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Inside the Weird Journey of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'

Cohen's own version isn't the definitive one

(Newser) - Unlike most songs that reside in the sort of unofficial Cover Song Hall of Fame, Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" was released to not much fanfare at all in the Born in the USA glory days of 1984. In fact, it was on the only Cohen album his record company...

Best Books of 2012
 Best Books of 2012 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Dec 2, 2012 7:29 AM CST

Best Books of 2012

Hilary Mantel, Dave Eggers among picks from New York Times

(Newser) - The editors of the New York Times book review have made their picks for the year's best fiction and nonfiction works. A sampling:
  • Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel: Her novel about Henry VIII won the Man Booker Prize, just like its predecessor.
  • Building Stories, Chris Ware: This graphic
...

National Book Award Goes to Louise Erdrich

Manhattan ceremony goes glam

(Newser) - Louise Erdrich's novel Round House won the National Book Award last night, beating out big-name contenders like Junot Diaz and Dave Eggers. Erdrich's book tells the story of a teenage boy's confrontation with violence on a North Dakota reservation, the New York Times reports. "This is...

Most YA Books Bought By Adults

 Most YA Books 
 Bought By 
 Adults 
in case you missed it
Sep 16, 2012 7:00 PM CDT

Most YA Books Bought By Adults

Faster-paced books appeal to everyone, it turns out

(Newser) - It turns out you're not the only grown-up devouring the Hunger Games. A new study from Bowker Market Research found that 55% of the people buying young adult novels are actually regular adults, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Oh sure, some say they're buying them for younger relatives,...

Amazon: GOP Sells a Lot More Books

Conservative books outselling liberal ones in 46 states

(Newser) - If Amazon book sales were votes, the 2012 election would be the most lopsided in history. Amazon has introduced an " election heat map " tracking sales of political books, and right-wing books are crushing left-wing ones, the Guardian observes. Overall, "red" books lead "blue" ones 56% to...

Kids' E-Books Squashing the Real Thing

UK survey finds almost half of parents read to kids via e-reader

(Newser) - Kids aren't exactly picking a book off the shelf before snuggling under the covers these days. SmartMoney reports on the trend by way of the UK, where a survey found that almost a full half of parents say they now read to their kids via e-reader or tablet (or...

Summer Reads That Won't Embarrass You

Literary types give their suggestions for beach books

(Newser) - Looking for a beach read that's not just fluff? The Atlantic Wire asked authors and other literati for "books that live up to the spirit of summer while still making us think"—or, in other words, "beach reads for smart people." Here's what they...

Alice Walker Blocks Israeli Edition of Color Purple

Author accuses Israel of persecuting Palestinians

(Newser) - Alice Walker is prohibiting an Israeli publisher from printing a new Hebrew-translated edition of her classic novel The Color People because, says Walker, "Israel is guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people." Walker has been a vocal critic of Israeli policies, reports the Los Angeles Times ...

Are Classic Books Obsolete?
 Are Classic Books Obsolete? 
OPINION
May 31, 2012 2:52 PM CDT

Are Classic Books Obsolete?

Dartmouth researchers think so, but Laura Miller begs to differ

(Newser) - Take a gander at all the one-star Amazon reviews for classic works of literature, and you might think the canon is going out of style—and a new Dartmouth study thinks you're right. Researchers examined the language in a host of public domain digital texts published between 1550 and...

Today&#39;s Books Are Too Long
 Today's Books Are Too Long 
OPINION
May 22, 2012 1:38 PM CDT

Today's Books Are Too Long

Marc Wortman thinks Google is partly to blame

(Newser) - Marc Wortman has several books he keeps meaning to get to, including the recent biographies of Steve Jobs (630 pages), LBJ (736), George F. Kennan (800), and Malcolm X (608). The problem is, he has a life, too, and unless he devotes hours every day to the task, he'll...

