Jocasta Innes, interior designer, writer and inventive cook, dies aged 78
Apr 30 2013: Jocasta Innes, an interior designer whose bestsellers included The Pauper's Cookbook and Paint Magic (a volume that was seemingly on all our British friend's shelves in the 1980s, and is still on ours today), died April 20. She was...
Don DeLilo wins inaugural Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction
Apr 26 2013: Don DeLillo has been named the first recipient of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, which honors "an American literary writer whose body of work is distinguished not only for its mastery of the art but for its originality of thought and imagination. The award seeks to commend...
Apr 23 2013: By a 74-20 margin yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted to move forward with the Marketplace Fairness Act (S. 743), which would empower states to collect online sales taxes. The Hill reported that the "strong vote to end debate suggests supporters of the bill are likely to see it win approval in the...
Canada joins US, EU, Australia and New Zealand in clearing Random House, Penguin Group merger
Apr 22 2013: The Canadian Competition Bureau and the Department of Canadian Heritage have approved the merger of Penguin Group and Random House without conditions, joining the U.S., E.U., Australia and New Zealand in clearing the deal. Regulatory authorities in China and several other countries are considering...
Senate may vote on sales tax fairness bill next week
Apr 19 2013: The U.S. Senate may vote on the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 (S.336) as early as next week. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plans to bring the bill directly to the floor for a vote without first referring it to the Senate Finance Committee, as reported by The Hill. Sen. Reid filed a...
Pulitzer for Fiction goes to The Orphan Master's Son
Apr 15 2013: After failing to declare a fiction winner in 2012, the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded to Adam Johnson for The Orphan Master's Son. Finalists in fiction included The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey and Nathan Englander's What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne...
Apr 15 2013: The London-based literary journal Granta has announced its new list of Best Young British Novelists (including Zadie Smith and Adam Thirlwell who were on the 2003 list.)
Kobo introduces new high res eInk eReader cheaper than Kindle Paperwhite 3G
Apr 15 2013: Kobo has introduced a new high resolution eInk eReader called the Kobo Aura HD, offering a $169.99 answer to Amazon’s $179.99 Kindle Paperwhite 3G. Like other Kobo devices, the new device lets readers access ePUB titles a format not available on...
Top 10 most challenged books in American libraries
Apr 15 2013: The American Library Association's list of most challenged books for 2012, based on "464 reports of attempts to remove or restrict materials from school curricula and library bookshelves" includes:
1. Captain Underpants series, by Dav Pilkey
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a...
B&N subsidiary Nook Media launches self publishing e-book program
Apr 10 2013: Nook Media, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, has launched Nook Press, a self-publishing e-book program designed with input from PubIt!, B&N's original self-publishing platform, and using technology from partner...
Colleges testing software that allows professors to monitor usage of e-textbooks
Apr 09 2013: Nine colleges and universities are testing a Coursesmart program that allows professors to monitor students' usage of e-textbooks. CourseSmart is owned by Pearson, McGraw-Hill and other major publishers, which see an opportunity to cement their dominance in digital textbooks by offering...
Peter Workman, founder of Workman Publishing Company dies aged 74
Apr 08 2013: Workman Publishing Company founder, Peter Workman, 74, died of cancer on Sunday, April 7 at his home in New York. In addition to Workman's six imprints are Workman, Artisan, Algonquin, Black Dog & Leventhan, Highbridge, Storey, and Timber...
A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
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Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
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Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
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British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales.(May 20 2013) Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate...
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