Latest Review: In the United States of Africa
Our latest review is of Abdourahman A. Waberi’s In the United States of Africa. It’s a pretty interesting and strange book. Here’s the opening of my review: As Percival Everett states in his introduction, Djibouti author Abdourahman Waberi’s first novel to be translated into English is particularly ...
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The State of Shaman Drum
Last week, Shelf Awareness ran a short bit about the precarious state of Shaman Drum Bookshop’s finances. This was based on a letter that owner (and Open Letter advisory board member) Karl Pohrt wrote for the Ann Arbor Chronicle. Rather than rehash what was said, or speculate about the Shelf Awareness piece, ...
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The Cost of E-Books
I agree with Scott, Bob Miller’s account of why e-books should be almost the same price as a print edition is a bit muddy (is there anything that Miller says that isn’t1? ): There seems to be a common refrain in many discussions of e-books, the idea that publishers should charge next to nothing for e-books ...
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Three Spanish Books
While I was at the AWP conference, a ton of interesting books arrived in our offices, all worth writing about. I’ll try and cover more of these over the next few weeks, but for now, I thought I’d look at the three titles translated from Spanish that caught my eye. Rex by Jose Manuel Prieto is one of the spring ...
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In the United States of Africa
As Percival Everett states in his introduction, Djibouti author Abdourahman Waberi’s first novel to be translated into English is particularly interesting for the way in usurps not just our expectations, but much of what we have come to believe constitutes a novel: This is where In the United States of Africa Waberi ...
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Another T-Shirt Idea . . .
A sales rep’s comment about the design of The Conqueror: “It’s OK, I guess. It looks so . . . European.“ ...
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Life at the Frankfurt Book Fair
Following on his hilarious (and spot-on) piece on the MLA convention, Gideon Lewis-Kraus has an article in the new Harper’s on life and the Frankfurt Book Fair. As is evident from the title—“The Last Book Party”—Gideon’s piece is more about the people, the social aspects, the scene of ...
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