Sep 23 2015
The New York Times reports on the "digital apocalypse that never arrived or at least not on schedule."
Between 2008 and 2010 e-book sales soared by 1,260 percent. Print sales fell and bookstores struggled - culminating in Borders declaring bankruptcy in 2011.
Analysts predicted that e-books would overtake print by 2015 but, today, there are signs that some e-book adopters are returning to print, or becoming hybrid readers; many indie bookstores are showing healthier profits than they have in years; and e-book sales fell by 10 percent in the first five months of this year, according to the Association of American Publishers. Digital books accounted for 20 percent of the market in 2014, approximately the same as they did a few years ago.
“Maybe it’s just a pause here,” said Carolyn Reidy, the president and chief executive of Simon & Schuster. “Will the next generation want to read books on their smartphones, and will we see another burst come?”
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.