Ernest Hemingway’s reporting expenses were as outrageous as everything else about him
Ever the competitive and spiteful man, Ernest Hemingway once stole his wife Martha Gellhon’s job at Collier’s magazine, so that he could cover the frontlines of World War II himself—without… Read more »
The shifting culture of book clubs
What one does in their spare time is always a personal choice, of course, but is it really a surprise that the after-work book club is finding more and more… Read more »
‘Worse than a twit’ British Politician and Brexit supporter Jacob Rees-Mogg’s new book is panned by critics as ‘stagerringly silly’
Hello friends. Last time we talked Brexit on MobyLives! the UK was due to crash out of the European Union on March 29 and an online petition to Revoke Article 50… Read more »
Sir David Attenborough turns 93; launches remix competition
Never one to stand still, the naturalist, broadcaster, and Genuine Living Legend, Sir David Attenborough, has launched an unusual competition to mark his 93rd birthday earlier this week. Mark Savage at… Read more »
Las Vegas as a literary hub? The city has a surprising history of book culture
Following the Believer Festival last month, the New York Times has announced Las Vegas’s status as a literary hub. Citing the University of Nevada’s Black Mountain Institute, which funds The… Read more »
81-year-old debut novelist is shortlisted for a literary prize, so take that, ageists!
First, the news. As reported by the Bookseller, Silence Under a Stone, by the 81-year-old* Irish writer Norma MacMaster, has been shortlisted for the Society of Authors’ Awards. It is also… Read more »
Stan Lee’s former manager charged with elder abuse
Before comic book writer Stan Lee’s death in November 2018, there were rumors swirling about elder abuse by Lee’s daughter J.C., his business manager Keya Morgan, his road manager Mac… Read more »
Self-professed master of fraud tries to fake his way to the top of the bestseller lists
The title says it all, really: Oobah Butler tried to get his book, How to Bulls*t Your Way to #1: An Unorthodox Guide to 21st Century Success, onto bestseller lists… Read more »
BookBar in Denver giving away free copies of The Mueller Report
Last week, BookBar (exactly what it sounds like, a heavenly bookstore-bar combo) in Denver kicked off a Mueller Report giveaway. While supplies last, the indie bookstore’s nonprofit organization, BookGive, is offering… Read more »
British booksellers vote Rooney’s Normal People the “British Book of the Year”
After an already award- and praise-filled spring, Sally Rooney’s latest novel, Normal People, just took home the biggest prize of the night at the British Book Awards, beating, according to… Read more »
Chelsea Manning to publish memoir in 2020
The life of Chelsea Manning—an international caper that has had her called a traitor by some and a hero by others—could be described as operatic. (Indeed, there is literally an… Read more »
Actually, we do publish manuscripts sent to the slush pile
This month the editors are looking daily through our submissions inbox. I know this because I am one of them. One question I get when encouraging people to submit is,… Read more »
Publishers making it easier for indies to order directly
Independent Bookstore owners felt anxious after Baker & Taylor announced they are leaving the wholesale market. The changes at Baker & Taylor mean Ingram is the only national wholesale retailer… Read more »
Susan Sontag ghostwrote her ex-husband’s most notable book
The forthcoming biography by Benjamin Moser, Sontag: Her Life, details extensive evidence that Sontag may, in fact, be the author of her ex-husband’s biggest book, Freud: The Mind of the… Read more »
Multi-disciplinary Kathy Acker exhibit comes to London
London’s Institute of Contemporary Art is now hosting the UK’s first exhibition dedicated to Kathy Acker. The show is amazingly titled I, I, I, I, I, I, I, Kathy Acker, and… Read more »
Former B&N CEO Parneros continues the fight against former employer, winning backpay on legal fees
According to last Friday’s Shelf Awareness newsletter, a judge has ordered Barnes & Noble to pay half of all legal fees and legal expenses for former CEO Demos Parneros, who… Read more »
Copy of David Copperfield from 1910 South Pole expedition on display
Imagine only having three books to carry you through seven months—and having to share them with your companions. Such was the luck of the men of Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s… Read more »
Are women funny? Prize news confirms yes, of course they bloody are
The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize hasn’t had the best form since its inauguration in 2000. The only big award in the UK to celebrate comic literature, it has shamefully just three… Read more »
Single billboard heralds arrival of new Hilary Mantel novel
What made this year's Man Booker International winners so damn notable?
81-year-old debut novelist is shortlisted for a literary prize, so take that, ageists!
