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NEWS ABOUT: literature

Judge People By Fave Author

Misfits like JD Salinger, smart geeks like JK Rowling ...

(Newser) - If you don’t want to waste the time really getting to know someone, just ask about his or her favorite author. That tells you all you need to know, Lauren Leto suggests, before running down the stereotypes:
  • JD Salinger: Kids who don’t fit in (duh).
  • Stephenie Meyer: People
... More »

The Best Fiction of 2009

Sex, ghosts, long-lost twins, baby monkeys inhabit Salon's picks

(Newser) - The frankly subjective list of the year's best fiction from Salon avoids the obvious Wolff Hall, Hillary Mantel's latest and the Man Booker Prize winner. Laura Miller names five others that, too, offered “a sojourn, however brief, into another world”:
  • The Children’s Book by AS Byatt: “This
... More »

Top Cultural Game-Changers

What will we still be talking about next decade? Britney, for one

(Newser) - The ‘00s were full of important contributions to culture, but which ones will we still be talking about in another decade? Here are some of New York ’s picks:
  • TV: The Sopranos for inventing quality cable, American Idol for changing the music industry, and of course all things
... More »

Ice Storm Author to Tweet Short Story

140-character limit 'like haiku,' Moody finds

(Newser) - Starting tomorrow, Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm, will release a short story told over 153 tweets—one an hour for 3 days. The Wall Street Journal asked Moody what's exciting about using Twitter for literature:
  • After his wife opened an account for him: "I started quickly to
... More »

Broke Aussie Author Inspires Bidding Frenzy

Rebecca James' debut has publishers seeing next JK Rowling

(Newser) - The publishing world is in a frenzy over a debut novel whose Australian author is drawing comparisons to JK Rowling (Harry Potter? Perhaps you've heard of it.). “Beautiful Malice was one of the most extraordinary manuscripts I’ve read in a very long while,” one editor with... More »

German Novelist Herta Mueller Wins Nobel for Literature

Romanian-born writer explores themes of exile, dictatorship

(Newser) - The Nobel Prize in literature was awarded today to Herta Mueller, a Romanian-born German novelist and poet whose work has explored the brutality of life under the Ceausescu dictatorship. Deprived of her job and threatened by the regime, she fled to Germany in 1987. The Land of Green Plums, published... More »

Angelou Alive, Well, Despite Reports

TMZ reports poet's illness, Twitterers add 'RIP'

(Newser) - Contrary to reports by TMZ and scores of Tweets and re-Tweets, Maya Angelou is alive and well. The gossip site reported over the weekend that the poet missed a Los Angeles awards show because she had been hospitalized. In fact, she hadn't been invited to the presentation. The mix-up exhibited... More »

Letters Reveal Byron's Feud With 'Turdsworth'

Unpublished correspondence up for sale

(Newser) - A collection of letters written by Lord Byron to a clergyman, some of them unpublished, sheds new light on the Romantic poet—who discloses his sexual escapades with servants and angry opinions of fellow writers. Several letters refer to a serving girl whom he took as his mistress; he dumped... More »

Most Hypocritical Book Bannings

(Newser) - Banning a book is a move laden with ironies that can make the banner seem dull-witted in the long run. For National Banned Books Week, 11Points.com lists "the most hypocritical, ignorant, and, based on the content of the books, ironic" bans:
  • Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury: The sci-fi
... More »

Ralph Nader Pens Odd Utopian Novel

Super-rich save the world in 736-page 'fictional vision'

(Newser) - Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate and sometime presidential candidate, has written his first novel, the New Yorker reports. Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!, out tomorrow, is a “practical utopia” in which real-life characters undertake a fictional quest to—progressively—save the country. Over the course of its 736... More »

Rightwing Pundits Belong on the Fiction Lists

Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin have crafted paranoid masterpieces

(Newser) - Salon writer Steve Almond has seen the future of literary fiction and it looks like Glenn Beck. Right-wing pundits like Beck and Michelle Malkin have dominated non-fiction bestseller lists since President Obama took office, Almond notes. A close read finds that their works aren't the "psychotic, fact-challenged rants of... More »

Coetzee Leads Heavy-Hitting Booker Prize Shortlist

Veterans outpace first-timers for prestigious literary gong

(Newser) - JM Coetzee may become the first author to win the Man Booker Prize three times after his fictionalized memoir Summertime made the prestigious literary award's shortlist today. The South African writer's new book takes the form of interviews by a biographer writing about "the late author John Coetzee."... More »

Kids Pick Their Own Books in Classroom Revolution

But will Harry Potter beat out the Bard?

(Newser) - To Kill a Mockingbird or Captain Underpants? The choice, for most middle school students, is a no-brainer—and an increasingly prevalent one now that schools from New York to Seattle hope to revolutionize English classes by letting students choose their own books, the New York Times reports. The approach, known... More »

Modern Novels' Shift: We Can Understand Them

Literary writers are re-embracing idea of a good plot

(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 »

Americans Read Over President's Shoulder

Obama's vacation book list drives leaps in Amazon sales rankings

(Newser) - President Obama’s poll numbers are faltering, but his summer reading choices are getting rave reviews, Politico reports. A survey of the Amazon.com standings of the five books the White House announced he would take with him on his Martha’s Vineyard vacation show a drastic improvement in sales.... More »

How Recession Could Kill Chick Lit

Fluffy novels 'must respond to a more sober age'

(Newser) - The world of chick lit is populated with material concerns and hefty price tags—but in today’s battered economy, such themes may no longer resonate, writes author Sarah Bilston for DoubleX. Her latest book's “cheery consumerism and aimless career-dithering were clearly out of touch in a world of... More »

Has Tweeting Ruined Reading?

(Newser) - The digital world has become so engrossing that David L Ulin finds it difficult to focus and read a book—not a good sign when you're the editor of the Los Angeles Times book review. "The encroachment of the buzz," from hours of emails to inane rumors across... More »

Tap Literary Greatness at These Getaways

(Newser) - Looking to vacation in a spot that inspired your favorite novel? USA Today asks travel expert Melissa Biggs Bradley about the best hotels to connect physically with the literature.
  • The Resort at Paws Up, Greenough, Mont.: "The Blackfoot River, which runs through this 37,000-acre ranch, is the river
... More »

Dumbledore Sparks Fight for Real-World Justice

Nonprofit Harry Potter Alliance uses books as inspiration

(Newser) - Harry Potter’s battle against injustice in the wizarding world has prompted fans to take the fight to the Muggle universe, the Los Angeles Times reports. Inspired by moral teachings of Albus Dumbledore, Harry’s mentor, the nonprofit Harry Potter Alliance has registered voters, collected some 13,000 books to... More »

Spoiled Harry a Hero for 'Entitled Generation'

Books lack moral weight as Potter gets off easy

(Newser) - Harry Potter is a fitting hero for a generation of readers: his powers arrive on a silver platter, and from there it’s “all zapping bad guys, no taking out the trash,” writes Kyle Smith in the New York Post. While heroes like Luke Skywalker face obstacles to... More »

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