First Line of The Stranger Is Still Translated Wrong

'Mother died today' should be 'Today, Maman died': Ryan Bloom

(Newser) - Albert Camus' The Stranger opens with the famous—and relatively easy to translate—"Aujourd’hui, maman est morte." It's so easy, in fact, that not a single English translation has gotten it right, writes Ryan Bloom in the New Yorker . He argues that the precise wording of...

America's Most (Surprisingly) Well-Read Cities

No. 1 is Alexandria, Virginia

(Newser) - If you think America's bookworms live in New York or San Francisco, think again. Amazon has released its list of the country's 20 most well-read cities, and they hail from such states as Michigan and Florida, reports Reuters . Top honors goes to Virginia's Alexandria, and though Berkeley...

Judge: Freed Defendant Must Write Book Reports

He is required to read for an hour a day

(Newser) - A northern California man has been released on bond—provided he's willing to keep up his reading. Otis Mobley, 23, was indicted after allegedly offering to sell a grenade launcher to an undercover official; authorities say Mobley and two others planned to rob the agent. The judge says the...

Books We Pretend to Read—But Never Do

The Corrections, Infinite Jest make the New York Times list

(Newser) - So, you've read The Corrections? And Infinite Jest? Yes, me too. And the entire Newser staff also likes them. Because there are certain books we simply lie about, as the New York Times learned during a survey of its own staff. Posted anonymously, the Times list includes:
  • A Confederacy
...

How One Small Bookstore Outwitted Amazon

The Harvard Book Store installed its own printer

(Newser) - The Amazon steamroller is crushing one neighborhood bookstore after another—which is why Phil Johnson felt sympathy for the man who took over the Harvard Book Store. "I respected his mission, even if I didn’t quite believe in its future," Johnson writes in Forbes . But over a...

Florida County's Libraries Ban 50 Shades of Grey

Cite concern over 'pornographic' EL James books

(Newser) - A Florida county's library system has banned the erotic-fiction 50 Shades of Grey trilogy in light of its "perceived pornographic nature," a spokesman tells NBC Miami . Brevard County's 17 libraries had ordered 19 copies of the three EL James books, and there was a waiting list...

Stephen King: Raise My F***ing Taxes Already

The rich aren't going to pay up just to be nice

(Newser) - Stephen King is following Warren Buffett's lead with an op-ed begging to be taxed more—though King drops in a few more F-bombs in his very salty appeal. In "Tax Me, for F***'s Sake," the wealthy author offers his views on his fellow one-percenters: "The...

Get Ready for Walden Pond: The Video Game
Get Ready for Walden Pond: The Video Game
and don't forget jay-z
Apr 26, 2012 5:05 PM CDT

Get Ready for Walden Pond: The Video Game

Henry David Thoreau's masterpiece goes digital; Jay-Z has game, too

(Newser) - Henry David Thoreau lived at Walden Pond to escape the comforts of modern life; soon, you'll be able to share his experience right on your flat-screen TV. Thanks to a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the University of Southern California is developing a video...

Pulitzer Board Just Sucked Life Out of Book Industry
Pulitzer Board Just Sucked Life Out of Book Industry
Ann Patchett
Apr 18, 2012 9:50 AM CDT

Pulitzer Board Just Sucked Life Out of Book Industry

Prize injects needed excitement into world of literature: Ann Patchett

(Newser) - Sure, there's a possibility that when the Pulitzer Prize board failed to announce a fiction winner, the reason could have been a simple deadlock. But most who heard the news probably didn't assume that, and instead figured "it was a bum year for fiction," writes author...

And the Oddest Book Title of the Year Is ...

Other contenders included books about chicken sexing, office chairs

(Newser) - There were plenty of odd book titles last year, such as Estonian Sock Patterns All Over the World and A Taxonomy of Office Chairs. But the winner of the Diagram prize for strangest book title of the year is Cooking with Poo, reports the Guardian . Actually, Cooking with Poo is...

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