag’s new mystery, which enters the hardcover fiction list at No. 11 this week, features a cameo from her real-life horse.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Up Front
Disagreements over solutions to America’s problems have grown, or deteriorated, into profound differences over just what the problems are.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Crime: Politics as Blood Sport
Sara Paretsky’s latest V. I. Warshawski novel involves fans of vampire books, a murder and a right-wing news operation.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
A More Perfect Heaven - How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos - By Dava Sobel - Book Review
What finally led Copernicus to publish his sun-centered theory?... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
The Outlaw Album - Stories - By Daniel Woodrell - Book Review
Gritty stories set in Missouri’s Ozarks delve into death, love, family and neighborly disputes.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
The Anointed - Evangelical Truth in a Secular Age - By Randall J. Stephens and Karl W. Giberson - Book Review
Two writers question the rise of self-styled experts among evangelicals.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Books about Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich — Review
None of Hitler’s lieutenants did more to realize the Final Solution than Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
The Tender Hour of Twilight — By Richard Seaver — Book Review
A posthumous memoir by the publishing giant who introduced the avant-garde to America.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Kayak Morning - Reflections on Love, Grief, and Small Boats - By Roger Rosenblatt - Book Review
Two and a half years after his daughter’s death, Roger Rosenblatt explores the nature of his grief.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That? — A Modern Guide to Manners — By Henry Alford — Book Review
Henry Alford explains how — and why — to behave.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Nook From Barnes & Noble Gains More E-Book Readers
When the iPad hit the market, some people predicted that it would wipe out e-reader devices. But Barnes & Noble says its Nook is flourishing.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
World's most expensive book, Birds of America, set to fetch $10m
Edition of John James Audubon's masterpiece of ornithological art, one of only 120, expected to break auction recordsA copy of the world's most expensive book, John James Audubon's 19th-century masterpiece Birds of America, is set for auction later this month... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 6 January, 2012
ArtsBeat Blog: Tolkien Snubbed by Nobel Prize Jury, Papers Reveal
C. S. Lewis nominated Tolkien, the "Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" author, in 1961, but the jury said of his work that "the result has not in any way measured up to storytelling of the highest quality," according to... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Dave Eggers latest work: A shower curtain
A monologue written from the point of view of the bathroom accessory, and on it, is the author's latest work of staggering geniusDave Eggers: Pulitzer finalist, McSweeney's founder, tireless literacy campaigner – and now perhaps the first author ever to... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 6 January, 2012
DealBook: Barnes & Noble Considers Spinning Off Its Nook Unit
The company said that it is beginning “strategic exploratory work” to separate the Nook division to help the e-reader business grow. But a spinoff would raise questions about Barnes & Noble’s ultimate fate.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 6 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘Sometimes There Is a Void’ — By Zakes Mda — Review
In Zakes Mda’s new memoir, his life and hard times are mostly played for wistful comedy.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 5 January, 2012
Josef Skvorecky, Czech-Born Writer, Dies at 87
Mr. Skvorecky left Czechoslovakia for a teaching position in Toronto after Prague Spring was crushed.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 5 January, 2012
Churchill, Henry V and Napoleon? Overrated, says BBC History magazine
Also among the most overrated people in history, according to the magazine, are Charles Darwin, Spartacus and Malcolm XThey may be among the most famous figures from history, but the likes of Winston Churchill, Henry V and Napoleon Bonaparte don't... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 5 January, 2012
'Amazing' tops annual vote for words that should be banned
Lake Superior State University's poll shows readers want adjective debased by overuse 'banished'"Baby bump", "man cave" and "amazing" should all be banished from the English language, according to Lake Superior State University's annual survey of the year's worst cases of... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 5 January, 2012
Sarah Polley to direct adaptation of Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace
Canadian actor will direct version of Atwood's bestselling true-crime tale, while James Franco signs debut novel dealSarah Polley is poised to direct an adaptation of Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood's 1996 novel about a double murder in the wilds of Canada.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 5 January, 2012
JRR Tolkien's Nobel prize chances dashed by 'poor prose'
Lord of the Rings author, nominated by CS Lewis, rejected by 1961 jury, newly opened archive revealsThe Lord of the Rings might have spawned a thousand pallid imitations, been crowned the UK's best-loved book and sold millions of copies around... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 5 January, 2012
Charles W. Bailey, 82, Dies; Wrote ‘Seven Days in May’
Mr. Bailey, a reporter and editor at The Minneapolis Tribune, won renown as a co-author of the novel “Seven Days in May,” about an American coup plot.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 5 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘American Dervish’ — By Ayad Akhtar — Review
In his debut novel, Ayad Akhtar describes the coming of age of a young Pakistani-American in Milwaukee in the 1980s.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 4 January, 2012
ArtsBeat Blog: The Perilous Art of Giving Books
The dim view of giving books as gifts in novels by Martin Amis and Herman Melville.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 4 January, 2012
ArtsBeat Blog: Amazon to Publish Novel by James Franco
The actor jumps from Scribner in a coup for Amazon Publishing, which will publish "Actors Anonymous" in 2013.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 4 January, 2012
Children's Books: ‘Sora and the Cloud’ — By Felicia Hoshino — Review
In “Sora and the Cloud,” a young boy is given a bird’s-eye view of the world.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 4 January, 2012
Oak tiller bar from Arthur Ransome's yacht up for auction
Swallows and Amazons author named his boat Nancy Blackett – after the fictional pirate captain in his children's books seriesCracked and weather-beaten, a salty little piece of literary history has emerged for sale at auction.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 4 January, 2012
Mike Skinner announces Streets memoir
The Story of the Streets to be published in March and will include, er, old snaps of Skinner as a schoolboyMike Skinner has announced a new book exploring the precipitous rise and abrupt end of the Streets. The rapper's memoir,... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 4 January, 2012
Simon Doonan’s Eating Guide for Gay and Straight
Simon Doonan’s tongue-in-cheek book says straight food is heavy and gay food is lighter and more decorative. Mix the two, he advises, to stay slim.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 3 January, 2012
This week's arts diary
Geoff Dyer savages Julian Barnes, plus in defence of the hedge fund knight, and the mystery of St CeciliaGeoff Dyer savages Julian BarnesIt was something of a surprise that the Man Booker-winning Julian Barnes missed out on the Costa novel prize, announced... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 3 January, 2012
Books of The Times: ‘Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That?’ — By Henry Alford — Review
Henry Alford’s new book is a whimsical game of tiddlywinks played on the minefield of good manners.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 3 January, 2012
Moira Young's Blood Red Road leads Costa book winners
Debut work wins children's book award and will go up against Carol Ann Duffy, Matthew Hollis, Andrew Miller and Christie Watson for £30,000 main prizeA former chorus girl has been named one of the 2011 Costa book award winners for... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 3 January, 2012
Blood Red Road wins Costa children's award
A dystopian tale of a girl's epic quest to find her captured twin brother has won the children's category of the Costa book awardsRead an extract from Blood Red RoadA first novel by a former opera singer has won the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 3 January, 2012
Bible becomes 2011 bestseller in Norway
New translation's success, which saw queues outside bookshops, is not linked to Utøya murders, says publisherThe UK's 2011 bestseller lists might have been dominated by cookery, courtesy of Jamie Oliver, and romance, courtesy of David Nicholls, but Norwegian readers were... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 3 January, 2012
Tintin Is a New Breed of Comic-Book Hero for Most Americans
Tintin has been around for decades as a cartoon character, but only through the new Steven Spielberg movie has he been widely introduced to Americans.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 3 January, 2012
Narnia – the next stage spectacular
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is to be adapted into a 'less posh' multimedia theatre version, directed by Rupert GooldTilda Swinton may have only just have departed British terrestrial screens – Doctor Who hard on her heels –... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 3 January, 2012
Ronald Searle, St Trinian's creator, dies aged 91
Artist who created the anarchic girls' school and drew the ever-popular illustrations for the Molesworth booksOne of the UK's most beloved cartoonists, Ronald Searle, creator of the tearaway girls' school St Trinian's, has died aged 91, his publisher Penguin has... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 3 January, 2012
Walter Dean Myers: Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
Walter Dean Myers is to be named the national ambassador for young people’s literature, a choice that represents a departure from his predecessors.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 3 January, 2012
Books of The Times: Thomas Frank’s ‘Pity the Billionaire’ - Review
In “Pity the Billionaire” Thomas Frank gives his take on how the right has turned the country’s economic woes to its benefit.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 3 January, 2012
Books of The Times: William Gibson’s ‘Distrust That Particular Flavor’ - Review
William Gibson, the novelist who coined the term cyberspace, offers a collection of nonfiction pieces.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 1 January, 2012
Gray Matter: Scientific Answers to the Mysteries of Children’s Literature
What does Brown Bear really see? Applying scientific research to some of the classic mysteries of children’s literature.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 1 January, 2012
Simms Taback, Writer and Illustrator of Children’s Books Dies at 79
Mr. Taback won the Caldecott Medal in 2000 for his adaptation of the Yiddish folktale “Joseph Had a Little Overcoat.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 1 January, 2012
Strange case of a fake Ibsen play that has gripped Scandinavia
Literary experts embarrassed after 'lost fragments' of work by Norway's famous playwright are alleged to have been forgedIt's the case that has absorbed Scandinavia's elite artistic circles and tested some of Norway's finest literary experts.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 1 January, 2012
Emmett L. Bennett Jr. Dies at 93; Helped Decipher Linear B
Professor Bennett played a vital role in deciphering Linear B, the Bronze Age Aegean script that defied solution for more than 50 years.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
Off the Shelf: In ‘Mondo Agnelli,’ a Ride on Fiat’s Roller-Coaster — Review
“Mondo Agnelli,” a new book, tells the story of the Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli, the struggles and the turnaround of his family’s crown jewel, Fiat, and the rescue of Chrysler.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
Brontë landscape's battle for survival as new housing threatens tourist trade
Haworth's church roof needs repairs, while plans for housing estates overshadow moors where the sisters walkedThe Rector of Haworth's three daughters were with him last week as he prepared his sermons for Christmas and the new year, given in the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
Ted Hughes's jaguar sculpture hints at poet's demons
Poet's family to sell rare jaguar sculpture that they believe shows his pain over Sylvia Plath's deathTed Hughes's fascination with jaguars inspired some of his verse, but it was little known until now that it also led him to create... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
Arts | Long Island: In a Long Island Library, an Exhibition on John Adams’s Books
“John Adams Unbound,” a traveling exhibition at the Sachem Public Library in Holbrook, celebrates the founding father’s collection of 3,500 volumes and offers a glimpse at his sometimes irate annotations.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
Bookshelf: Books on an Enduring Grid, Lost Synagogues and a 1959 Tale
New books describe stories of “the city’s first great civic enterprise,” recycled shuls in the boroughs outside Manhattan, and high school football.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
