The biggest books of the autumn

Essays from Zadie Smith; Wiki founder Jimmy Wales on how to save the internet; a future-set novel by Ian McEwan; a new case for the Slow Horses - plus memoirs from Kamala Harris and Paul McCartney… The Guardian

Meals and deals

Five biggest trends from London book fair 2023.

Over the course of three days in London, thousands of editors, publishers and agents, among others, decide what we’ll be reading in the coming year or so.

Here’s our round-up from London book fair, which took place from 18 to 20 April, taking in the essentials of what the publishing landscape will look like for the next 12 months, from what we’re going to buy, to the big issues occupying the industry. Sarah Shaffi, The Guardian

 

Bookends

Bookends è una nuova "feature" (come si potrebbe tradurre in italiano? aiutatemi amiche traduttrici!) della New York Review of Books. Nell'ultima pagina sarà chiamato a dibattere di un qualche argomento provocatorio un intellettuale da un elenco di 10 che vedete nell'illustrazione in alto (sapete riconoscerli?). "... each week two distinguished columnists (from a rotating cast of 10) will address a provocative question from the world of books. First up, Zoë Heller and Adam Kirsch answer the question: “Are novelists too wary of criticizing other novelists?”. nyt.

Libri in uscita a settembre

Among the big works of literary fiction coming out this month is Jonathan Lethem’s new novel, “Dissident Gardens” (Doubleday, out September 10th). Set in New York City and spanning from the nineteen-thirties to the present day, it follows a mother-daughter pair—Rose Zimmer, a fierce radical nicknamed the Red Queen of Sunnyside, and her daughter, Miriam, who migrates from Queens to Greenwich Village—and their left-wing milieu. 

... e molti altri ...  newyorker.

Il nuovo romanzo di E. L. Doctorow

E. L. Doctorow ... has a work coming in early 2014, his publisher, Random House, said on Wednesday. Mr. Doctorow, best known for works of historical fiction like “World’s Fair,” which won the National Book Award for fiction, appears to be taking a new tack in the novel, “Andrew’s Brain.” In a news release Kate Medina, his editor, said: “It’s an of-the-moment novel whose main character, speaking from an unknown place and to an unknown interlocutor, unfurls his life, his loves and the circumstances that have led him to commit a mysterious act.” nyt.

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia è il nuovo romanzo di Mohsin Hamid (Riverhead), e pare sia uno dei grandi romanzi scritti in seconda persona (quali sono gli altri?). O anche il nuovo Grande Gatsby. "... is narrated as though it were a self-help book: it is written in the second person, and follows a protagonist who is never referred to as anything but “you.” In questo articolo del New Yorker sono segnalate anche altri nuovi libri in uscita a marzo. newyorker.

Libri in uscita nel 2013

Jamaica Kincaid

The Millions presenta, mese per mese, i libri in uscita negli USA nel 2013. "... this year we’ll get our hands on new George Saunders, Karen Russell, Jamaica Kincaid, Anne Carson, Colum McCann, Aleksandar Hemon and even Vladimir Nabokov and J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as, beyond the horizon of summer, new Paul Harding, Jonathan Lethem, and Thomas Pynchon". themillions.

Nuove uscite di settembre

The first half of September brings highly anticipated new works from three heavyweights (and New Yorker fiction contributors). On September 4th, Zadie Smith releases “NW” (Penguin), the story of four young Londoners navigating the twisting social and economic landscape of the city. Michael Chabon’s Oakland-set “Telegraph Avenue” (Harper), out September 11th, centers on the lives of the co-owners of an Oakland record store and their midwife wives. And Junot Diaz’s short-story collection “This Is How You Lose Her” (Riverhead), also out on the eleventh, continues to follow Yunior, the New Jersey teen-ager familiar to fans of Diaz’ previous collection, “Drown.” ... newyorker.