For first time in eight years, a woman has won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction
Day of the shred: interactive PC game invites you to destroy a book
In a move that will prompt shocked-face emojis across the publishing world, Bristol-based indie game developer Alistair Aitcheson has released The Book Ritual, an “interactive art-piece played using a real-world book of… Read more »
Testing out Google’s poem generator
Earlier this week, Google launched its AI poem generator, PoemPortraits, and you bet people all over the internet are tossing everything they can at it. How it works? It’s really… Read more »
Creepy Men: An unpublished chapter from Juliet the Maniac
This chapter didn’t make it into the published book (which you can find here), but we’re excited to share it as a standalone! CREEPY MEN #1 By late summer after… Read more »
Library of Congress releases digitized version of Rare Children’s Books Collection
The Library of Congress celebrated the 100th anniversary of Children’s Book Week this year by launching a digital version of their Rare Children’s Books Collection. The Library of Congress website… Read more »
“Equal parts David Lynch and James Ivory”: help support the I Await the Devil’s Coming short film
One of the most popular installments in our Neversink Library of re-discovered classics is Mary MacLane’s confessional memoir I Await the Devil’s Coming. It is the diary of a 19 year… Read more »
Listen to Juliet Escoria’s curated soundtrack for her debut novel Juliet the Maniac
It’s publication week for Juliet Escoria’s long-awaited debut novel Juliet the Maniac! Book critic Kristen Millares Young really kicked things off when she wrote in her rave Washington Post review: “To read Juliet the… Read more »
Woody Allen unsuccessful in selling a memoir that literally no one asked for
Much of today’s news is bad news, but there is some good still left in this world: According to a report from the New York Times, Woody Allen can’t find… Read more »
Mother’s Day Gift Guide
What better way to say, “Hey Mom, I appreciate you” than a book? We are a little biased, but fully believe that books are the best gifts. Bonus: Mom might… Read more »
What happened to Harper Lee’s long lost crime novel?
The headline says it all—Harper Lee once wrote (or at least tried to write) a crime novel. Or at least attempted to. In the recently released Furious Hours, the immaculate… Read more »
New Yorkers protest Amazon providing ICE with tech
This past May Day, New York Communities for Change (NYCC), a coalition of low income communities of color, took over Amazon’s corporate offices in midtown to protest the company’s involvement… Read more »
Why should you pay more (if you can) for a book that's cheaper on Amazon? Read this thread from an indie bookseller
Protestors concerned about pollution fight back against Amazon
Amazon removes from the marketplace books promoting dangerous and false "cures" for autism
Qanon conspiracy book promoted by Amazon’s algorithm
Canada’s largest bookstore chain makes a foray into the U.S.
We are bearing witness to the rise of the bookstore as “cultural department store.” You’ve seen this phenomenon: in the age of Amazon, bookstores, especially the bigger chains, cannot thrive on selling books alone,… Read more »
Hindi pulp fiction keeps its fan base, despite recent publishing trends
While Melville House has gained a reputation for printing high-quality versions of some of the most important public documents of the last twenty years, with our printing of The Mueller Report,… Read more »
Baker & Taylor leaving retail wholesale market—what that means
Word is out and reactions are in: Baker & Taylor is closing the wholesale retail side of its business, and indies are a bit panicky. B&T and its parent company,… Read more »
Climate activists Extinction Rebellion have a book coming out as the UK sort-of declares a climate change emergency
On Wednesday, the UK became the first country in the world to declare a national climate emergency. This comes after weeks of protests took places across the UK and other European… Read more »
‘More than lip service’: Round Table Books opens in Brixton
This week, Knights Of Publishing, the inclusive publisher set up in 2017 by Aimée Felone and David Stevens and committed to ensuring “the books we publish give windows into as many… Read more »
The loyalty of a good bookseller
A couple days ago, Sarah Malley wrote for Popula an in-depth essay about the status of bookstores, booksellers, and the communities surrounding them. Eye-opening that it was, while reading, I… Read more »
The second annual Melville House nonfiction open reading period
It’s May 2019. Do you know where your great nonfiction ideas are? Hopefully in our inboxes! That’s right: Melville House is excited once again to open up the ol’ submission email account for a reading period,… Read more »
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Ray Bradbury: The Last Interview
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We, Robots
The Philosophy of Beards
Gnarr!
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: The Last Interview
Bolaño
Trainwreck
Billy Budd, Sailor
How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive
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Cat Out of Hell
The Dog Walker
What We Do Now
Patience and Fortitude
The Buenos Aires Quintet
The Essential Heinrich Böll
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The Dead
Why I Am Not a Feminist
Ernest Hemingway: The Last Interview
Bartleby the Scrivener
Red or Dead
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Sophia
The Jane Austen Rules
The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture
The Ghost Network
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Melancholy Accidents
The Establishment
Nora Ephron: The Last Interview
Happiness
The Quest for a Moral Compass
Ada’s Algorithm
Half The Kingdom
La Femme de Gilles
Bernie goes to the Vatican Bundle
The Damned Utd
The Biographical Dictionary of Literary Failure
Wittgenstein Jr
Bartleby Mug
Hannah Arendt: The Last Interview
“I Would Prefer Not To” Bartleby Tote Bag
Future Days
An Exaggerated Murder
Rules for Werewolves
James Baldwin: The Last Interview
The Dark Net
The Constitution Demands It
A History of Money
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