New Year honours recognise successes in poetry, prose – and reality TV
Those honoured in arts include 'the finest living English poet', novelists, actors and the man behind the Big Brother formatThe arts awards in the honours list have a distinctly literary feel, with the poet Geoffrey Hill, elected last year as... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Book Review: Haiti's Tragic History
A book about Haiti's troubled history in The New York Times Book Review, and a look at five cold warriors who changed their minds about nuclear weapons in the weekly podcast discussion.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Alex Gilvarry’s First Novel Satirizes Fashion and Politics
Alex Gilvarry’s novel “From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant” is a satire of the fashion world and, improbably, Guantánamo Bay prison.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Smut - Stories - By Alan Bennett - Book Review
Proper middle-class characters have surprising secrets in Alan Bennett’s tales.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
420 Characters - Stories - Written and illustrated by Lou Beach - Book Review
These brief tales first appeared on Facebook.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
The Partnership - Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest to Ban the Bomb - By Philip Taubman - Book Review
A journalist examines the unlikely campaign of five cold war veterans to eliminate our nuclear arsenal.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
The Unquiet American - Richard Holbrooke in the World - Edited by Derek Chollet and Samantha Power - Book Review
Essays about the foreign-policy stalwart Richard Holbrooke, and some writings of his own.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul - Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty - By John M. Barry - Book Review
John M. Barry explores the personal trials that shaped a Puritan dissident’s advocacy for the separation of church and state.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Domains: Christopher Paolini’s Dragon Lair
The author of best-selling fantasy novels owns a lot of daggers and dragonalia.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Some Of My Lives — By Rosamond Bernier — Book Review
A fixture in the worlds of art and fashion reflects on a splendid career.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
The Man Within My Head - By Pico Iyer - Book Review
Pico Iyer writes about the kinship he feels with Graham Greene.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Salvage The Bones - By Jesmyn Ward - Book Review
A pregnant 15-year-old and her family await the arrival of Hurricane Katrina in this National Book Award-winning novel.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
How It All Began - By Penelope Lively - Book Review
A mugging changes the lives of several characters in Penelope Lively’s novel.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Gossip - The Untrivial Pursuit - By Joseph Epstein - Book Review
Joseph Epstein argues that gossip serves a number of worthwhile purposes.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
TBR: Inside the List
Robert K. Massie is at No. 8 on the hardcover nonfiction list this week with his biography of Catherine the Great, who “always kept a book in her room and carried another in her pocket.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Up Front
Joyce E. Chaplin’s path to Benjamin Franklin.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Essay: Liu Xiaobo’s Plea for the Human Spirit
In essays and poems, the imprisoned Chinese poet demonstrates a considerable amount of anger while retaining his Gandhian nonviolent spirit.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Haiti - The Aftershocks of History - By Laurent Dubois - Book Review
The scholar Laurent Dubois’s new book relates the violent birth and troubled existence of Haiti, a tale of much misery, shot through with flashes of hope and bravery.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Smut: Stories’ by Alan Bennett — Review
Alan Bennett’s new book brings together two novellas that celebrate several varieties of sexual activity involving respectable parents of adult children.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 29 December, 2011
Currents | Q&A: David Treuer on Reservation Life — Q&A
The writer David Treuer, who has a new nonfiction book called “Rez Life,” on his new home on an American Indian reservation.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 29 December, 2011
Ker-pow! Women kick back against comic-book sexism
UK-made, female-driven anthology Bayou Arcana is causing a stir for more than just its haunting images and storylinesIt is one of the more eagerly awaited titles due to emerge from Britain's vibrant independent comic and graphic novel scene. But the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 28 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Forgotten Land’ by Max Egremont - Review
In “Forgotten Land: Journeys Among the Ghosts of East Prussia,” Max Egremont tries to peel back the layers of history in a land whose fate was in its geography.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 28 December, 2011
Book and Film on Ralph Rucci
An autobiography of the fashion designer is to be followed by a documentary, to be screened at New York Fashion Week in February.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 28 December, 2011
Children's Books: ‘Tom the Tamer’ — By Tjibbe Veldkamp — Review
In “Tom the Tamer,” an inventive young boy helps his father overcome a fear of the great outdoors.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 28 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘How to Think Like a Neandertal’ — By Thomas Wynn and Frederick L. Coolidge — Review
Thomas Wynn, an anthropologist, and Frederick L. Coolidge, a psychologist, delve into the minds of Neandertals.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 27 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ by P. D. James - Review
P. D. James’s latest mystery revisits the world of “Pride and Prejudice,” as a murder intrudes on the proper, manored lives of Elizabeth and Darcy.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 26 December, 2011
Books on Science: ‘A Great Aridness’ and ‘Bird on Fire’ - Book Review - Drought in the Southwest
“A Great Aridness,” by William deBuys, and “Bird on Fire,” by Andrew Ross, focus on the killing droughts that have lately gripped the region — and are likely to recur.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 26 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: E-Reader Help From New York Public Library
Free e-books are available for members of the New York Public Library and can be downloaded remotely.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 26 December, 2011
A Literary History of Word Processing
Scholars are trying to recover the literary history of word processing, one casual deletion and trashed document at a time, starting with writers like Stephen King and Frank Herbert.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 26 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Whore of Akron’ and ‘When the Garden Was Eden’ - Review
Harvey Araton writes about the 1970s New York Knicks with reverence in “When the Garden Was Eden,” but Scott Raab is comically bloody minded in “The Whore of Akron,” a hate later to LeBron James.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 25 December, 2011
Digital Domain: For Libraries and Publishers, an E-Book Tug of War
Several publishers have barred libraries from buying their e-books, saying that allowing unlimited e-reading isn’t a sustainable business model. But one publisher is trying a different approach.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 24 December, 2011
The Third Reich — By Roberto Bolaño — Book Review
A German vacationer and a South American burn victim engage in a war strategy game in Roberto Bolaño’s novel.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Book Review Podcast: What Literature Owes the Bible
Marilynne Robinson on the Bible's influence on Western literature and more.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
The Folly of Fools — By Robert Trivers — Book Review
An evolutionary biologist investigates why lying and self-deception play such prominent roles in our lives.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Everything Is An Afterthought - The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson - By Kevin Avery - Book Review
Paul Nelson, an early arbiter of rock, championed the myth of the macho outsider.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Nonfiction Chronicle: Bears, Dolphins and the Animal Stories We Tell
Books about the power of narrative to change the relationship between people and animals.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Ezra Pound's daughter aims to stop Italian fascist group using father's name
CasaPound, named after the American poet, was supported by a racist who killed two African men in FlorenceEzra Pound, the 20th-century American poet who wrote The Cantos, was known for his fascist sympathies and antisemitism.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Up Front
Michael Wood’s restless imagination.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
TBR: Inside the List
Tom Clancy, whose new novel hits the hardcover fiction list at No. 2 this week, is often described as prescient. But is he really?... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Crime: Last Exits in Brooklyn
The ex-cop Moe Prager confronts cancer and the murder of his ex-wife’s sister in Reed Farrel Coleman’s “Hurt Machine.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Queen Of America - By Luis Alberto Urrea - Book Review
In this sequel to “The Hummingbird’s Daughter,” a Mexican saint wanders the United States.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Nonfiction Chronicle
Books by Anita Hill, Bill Vlasic, Amir and Khalil, and John Moynihan.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Journey To the Abyss — The Diaries of Count Harry Kessler, 1880-1918 — Book Review
The diaries of an acute observer of turn-of-the-century Europe.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Democratic Enlightenment — By Jonathan I. Israel — Book Review
Never mind Voltaire. The Enlightenment’s more radical thinkers set the world on its modern course, Jonathan I. Israel argues.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Nothing - A Portrait of Insomnia - By Blake Butler - Book Review
A memoir and meditation on the experience of insomnia.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Man Seeks God — By Eric Weiner — Book Review
In search of enlightenment, Eric Weiner explores eight faiths.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Jo Shapcott wins Queen's gold medal for poetry
Costa prize-winning poet follows illustrious predecessors including WH Auden and John BetjemanThe poet Jo Shapcott, who began the year by winning the Costa book of the year award for her collection Of Mutability, has ended 2011 by being named the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Essay: Their Noonday Demons, and Ours
Like early medieval monks, we too are prone to the ills that come with solitary, sedentary, cerebral work.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Caitlin Moran's How to Be a Woman wins public vote for book of the year
Witty, personal take on feminism takes Galaxy readers' awardCaitlin Moran's witty take on modern feminism, How to Be a Woman, has been voted book of the year by the public.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Books of The Times: Clark Howard’s ‘Living Large In Lean Times’ - Review
“Clark Howard’s Living Large in Lean Times,” a tightwad manifesto that’s been lingering on The New York Times how-to best-seller list all fall, is at once gloomy and upbeat.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
The Book of Books: What Literature Owes the Bible
A number of the great works of Western literature address themselves very directly to questions that arise within Christianity and test doctrine by means of dramatic imagination.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
The Lives They Lived: Wilfrid Sheed, b. 1930
Good sentences, the ebullient critic and novelist Wilfrid Sheed wrote in 1990, are sent into the air like a series of jazz licks.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
The Lives They Lived: Ruth Stone, b. 1915
We have never had an effective means to discover the best poets among us, and Ruth never learned how to play the game.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
Poetry anthology sparks race row
Poet Rita Dove's Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry attacked by renowned critic Helen Vendler for valuing 'inclusiveness' over qualityA furious row has broken out in the rarefied confines of American poetry circles, after grande dame of poetry criticism... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
Chris Mullin tops poll of MPs' Christmas book choices
Former Labour minister's diaries most popular choice for politicians' stockingsA Jamie Oliver cookbook may have topped the Christmas bestseller lists yet again this year, but among the political classes Chris Mullin's latest volume of diaries, A Walk-On Part, was the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
Domestic Lives: Jonathan Ames: The Mess I’m In
Life at the mercy of a phenomenon — a kind of metaphysical cousin to hoarding — known as kipple.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
Room for Debate: The Books That Authors Love to Give and Receive
What is the best book you have ever received as a gift? What are your favorite books to give to friends?... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 21 December, 2011
Books of The Times: Stella Tillyard’s ‘Tides of War,’ Napoleonic Novel - Review
The biographer Stella Tillyard’s first novel, “Tides of War,” set in Napoleonic times, numbers the Duke of Wellington in its cast of characters.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 21 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Book That Became Hit French Film to Be Released in U.S.
