Category: words

Of course she was; Tacitus’ Annals “described the high politics, treachery and debauchery of the Roman elite.” – Reuters

Since the last bookstore closed, people in the town on Kodiak Island have had to use thrift stores and online purchases for their books. But two residents who moved back home to care for ill parents are changing that. One says, “I’ve been surprised to learn what a bookshop means to a community. … I inherently love books, and it was natural that that would be what we chose to pour all of our energy and passion into, but I didn’t realize how much people missed it in our town.” – Anchorage Daily News (Kodiak Daily Mirror)

As In the Cut is reissued, “What is more shocking about the book in 2019 than 1995 … is not the violence, or the fact of a woman having sexual desire, but how little else has changed – from misogyny to the futility of reporting it.” – The Guardian (UK)

German researchers started working on this new dictionary in the 1890s, thinking it would take 10-15 years of work. But “the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (T.L.L.) has seen the fall of an empire, two world wars and the division and reunification of Germany. In the meantime, they are up to the letter R. This is not for lack of effort.” – The New York Times

“The poem we call Gilgamesh is based on copies of a work assembled over a millennium after the earliest stories were written in Old Babylonian. … A specific scribe, editor, collator, poet is given credit for bringing it all together. He may also have been an exorcist, magician, diviner, priest or seer; or a combination of these not unrelated vocations. He was active between 1300 and 1000 BCE. … He goes by the name of Sin-leqi-unninni.” – Literary Hub

The daughters of the author, the most internationally famous Arabic-language writer in modern history, have repeatedly sued the American University in Cairo Press for what they claim are large-scale copyright violations and failure to negotiate a new licensing agreement following Mahfouz’s death in 2006. – Literary Hub

Rick Schober has published roughly four books per year, relying on “a loyal following” that shares his passion for rediscovered literary fiction and nonfiction of an offbeat and experimental variety. That loyal following translates into funding via a crowdfunding model. Those who fund the books each get a copy if they donate an amount totaling the book’s cover price or more, and books are sold via Amazon and B&N.com primarily but are also carried by some independent bookstores, “especially in the Boston area,” Schober said. The press is no moneymaker, but, he quipped, “it’s a small-gains hobby.” – Publishers Weekly

“Ten years ago I went to a speed-dating event in Belfast where I told a succession of potential dates I was a writer and was met with a unanimous sense of disappointment. “I thought you might be a nurse,” one man said, his face falling.” – Irish Times