Brooklyn

Flavorwire has just published an interview with the creator of the ultimate library – of a very particular kind. That’s Brooklyn author Jonathan Basile, who has taken it upon himself to recreate online the actual library in the classic Jorge Luis Borges fiction from 1941, “The Library of Babel.” That enigmatic parable deals with a […]

The post The last online library you will ever need: Borges’s Library of Babel lives appeared first on TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics.

You've heard it before: music criticism as we know it is dying, replaced witheditorial positions at Apple or lifestyle reporters masquerading as music journalists. But in one tiny corner of the publishing industry, at least one form of writing about music is surviving -- even thriving. For over a decade, Bloomsbury Publishing's 33 1/3 book series has been breathing life back into liner notes with 160-page, 4x6-in. treatises on an eclectic spectrum of 104 albums, from a nuanced account of recording Neil Young's Harvest to John Darnielle of theMountain Goats' novella about Black Sabbath's Master of Reality. 

Brooklyn Bookstore Launches Kickstarter to Save Vintage Sci-Fi (Apartment Therapy) Brooklyn bookstore and publisher Singularity & Co. has launched a Kickstarter to save sci-fi. *** 8 Free Things for Writers (Media Shift) Everyone loves free stuff. Food samples, household products through the post –- even winning the odd competition –- things taste better when they […]

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Slow reading advocates seek a return to the focused reading habits of years gone by, before Google, smartphones and social media started fracturing our time and attention spans. Many of its advocates say they embraced the concept after realizing they couldn't make it through a book anymore.

"I wasn't reading fiction the way I used to," said Meg Williams, a 31-year-old marketing manager for an annual arts festival who started the slow reading club. "I was really sad I'd lost the thing I used to really, really enjoy."

Nick Mamatas was kind enough to tip me off to a fascinating writeup by Dennis Johnson, co-founder of Brooklyn indie publishing stalwart Melville House, on a story that knocks another hole in Hachette’s credibility as the self-styled defender of cultural and literary values against the encroachment of Amazon. As Johnson tells it, Hachette Book Group’s […]

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It’s official: I am a book groupie. I realized this last night as I watched the live stream of the National Book Awards presentation, and became teary over poet Mary Szybist’s acceptance speech. I went into this business in the first place because of one basic belief: books can change lives.  So let’s hear it for the all the wonderful authors of potentially life changing books in the hall last night at the National Book Foundation’s annual gala!