ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

WORDS

Rebelling Against The Traditional Book Club

Though traditional book clubs have been a fixture of American social life for decades, some bibliophiles think they have lost the plot. These bookworms don’t want to read books that don’t interest them. Even worse is recommending a book the rest of the group hates. - The Wall Street Journal

You Might Be Amazed At How Much Of Your Everyday Vocabulary Comes From Shakespeare

It's not just the common expressions — "wild goose chase," "cruel to be kind," "in a pickle," "fair play," and lots of others. Shakespeare coined hundred of basic words we use today: "eyeball," "bedroom," "puppy dog," "bedazzled," "jaded," and on and on. - BBC

What 35 Years Of Data Show About How Book Awards Winners Are Chosen

Among other things, the scandal of the 1987 National Book Award emphasizes just how little we, as readers, know about how literary distinction is doled out, and by whom. - Public Books

The Power Of Swearing

These days we mostly cause offense by swearing because swearing is a behavior that causes offense. When we swear in a context in which we can assume those around us would prefer we didn’t, that choice is a sign of our disrespect. - The New York Times

Trump’s Former White House Chief Of Staff Sued By His Publisher For Lying In His Memoir

"All Seasons Press alleges that sworn testimony by (Mark) Meadows undermined The Chief’s Chief, in which he wrote that the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. … (The publisher) cited media reports from last month alleging that Meadows knew Trump had lost to Democrat Joe Biden." - AP

The Wall Street Journal Discontinues Its Bestseller List

"The Wall Street Journal has stopped running its weekly bestseller lists. The final lists were carried in the past weekend's editions. The paper ran a total of six fiction and nonfiction lists, as well as a hardcover business list. All were powered by Circana BookScan." - Publishers Weekly

How Audiobooks Reignited My Interest In Reading

Giving myself permission to stop reading books has stopped the cycle of shame, and has allowed me to refocus my attention on what has become one of my favourite things – the audiobook. - The Guardian

TikTok Has Changed Book Publishing, And Here Are Some (Sexy) Specifics

First of all, romantasy is hot - and New Adult has made a wildly successful print return. Gen Z, this is all you. - Publishers Weekly

Publisher Of Mark Meadows’ Election Book Pull It, Sue The Author For Millions

Meadows apparently admitted to the special prosecutor that he lied in his book - and his conservative publisher wants a lot of money back. - Daily Beast

The Author Of ‘The Power’ Says Her Job Is Courage

"Nobody wants a pessimistic novel now," author Naomi Alderman says. "I would like to try and use my magical powers for good and write something where we can go, "Look, there are ways out of all of this.'" - The Guardian (UK)

Libraries Across Europe Hit By Cyberattacks

It's back to the analog age at the British Library, for instance. "Library users, many of whom include writers with pressing deadlines, are beginning to be affected." - The New York Times

In The Fifties, Hollywood Tried Hard To Make Literary Adaptations Big

But it failed. Why? - LitHub

Has Indigo Books Lost What It Means To Be Good At Selling Books?

The plot’s got something for everyone: a cybersecurity attack for the tech junkies, a CEO see-saw and mass board exodus for the corporate drama aficionados, the ambient hum of the Canadian existential crisis for the doomsayers, and for the nonfiction zealots—well, it’s not fiction. - The Walrus

Conde Nast To Cut Five Percent Of Its Staff

The layoffs will impact around 270 Condé Nast employees. The company currently has around 5,400 full-time employees globally. - The Wrap

How Big Publishing Has Changed Being An Author

“At a certain point in my tenure at Penguin Random House I just gave up trying to understand a lot of the emails that arrived from corporate and would just hit delete, asking myself quizzically, ‘And the contribution this makes to the actual publication of actual books is . . . ?’ ” - The New Yorker

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss

function my_excerpt_length($length){ return 200; } add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');