Month: November 2021

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The Library: A Fragile History

Despite its subtitle, this history of libraries is anything but fragile. At more than 500 pages, it is a robust, near definitive effort, tracing the evolution of the institution from the clay tablets of the Assyrian Empire to the wired libraries of today … Much of this material is familiar, though in a welcome way, comprehensive like the rest of the authors’ admirable effort. Though its primary audience will likely be academics, the book is so accessible and well written that it may also find a general readership among all those who love libraries. May their numbers be legion. Read more

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The hottest new book merch is… NFTs

Gary Vaynerchuk, a business author and NFT creator, included one NFT as a freebie for every purchase of 12 copies of his new book Twelve and a Half: Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success. (You know, like cereal box prizes, if each cereal box prize burned down several hundred acres of the Amazon.) And, because everything I ever thought I knew about finance, books, and art is wrong, the book’s pre-orders now stand at over a million books—“one of the industry’s biggest advance orders for a single title in a 24-hour period,” according to the Wall Street Journal‘s reporting. Read more

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Hollywood Loves Books and Authors are Cashing In Big-Time

In 2020 alone, streamers produced 532 new television shows. Their appetite for content is fueling a golden age of adaptations, according to Michelle Weiner, head of the books department at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which includes the book-to-film department and the publishing group. Read more

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PEN International calls on Turkish authorities not to prosecute Nobel laureate Pamuk for his writings

Turkish authorities should not charge Nobel laureate and PEN International Vice President Orhan Pamuk with “insulting” Atatürk and the Turkish flag, PEN International said in a statement on Tuesday, as an investigation has been launched into his novel “Nights of Plague” (Veba Geceleri). Read more

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Pandemic sparks union activity where it was rare: Bookstores

Labor action has surged in many industries over the past two years, including in bookselling, a business where unions had been rare. Since 2020, employees have unionized or are attempting to do so everywhere from Printed Matter in New York City to Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle and Bookshop Santa Cruz in California. In Minnesota, workers at four Half Price Books stores have announced plans to affiliate with locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Read more

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Omar El Akkad wins $100K Scotiabank Giller Prize for novel What Strange Paradise

What Strange Paradise is a novel that tells the story of a global refugee crisis through the eyes of a child. Nine-year-old Amir is the only survivor from a ship full of refugees coming to a small island nation. He ends up with a teenage girl named Vanna, who lives on the island. Even though they don’t share a common language or culture, Vanna becomes determined to keep Amir safe. What Strange Paradise tells both their stories and how they each reached this moment, while asking the questions, “How did we get here?” and “What are we going to do about it?” Read more

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