The memoir is the basis of the movie "Intouchables," which could set a box-office record in France.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 21 December, 2011
Children's Books: Imperfect Little Girls
Two new picture books address the ultracompetitive natures of mini-superhumans.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 21 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘[sic]: A Memoir,’ by Joshua Cody - Review
“[sic],” Joshua Cody’s raunchy memoir, recounts his search for reasons to live as he fights cancer and what he calls “the guilt of the ill.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 20 December, 2011
Spanish novelist Lucía Etxebarria quits writing in piracy protest
Author says more copies of her book have been downloaded illegally than sold, and claims politicians too scared to actAn award-winning Spanish novelist claims that the illegal downloading of ebooks has forced her to give up writing and start looking... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 20 December, 2011
Jamie Oliver scores fourth Christmas No 1
Jamie's Great Britain sells nearly 60,000 copies in single week, topping Christmas book chart for a second year runningDon't want to know what that book-shaped present is under the tree? Then you might want to stop reading here, because most... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 20 December, 2011
The Notebook to become a musical
Novelist Nicholas Sparks announces his romantic novel, already a hit film starring Ryan Gosling, is heading for BroadwayThe soggiest kiss since Andie MacDowell forgot her umbrella in Four Weddings and a Funeral could soon be seen on stage after Nicholas... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 20 December, 2011
Goodnight iPad rewrites classic bedtime story for digital era
Pastiche of Goodnight Moon inserts 21st-century gadgetry into traditional children's taleA parody of the classic children's bedtime story Goodnight Moon, dragging the simple tale into the modern age by replacing moons, kittens, mittens and bears with iPads, e-readers and a... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 20 December, 2011
Patrick Leigh Fermor's final volume will be published
Long-awaited conclusion to revered account of walk across Europe set to come out in 2013Readers stranded on the edge of Bulgaria since 1986 by the travel writing great Patrick Leigh Fermor are set to be rewarded at last with the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 20 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Toward a North Korea Reading List
Books about North Korea by journalists, defectors and novelists.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 19 December, 2011
Books of The Times: Poems by Bao Phi, Roberto Bolaño and Simon Armitage — Review
Five poets who write in vital and original voices, from a Vietnamese-American tale spinner to an alter-ego cockroach.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 19 December, 2011
Bhagavad Gita trial in Russia closes Indian parliament
Ministers condemn Siberian calls for ban on Hindu holy book as Hare Krishna followers protest outside Russian consulateIndian politicians forced parliament to close on Monday in a protest against a Siberian trial calling for a version of a Hindu holy... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 19 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Maya Angelou Says She's Disappointed With Rapper After Collaboration
Ms. Angelou learns that a track from the rapper's coming album on which she appears makes frequent use of a racial epithet.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 19 December, 2011
Brent library campaigners lose appeal against closures
Court rejects claim that council's decision to close six libraries in London borough was 'fundamentally flawed and unlawful'Campaigners fighting to save six "treasured" libraries have lost a court of appeal battle over the closure decision.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 19 December, 2011
Church withdraws charity Bibles over Planned Parenthood link
Southern Baptist Convention pulls breast cancer charity edition after discovering indirect links to abortion providerA Bible published by the Southern Baptist Convention to raise awareness and money for breast cancer has been pulled from shelves in America after Christians complained... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 19 December, 2011
Maya Angelou criticises Common collaboration
Poet offended by rapper's use of N-word on a track in which she appears, saying his language is 'vulgar and dangerous'The poet Maya Angelou has criticised Common's use of the N-word. Angelou said she was "surprised and disappointed" at the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 19 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Beethoven in America,’ by Michael Broyles - Review
In “Beethoven in America” Michael Broyles tracks how Americans have shaped Beethoven as they have seen fit.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 18 December, 2011
Meerkat cult inspires hunt for quirky Christmas bestseller
Publishers wait to see which offbeat title heads the yuletide bestsellers listsWhen Meerkats Turn Bad; 101 Uses for a Dead Meerkat; Where's the Meerkat? – drawn by the success of last year's surprise Christmas hit, the fictional meerkat memoir The... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 18 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens, Book Critic
Even as he weakened from cancer, Christopher Hitchens remained a vibrant and honest reviewer of books about a wide range of subjects.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 18 December, 2011
Novelties: Online Textbooks Aim to Make Science Leap From the Page
“Principles of Biology,” a digital-only textbook, includes interactive features that take it beyond early e-textbooks that were static reprises of the print versions.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 18 December, 2011
Betjeman's beloved Kennet runs dry and raises fears for England's rivers
Glory was in me, the poet wrote of one of the finest chalk streams in England. Now its flow has been reduced to a trickleWhen Sir John Betjeman went to Marlborough College in the early 1920s, it was, by and... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 18 December, 2011
Apple's struggle to defeat Amazon set to be exposed by European ebook inquiry
The deal that the iPad maker struck with publishers could be threatened by an inquiry into the prices people in the EU pay for their digital readingFor book publishers, Christmas will come twice this year. After the festive trade in... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 18 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Book Review Podcast: A Brainy Beauty and World War II
John Adams reviews Richard Rhodes's "Hedy's Folly" and more.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Hedy’s Folly — By Richard Rhodes — Book Review
Richard Rhodes tells the story of how the movie star Hedy Lamarr teamed up with an avant-garde composer to design a sophisticated weapons system during World War II.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Books of Style: Surprising Histories, With Drinks
After a rabble-rousing 2011, holiday readers may rush to wrap themselves in a few nostalgia-drenched books that offer refuge from the headlines.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: For Richard Dawkins, Traditional Christmas Carols Trump Atheism
Richard Dawkins, the prominent zoologist and atheist, just can't stand 'White Christmas."... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: 'Because of Winn-Dixie' Musical Hires Canine Star and His Trainer
"Because of Winn-Dixie" musical gets its canine star and his trainer as part of creative team.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens: a contrarian for whom radicalism was a style
Frances Stonor Saunders says alcohol, hard living and linguistic lust all combined to make Hitchens a compelling presencePerhaps more than any other public intellectual of his age, Christopher Hitchens consciously invoked the quality of what he called (quoting Swift) saeva... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 16 December, 2011
The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick — Edited by Pamela Jackson, Jonathan Lethem and Erik Davis — Book Review
In his later years, Philip K. Dick’s hallucinatory experiences overlapped with the concerns of his science fiction.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens: 'the consummate writer, the brilliant friend'
Ian McEwan writes of his close friend's last weeks, and how his love of journalism and literature sustained him to the endThe place where Christopher Hitchens spent his last few weeks was hardly bookish, but he made it his own.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 16 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: The Happy Hitchens: Quotations from The Life-Lover, Too
Dwight Garner on life-affirming remarks from the late Christopher Hitchens, best known for his put-downs and critiques.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Essay: The Channeling of the Novel
Recently, our leading novelists have found themselves pursued less by Hollywood than by HBO.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Getting to Know Charles Dickens
Four books introduce young readers to Charles Dickens, whose life was as fascinating as his work.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Spending An Afternoon in Christopher Hitchens's Hospital-Room-Turned-Office
New York Times reporter Charles McGrath describes what it was like to interview a terminally ill Christopher Hitchens in his hospital room, only months before Hitchens's death.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
TBR: Inside the List
Just like normal people, rich and famous authors like Janet Evanovich often give books for the holidays. Sometimes they even give best sellers. Here’s the proof.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Miniature Magazine by a Young Charlotte Brontë Fetches $1.1 Million at Auction
A small piece of writing by Charlotte Bronte sells for some big pounds.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Children's Books: Bookshelf: Snow
Children’s books set in wintry landscapes.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Children's Books: Bookshelf: Voyages
Children’s books about remarkable journeys.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Up Front
Simon Callow on his introduction to the work of Charles Dickens.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
T Magazine: The Giving Spree | Jeffrey Eugenides
The Giving Spree continues with more gifts to give and get from T's friends and family.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Young Adult: Stay With Me - By Paul Griffin - Book Review
In this novel, two urban teenagers bond over a rescued pit bull.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Without Tess - By Marcella Pixley - Book Review
What happens in a family when a girl’s imagination shades into psychosis.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Children's Books: A Girl Named Faithful Plum — By Richard Bernstein — Book Review
A true story of a girl who wins admission to an incredibly selective dance academy.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Why We Broke Up - By Daniel Handler. Illustrated by Maira Kalman - Book Review
Daniel Handler’s novel sifts through the wreckage of a high school romance.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Reading Life: Julian Barnes and the Diminishing of the English Novel
Julian Barnes’s infolded scrupulousness matches a reduced idea of English fiction, a habit of reading that appeals and wearies.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Crime: Michael Connelly’s ‘The Drop’ and Other Crime Books
The cynical and principled Los Angeles detective Harry Bosch is back in Michael Connelly’s novel “The Drop.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Fiction Chronicle
Novels by Helen Dunmore, Hillary Jordan, Alan S. Cowell, Joshua Mohr and Sonia Taitz.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Look, I Made a Hat — By Stephen Sondheim — Book Review
In the second volume of his collected lyrics, Stephen Sondheim explicates his meticulous craft.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Death Comes To Pemberley - By P. D. James - Book Review
In P. D. James’s sequel to “Pride and Prejudice,” Elizabeth Bennet’s impossible siblings are still making trouble and there’s a murder to be solved.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens memoir to be published in January
Entitled Mortality and based on his columns for Vanity Fair, , Christopher Hitchens' final memoir will be published by Atlantic in the new yearA final memoir by the late author and polemicist Christopher Hitchens will be released early next year,... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens quotes: the writer's most memorable bons mots
The polemical journalist on George W Bush, Mother Teresa, the Bible and cheap booze"The four most overrated things in life are champagne, lobster, anal sex and picnics." – the New Yorker, 2006... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens Is Dead at 62 — Obituary
Mr. Hitchens wrote in the tradition of Thomas Paine and George Orwell and trained his sights on targets as various as Henry Kissinger, the British monarchy and Mother Teresa.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Joe Simon, a Creator of Captain America, Is Dead at 98
Mr. Simon’s superhero Captain America was conceived out of a patriotic impulse in the years leading up to World War II.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens dies aged 62
Celebrated journalist, writer and unshakeable secularist has died from complications of oesophageal cancerThe writer, journalist and contrarian Christopher Hitchens has died at the age of 62 after crossing the border into the "land of malady" on being diagnosed with an... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Paris Journal: Oscar Wilde’s Tomb Sealed From Admirers’ Kisses
The Irish author’s massive tomb in Paris has been cleansed of decades of lipstick markings and graffiti, and a plate glass wall erected as a deterrent.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Blue Notes in Black and White’ by Benjamin Cawthra - Review
Benjamin Cawthra’s “Blue Notes in Black and White” considers how the camera conferred cultural legitimacy to jazz as black music.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
Lord Byron takes pride of place at art show curated by Simon Schama
Historian requisitions paintings from British embassies around the world for his Travelling Light show at Whitechapel GalleryA smouldering Lord Byron, dressed in ostentatious Albanian gear, looms large in a new show curated by the historian Simon Schama, who can't hide... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
Charlotte Brontë manuscript bought for £690,000 by Paris museum
Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits purchases miniature booklet created by author when she was 14 at auctionA Charlotte Brontë manuscript is heading to France after being sold for £690,850 at Sotheby's in London. The miniature booklet, one of six handwritten... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
China banks on bloody blockbuster to win friends … and Oscars
State partially funds Zhang Yimou's The Flowers of War – starring Christian Bale and set during 1937 Rape of Nanking – to boost nation's film industryChina's most expensive film, a bloody blockbuster about the Japanese army's massacre of civilians in... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
George Whitman, Paris Bookseller and Cultural Beacon, Is Dead at 98
Mr. Whitman, the American-born owner of Shakespeare & Company in Paris, believed that “the book business is the business of life.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
Library closures: writers attack Ed Vaizey in open letter
Joanna Trollope and Yann Martel among signatories to letter accusing culture minister of 'deafening silence' over library cutsJoanna Trollope, Yann Martel, Patrick Ness and Kate Mosse were among the 200-plus signatories to a blistering open letter to culture minister Ed... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
US to mark World Book Night with classic titles give-away
Thousands of books by authors from Maya Angelou to Alice Sebold to be handed out across US on 23 AprilTens of thousands of copies of classic titles by authors including Maya Angelou, Dave Eggers, Alice Sebold and John Irving are... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
Russell Hoban, ‘Frances’ Author, Dies at 86
Mr. Hoban, a prolific author, created the “Frances” series of children’s books and the “Riddley Walker” science-fiction novel for adults.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Republic, Lost’ - Campaign Finance Reform - Book Review
In “Republic, Lost,” Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Harvard Law School, proposes an alternative means for financing elections.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
New Books From Paul Theroux, Jeffrey Zaslow and Randall Silvis
New books from Paul Theroux, Roberto Bolaño, Jeffrey Zaslow, Randall Silvis, Sara Levine and Matthew Shaer.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
Music Review: Axiom at Alice Tully Hall - Review
The new-music ensemble Axiom celebrated Elliott Carter’s 103rd birthday with the premiere of his “Three Explorations” at Alice Tully Hall.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
ArtsBeat: Staging Your Own Theatrical Table Reading
The only thing better than reading a play like Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage” is reading it aloud with people you like. What plays would you enjoy reading with friends?... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
Children's Books: Pop-Up Book Roundup
A roundup of this season’s pop-up children’s books, including new pop-up versions of “Puff the Magic Dragon” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
John Kinsella writes of poetry's 'responsibility to bring change'
Poet who withdrew from TS Eliot prize in protest at sponsor says artform 'should channel disobedience'"Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world," wrote Shelley in 1821. Now poet John Kinsella, who withdrew from the TS Eliot prize last week... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
Russell Hoban, cult author, dies aged 86
