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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: novel

novel stories: 44 news summaries

1 - 20 of 44 Stories | 1 2 3 Next >>

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 New 'Vooks' Sex Up 
 Books With Video Clips 

Video-text hybrids seen as way to keep 21st-century readers interested in books

Oct 1, 09 6:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - Publishers are scrambling to attract readers weaned on video games and social networking by jazzing up a format little-changed since Gutenberg started churning out Bibles in the 15th century. "Vooks" add video segments, either embedded in the text or available online, to electronic books. The hybrids are being created... More »

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publishing • video • publisher • novel • books • vook

 Danielle Steel 
 Aide 'Fesses to 
 $400K Ripoff 

Author claims assistant stole $2.7M

Sep 29, 09 6:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - A long-time assistant has pleaded guilty to embezzling $400,000 from best-selling romance queen Danielle Steel. Kristy Watts admitted depositing checks for Steel into her own bank account and using the author's credit card points to obtain gifts and airline tickets. Steel, who has written 76 best-selling novels, claims Watts... More »

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novelist • author • writer • romance • embezzlement • novel • best seller • Danielle Steele

opinion

 Modern Novels' Shift: 
 We Can Understand Them  

Literary writers are re-embracing idea of a good plot

Aug 29, 09 10:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - The 21st-century novel is being reacquainted with an old friend: the plot. Today's best writers are abandoning the notion that literary novels need to be all but impenetrable to readers without advanced degrees, writes Lev Grossman in the Wall Street Journal. "The revolution is under way," he says.... More »

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literature • novelist • novel • authors • books

 A Supermodel's 
 Summer Reads 

You can look smart, but still get your fill of juicy sex

Aug 27, 09 1:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - Paulina Porizkova “quit school at 15 to live off of my looks,” but she’s also a lifelong bookworm, she writes for Modelinia. Because she feels “the need to constantly prove I’m not some dumb model,” she offers up her “summer reading for folks... More »

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publishing • model • reading • summer • novel • book • supermodel • Paulina Porizkova

interview

 Ya-Ya Sisterhoods 
 Stab You in the Back 

Author discusses the trials of adult female friendship

Aug 26, 09 2:09 PM CDT
(Newser) - According to today’s “Sex and the City ethos,” friends are there when romance falters. But in truth, female friendships “are just as complicated as marriages,” author Lucinda Rosenfeld tells Salon. That’s particularly true when it comes to envy, a theme of Rosenfeld’s new... More »

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women • psychology • novel • friendship • women's issues • Lucinda Rosenfeld

Novel About Corruption May Be Kremlin Official's Work

Close to Zero portrays bribes, fraud as commonplace in contemporary Russia

Aug 13, 09 4:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - A novel about a publisher navigating Russia’s complex web of political favors and payoffs may have been written by a top Kremlin official, the Moscow Times reports. Sources at Russky Pioner magazine, which published excerpts of Close to Zero before its release last month, say Vladislav Surkov, a powerful... More »

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Russia • Vladimir Putin • corruption • Kremlin • novel • Vladislav Surkov • hype • Natalya Dubovitskaya

NEW BOOK

James Frey's Latest Creation: 
Pro-Choice, Pro-Gay Jesus

Once Oprah's enemy, now Christians'?

Aug 12, 09 11:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - James Frey pissed off a lot of people—including Oprah—when his “memoir” A Million Little Pieces was exposed as fictional—but his new book might spark even more ire. Illumination: The Final Testament of the Holy Bible features a Messiah who marries gays, impregnates a teen,... More »

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Oprah Winfrey • James Frey • A Million Little Pieces • novel • book • Jesus Christ • fake memoirs • New Testament • Old Testament

(Newser) - Author E. Lynn Harris, who offered a glimpse into the secret lives of closeted gay black men, died last night at 54, the AP reports. His publicist says the cause is unknown, and that Harris suddenly took ill just days ago. An autopsy will be performed next week. Harris was... More »

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entertainment • African Americans • obituary • fiction • author • novel • LGBT • best seller • Jay-ZTV • gay • E. Lynn Harris • black men

In Infinite Jest, Book Club Sees Finite Ending

Online group may help you finish Wallace's intimidating tome

Jul 14, 09 3:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - As the first anniversary of David Foster Wallace’s death approaches, many would-be readers still see his Infinite Jest collecting dust on their bookshelves. Wallace’s 1,079-page tome “has become known equally for its sprawling attention to detail, its near impenetrability, and its effectiveness as a doorstop,”... More »

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entertainment • literature • novel • book • David Foster Wallace • Infinite Jest • Jay-ZTV • Decemberists • Colin Meloy

