John Williams

Publishers from Bloomsbury, Faber, Penguin Press, and more choose their books of the year, and the ones that got away.

The book that made my year: Many years ago, I was sitting in Blake's bar in Enniskillen with John McGahern and he recommended an American novel from the 60s, written by John Williams: a book called Stoner. I thought it was astonishing, and I passed it to vintage, who brought it out in 2003 with John's introduction.

Lagardére, parent company of book publisher Hachette, and Bertelsmann, parent company of book publisher Random House, both announced financial results for the first six months of 2013. Of the two, Lagardère provided more detail on digital results: Digital made up 11.3 percent of Lagardère Publishing’s net sales worldwide, compared to 8.4 percent a year ago. Ebooks now account for 34 percent of adult trade book sales in the U.S., compared to 27 percent last year, and 31 percent in the U.K., up from 22 percent last year.