Author of post-apocalyptic classic Riddley Walker as well as numerous children's books described himself as 'an addict to writing'Legendary cult author Russell Hoban, whose apocalyptic novel Riddley Walker was described by Anthony Burgess as "what literature is meant to be",... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
Roger McGough becomes new Poetry Society president
'Patron saint of poetry' takes up role as Arts Council restores more funding in wake of summer's internal battlesRoger McGough, the one-time pop star with the Liverpool band The Scaffold – famed for its 1968 Christmas No1 Lily the Pink... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: 'Tuck Everlasting' Musical Sets Sights on Broadway
Staged presentation of "Tuck Everlasting" raises hopes for Broadway production... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
The Pour: Four Reasons to Turn the Pages - The Pour
Four new books on wines and spirits.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Alvin Plantinga’s New Book on God and Science
Alvin Plantinga, who has led a movement of unapologetically Christian philosophers, argues that theism is compatible with science in his new book, “Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion and Naturalism.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Hedy’s Folly,’ by Richard Rhodes - Review
Richard Rhodes’s new book, “Hedy’s Folly,” traces how the glamorous actress Hedy Lamarr and the avant-garde composer George Antheil came to devise a remote-controlled torpedo during World War II.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
The Bookseller of Kabul author cleared of invading Afghan family's privacy
Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad, who spent months with bookseller Shah Muhammad Rais, tells of relief over rulingIt provided a compelling picture of the life of an Afghan family living under the tyranny of the Taliban and became the bestselling nonfiction... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Amazon.com branded 'Grinch that stole Christmas trade'
Outrage from booksellers over online discount given to shoppers who report high-street pricesAn Amazon.com promotion, which offered customers a discount if they let Amazon know the prices of items for sale in traditional shops, has provoked widespread anger, drawing a... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Carlos Acosta: from the ballet to the galley proof
The famed dancer has already penned an autobiography – now Bloomsbury is to publish his fiction debut, a novel set in CubaCarlos Acosta is more accustomed to en pointe than penpoint, but the world-renowned Cuban ballet dancer has written his... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy to become very graphic novel
DC Comics signs Glaswegian crime writer Denise Mina to adapt Girl With a Dragon Tattoo novels for comic formatSuper-tough bisexual computer hacker Lisbeth Salander, star of Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millenium trilogy, is set to become even spikier after Glaswegian crime... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Op-Ed Contributor: Amazon’s Jungle Logic
Writers defend books from the Internet giant’s latest tactic.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Downton Abbey's Matthew Crawley to be Booker judge
Man Booker judges' panel to be chaired by Sir Peter StothardActor Dan Stevens, best known as Downton Abbey's Matthew Crawley – the war hero consigned to a wheelchair for life before making an abrupt recovery – is to be a... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Steve Jobs Biography and Other Hot Titles Bookstore Lures
In the so-called year of the e-book, retail bookshops are reporting brisk sales for high-priced titles.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 12 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life,’ by Ann Beattie - Review
Ann Beattie’s “Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life” mixes biographical observation, fictional interludes and writing-class exercises.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 12 December, 2011
On the Runway Blog: Ray Eames: How She Dressed
In a new documentary, “Eames: The Architect and the Painter,” the filmmakers train their sights on the style of Ray Eames.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 12 December, 2011
Book swaps at London tube and train stations 'a good idea', says Johnson
London mayor agrees to look into creating a network for sharing books at capital's stations in time for 2012 OlympicsBook swaps and book shares could be set up at tube and train stations across London in time for the 2012... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 12 December, 2011
Penguin joins push for short ebooks
Penguin is the latest publisher to embrace quick, digital-only reads, hoping they can reach a time and cash-starved marketAngry Birds on the way to work, or half an hour with Helen Dunmore, Julian Barnes or Emma Donoghue? A slew of... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 12 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘The Stranger’s Child’ by Alan Hollinghurst - Review
Alan Hollinghurst’s new novel, “The Stranger’s Child,” reflects English values and attitudes from 1913 until the cellphone age.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 11 December, 2011
Character Study: Asperger’s Syndrome Inspires Homeless Woman’s Comic Book
Leironica Hawkins, who is homeless and has Asperger’s syndrome, fought back her panic and created a comic book about the ailment.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 11 December, 2011
Spielberg's film of War Horse gives new impetus to animal charity
Stage and screen success of Michael Morpurgo's WW1 tale has brought 80-year-old Brooke Trust back to global prominenceA charity begun 80 years ago by a young brigadier's wife who was appalled by the condition of discarded British war horses has... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 11 December, 2011
British Poet Christopher Logue Dies at 85
Mr. Logue was a poet, actor, soldier and ice-cream bandit in 85 colorful years.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 10 December, 2011
Back To Work - Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy - By Bill Clinton - Book Review
Bill Clinton presents his views on the country’s challenges and explains his plan for creating jobs.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Book Review Podcast: CBGB and Condoleezza Rice
On this week's podcast, Gerald Marzorati on "Love Goes to Buildings on Fire," Will Hermes' book about the New York music scene in the 1970s; The Times's Susan Chira discusses Condoleezza Rice's new memoir; Julie Bosman has notes from the... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Editors and Critics Pick Their Favorite Books of 2011
Times editors and critics choose their favorite reads of 2011.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Buckley - William F. Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism - By Carl T. Bogus - Book Review
Carl T. Bogus traces the making of the man who remade conservatism.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: 'Batman' Soars to No. 1
"Batman: The Black Mirror" enters our hardcover graphic books best sellers list at No. 1. The story features Dick Grayson, the former Robin, filling in for the Dark Knight and encountering a new evil.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Up Front
This week we present our 10 Best Books of the Year, drawn from all the books reviewed here in the past 12 months.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
TBR: Inside the List
Julian Barnes’s novel “The Sense of an Ending” continues lurking on the best-seller list, one of several testaments to the influence of literary prizes.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Life Upon These Shores — Looking at African American History, 1513-2008 — By Henry Louis Gates Jr. — Book Review
A visual summary of the African-American experience.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
The Sisters - By Nancy Jensen - Book Review
In this first novel, two sisters lose their relationship over a miscommunication.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire — Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever — By Will Hermes — Book Review
The Bronx may have been burning, but downtown Manhattan’s mid-’70s music scene was even hotter.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Explorers of the Nile — The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure — By Tim Jeal — Book Review
This book recounts the Victorian-era search for the river’s headwaters.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
The Uninnocent - Stories - By Bradford Morrow - Book Review
Bradford Morrow’s tales walk the line between clarity and chaos.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
On Poetry: The Solitudes — By Luis de Gongora — Book Review
Like most difficult poems, Luis de Góngora’s “Solitudes,” recently published in a new translation, is often preoccupied with simplicity.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Adam and Evelyn — By Ingo Schulze.Translated by John E. Woods — Book Review
A young couple from Dresden go bed-hopping abroad and risk defecting just ahead of German reunification.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Assumption - By Percival Everett - Book Review
Percival Everett toys with the murder-mystery genre while pursuing larger themes of identity and truth.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Love and Shame and Love — By Peter Orner — Book Review
In Peter Orner’s novel, three generations of men share a fundamental lack of understanding of the women they love.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
The Artist of Disappearance - Three Novellas - By Anita Desai - Book Review
The characters in Anita Desai’s three novellas are in search of personal fulfillment.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
No Higher Honor - A Memoir of My Years in Washington - By Condoleezza Rice - Book Review
Condoleezza Rice offers her account of George W. Bush’s presidency.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: 'Wind in the Willows' Musical in the Works
The 'Mary Poppins' team will tackle another children's classic.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
London Journal: David Guterson Wins Bad Sex in Fiction Award for ‘Ed King’
The American author David Guterson won the annual Bad Sex in Fiction award in London this week for passages of his novel “Ed King.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
David Montgomery, 84, Dies; Chronicled Lives of Workers
Mr. Montgomery was a labor historian whose experience as a machinist informed his influential writing about the culture of the factory floor.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: An App to Take You Deep Into Dickens's London
A close-up view of the bad old days.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Cheap classics boom as rest of book trade struggles
While recession bites elsewhere, sales of Wordsworth Editions' £1.99 classics have surgedAs the winds of recession sweep across the UK, a story of the decadent rich in New York has beaten the gloom, with a £1.99 edition of The Great... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Gilbert Adair, acclaimed film critic and novelist, dies aged 66
Prolific journalist and author whose novels were often adapted for the big screen, has diedGilbert Adair, the acclaimed critic who had some of his own novels turned into successful films, has died aged 66.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Essay: Anarchist Anthropology
The activist-scholar who helped start Occupy Wall Street rewrites the history of debt and reimagines its future.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Look, I Made a Hat,’ Stephen Sondheim Lyrics - Review
The second volume of Stephen Sondheim’s collected lyrics, “Look, I Made a Hat,” describes his collaborations with James Lapine as a vital artistic renewal.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 8 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Rare Ten Commandments Text Added to Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition
The leather scroll is believed to be the second-oldest extant version of the commandments.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 8 December, 2011
Dickens manuscript illuminates author's workings
A new facsimile edition of Great Expectations, showing the writer's decisions and revisions, provides fresh insight into his creative geniusDense with ink, a spider web of crossings-out, rewritings and even text-speak, the manuscript of Charles Dickens's much-loved novel Great Expectations... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 8 December, 2011
Green Carnation prize won by Catherine Hall
Award 'for modern gay writing' goes to The Proof of Love, beating work by Colm Tóibín and Jackie KayCatherine Hall's "simmering, brooding" story of a young Cambridge mathematician in a hostile Lake District village, The Proof of Love, has won... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 8 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Poet to Poet: Graywolf To Publish Bly-Transtromer Correspondence
Graywolf to publish translated Robert Bly - Tomas Transtromer correspondence... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Africa’s New Fashion Influence
The current designers looking to the continent for inspiration are avoiding the old clichés.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Up Close: New Book About Michelle Obama’s Style
“Commander in Chic” by Mikki Taylor is a guide to managing style the way Michelle Obama does.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Extra Virginity’ by Tom Mueller; a Word on Olive Oil - Review
In “Extra Virginity,” Tom Mueller reveals the brazen fraud in the olive oil industry and teaches readers how to sniff out the good stuff.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Charles Dickens's London of dirt and despair captured in evocative exhibition
Paintings of Victorian poverty go on display alongside rare manuscripts in the first museum show on the author in 40 yearsAlex Werner, curator of the first major museum show on Charles Dickens for more than 40 years, says one of... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Kurt Vonnegut's son attacks biography of his father
Mark Vonnegut says Charles Shields' And So It Goes ignores much evidence in portraying Slaughterhouse-Five author as a bitter old manKurt Vonnegut's son has hit out at a new biography of the Slaughterhouse-Five author which paints him as a bitter,... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Children's Books: Have Yourself a Retro Little Christmas
Three reissued Christmas books tell timeless stories of a sparse little tree, a big-hearted mouse and a gift-wrapped kangaroo.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Amazon.com extends publishing arm into children's books
Bookseller steps up move into publishing with acquisition of 450 children's titles from Marshall CavendishAfter dipping its toe into the waters of romance, mystery and science fiction publishing, Amazon.com has announced its biggest publishing venture yet with the acquisition of... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
TS Eliot prize: Second poet withdraws in sponsor protest
John Kinsella joins Alice Oswald in pulling out of shortlist to oppose award's funding by investment firm AurumTS Eliot himself worked for Lloyds Bank, but John Kinsella has now become the second poet to withdraw from the prize set up... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Amazon Publishing Push Grows to Children’s Books
In expanding its publishing ambitions, the online retailer is acquiring more than 450 titles from Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Books of The Times: Adam Sisman’s ‘Honourable Englishman,’ on Hugh Trevor-Roper
Adam Sisman’s new biography of the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, “An Honourable Englishman,” is a rescue mission of sorts: it will not persuade you to admire him, exactly, but you will warm to his bumptious company.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
This week's arts diary
Could there be a 'German bailout' for the RSC? The award refusal that was refused, and will Glasgow get a Turner?Ostermeier's HamletThomas Ostermeier's widely acclaimed production of Hamlet, which the director brought to London last week from his home theatre... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, Who Probed Roots of Ideology and Bias, Dies at 65
Ms. Young-Bruehl was a philosopher, psychoanalyst and biographer known for her lives of two influential women, Hannah Arendt and Anna Freud.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Mexico mocks presidential candidate for literature festival faux pas
Asked which books changed his life, Enrique Peña Nieto lists two Jeffrey Archers, misattributed Mexican classic and BibleAsked when launching his book, Mexico: The Great Hope, at a literary festival, which were the three other books he'd say had changed... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
David Guterson comes first in Literary Review's bad sex fiction award
The author of Snow Falling on Cedars wins the prize for his fifth novel, Ed King, a modern rewrite of the story of OedipusAn over-reliance on coy terms such as "family jewels", "back door" and "front parlour" has won acclaimed... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
ebook price fixing: Apple and five publishers face EU inquiry
Inquiry to find out if publishing houses and iPad makers have conspired to take on Amazon's dominanceThe European commission has launched an investigation into whether Apple and five large publishing houses have conspired to fix the price of ebooks.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Alan Moore attacks Frank Miller in comic book war of words
Moore condemns Miller's work as misogynistic, homophobic and misguided after Sin City creator's attack on Occupy movementAlan Moore, one of the most influential comic book creators of the past few decades, has launched an attack on fellow industry stalwart Frank... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Amanda Knox hires top literary lawyer to land lucrative book deal
Robert Barnett's clients include Obama, Clinton, Bush Jr, Palin and Tony Blair as freed US student looks for best offerAmanda Knox says she's hired a lawyer to help her land a book deal after an Italian court cleared her and... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Facts and fiction feature in the Blue Peter shortlist