(Newser) - The literary event of the year will be sandwiched between nudes in the pages of Playboy this fall, the Independent reports. The magazine won the rights to publish Vladimir Nabokov's final novella—which he ordered to be destroyed after his death—after its literary editor went to great lengths to... More »

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literature • novel • Playboy • Vladimir Nabokov

(Newser) - Nora Roberts is the most popular romance writer in America, but it’s not easy being on the top. “People go, ‘Oh, you work six or eight hours a day, oh my God,’” she tells the New Yorker. “‘Well, yeah, how many hours do... More »

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publishing • writer • romance • novel • book • Nora Roberts • J.D. Robb • genre

 Napoleon's Novella 
 Reveals His Sappy Side 

It's on the romantic life of an ambitious soldier

May 12, 09 3:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - Before Napoleon the ruthless emperor came Napoleon the romance-writing softy—and his masterpiece is due out in English this fall. Clisson and Eugenie is a novella about a triumphant soldier who returns home to marry his lady—of the same name as Napoleon’s first love. The manuscript, penned when... More »

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France • Adolf Hitler • empire • Napoleon • romance • novel • Benito Mussolini

 Fake Memoirist Frey 
 Implies Dirt on Oprah 

Excerpt from new book seems to be based on Frey's experience

May 5, 09 9:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - Does James Frey—who achieved infamy when Oprah Winfrey denounced his fake addiction memoir A Million Little Pieces—have dirt on the talk-show queen? That’s what he seems to imply in new novel Bright Shiny Morning, the New York Post reports. The paperback edition, out May 12, includes an... More »

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Oprah Winfrey • James Frey • A Million Little Pieces • Bright Shiny Morning • novel • fake memoirs

Mass. Principal Under Fire for Touting Her Racy Novel

She talked book up to schoolteacher, administrators

Apr 29, 09 1:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Boston-area grade school principal is on indefinite leave following complaints that she peddled her steamy romance novel on school grounds and reassigned a teacher who criticized her self-promoting ways, the Globe reports. Beth Gannon's self-published book, which follows an engaged woman who reconnects with a past lover, is "... More »

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Boston • punishment • romance • elementary school • novel • principal

(Newser) - British author JG Ballard died this morning "with great sadness" after many years of poor health, his agent said today. The 78-year-old novelist and short story writer was most famous for his semi-autobiographical book Empire of the Sun, later made into a film by Steven Spielberg, and his controversial... More »

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obituary • British • death • novelist • author • writer • novel • JG Ballard

 García Márquez 
 Finished With 
 Writing: Agent 

Giant of Latin American literature's oeuvre is complete

Apr 2, 09 12:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - The world has probably already seen the complete work of Gabriel García Márquez, the Guardian reports. Friend and fellow author Plinion Apuleyo Mendoza said last year that the creator of magical realism was working on a new novel, but his agent recently quashed that rumor. "I don't... More »

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Latin America • Colombia • literature • author • novel • book • Nobel Prize for Literature • Gabriel Garcia Marquez

(Newser) - Anderson Cooper’s mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, is a published author with a romantic novel to her credit, sure, but her new book could give the CNN anchor pause, the New York Daily News reports. Obsession, an erotic tale, hits stores in June. “Master, I whisper as you surrender to... More »

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erotica • literature • novel • book • Anderson Cooper • television news • Gloria Vanderbilt • Howard Stern Grid

French Mock Sarkozy by Reading Book He Hates

La Princesse de Cleves gets a boost of unexpected popularity as a protest symbol

Mar 19, 09 2:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - France is in the grip of a nationwide strike, but dissatisfaction with Nicolas Sarkozy’s reforms is also taking a more cultured form: the reading of a classic 17th-century book the president has said he hates. The book has become an odd symbol of dissent. Sales are climbing as Sarko’... More »

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Nicolas Sarkozy • protests • reform • strike • novel • book • dissent • La Princesse de Cleves

(Newser) - Bill O’Reilly’s 1998 crime novel Those Who Trespass has already caused him some embarrassment, given that one character is a ticked-off TV journalist who murders his rivals. But the Fox News host also recorded an audiobook version, which Village Voice blogger Alan Scherstuhl has mined for gems—namely... More »

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Bill O'Reilly • sex • novel • book • viral video • audio books

WWII Nazi Opus Ignites Passions (Pro and Con)

Publishers roll dice on shocking French work by Yank Jonathan Littell

Mar 4, 09 10:10 AM CST
(Newser) - A novel about a Nazi officer with a taste for sodomy and incest might not scream “bestseller”—especially at nearly 1,000 pages long and translated from French. Yet Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones topped charts in France and precipitated a bidding war among US publishers. HarperCollins... More »

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Holocaust • literature • publishing • Nazi • HarperCollins • novel • book • Leo Tolstoy • Jonathan Littell • The Kindly Ones • War and Peace

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