The controversial Google Print project has gone live with a new search page dedicated exclusively to books “even as it deals with growing concerns over its Google Print for Library initiative,” according to a brief Publishers Weekly report. As the PW report notes, “the move…
Jessica Cutler, the “mailgirl” in the office of Senator MikeDeWine “who set Washington abuzz with a steamy online sex diary, is between the covers again — with a thinly veiled novel based on her romps through the corridors of power,” reports an Agence France Presse…
Conflicted reviews aren’t as rare as they ought to be, but at least N.P.R. commentator Daniel Schorr, in this review for The Christian Science Monitor, admits his connection to author Floyd Abrams right up front — Abrams was his lawyer. Of course, the situation is…
Of the nearly 1,600 literary magazines and journals that the editors of the Utne magazine receive, Toronto “has always stood out as a return address of distinction,” say the editors. To investigate, they dispatched Leif Utne to profile Toronto’s position as “the hottest indie magazine…
Scholars from Korea, China and Japan have gotten together to publish a “joint history textbook” — an accomplishment that an unattributed commentary in the Korea Times notes is “little short of an historic event in itself.” As the commentary notes, “The participants deserve praise for…
It appears the ashes of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson will be fired from a cannon after all, thanks to actor Johnny Depp. An Agence France Presse wire story say Thompson’s ashes “will be fired from a cannon housed in a giant fist-shaped monument” that is…
Yet another political campaign is what saved the marriage of Bill and Hillary Clinton, says a new book. An Agence France Presse wire story says the book, Survivor by John Harris, claims it all came down to a key meeting during Hillary’s 2000 Senate bid…
“. . . as the corporate publishing world has become as predictable and formulaic as fast food, meaty intellectual books (or more daringly, those with leftist leanings — the blowfish of the book world) have ceded to cotton candy,” says Lisa Sorg. As a result,…
The language known as “Nuuchahnulth” “to the dwindling band of Native Americans who speak it . . . is like few others in its spectacular range of dialects and its capacity to convey complex ideas through simple words,” says Ian Herbert. But the language, spoken…
Orlando Figes review of Yuri Slezkine‘s The Jewish Century appears in the current issue of The New York Review of Books. The review describes the book as an important linking of “the emigration of the Jews with the dissemination of the twentieth century’s three main…
An Associated Press wire story offers more information on the suit against Oriana Fallaci. According to A.P. reporter Marta Falconi, a judge in the northern Italy city of Bergamo has ordered her to stand trial “on charges of defaming Islam in her recent book The…
A recent essay by Jacob Heilbrunn in The Chronicle of Higher Education (not available online) considers the titles in Metropolitan Books‘ American Empire Project, which, according to Heilbrunn, is “devoted to showing that the United States is about to receive its long overdue comeuppance.” The…
The current issue of Newsweek magazine, in addition to a story describing several more reports of copies of the Koran being thrown into toilets and latrines by American soliders, boasts a cover story that consists of an excerpt fileted from David McCullough‘s new and already-bestselling…
This year marks the 15th anniversary of anarchist publisher/distributor AK Press, says Katie Renz in a profile in the current issue of Clamor (article not available online). AK Press, which is described as a “collectively run, worker-owned, bi-continental publisher of radical media” publishes and distributes…
Thanks to the ongoing war between Maoist rebels and the king’s army, and to a poorly educated populace with only a 50 percent literacy rate (only 35 percent amongst women), Nepal had relatively few libraries, especially in its more remote regions. But, as Louisa Kasdon…
China’s newly formed General Administration of Press and Publication has banned the publication and sale of 19 business books that contain “false information,” although what the false information was has not been identified. It is the “first batch of publications banned by the press watchdog…
An item at Boingboing highlights one of the potential problems of the e-book world — the story of a man who bought a medical e-book “published by Wiley” for $172. “I have one copy on my laptop and a backup on my external harddrive. Last…
In the wake of a series of critical writings about Islam, Oriana Fallaci has been sued in Italy “based on allegations that she has insulted Islam,” according to a brief report from the Turkish Cihan News Agency. As the report notes, “In her latest book,…
“Plans for a public ceremony celebrating the life of Hunter S. Thompson have been canceled in favor of a private memorial service,” reports an Associated Press wire story. A ceremony that was to include both a symposium on his work and the scattering of Thompson’s…
“Brawny Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone, best known for action roles like Rocky and Rambo, is striking a literary tone with a new film about author Edgar Allan Poe,” reports an Agence France Presse wire story. The report says Stallone, who many forget won acclaim for…
Book buyer Robert Gray of Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vermont weighs in on an important question in his essay “Should Americans Read More Literature in Translation?” for Words Without Borders. “‘Yes,’ is the quick answer,” Gray notes, “the answer that salves our collective conscience.” But…
Donald Macintyre‘s profile of A. B. Yehoshua, “widely regarded in Israel as the country’s greatest, as well as its most versatile, novelist,” appears in a recent edition of The Independent. Yehoshua’s newest novel, not yet translated into English, is The Mission of the Human-Resource Man,…
While noting that most librarians are raging against Section 215 of the Patriot Act, in his “Bad Librarian” column Erik Wennermark wonders what there is for Federal investigators to secretly learn in the average readers reading habits. “Let’s face it, the library records are just…
“In the annals of amateur fanaticism there is nothing quite like the English literary society,” says Robert McCrum. “Forget the quotidian fervour of the common or garden reading group, here the dedicated bookworm’s piety is marvellous to behold.” In his weekly column for The Observer,…
“A study announced Tuesday estimates that a record 195,000 new works came out in 2004, a 14 percent jump over the previous year and 72 percent higher than in 1995,” notes an Associated Press wire story. The report was issued by R.R. Bowker, the “New…
At first, Google Print seemed like a good idea to most in the conglomerate side of the book industry, and major publishers such as Random House, John Wiley & Sons, Simon & Schuster,” and others immediately signed on for a pilot program that included sending…
The world’s biggest publishing conglomerate, Bertelsmann AG, has won a contract to distribute books in China. As an article in Money Magazine by Federica Bianchi reports, Bertelsmann has set the deal up as a joint venture with the Liaoning Publishing Group, a state-owned company. Reports…
The library that is considered the “highest seat of learning in the Sunni Muslim world” — Egypt’s massive Al-Azhar Library in Cairo — “has launched a long-awaited Web site featuring digital copies of its huge and rare library. The website showcases what may be “the…
“Publishing a book doesn’t do much for your soul, but it is certainly an interesting experience,” writes Daniel Alarcon in an essay posted on Salon.com about the complex relationship between class, race, and publishing in America. Alarcon, a Peruvian-American writer, focuses on an overlooked fact:…
“. . . in the past few years a good number of writers have started exploring the previously blank territory that lies between the collection of short stories and the novel proper” to the point where “it might just be an example of a new…