Two novels and two non-fiction books are in the running for the Blue Peter book awardBooks about the Olympics, the extreme world, a time-travelling schoolgirl and a family with dark secrets are in the running for the Blue Peter book... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Alice Oswald withdraws from TS Eliot prize in protest at sponsor Aurum
The poet, shortlisted for much-praised collection Memorial, objects to investment company's focus on hedge fundsAward-winning poet Alice Oswald has pulled out of prestigious poetry award the TS Eliot prize in protest over its sponsorship by an investment company.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Alan Moore v Frank Miller: comics legends clash
Moore criticises 'unpleasant sensibility' of 'completely misguided' Miller after Sin City author's tirade against the Occupy movementIn a take-down worthy of his anti-hero vigilantes V or Rorschach, comics legend Alan Moore has condemned his fellow comics writer Frank Miller as... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
A Conversation With George Dyson: George Dyson: Looking Backward to Put New Technology in Focus
The science historian George Dyson, author of the new book “Turing’s Cathedral,” talks about the genius of Alan Turing and John von Neumann, and growing up in the birthplace of the H-bomb.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Out of Neal Stephenson’s Imagination Came a New Online World
The author Neal Stephenson’s reputation for prescience about the online world is well earned, even if he regards it lightly.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Ted Hughes to take place in Poets' Corner
Memorial to the former poet laureate, who died in 1998, to be unveiled in Westminster Abbey's South TranseptA slab inscribed with poignant lines from a poem by Ted Hughes, uniting in one stone his love of poetry, fishing, and his... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Love Goes to Buildings on Fire,’ by Will Hermes - Review
In “Loves Goes to Buildings on Fire,” Will Hermes has isolated the years 1973 to 1977 as a crucial, if sometimes awkward, period of transition in New York and in American music.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 5 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Author Says She's Found a Portrait of Jane Austen
Jane Austen and a newly discovered illustration possibly depicting the author of "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility" will be the subject of a BBC special called "Jane Austen: The Unseen Portrait?"... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 5 December, 2011
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo producer blasts film critic over early review
Scott Rudin bans New Yorker reviewer David Denby from future press screenings for breaking film's embargoOscar-winning producer Scott Rudin has banned David Denby, a critic from the New Yorker magazine, from all future press screenings of his films after Denby... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 5 December, 2011
Jane Austen biographer discovers 'lost portrait'
Biographer Dr Paula Byrne is convinced that 'imaginary portrait' was actually drawn from lifeJane Austen scholar Dr Paula Byrne claims to have discovered a lost portrait of the author which, far from depicting a grumpy spinster, shows a writer at... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 5 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Parallel Stories,’ a Novel by Peter Nadas - Review
“Parallel Stories,” by the Hungarian novelist Peter Nadas, explores the lives of numerous characters as their experiences unfold during the tumultuous history of 20th-century Europe.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 5 December, 2011
Almost 4m children in Britain do not own a book, poll finds
National Literacy Trust describes as 'very worrying' results of survey of 18,000 children between 11 and 16Almost 4 million children in Britain – one in three – do not own a book, a poll has found. The National Literacy Trust... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 5 December, 2011
Off the Shelf: ‘Ajax Dilemma’ Looks at Fundamental Fairness
“The Ajax Dilemma,” a new book, uses Greek mythology to show how fundamental issues of justice can set off conflict in modern society.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 4 December, 2011
Publishers Gild Books With ‘Special Effects’ to Compete With E-Books
As more readers switch to e-books, publishers are releasing print books with design elements emphasizing the physical beauty of the old-fashioned hard copy.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 4 December, 2011
Kurt Vonnegut's dark, sad, cruel side is laid bare
A biography of the author of Slaughterhouse Five undermines his warm, grandfatherly imageA new biography of acclaimed American author Kurt Vonnegut, beloved by fans worldwide for his work's warm humour and homespun Midwestern wisdom, has shocked many with a portrayal... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 3 December, 2011
Maverick political poet and playwright Christopher Logue dies at 85
Dubbed the 'Alexander Pope of his day', Christopher Logue's colourful life included two spells in prisonChristopher Logue obituaryChristopher Logue, the poet and playwright who called himself the "rewrite man", has died at the age of 85 at his home in... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 3 December, 2011
Christa Wolf Dies at 82; Wrote of the Germanys
Ms. Wolf, a leading writer from the former East Germany, explored the weight of history on ordinary people as well as her own struggles with Nazism and life in a Communist society.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 3 December, 2011
Bookshelf: N.Y.C. Bridges, Hotels and Gateway Park — Bookshelf
New works cover the golden age of bridges, the meatpacking district, venerable hotels and the surroundings of Jamaica Bay.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 3 December, 2011
TBR: Inside the List
Michael Crichton returns to the hardcover fiction best-seller list with “Micro,” a techno thriller completed by Richard Preston after Crichton’s death.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Book Review Podcast: 100 Notable Books of 2011
On this week's podcast, the editors of the Book Review discuss their selection process for the year's notable books; Andrew Graham-Dixon talks about his new biography, "Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane"; Julie Bosman has notes from the field; and... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holidays In Heck - By P. J. O’Rourke - Book Review
P. J. O’Rourke’s latest collection of global dispatches.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Then Again - By Diane Keaton - Book Review
A provocatively honest memoir by a self-sufficient star of the big screen.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Making of ‘Maus’
This book, commemorating the 25th anniversary of “Maus,” includes an expansive interview with Art Spiegelman and an exhaustive collection of archival material.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Death of King Arthur — Thomas Malory’s ‘Le Morte d’Arthur’ — Retold by Peter Ackroyd — Book Review
The exploits of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, based on the 15th-century classic “Le Morte d’Arthur.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
How We Got to Dessert
A look at the cultural phenomenon of dessert, which has its roots in savory-sweet 16th-century dishes like eel in marzipan and goose-liver macaroons.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Age of Def Jam
A commemorative picture book justifies Def Jam as not only a record label, but a bona fide chapter in pop-culture history.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: The History of Caricature
A history of caricature and satire from the 15th century onward.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
75 Years - The Very Best of Life - Illustrated. 224 pp. Life Books. $36.95 - Book Review
A collection of gorgeous, memorable photos from Life magazine’s archive.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Books Of Style: Three Books About Coco Chanel
It was almost inevitable that three new books would end up pitted against one another in reviews, but now their authors are going after one another in real life.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Magic of Magnum
Hundreds of raw images from some 70 photographers are included in this compilation.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Up Front
This year’s Holiday Books issue includes, once again, our selection of 100 Notable Books, including a wide range of biographies — many about 20th-century giants.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Legend - By Marie Lu - Book Review
This debut novel set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles is told from the alternating perspectives of two teenagers.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Young Adult: Iboy - By Kevin Brooks - Book Review
A 16-year-old develops superhero powers after a 32-gigabyte iPhone 3GS is embedded in his skull.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: Embracing Home: Books About Cooking
This season’s cookbooks embrace American regionalism and home cooking.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Novelist Who Loved Food
An exploration of Balzac as the first writer to bring “meals into literature, in all their diversity.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Spinoza, Plums, and Why We Draw
John Berger offers his sketches and writing alongside excerpts of Spinoza’s philosophy.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Spencer Tracy - A Biography - By James Curtis - Book Review
A portrait of the movie star as a real human being.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Howard Cosell - The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports - By Mark Ribowsky - Book Review
Mark Ribowsky’s biography charts Howard Cosell’s rise from obscurity.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Golden Age of the Paparazzi
An enormous coffee-table book fixes the work of paparazzi with an almost ennobling glaze.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The N.F.L.’s Highlight Reel
This book offers morality tales from the N.F.L. with larger-than-life heroes and a few signature battles.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Belzoni - The Giant Archaeologists Love to Hate - By Ivor Noël Hume - Book Review
A biography of Giovanni Belzoni, a 6-foot-6 “giant” who earned the undying enmity of his successors in a field that only later became known as archaeology.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Miranda July Is in Your House
The artist and filmmaker Miranda July presents portraits of the sad, joyous and weird lives of Los Angeles residents.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Cecil Beaton in New York
This coffee-table book showcases some of the finest photographs the high-society favorite took during his many sojourns in New York.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
A Museum in a Book
The brainchild of a group of unnamed editors, this book is an encyclopedic art museum between covers.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Pursuit of Italy - A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples - By David Gilmour - Book Review
The historian David Gilmour argues that the 1861 unification of Italy was a mistake.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Doors - A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years - By Greil Marcus - Book Review
The Doors, with the charismatic but tormented lead singer Jim Morrison, were instrumental in the swift transformation of rock ’n’ roll from brash diversion to serious genre.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Sweet Judy Blue Eyes - My Life in Music - By Judy Collins - Book Review
The singer Judy Collins reveals the harder facts of her life.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Getting to Carnegie Hall
This book celebrates the 120th birthday of Carnegie Hall, whose very name is synonymous with musical excellence.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Joys of BAM
A bumper-car ride down memory lane for habitués of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Gift Guide: Notable Children’s Books of 2011
A selection of the year’s best works.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Puppet - An Essay on Uncanny Life - By Kenneth Gross - Book Review
Kenneth Gross offers poetic and scholarly insights into the strange, archaic world of puppets.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Into The Silence - The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest - By Wade Davis - Book Review
With their empire in tatters, postwar Britons were desperate for a source of renewal and needed grand projects to restore national pride. They looked eastward, and up.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Rome - A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History - By Robert Hughes - Book Review
Robert Hughes examines the Eternal City through its history, politics and art.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Think Before You Eat
In this collection of essays, Adam Gopnik offers a serious examination of food and taste.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Looking Back in Vogue
Joan Didion, Carly Simon, Karl Lagerfeld and others share their enthusiasm for archival fashion photos in this collection of essays from Vogue.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Le Freak - An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny - By Nile Rodgers - Book Review
A member of the hit-generating band Chic and a producer for Diana Ross and others, Nile Rodgers recounts his life and career in music.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Children's Books: Bookshelf: Nativity
Children’s books about the birth of Jesus.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Children's Books: Picture Books About Christmas
Two new picture books about the celebration of Christmas.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Children's Books: Picture Books About Hanukkah
Three new children’s books about the story of Hanukkah.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Crime: Notable Crime Books of 2011
A look back at some of the best mysteries reviewed this year.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: Album Covers
Two pioneering artists, Alex Steinweiss and R. Crumb, see their designs for record covers collected between book covers.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: Harsh Adventures: Books About Travel
Searching for tribes in the Amazon, exploring Machu Picchu, retracing Graham Greene’s steps in Africa and more.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: Music Chronicle
A roundup of books about jazz, Jagger and the world of music.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: Reliable Resources: Books About Gardening
The inside story of New York’s High Line, a helpful guide to the cactus, a spruced-up edition of a gardening bible and more.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: The Antarctic
Two new books for ice and death fans chronicle the exploration of the South Pole and the Transantarctic Mountains.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: Visuals
A roundup of art and design books, on Saul Bass’s logos, pavement art, neon signs and cigar box labels.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Essay: Read It Again, Sam
Lots of writers reread their favorite books — and not just once or twice.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Raunchy Alice musical could be Ken Russell's final legacy
Ken Russell's work in progress on bawdy Wonderland film could be completed by new directorHe died last weekend leaving a legacy of classic films, such as The Devils and Women in Love, that led to tributes from across the film... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Celebrity memoirs lose star power at the tills
Do the memoirs of a pretend celebrity, Alan Partridge, bring the curtain down on what was once a blockbuster genre?The stars are out in the window of Foyles flagship store on London's Charing Cross Road, with Joanna Lumley and Alan... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Paddington Bear gets ebook treatment
Author Michael Bond gives go-ahead for digital versions of the children' favouritesPaddington, the duffle-coated, marmalade-loving bear from Darkest Peru, is joining the digital revolution after his creator Michael Bond was convinced of the virtues of ebooks.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Angry Birds colonise cookbook market
After the runaway success of the game, its makers have – naturally – moved on to launch Bad Piggies' Egg RecipesStand aside, Jamie Oliver; Nigel Slater, put down your spatula. A new contender for cookbook of the year is about... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Fearing Climate Change’s Effects on the Adirondacks
Jerry Jenkins, an ecologist, documents the ecosystem of the Adirondacks and laments its future in the face of global climate change’s local effects.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Grand Pursuit’ by Sylvia Nasar - Review
In “Grand Pursuit,” Sylvia Nasar surveys a century and a half of great minds behind the development of the dismal science.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
Biography of cancer wins Guardian First Book award
Siddhartha Mukherjee's 'remarkable and unusual' study, The Emperor of All Maladies, beats four novels to the £10,000 prizeRead an extract from The Emperor of All MaladiesAn oncologist has won the Guardian First Book award for his "biography" of cancer, The... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Kelli O'Hara to Star in 'Bridges of Madison County' Musical Workshop
Kelli O'Hara will star in and Bartlett Sher will direct a workshop of the "Bridges of Madison County" musical.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
Arthur C Clarke predicted Russians would put first man on moon
In a rediscovered 1963 episode of The Sky at Night, Clarke says Russia will win the space race with the US close behindSir Arthur C Clarke predicted in a lost BBC interview that the Russians would win the space race... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Look! Up in the Sky! It's an Astronomical Price for a Comic Book!
