Theo of Golden is one of the bestselling books currently making all the lists right now, but its beginnings are a little unorthodox. It was written by a 70-year-old former judge who first went the self-publishing route before having his book distributed by a top-five publisher. - Book Riot
“Jamir Nazir’s story ‘The Serpent in the Grove’ went viral after being named as a regional winner in mid-May, with critics on X and Bluesky claiming it showed ‘obvious markers’ of AI use. … Nazir will receive an additional £2,500 on top of the £2,500 he won for being named the Caribbean winner last month.” - The Guardian
“The prize, which honors translated fiction and this year celebrates its 10th anniversary, will be renamed the Bukhman International Booker Prize,” with the top award raised from £50,000 to £100,000 (roughly $66,000 to $132,000), split equally between the winning author and translator. - Publishers Weekly
Sarah Wynn-Williams, who was director of global public policy at Facebook from 2011 until her firing in 2017, argues in her suit that the non-disparagement clause in her severance agreement and the arbitration order barring her from promoting her book, Careless People, are invalid. - AP
“Among the boys aged 11 to 14 who were surveyed, eight of the 10 most read books were from Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Girls’ reading was spread across a wider range of authors and genres including Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper ... and Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games.” - The Guardian
“Translators like to say, we discover our authors,” writes translator and novelist Anton Hur. “But maybe we’re wrong. Maybe the books choose us.” - American Scholar
These 1,800 papyrus scrolls from Herculaneum, the only such library collection from ancient Rome to survive, were carbonized by the Vesuvius eruption; the scrolls would crumble if physically unrolled, so scientists are using X-ray and AI technology to decipher them. The first scroll to be completely readable is a text about Stoicism. - Smithsonian Magazine
Reading comprehension was significantly lower when the students read on screens. The researchers also found that the number of “transitions,” where students would go back and re-read the text before submitting their answers, more than doubled—and in some cases tripled—when kids read on screens. - Time
Navigating today’s digital information landscape requires strong critical evaluation skills. Reading plays a central role in this process by serving not only as a means of acquiring information but also of distinguishing credible claims from misinformation. But only a specific kind of reading builds that capacity. The difference is between passive and active reading. - The Conversation
I don’t necessarily believe that reading books is going to automatically fix everything in your life or anything. I do think, however, it is kind of a panacea for a lot of the ills and a lot of the struggles that we’ve brought into our life through these tech platforms. - The Atlantic
Over the months, as the learning language model is trained on bits of the language — such as an old-age French nursery rhyme — it brings centuries-old dialect closer into the digital age. - The New York Times
“My reading journey began with a story that stretched more than 5,000 miles away, from Denmark to Alabama. While my siblings searched for new books, I always checked out the same one: The Marsh Crone’s Brew.” - LitHub
First, Tina Fey wrote Liz Lemon, whose character was “heteropessimistic.” But in Four Seasons, she writes (and plays) a member of "an emotionally grounded romance that captures both the rewards of a successful, decades-long marriage and the challenges of maintaining one.” - The New Yorker
“What can a novel about contemporary domestic life possibly add to our knowledge? If familiarity breeds contempt, what could be more familiar than the home, with its sisyphean routines and demands?” Just ask Ducks, Newburyport. - The Guardian (UK)
A bookstore owner writes, "Queer literature has become one of the growth engines of the publishing industry. L.G.B.T.Q. fiction has never been more visible, more varied or better promoted.” Happy Pride! - The New York Times
