literature

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Top Foreign Fiction of 2008
 Top Foreign Fiction of 2008 
OPINION
Dec 2, 2008 4:40 PM CST

Top Foreign Fiction of 2008

Pair of Spanish-language works highlight NPR list

(Newser) - Of 340 new works of foreign fiction and poetry translated for US audiences this year, NPR has culled five of the best into a list:
  • Senselessness, by Horacio Castellanos Moya: A Latin American freelance writer is hired by the Catholic Church to edit sinister documents in this compact dark comedy.
...

Their Book Deals Snag Big $$$
 Their Book Deals Snag Big $$$ 
Nov 17, 2008 5:47 PM CST

Their Book Deals Snag Big $$$

(Newser) - Literary agent Dan Strone oversaw two multimillion-dollar celebrity book deals last week, stunning the publishing industry, the New York Observer reports. He scored $2.5 million for a Sarah Silverman book and drew bids topping $7 million for a Jerry Seinfeld title. Both were auctioned without a proposal. “I...

Traces of the Real Crusoe Unearthed

Character was based on marooned Scotsman

(Newser) - A dig has unearthed remnants of the real-life Robinson Crusoe’s stay on an island west of Chile, the BBC reports. Daniel Defoe’s character is said to have been based on a sailor who was rescued from the island in 1709. Traces of his four-year presence include post-holes from...

Mystery Writer Tony Hillerman Dead at 83

Penned police novels infused with Navajo culture

(Newser) - Bestselling author Tony Hillerman died yesterday at 83 of pulmonary failure, the AP reports. He was known for his mystery novels, which featured two Navajo policemen with distinct views on their people, constantly balancing the Navajo world with the Anglo one. A onetime journalist, he found success with Skinwalkers in...

Writer Marked by Mob to Flee Italy

Mob wants author dead by Christmas

(Newser) - A best-selling author who has become a target of Italian mobsters is fleeing Italy, reports the Guardian. Writer Roberto Saviano, 28, has spent the last two years as a virtual prisoner in army barracks, surrounded by bodyguards protecting him from a Neapolitan mob family. Saviano's book, Gomorra, now an acclaimed...

Author Unlocks Secret of Youth
 Author Unlocks Secret of Youth 
NEW RELEASE
Oct 15, 2008 5:45 PM CDT

Author Unlocks Secret of Youth

(Newser) - After a year tracking the American obsession with looking younger, veteran journalist Beth Teitell reached a sobering conclusion: "Age is the new fat." But the author of the newly released book Drinking Problems at the Fountain of Youth kept her head and her sense of humor. Teitell,...

Indian Author Adiga Wins Booker Prize for White Tiger

(Newser) - Indian author Aravind Adiga has won the UK's prestigious Man Booker Prize for his debut novel the White Tiger, the Guardian reports. Adiga's novel explores the darker side of India's rise to prosperity through its narrator, the son of a rickshaw puller who escapes crushing poverty. "In many ways...

Death Takes a Holiday in Saramago's Latest
Death Takes a Holiday in Saramago's Latest
BOOK REVIEW
Oct 10, 2008 6:24 AM CDT

Death Takes a Holiday in Saramago's Latest

Author of Blindness deals with death in new novel

(Newser) - The premise of Jose Saramago’s Death With Interruptions seems a bit cutesy at first, with a Buffy-esque Grim Reaper deciding to take some time off her job, writes Shannon McBeen in Radar. But as Saramago explores the ramifications of universal immortality, he manages to transform “the admittedly weak...

French Writer Le Clézio Wins Nobel

Novelist, who lives part-time in US, wins $1.4M prize

(Newser) - This year's Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, reports the AP, a novelist often called France's greatest living writer. The Swedish Academy praised him as an "author of new departures, poetic adventure, and sensual ecstasy." The 68-year-old, who lives part of the...

Blindness 'Fascinating' But Difficult to Watch

Not that director Meirelles' film is necessarily bad

(Newser) - Blindness is a hard film to watch, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad one. Some critics hated Fernando Meirelles’ parable about a plague of blindness; Roger Ebert called it “one of the most unpleasant, not to say unendurable, films I've ever seen.” But others...

Oprah's Book Pick: Sawtelle
 Oprah's Book Pick: Sawtelle 
Sep 19, 2008 1:55 PM CDT

Oprah's Book Pick: Sawtelle

Publisher pressing 750,000 more copies

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey made The Story of Edgar Sawtelle her latest book club pick today, Publishers Weekly reports. The debut novel by David Wroblewski is about a mute boy who communicates best with his dogs. It's been a best-seller since its June release, and publisher Ecco is set to produce another...