Action Comics No. 1, which features the first appearance of Superman, sells for more than $2 million.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
William Faulkner's complete works sold for TV adaptation
HBO signs deal with Deadwood creator David Milch to produce films and series based on Faulkner's novels and storiesOften described as unfilmable, the works of William Faulkner are set to be adapted for television by David Milch, creator of the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Unreal Estate,’ by Michael Gross - Review
In “Unreal Estate” Michael Gross gets nosy about grandiose estates, places that tend to be gated.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
New York’s Literary Cubs
A group of young, ambitious writers and editors have created a scrappy online journal and roving clubhouse that functions as a kind of Intellectuals Anonymous for the city’s literary underclass, one that has been largely ignored by the publishing establishment.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
Arundhati Roy: 'The people who created the crisis will not be the ones that come up with a solution' | Arun Gupta
The prize-winning author of The God of Small Things talks about why she is drawn to the Occupy movement and the need to reclaim language and meaningSitting in a car parked at a gas station on the outskirts of Houston,... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Soviets Invade Finland, in Real Time
Sometime around 9:15 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time, Soviet troops and tanks began crossing the border in eight different places, according to the RealTimeWWII Twitter. Shortly thereafter, Soviet planes began dropping propaganda leaflets over Helsinki urging Finns to overthrow their "capitalist... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: David Milch Strikes Deal to Bring Faulkner Works to HBO
Mr. Milch, a creator of "NYPD Blue" and "Deadwood," will work with the executor of Faulkner's literary estate in choosing from among 19 novels and 125 short stories that could be adapted for television or film.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
Daniel Radcliffe eyes role of Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings
Harry Potter star expected to swap potions for poetry in forthcoming John Krokidas thriller, in which he'll play beat poetDaniel Radcliffe's frantic attempts to kill off Harry Potter continue apace. The 22-year-old actor is reportedly in talks to play Allen... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
ArtsBeat: The 10 Best Books of 2011
The most notable mini-statistic this year is that four of the five best works of fiction are first novels.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
Holiday Gift Guide: 10 Best Books of 2011
The Book Review picks the year’s best fiction and nonfiction.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
War Horse painting turns Morpurgo's 'black lie' into a white one
To please fans, a painting of Joey, Michael Morpurgo's equine hero, has finally been hung in Iddesleigh village hallFor years, fans of the Michael Morpurgo story War Horse have made the pilgrimage to the village hall where – according to... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
Nobel author Gabriel García Márquez wins 17-year legal fight over murder classic
Colombian court rules against man who claimed author used his life story for main character in Chronicle of a Death ForetoldOn the day they were going to kill him, Cayetano Gentile Chimento got up oblivious to his impending murder. Within... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
Picture Books: Reviews of Picture Books -‘Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas,’-‘The Money We’ll Save’ — ‘The Perfect Christmas.’
Reviews of “Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas,” “The Money We’ll Save” and “The Perfect Christmas.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
Fahrenheit 451 ebook published as Ray Bradbury gives in to digital era
Longtime opponent of new publishing media sanctions electronic editions in new dealScience fiction legend Ray Bradbury, who at 91 has long been one of the last bastions against the digital age, has crumbled, with his classic novel Fahrenheit 451 finally... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
George Harrison's sister plans book about Beatle's life
Louise Harrison says she has a 'duty to get the truth out'As fans mark the 10th anniversary of George Harrison's death, his sister is writing a book about his life. "So much garbage has been written about George and the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
Mark Twain gets birthday tribute from Google
Pictorial homage to Tom Sawyer graces search engine on the author's 176th birthdayMark Twain's classic scene of boyhood one-upmanship, when Tom Sawyer tricks his friends into whitewashing a fence for him, has been immortalised online by Google's home page.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
With ‘Dior Couture,’ Patrick Demarchelier Opens the House’s Doors
While not a complete record, “Dior Couture” (Rizzoli), by the photographer Patrick Demarchelier, is far and away the most gorgeous on the fashion house.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
Feed Me: Pop-Up Cafe for Alice’s Tea Cup — Feed Me
An Alice’s Tea Cup pop-up cafe at Books of Wonder caters to grandmas and grandsons alike.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
Mark Twain celebrated in Google doodle
Google Doodle pays tribute to Mark Twain by depicting scenes from The Adventures of Tom SawyerGoogle celebrates Mark Twain's 176th birthday today with its latest doodle, which depicts a famous scene from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
Holiday Gift Guide: Notable Cookbooks of 2011
The Dining staff highlights some favorites from 2011.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
When the Chefs Come Home
In new cookbooks, star chefs like Mario Batali and Ferran Adrià step into the home kitchen.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 30 November, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Holidays in Heck,’ by P. J. O’Rourke - Review
P. J. O’Rourke’s new book, “Holidays in Heck,” a sequel of sorts to 1988’s “Holidays in Hell,” is a collection of essays and observations about his health, travels and family.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 29 November, 2011
Martin Amis murder mystery to be directed by Shekhar Kapur
London Fields, which centres on a woman who arranges her death, to be helmed by Indian director of ElizabethDespite his often-professed love for cinema, film versions of Martin Amis novels have had a difficult history. The movie of Money never... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 29 November, 2011
For Bibliophiles, Titles of Distinction
The Times’s book critics pick their top books of the year.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 29 November, 2011
Barack Obama backs independent bookshops
US president goes on book shopping spree to mark 'Small Business Saturday'Barack Obama picked up a copy of classic children's novel The Phantom Tollbooth on a trip to an independent Washington DC bookshop on Saturday.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 29 November, 2011
Helen Forrester, bestselling memoirist, dies aged 92
Author of Twopence to Cross the Mersey and other influential accounts of an impoverished Liverpool childhoodHelen Forrester, whose bestselling autobiographies about her impoverished upbringing in Liverpool's slums provided an influential new template for the memoir, has died at the age... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 29 November, 2011
Smiley's People: Gary Oldman spies a thrilling return in Le Carré sequel
Star of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy says screen adaptation of the third novel in John le Carré's Karla trilogy looks on the cardsGary Oldman looks set to return to the world of cold war espionage in a sequel to Tinker... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 29 November, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Higher Gossip’ by John Updike - Review
A posthumous collection of essays and criticism reminds the reader of how skilled a literary decathlete John Updike was.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 29 November, 2011
British Library's early newspaper archive goes online
More than 4m pages, mostly from 19th-century newspapers, reveal that press intrusion and celebrity gossip are nothing newAs the Leveson inquiry reveals fresh horrors about press behaviour every day, the British Library's archive of early newspapers, which has gone online,... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 29 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: 'Civilization' and Its Discontents: Ferguson Threatens Suit Over Harsh Review
Niall Ferguson spars with Pankaj Mishra over his harsh review of Ferguson's "Civilization"... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 28 November, 2011
Books: ‘Open Wound’ Book Review - Doctor and Patient, Bound Together
Dr. William Beaumont’s contribution to medical science was small, but it was unique and made all the more remarkable by his circumstances.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 28 November, 2011
William Hill award won by Ronald Reng's biography of Robert Enke
• Judges praise book on goalkeeper who took his own life• A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke 'outstanding'Ronald Reng has won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2011 for A Life Too Short: The... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 28 November, 2011
William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award winner to be announced
• Winner to be unveiled on Monday afternoon• Former winner Paul Kimmage on seven-title shortlistThe winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2011 will be announced by the broadcaster John Inverdale at a lunchtime reception at... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 28 November, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘The Last Testament: A Memoir by God’ - Review
In “The Last Testament,” God (via David Javerbaum) reveals his weakness for Broadway musicals, and, in blatant self-promotion, explains how buying the book may save us.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 27 November, 2011
What the Dickens? Exhibition reveals novelist's spooky plagiarism scare
Author's bicentennial exhibition at British Library has material showing Victorian rival's claim to have written same ghost storyThe spirits which terrorise and ultimately reform Scrooge in A Christmas Carol may have been due to a nightmare brought on, as the... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 27 November, 2011
Académie Française challenged to update language with fresh bon mots
Could attachiant, eurogner or bête seller win approval from the French-language watchdog and make it into the dictionary?The French may be notoriously touchy about their language, but it seems even the watchdogs of the august Académie Française – whose members,... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 27 November, 2011
The Mechanic Muse: The Mind’s Ear
With audiobooks, the spoken-word performance becomes inseparable from the text.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 27 November, 2011
Wired for Sound
What do our preferred approaches to reading say about us?... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 27 November, 2011
Civilization - The West and the Rest - By Niall Ferguson - Book Review
How did the West come to dominate the rest of the world, and is its 500-year reign ending?... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 26 November, 2011
Ghost Lights - By Lydia Millet - Book Review
A journey to the jungles of Belize becomes a soul-searching expedition for Lydia Millet’s mild-mannered hero.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 26 November, 2011
Niall Ferguson threatens to sue over accusation of racism
Historian claims writer Pankaj Mishra accused him of racism and must apologise or face court actionIt has been an intellectual spat of some savagery, so far largely confined to the refined pages of one of Britain's most respected literary magazines.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 26 November, 2011
Tom Wicker, Journalist and Observer, Dies at 85
Made prominent by his coverage of the Kennedy assassination, Mr. Wicker became Washington bureau chief for The New York Times and an iconoclastic columnist.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Graphic Books Best Sellers: Gender Bending Romance
Two arrivals on the manga list this week have me reconsidering my reluctance to begin reading a series already several volumes in.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Michael Gove to send copy of King James Bible to all English schools
Education secretary will write a brief foreword in special edition marking 400th anniversary of its publicationEvery state school in England is to receive a new copy of the King James Bible from the government – with a brief foreword by... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Thinking, Fast and Slow — By Daniel Kahneman — Book Review
In the conflict between intuitive and rational decision-making, which side wins?... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Parallel Stories — By Peter Nadas. Translated by Imre Goldstein — Book Review
Peter Nadas’s novel takes a sweeping look at 20th-century Europe.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
The Ecstasy of Influence — Nonfictions, Etc — By Jonathan Lethem — Book Review
This collection presents Jonathan Lethem as a reader and writer, but also showcases his nonliterary interests.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Kerouac's 'lost' debut novel is published 70 years after its conception at sea
Beat generation author Kerouac shows signs of future rebellion in 158-page maritime tale published by PenguinThe American beat generation author Jack Kerouac is said to have spent just eight days on active service in the US merchant marines on board... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Essay: What Muncie Read
People make hoary generalizations about changing American reading habits but we actually know very little about the history of reading.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Ed King — By David Guterson — Book Review
David Guterson’s Oedipal tale takes America to task.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Will in the Middle
Rome’s influence on Shakespeare, and Shakespeare’s on Verdi.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Free Ride — By Robert Levine — Book Review
Web sites that drive down content prices are “parasites,” Robert Levine says.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
TBR: Inside the List
“Kill Alex Cross,” the latest entry in James Patterson’s signature detective series, storms the hardcover fiction list at No. 1.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Van Gogh - The Life - By Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith - Book Review
A speculative biography suggests that Vincent van Gogh might have been murdered.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
The Last Sultan - The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun - By Robert Greenfield - Book Review
A biography of Ahmet Ertegun, who built Atlantic Records on black music.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Up Front: Robert Christgau
The eminent rock critic Robert Christgau lets on that he favors Jonathan Lethem’s nonfiction over most of his fiction.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
The Not-So-Invisible Empire
Two books examine the political power and religious roots of the Ku Klux Klan in the early decades of the last century.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
‘Something Urgent I Have To Say To You — The Life and Works of William Carlos Williams’ — By Herbert Leibowitz — Book Review
A biography of the doctor-poet William Carlos Williams.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Pacific Crucible — War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 — By Ian W. Toll — Book Review
The author of “Six Frigates” traces the war with Japan from Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Midway.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
The Tigress of ForlÌ — By Elizabeth Lev — Book Review
Elizabeth Lev tells us why Caterina Riario Sforza de’ Medici was both celebrated and feared.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