Page-Turner

Page-Turner è una nuova rubrica del blog dedicato ai libri del New Yorker. "We’ll debate about books under-noticed or too much noticed, and celebrate writers we’ve returned to again and again. We’ll look to works in translation and at the politics of literary scenes beyond the English-speaking world. We’ll think about technology and the reading life. We’ll recommend and we’ll theorize. Daily essays will be the blog’s mainstay, with books as an anchor for wide-ranging cultural comment". pageturner.

Dovrebbe essere molto interessante.

Most Well-Read Cities

Childrens Garden at the Atlanta Botanical Garden

Amazon ha pubblicato l'elenco delle città con più di 100.000 abitanti che hanno ordinato più libri  e quindi, si suppone, i cui abitanti leggono di più. In cima alla lista c'è Cambridge, Mass. Seguita da Alexandria, Va., Berkeley, Calif., Ann Arbor, Mich.,  Boulder, Colo. Ma la ragione per cui pubblico questa notizia è l'immagine che compare in cima all'articolo del New Yorker da dove l'ho tratta. Bella, vero? newyorker.

Brooklyn’s best free literary zines

Per chi non può permettersi l'abbonamento al super chic n+1, e vuole leggere della buona letteratura, ecco un elenco di riviste letterarie gratuite online da Brooklyn: Assembly Journal, The Brooklyn Rail, Harp & Altar, Staccato Fiction. brokelyn.

Critic vs Reviewer

Il 2 febbraio, Harper’s Magazine e NYU hanno festeggiato Zadie Smith che da marzo inizierà a recensire libri per Harper’s Magazine. Zadie Smith ha parlato della differenza tra "critico" e "recensore". "She insisted on being called a reviewer, in fact, and not a critic, a distinction I understood as being between an all-powerful and hoity-toity judge-type (the critic) and a sort of fellow-traveller (the reviewer), one who approaches a book in a spirit of camaraderie and aims to represent that book in a piece of writing as carefully crafted as the book itself (which is not to say “softly”). newyorker.

The Literarian

The Center for Fiction ha lanciato una nuova rivista letteraria che sembra molto promettente, The Literarian. Si presentano così, "We'd love to develop an online community that is as crazy about The Center as our NY members and audiences are. So whether you are a reader, a writer, a book-group member, or a publishing type, welcome! Take some time to explore the site, read all the great content, and share your thoughts. If you like what you see - and we think you will! - please return often and, please, help us spread the word about this new online resource for readers and writers." Lo faccio con piacere e con i migliori auguri, perché effettivamente mi sembra molto interessante.

Il primo numero contiene, "New stories by Alan Cheuse (a rude - and heartbreakingly funny - awakening), Terese Svoboda (a hell of a honeymoon), Stuart Dybek (the poetry of laundry) and more... interviews with Cynthia Ozick and Yiyun Li... Martha McPhee's five favorite books about women behaving badly... " centerforfiction.

Chicago Literary Hall of Fame

Chicago has a newly inaugurated Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. The idea for the Hall of Fame came out of a meeting of the Chicago Writers' Association.
On November 20th, the Hall inducted its first six authors - Lorraine Hansberry, Studs Terkel, Gwendolyn Brooks, Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, and Richard Wright - at an auditorium in Northeast Illinois University.


The first round of inductees were "obvious choices," said Evans, the Hall of Fame's executive director (in addition to its chauffeur). But, he said, it's "going to get tricky going forward.” For instance, would Hemingway be eligible? He was born in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, and he attended school there, but "he only wrote one story about Chicago." The fate of L. Frank Baum, who lived in Chicago while he wrote about the land of Oz, was similarly undecided. Evans debated whether a "literary" hall of fame could include more popular writers, like Scott Turrow, or screenwriters, like Ben Hecht. newyorker.

Google e-book shop

Google launched its long-awaited e-book venture yesterday, cleverly integrating their new e-book shop within the already popular Google Books. The three million e-books already available can be read on most devices that aren’t a Kindle. Google's e-book rating system will be based on reviews from the online bookworm community Goodreads.

The Paris Review

Novità in casa della Paris Review: un nuovo direttore, Lorin Stein, e un nuovo web site per il numero d'autunno.