Melville House 2019 Staff Picks
A CITIZEN’S GUIDE TO IMPEACHMENT by Barbara Radnofsky When I recommended this book two Christmas’s ago, I wrote: It’s coming. It may be slow, but it’s coming. And now, it’s… Read more »
A Chinese library burns books and sparks outrage
Remember when time travel was just a really cool idea in science fiction where your biggest concern was either correcting a dystopian future or not hooking up with your mom?… Read more »
Book prize judge resigns, claiming none of the other judges “had read all of the books in their entirety”
Lesley McDowell, one of the five judges sitting on this year’s panel for the Saltire Scottish fiction book of the year award, announced her resignation from the panel on Monday.… Read more »
Nobel resignation drama matures into boycott stage
The Nobel prize in literature has been mired in resignations for years. It all started when a scandal erupted in 2017 involving charges of sexual misconduct and corruption. So many… Read more »
When love turns sour: Romance awards cancelled amidst ongoing race row
Galley Beggar press turns to the public to recoup unexpected loss . . . human spirit prevails
Greta Thunberg named TIME person of the year; jointly scoops Waterstones book of the year
Book prize judge resigns, claiming none of the other judges “had read all of the books in their entirety”
773 UK libraries have closed in last decade
In just ten years nearly a fifth of the UK’s libraries have closed, reports Alison Flood for the Guardian. Correspondingly, “the number of paid librarians has also plummeted” (from 24,000 to… Read more »
New Indie Book of the Month scheme to launch in the UK
Independent bookshops, unite! The Booksellers Association (BA), a membership organisation for all booksellers in the UK & Ireland, representing over 95% of bookshops, is launching a scheme to promote one… Read more »
Is the age of prizes over?
OK this might be a difficult one to tackle in a few hundred words, but here’s the gist: do we need prizes any more? Do we want them? Because, the… Read more »
Prison book club offers new opportunities for high-security prisoners
It was 2018 when public defender and essayist Amalia Beckner first entered Harris County Jail in Houston. Beckner writes for the Houston Chronicle that despite jitters upon seeing high security measures… Read more »
New technology will allow readers to read eBooks before their publication day
The eBook distribution company, Smashwords, has announced a new bookselling tool that will allow readers to buy and read books before they’re properly on the market. The key here is that there… Read more »
New study shows importance of children owning books
A study conducted by The National Literacy Trust displays the disparities of children who own books and those who do not, to some unsurprising and surprising finds. The findings are… Read more »
Barnes & Noble sits out busy holiday shopping season
Publishers Weekly’s Jim Milliot reports that B&N CEO James Daunt won’t be making any immediate, holiday-inspired adjustments to the beleaguered bookstore chain he took over in August. On the one… Read more »
Two members resign from committee established to reform Nobel prize for literature
Two people have resigned from a committee that was established to oversee reforms to the Swedish Academy’s Nobel prize for literature. This puts the net resignation count for any committees… Read more »
When love turns sour: Romance awards cancelled amidst ongoing race row
Galley Beggar press turns to the public to recoup unexpected loss . . . human spirit prevails
Greta Thunberg named TIME person of the year; jointly scoops Waterstones book of the year
Book prize judge resigns, claiming none of the other judges “had read all of the books in their entirety”
Jay-Z sues children’s book publisher who is accused of racism and copyright violation
“If you’re having alphabet problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but my ABCs ain’t one.” So reads the quote on the back of children’s book… Read more »
UK comedian and writer Andy Hamilton announces handwritten novel
Even if you don’t know who Andy Hamilton is, it’s almost certain you’ll have come across his work. Over nearly five decades of tireless contributions to UK arts he has… Read more »
Protests against Amazon scheduled for Cyber Monday
In response to worsening conditions for Amazon employees as demand for speedier delivery increases, protests are being organized for Cyber Monday. The newly formed Athena Coalition has joined over 40… Read more »
Florida Man’s home soon to be taken over by Amazon
When the average American thinks of Florida, they imagine alligators, Disney, sunshine, voting recounts, and Florida Man. But when Amazon thinks of Florida, they envision a state of unlimited space… Read more »
Thanksgiving Staff Pick: Stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel
Every year I’m surprised by the dread and despair that Thanksgiving induces in so many of my friends. They’re not without good reason! Thanksgiving is, of course, fraught with colonialist… Read more »
How to cut 100K words from your manuscript
My debut novel, The Revisionaries, will be released on December 3. A little secret, now: It wasn’t supposed to get published—according to me. Before I started, I told myself that… Read more »
Algorithms used to determine how much of “Henry VIII” Shakespeare actually wrote
You’ve got to love reading also-ran Elizabethan dramatists. Sometimes, if you’ve huffed too much cynicism about Great Men in the Literary Canon, you can start to convince yourself that Shakespeare… Read more »
Amazon orders are up again