And So It Goes - Kurt Vonnegut: A Life - By Charles J. Shields - Book Review
Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007, but one gets the sense from Charles J. Shields’s sad, often heartbreaking biography, “And So It Goes,” that he would have been happy to depart this vale of tears sooner.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 25 November, 2011
MPs to investigate library closures
Culture, Media and Sport select committee to examine whether cuts are compatible with statutory dutiesAs campaigners up and down the country fight to keep their local libraries open, the Culture, Media and Sport select committee has announced the launch of... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 24 November, 2011
Anne McCaffrey, ‘Dragonriders’ Author, Dies at 85
Ms. McCaffrey married elements of fantasy to pure science fiction in her young-adult “Dragonriders of Pern” series set on the planet Pern, which Earthlings have settled.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 24 November, 2011
Ruth Stone, National Book Award Winner, Dies at 96
Ms. Stone won the National Book Award for a poetry collection in 2002 at the age of 87.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 24 November, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘The Drop,’ by Michael Connelly - Review
Michael Connelly’s detective Harry Bosch returns in “The Drop,” with cases old and new vying for attention.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 24 November, 2011
Currents | Q&A: Q&A: Authors on Aging Boomers and Housing Options
A new book by an architect and a gerontologist collects examples of homes designed to bridge the distance between one’s vital and declining years.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 24 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Clues to Raymond Chandler's Life and Career in Sale of His Books and Papers
A coming Sotheby's auction of works from Chandler's personal collection offers a unique look at his legacy and literary influence, not to mention his uneasy relationship with that "showman's paradise" known as Hollywood.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 23 November, 2011
Lexicographers cram 'squeezed middle' into word of the year slot
Phrase Ed Miliband ushered into widespread use beats bunga bunga and occupy to award lavished on 'big society' last yearAfter a year defined by economic turmoil, austerity and cutbacks, the compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary have chosen the phrase... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 23 November, 2011
Children’s Books: Just a Second-Steve Jenkins- Review
In his artfully designed book “Just a Second,” Steve Jenkins offers young readers a useful perspective on the passage of time.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 23 November, 2011
Anne McCaffrey, Pern creator, dies aged 85
Writer of bestselling SF novels featuring 'good guy' dragons passes away in Ireland following a strokeAmerican science fiction author Anne McCaffrey, who created the hugely popular Pern series of books about the symbiotic relationship between humans and dragons, died at... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 23 November, 2011
Stanislaw Lem gets animated Google doodle treatment
Search engine marks 60th anniversary of Polish SF author's first book with interactive cartoonA spiky-haired, bespectacled animation of the Polish science fiction author Stanislaw Lem marches across Google's doodle this morning, as the search engine marks the 60th anniversary of... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 23 November, 2011
Baghdad Journal: American Collection at Baghdad University Draws Few Visitors
At Baghdad University’s library, a collection of books compiled by the American Embassy to pique students’ interest in the United States has been largely overlooked.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 23 November, 2011
Google doodle marks 60th anniversary of Stanislaw Lem's first book
Polish science fiction author's work provides inspiration for one of Google's most elaborates doodles yetGoogle has created one of its most elaborate doodles yet to celebrate the 60th anniverary of the first book publication by Stanislaw Lem, the Polish science... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 23 November, 2011
This week's arts diary
From stormclouds over Scottish literature to storming out of a concert... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 22 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Embattled Intellectual Historians Make a Stand
A new generation of scholars argues for the reclamation of intellectual history, a discipline long considered, if not quite boring, then certainly musty, elitist and out of touch.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 22 November, 2011
Martin Scorsese set to direct crime thriller The Snowman
Scorsese's return to crime genre will be adaptation of novel by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø featuring detective Harry HoleMartin Scorsese is to return to the crime genre with The Snowman, an adaptation of the seventh book in Norwegian writer Jo... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 22 November, 2011
Holiday Gift Guide: 100 Notable Books of 2011
The Book Review’s annual list.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 22 November, 2011
Mark Z Danielewski wins seven-figure advance for serial novel
Cult author signs deal to produce 27-volume sequence The Familiar at three-monthly intervalsCult favourite Mark Z Danielewski has scooped a reported million-dollar advance for the first 10 books in his epic 27-volume new serial novel.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 22 November, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Rome,’ a Personal History by Robert Hughes - Review
Robert Hughes’s “Rome: A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History” offers a guided tour through that city in its many incarnations.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 21 November, 2011
Personal Health: ‘The Hoarder in You’ - A Book That Can Help Cut Through the Clutter
“The Hoarder in You: How to Live a Happier, Healthier, Uncluttered Life,” can help in decluttering a life overrun by needless things.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 21 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: First Play by Nathan Englander Postponed From Public Theater Season
Nathan Englander play "The Twenty Seventh Man' postponed till November at Public Theater... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 21 November, 2011
Shelagh Delaney, A Taste of Honey writer, dies aged 71
Actors and writers pay tribute to Salford-born playwright and writer, who became an overnight success at 19Shelagh Delaney, the acclaimed playwright whose ground-breaking debut, A Taste of Honey, challenged many of the taboos of 50s Britain, has died. She was... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 21 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Breakfast Comrade to Write Memoir of Lucian Freud
The author, Geordie Greig, was one of a group who gathered regularly for breakfast on Saturdays.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 21 November, 2011
Lenore Hart rejects plagiarism accusations
The American author has disputed similarities between her novel The Raven's Bride and Cothburn O'Neal's The Very Young Mrs Poe, following accusations of plagiarism on the internetAmerican author Lenore Hart has rejected accusations of plagiarism on Facebook, after allegations she... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 21 November, 2011
Leeds academy unveils mural of Carol Ann Duffy's Mrs Schofield's GCSE
Penned after her work Education for Leisure was banned from the GCSE syllabus, a school has immortalised the poem in artWhat would Pat Schofield say? Carol Ann Duffy's poem Mrs Schofield's GCSE, written in response to the complaint which led... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 21 November, 2011
War Horse transfers to Australia
National theatre's mega-successful play to follow high-selling Broadway run with stint at the Arts Centre in MelbourneAfter successful stints in the West End and on Broadway, War Horse will open in Australia next year.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 21 November, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘The Last Sultan,’ by Robert Greenfield - Review
Robert Greenfield’s “Last Sultan” tracks the life of Ahmet Ertegun, the Turkish-born record company executive who set the high-water mark for personal panache and who remains a sacrosanct figure to most who knew him.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 20 November, 2011
Médecins sans Frontières book reveals aid agencies' ugly compromises
Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed gives inside account of forced deals with regimes which abuse human rightsA controversial new book produced by one of the world's best-known aid agencies, Médecins sans Frontières, lifts the lid on the often deeply uncomfortable compromises aid... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 20 November, 2011
Anthony Burgess archive reveals vast body of previously unseen work
Gifted by the author's widow, the resource includes a great deal of music writing, as well as new literary gemsA greatly expanded slang lexicon for the delinquent droogs of the novel A Clockwork Orange has been unearthed in a vast... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 20 November, 2011
Bookshelf: Books Explore Architecture and Atmosphere of New York
Newly published books explore New York City skyscrapers and sustainability, and the architect Philip Johnson’s favorite reading.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Saturday, 19 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Books Podcast: Pat Nixon's Receding Self
This week, historian David Greenberg assesses Ann Beattie's latest book, "Mrs. Nixon: A Life"; Julie Bosman has notes from the field; Alexander Star takes an anthropological view of Afghanistan; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Graphic Books Best Sellers: Twin Sightings
The ever-imaginative writer Alan Moore pulls off a nice trick this week as his "Neonomicon," illustrated by Jacen Burrows, arrives on both the hardcover and softcover list. But the bigger comic book news revolved around a popular writer of the... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Catherine The Great - Portrait of a Woman - By Robert K. Massie - Book Review
Mounted on a white stallion, the Russian empress once led 14,000 soldiers to arrest and unseat her feckless husband.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Essay: Importing Italian Cuisine
Elizabeth David’s “Italian Food” was ahead of its time, and not just because the food was unrecognizable to most Americans.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Inferno - The World at War, 1939-1945 - By Max Hastings - Book Review
Max Hastings’s survey of World War II concentrates on the experience of those who took part.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Room For Improvement - Notes on a Dozen Lifelong Sports - By John Casey - Book Review
In these personal essays, John Casey shares his love of sports and the outdoors.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
The Prague Cemetery - By Umberto Eco - Book Review
Umberto Eco’s novel explores the twisted history of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
‘Afghanistan’ and Other Books About Rebuilding — Book Review
Can the study of politics, power and culture at the local level reshape efforts to rebuild Afghanistan?... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
The Unmaking of Israel — By Gershom Gorenberg — Book Review
Israel’s victory in the 1967 war may have carried the seeds of the country’s decline.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Tales Of the New World - By Sabina Murray - Book Review
Sabina Murray’s stories delve into the lives of explorers, reimagining the pivotal moments that secured their place in history.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
The Angel Esmeralda - Nine Stories - By Don DeLillo - Book Review
Each of the stories in Don DeLillo’s collection addresses a different kind of unease.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
‘Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life’ — Review
In Ann Beattie’s portrait, Mrs. Nixon remains polite, traditional, lonely and in the end unknowable.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Mycophilia - Revelations From the Weird World of Mushrooms - By Eugenia Bone - Book Review
Mushrooms have much to offer, Eugenia Bone tells us.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
TBR: Inside the List
Laura Hillenbrand’s “Unbroken” has spent 52 weeks on the hardcover nonfiction list and Stephen King’s new novel, “11/22/63,” leaps right to the top of the hardcover fiction list.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Crime: Sue Grafton’s ‘V is For Vengeance’ and Other Crime Books
Sue Grafton is nearing the end of her alphabet crime series — only four more books and, yes, we’re counting.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Editors’ Choice
Reviews of recent books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Before The End, After the Beginning - By Dagoberto Gilb - Book Review
Dagoberto Gilb’s stories explore prejudice, nostalgia and subdued rage.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Up Front: David Greenberg
David Greenberg, whose book “Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image” was published in 2003, has had plenty of opportunity to consider the ways we view the presidency.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Kenyan author attacks insularity of British fiction
Binyavanga Wainaina says authors fail to tell 'universal' stories, leaving their books 'indigestible' for modern AfricansListen to Binyavanga's interview on the books podcastThe prize-winning Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina has attacked the insularity of British authors, describing their work as "indigestible"... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 18 November, 2011
David Sinclair - The Sun sub who became a prolific author
David Sinclair was a hack, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. It is meant as a compliment to a man I was privileged to worth with briefly, but who remained in touch for years afterwards.David, who died... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Mackenzie memoirs banned for spilling spy secrets to be republished
Sir Compton Mackenzie was prosecuted in 1932 for revealing information about intelligence service in Greek MemoriesThe first world war memoirs of Sir Compton Mackenzie are to see the light of day 78 years after they were banned after the intervention... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 18 November, 2011
BBC and HBO line up Wolf Hall drama
Four-part adaptation of Hilary Mantel's historical novel would be broadcast on BBC2The BBC and HBO are developing a TV drama mini-series adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Man Booker prize-winning historical novel Wolf Hall.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Myths, mobs and moral panics - understanding the reasons for the riots
I mentioned the "media and the riots" conference yesterday, which is taking place in a week's time.Perhaps the participants should first read an ebook entitled Mad mobs and Englishmen? Myths and realities of the 2011 riots, which is available from... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 18 November, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Then Again,’ by Diane Keaton - Review
In her memoir “Then Again,” Diane Keaton entwines her story with that of her mother.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 17 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: The X-Men Go to College
Chris Claremont, one of the most influential writers of "X-Men" comics, known for his engaging, complex plot lines and strong female characters, is donating his archives to Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 17 November, 2011
Charles Dickens bicentenary to be marked with film and TV retrospective
BFI plans comprehensive season celebrating most adapted author of all time in early 2012From Alec Guinness as a memorable Fagin to Miss Piggy as a sweetly psychotic Mrs Cratchit, the BFI is to show some of the very best examples... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 17 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Zombiegate!
