Kurt Vonnegut: A short lecture on short stories
For some reason he wasn’t quite famous for it, but the late, great Kurt Vonnegut used to give lots of public lectures. Later in life they were crankier, more prescriptive,… Read more »
Oddest Book Title of the Year shortlist announced
Normally, we scoff at book awards. They’re silly in concept (who’s to say what constitutes the best novel?) and corrupt in delivery (big house judges picking big house books) but,… Read more »
The real story behind the Penguin – Random House merger
News that the DOJ had approved the merger of Random House and Penguin yesterday was easy to miss… Read more »
The Toronto Globe and Mail decides readers aren’t really its demographic
And thus removes one of the most esteemed book section editors in the business… Read more »
Lance Armstrong: The scandal that keeps on giving
“All non-fiction Lance Armstrong Books will soon be moved to the fiction section”… Read more »
Hail & Farewell: Jakob Arjouni
Jakob Arjouni, one of our authors and one of our friends, died in Berlin Wednesday, after a long battle against pancreatic cancer… Read more »
Philip Roth thinks it’s over
Our recent posts about Philip Roth — such as Monday’s post about his regard for his own books, and yesterday’s post about his supposed retirement from writing — have drawn… Read more »
The wrong goodbye of Barnes and Noble
Maybe you’ve noticed that there seem to be a lot of Barnes & Noble superstores closing lately?… Read more »
Das iPad
Turns out the Germans are kicking ass in the digital reading department… Read more »
Imre Kertesz: The reports of my retirement are “a bit too hasty”
And he has asked Melville House, as his English-language publisher, to let the world know that he is still at work… Read more »