Earlier this month, Jim Milliot at Publisher’s Weekly reported that Amazon had been slashing orders to publishers since late October. Milliot is back, writing that Amazon orders are increasing and publishers… Read more »
Historic Indian book market threatened by million square foot mall
The College Street market in Kolkata, India, has less than a year to prepare for the arrival of some serious competition. Peter Yeung at Atlas Obscura reports that the legendary market,… Read more »
This week in fraud: fake children’s books used to boost campaign finances
We are living in something of a golden age of fraud. It seems in the past four years, we’ve become acquainted with every permutation of misdeed involving a country in… Read more »
Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year is “climate emergency”
Drumroll please: Oxford Dictionary has announced its word of the year and it is … “climate emergency.” Oxford defines “climate emergency” as “a situation in which urgent action is required… Read more »
LGBTQ friendly book removed from library for fear of turning children gay
West Virginia’s Upshur County public library has pulled a book from its shelves this week, after a local church minister publicly raised concerns over its content. Prince & Knight written… Read more »
China and Sweden continue to spar over missing bookseller
China and Sweden have renewed a war of words over the abduction and detention of Gui Minhai, a dissident bookseller and publisher. The latest rankle occurred last week when Swedish… Read more »
BBC America announces bold new casting for Terry Pratchett’s The Watch
The Turtle moved again for fans of Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld this week, as further cast additions to BBC America’s adaptation of The Watch were rolled out. The new eight-part series, announced… Read more »
HarperCollins Children’s establishes imprint for Native creators
Coming Winter 2021, young readers can expect a new line of books by Native authors and illustrators that introduce the world to oft-overlooked Native protagonists. This is all thanks to… Read more »
Why are the red-cross knights so shy? The weirdness of Melville’s poetry
Imagine my delight when I learned late last year that our namesake the great Herman Melville also wrote … epic poetry? As it turns out, late in life, forgotten and… Read more »
NFL Prime Time? Bezos might buy football team
It’s easy, from the cheap seats, to complain about the ways billionaires spend their money. But who can really say what they’d do, if they had more money than they knew… Read more »
Success! Charlotte Brontë mini book secured by the Brontë Society
As we’ve previously discussed, a small piece of juvenalia by a 14-year-old Charlotte Brontë recently came back on the market, and the Brontë Society, who support and operate the Brontë… Read more »
Anti-fascist bookstore in Rome burns, days before Venice shop floods
Before landing at Melville House last month, I had the great good fortune of managing Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT. I left my BSB family in July, to be… Read more »
I love the smell of old books in the morning… smells like… book preservation
Ahhh, the smell of old books. Something people love to brag about loving. (Why yes, we’ve gotten product recommendations for old-book-scented soy candles on a certain Internet megastore that shall… Read more »
Famed waterproof bookstore in Venice suffering from recent flooding
Last week’s flooding in Venice caused dramatic damages throughout the city. Currently in a state of emergency, the highwater mark reached 6 feet, 2 inches, the worst the city has… Read more »
Illustrated kids book about girls’ bodies criticised for avoiding the word vagina
Last month, Ruby Tuesday Books published two illustrated children’s volumes in a new series called Fred and Woody’s Fantastic World. The series aims to initiate honest and realistic conversations about… Read more »
Pagey mallard: Ducks, Newburyport scoops Goldsmiths Prize
This week saw the announcement of the Goldsmith’s Prize, which was established in 2013 “to celebrate the qualities of creative daring associated with the College and to reward fiction that… Read more »
Half The Kingdom
Contraband Cocktails
Why I Am Not a Feminist
Patience and Fortitude
The Buenos Aires Quintet
Bernie goes to the Vatican Bundle
The Quest for a Moral Compass
James Baldwin: The Last Interview
Wittgenstein Jr
Cat Out of Hell
The Damned Utd
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: The Last Interview
The Philosophy of Beards
The Jane Austen Rules
The Establishment
The Weirdness
The Duke’s Table
Happiness
Bartleby Mug
Bolaño
Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality
La Femme de Gilles
The Art of the Novella subscription + Referral Rewards!
How to Do Nothing
A History of Money
“I Would Prefer Not To” Bartleby Tote Bag
Ernest Hemingway: The Last Interview
The Day the Renaissance Was Saved
What We Do Now
The Dark Net
Hannah Arendt: The Last Interview
An Exaggerated Murder
Nora Ephron: The Last Interview
The Biographical Dictionary of Literary Failure
The Ghost Network
Philip K. Dick: The Last Interview
Trainwreck
Melancholy Accidents
Ray Bradbury: The Last Interview
The Dead
Gnarr!
Ada’s Algorithm
The U.S. Supreme Court Decision on Marriage Equality (Gift Edition)
Rules for Werewolves
The Constitution Demands It
Red or Dead
The North of God
How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive
We, Robots
Sophia
The Dunwich Horror
The Essential Heinrich Böll
Spurious, Dogma, & Exodus
The Next Next Level
Billy Budd, Sailor
Bartleby the Scrivener
The Dog Walker
The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture
The Utopia of Rules
Not on Fire, But Burning
Future Days