Roth's Latest Doesn't Measure Up
 Roth's Latest 
 Doesn't Measure Up 
BOOK Review
Sep 17, 2008 6:11 PM CDT

Roth's Latest Doesn't Measure Up

New Novel's protagonist too earnest for a fun read, says Kakutani

(Newser) - Unlike the emotionally twisted and tortured heroes of Philip Roth's finer works, the dead 19-year-old narrator of Indignation is an uncomplicated soul—and the novel suffers because of its milquetoast protagonist, writes Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times. "All of Marcus' unrelieved niceness makes for a somewhat pallid...

'Fletch' Author Dead at 71
 'Fletch' Author Dead at 71 
Obituary
Sep 11, 2008 11:01 AM CDT

'Fletch' Author Dead at 71

Boston Globe scribe succumbs after long cancer battle

(Newser) - Novelist and ex-Boston Globe reporter Gregory Mcdonald is dead at 71, Variety reports, succumbing after a long battle with cancer. Mcdonald is best known for his best-selling Fletch mystery novels, which comprise 15 of his 26 books. Four of his books have been turned into movies, including Fletch, Fletch Lives,...

Debuts Edge Favorites for Booker Shortlist

Rushdie, O'Neill passed over for top literary award

(Newser) - The jury for the Man Booker Prize announced its shortlist today—and left off the two books most hotly tipped to win the prestigious literary award, reports the Bookseller. Six novels were chosen, including two debuts. But many were surprised by the omission of Salman Rushdie's The Enchantress of Florence,...

New Reader May Top Kindle
 New Reader May Top Kindle 
PRODUCT REVIEW
Sep 8, 2008 7:10 PM CDT

New Reader May Top Kindle

Plastic Logic's version is lighter, thinner, wider

(Newser) - Move over, Kindle. A new e-book reader made by German/British firm Plastic Logic is on its way, and seems to fix many of the Amazon reader’s apparent flaws, Wired reports. PL’s as-yet-unnamed reader is 8.5 inches by 11 inches, but less than 3/10 of an inch thick...

Put Catcher to Rest Already
 Put Catcher to Rest Already 
opinion
Aug 28, 2008 7:16 PM CDT

Put Catcher to Rest Already

Salinger standby should make way for newer books

(Newser) - JD Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye may have once been edgy, coming-of-age literature, but does it deserve a place in today's curricula? It's time to retire Holden Caulfield, argues Anne Trubek in Good magazine. "Salinger’s novel lacks the currency or shock value it once had," she...

A 'Prose Guy' Explores the Comics Boom

How graphic novels went from nothing to something

(Newser) - Bob Thompson is a self-professed “prose guy,” but still can’t ignore the biggest trend in publishing: graphic novels. Thompson sets out for the Washington Post to discover how literature that uses word balloons can be book world's sole growing sector. He discovers that many “little see-saws”...

Aspiring Novelist? Read This
 Aspiring Novelist? Read This
OPINION
Aug 11, 2008 2:15 PM CDT

Aspiring Novelist? Read This

Fiction writer offers tips on juggling creativity, career

(Newser) - “I’ve always wanted to write” is something novelist Allegra Goodman hears a lot, so she lays out some advice in the Boston Globe for the doctors, venture capitalists, and lactation consultants with stories to tell:
  • “To begin, don’t write about yourself.” Writing is about imagining
...

Remembering Russia's Prophet
Remembering Russia's Prophet
Appreciation
Aug 4, 2008 1:05 PM CDT

Remembering Russia's Prophet

Reflections on Solzhenitsyn's life reveal complex legacy

(Newser) - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who died yesterday at 89, left a complicated legacy and an unassailable record as one of the great writers of the 20th century. Three takes on the Nobel laureate:
  • The National Review, which on occasion published Solzhenitsyn’s work, says he may have been the man of the
...

Du Maurier: Neglected Genius?
 Du Maurier:
 Neglected Genius? 
OPINION
Aug 2, 2008 7:51 PM CDT

Du Maurier: Neglected Genius?

Author of Rebecca was more than pop-lit hack

(Newser) - Novelist Daphne du Maurier’s works have been read by millions, adapted into films, and kept in print for decades—yet she has been unable to shake her reputation as a pop-lit hack. Cynthia Crossen looks at her career in the Wall Street Journal and argues that the author of...

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