Category: words

This year’s edition of the prestigious book award sets off with the usual cargo of controversies. – Toronto Globe and Mail
     PLUS: A first time novelist is among the finalists. BBC 9/22/99

Concerns about e-commerce and national chains have waned, and the bargain-book business is flourishing. – Publisher’s Weekly

The Washington Post‘s Jonathan Yardley says that modern school reading lists are largely devoid of literary merit. – Washington Post

A computerized analysis of the 18 million books in the Library of Congress (the world’s largest library) shows there are nearly twice as many books about Christ (17,239) as about his nearest challenger, William Shakespeare, and four times as many as about Lenin, who occupies third place on the list, with 4,492. – Sydney Morning Herald 

Giant Canadian book retailer Chapters is reportedly telling Canadian book publishers they won’t be getting some of the chain’s fall orders until they agree to give higher discounts to Pegasus, the retailer’s wholesale subsidiary. – Toronto Globe and Mail
PLUS: SANTA CRUZ FIGHTS THE ARRIVAL OF BORDERS – Publisher’s Weekly 9/13/99

But the market for Spanish books is as diverse as the Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Central Americans and other Latinos within it. – Publisher’s Weekly

Amazon, the online retailer, recently marshaled its attorneys for the right to use the list in its marketing. Now book superstore Barnes & Noble has announced it doesn’t want to use the list at all. What’s the fuss about? – New York Times

Is it really true that “the question is no longer what the writer has written but rather who the writer is?” Jonathan Yardley writes about the pressures of writing literate. – Washington Post

The internet is changing the roles of those who help get authors’ work to print. – Publisher’s Weekly