We asked Glen Duncan if he wanted to clarify his review of Colson Whitehead's novel "Zone One" or reply to his critics.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 17 November, 2011
Newly Released: New Books Include ‘Out of Oz’ and ‘The Boy in the Suitcase’
Gregory Maguire’s “Out of Oz” is the final installment of the series based on “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 17 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Newly Surfaced Tagore Manuscript Up for Auction
The manuscript includes poems and song lyrics and could fetch $250,000.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 17 November, 2011
John Grisham: 'We deserve better leaders than we've got' - video interview
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 17 November, 2011
Hurricane Katrina novel wins National Book Award
Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones takes prestigious US prize after rejections had left her close to giving up writingThe story of a poor black family struggling to weather the horrors of Hurricane Katrina has won the National Book Award for... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 17 November, 2011
Hilary Mantel writes second sequel to Wolf Hall
Bring up the Bodies, to be published in 2012, will focus on Anne Boleyn's downfallHilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, her dazzling, utterly absorbing invention of the inner life of Thomas Cromwell, will have not one sequel, as expected, but two. Mantel... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 17 November, 2011
Mixed Martial Arts Books by Matthew Polly and Jim Genia
Matthew Polly and Jim Genia, two chroniclers of mixed martial arts, a popular sport that is illegal in New York State, participated in a “Battle of the Books” last week.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Thursday, 17 November, 2011
Books of The Times: Don DeLillo Stories, Led by ‘The Angel Esmeralda’ - Review
The novelist Don DeLillo’s first collection of short stories includes “The Angel Esmeralda,” a dazzlingly told tale of despair and ruination.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
Untitled
Plan your holiday shopping with The New York Times 2011 Holiday Gift Guide.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
Remedy And Reaction - The Peculiar American Struggle Over Health Care Reform - By Paul Starr - Book Review
Paul Starr examines the history behind the health policy choices of the Obama administration.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: National Book Awards Go to 'Salvage the Bones' and 'Swerve'
Jesmyn Ward's work won for fiction and Stephen Greenblatt's for nonfiction. Nikky Finney took the prize for poetry and Thanhha Lai for young people's literature.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
Eva Braun - Life With Hitler - By Heike B. Görtemaker.Translated by Damion Searls - Book Review
A look at Hitler through the lens of his lover.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
Painting by mythical artist Nat Tate sells for very real £7,250 at Sotheby's
Author and screenwriter William Boyd brought tormented, gifted artist to life in 1998, fooling many – including David BowieThe anonymous bidder who paid more than £7,000 – far above the top estimate – for a painting by an utterly obscure... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Have a Little Faith? At NYU, the Debate Rages On
IntelligenceSquared, a debate series founded in 2006 to promote old-school Oxford-style debate on urgent public issues, with a digital-age twist, brought some significant intellectual power to a debate at NYU over the world's prospects with or without religion.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Warning to Rahm and Ari Emanuel: Big Brother Was Watching, and He Has a Book
Zeke Emanuel has written a memoir, "Growing p Emanuel."... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
Books of Style: Two Books on Perfume — Review
Perfumes, two books say, have not lost their ability to beguile, even as the industry is more and more scientific.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
Penguin moves into self-publishing
Venerable publisher's US arm offers 'direct path' into print for aspiring authorsWant to be published by Penguin, the historic press which is home to authors including Roald Dahl, Beatrix Potter and Kathryn Stockett? Now you can be – and for... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
Children’s Books: Days and Nights at the Museum
A new nonfiction picture book, “How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum,” by Jessie Hartland tells the story of how dinosaur bones go from fossil in the ground to blockbuster museum exhibit.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
Christopher Paolini's Eragon sequel is runaway hit
Inheritance sells more than 76,000 copies in UK in first week of publicationInheritance, the final title in Christopher Paolini's young adult series about a boy and his dragon, has become the fastest selling book of the year so far, averaging... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
Discover the Costa children's book award shortlist
Four books are going to battle it out for the Costa children's book award - find out more and help to review themThe shortlists for the Costa book awards have been announced and there are four great books lined up... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
Amazon's Kindle lending library is contract breach, say US authors
Authors Guild says online retailer is using 'brute economic power' to push books into scheme without proper permissionsAmerican authors are up in arms about Amazon's new Kindle lending library, accusing the online retailer of "boldly breaching its contracts" with publishers... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
Ann Patchett Bucks Tide of Bookstore Closings by Opening Her Own
Nashville’s reading faithful have found a savior in Ann Patchett, the best-selling author, whose Parnassus Books will open Wednesday.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘The Doors,’ by Greil Marcus - Review
Greil Marcus’s achievement in “The Doors” is to isolate and resurrect this band’s best music and set it adrift in a swirling and literate cultural context.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 15 November, 2011
Costa book awards shortlists unveiled
Debut novel from Christie Watson joins Julian Barnes, Carol Ann Duffy and Claire Tomalin in contention for £30,000 awardAn intensive care nurse at Great Ormond Street children's hospital in London will compete for one of the UK's biggest literary prizes... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 15 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Rushdie Runs Afoul of Web's Real-Name Police
Salman Rushdie's fight over which name he is allowed to use on Facebook points to an increasingly vital debate.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 15 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Jeff Kinney's Favorite Books From Childhood
As part of an occasional series on authors' favorite children's books, we asked Mr. Kinney to tell us about his own favorites when he was a child.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 15 November, 2011
QR Markham apologises for 'awful pantomime' of plagiarism
Assassin of Secrets author admits compulsion 'to conceal my own voice with the armour of someone else's words'QR Markham, the debut novelist who stitched his spy novel Assassin of Secrets together from a multitude of sources, has spoken out for... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 15 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Margaret Atwood Named Mentor in Rolex Arts Program
Under the program, six mentors choose and work with emerging young talents.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Tuesday, 15 November, 2011
Books of The Times: Niall Ferguson’s ‘Civilization’ Traces West’s Decline - Review
In “Civilization,” Niall Ferguson, the British historian and popular author, traces what he sees as the decline of the West.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 14 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Hilary Mantel to Write 'Wolf Hall' Sequel
The writer, who won the Man Booker Prize in 2009 for the historical novel about Thomas Cromwell, will follow up with a sequel titled "Bring Up the Bodies.''... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 14 November, 2011
Blackpool bucks library cuts trend with £3m upgrade
Seaside council's investment contrasts with widespread budget cuts and closures across the UKAn English council is investing more than £1m in its libraries, in contrast to the rolling programme of closures across many areas of the country as authorities make... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 14 November, 2011
Jane Austen 'died from arsenic poisoning'
Crime writer Lindsay Ashford bases claim on reading of author's letters and claims murder cannot be ruled outAlmost 200 years after she died, Jane Austen's early death at the age of just 41 has been attributed to many things, from... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 14 November, 2011
Chinua Achebe refuses Nigerian national honour
For a second time, writer declines to become a Commander of the Federal Republic, saying corruption remains unaddressedChinua Achebe has declined the Nigerian government's attempt to name him a Commander of the Federal Republic.... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 14 November, 2011
Barbara Grier, Publisher of Lesbian Books, Dies at 78
Ms. Grier became a revered figure to several generations of lesbian writers and readers after founding Naiad Press in 1973 with three other women.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Monday, 14 November, 2011
Books of The Times: Judy Collins’s Memoir ‘Sweet Judy Blue Eyes’ - Review
Judy Collins’s memoir addresses her early life, career, romantic relationships, alcoholism and eating disorder, as well as the fraught life of her son, Clark.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 13 November, 2011
Texas Monthly: Writer’s Body Is Weaker, but Voice Remains Strong
The short-story writer Dagoberto Gilb is still recovering from a serious stroke in 2009, but he has returned to top form with his writing.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Sunday, 13 November, 2011
Apps become the secret ingredient in the battle of the celebrity Christmas cookbooks
As hefty new tomes from Heston, Jamie and the rest vie for a place under the tree, the digital revolution hits the kitchen. But can a smartphone ever replace a battered, beloved hardback?The struggle to win the title of bestselling... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 13 November, 2011
Europe's archived trove of rare Great War documents goes online
Libraries across Europe are collaborating to make 400,000 documents available to the publicRemembrance Sunday will be marked for the first time today without the presence of a surviving serviceman from the Great War. Claude Choules, who served in the navy,... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 13 November, 2011
'Your Lifelong Prisoner' – Liu Xiaobo's poem from prison
New book by the jailed dissident and Nobel peace prizewinner contains a moving tribute to his wife, the poet Liu XiaTo Xia... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 12 November, 2011
Liu Xiaobo: new book lifts China's gag on jailed Nobel peace prizewinner
Liu Xiaobo, winner of Nobel peace prize, will have his collected writings published in English for the first timeRead 'Your Lifelong Prisoner' – Liu Xiaobo's poem from prisonThe collected writings of Chinese Nobel prizewinner Liu Xiaobo have been translated into... More...
Originally posted at Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 12 November, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Graphic Books Best Sellers: Worlds Apart
"Flashpoint" will likely go down in comics history as "the event that changed everything" right before the next event that really changed everything.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 11 November, 2011
Book Review: George F. Kennan - An American Life - By John Lewis Gaddis - Book Review
The debate in America between idealism and realism played itself out inside George F. Kennan’s soul.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 11 November, 2011
'[Sic]' — A Memoir — by Joshua Cody — Book Review
Joshua Cody’s frenetic memoir encompasses devastating illness, creativity, sex, drugs and 30-something life in New York.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 11 November, 2011
Up Front: Errol Morris
The documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, who reviews Stephen King’s novel “11/22/63,” is well known for poking around history to challenge received wisdom.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 11 November, 2011
Lightning Rods — By Helen DeWitt — Book Review
Helen DeWitt’s protagonist offers a way for employers to address sexual tension in the workplace.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 11 November, 2011
‘Rights Gone Wrong’ by Richard Thompson Ford — Book Review
The author of “The Race Card” argues in his new book, “Rights Gone Wrong,” that both the left and the right stand in the way of sensible approaches to discrimination.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 11 November, 2011
Book Review: London Under - The Secret History Beneath the Streets - By Peter Ackroyd - Book Review
Peter Ackroyd provides a tour of the hidden realms below London.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 11 November, 2011
The Sense of An Ending - By Julian Barnes - Book Review
Mr. Barnes tells a tale of memory and missed opportunity.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 11 November, 2011
China In Ten Words - By Yu Hua.Translated by Allan H. Barr - Book Review
In these essays, China is a land of contradictions and moral compromises.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 11 November, 2011
11/22/63 — By Stephen King — Book Review
Stephen King’s time traveler tries to undo some painful history.... More...
Originally posted at NYT > Books
Friday, 11 November, 2011