As Good As Tolstoy

We continue our new year list of once-in-a-lifetime “must-read” books, as recommended by John Simopoulos, Dean of Degrees at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. Today’s featured work is a South American trilogy by Louis de Bernieres: The War of Don Emmanuels Nether Parts / Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord / The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman and as a bonus, another book by de Bernieres that John compares favourably to Tolstoy’s War and Peace: Birds without Wings.

In today’s Write Report, Donna reflects on publishers’ strategies for surviving the economic downturn – the Wall Street Journal carries an analysis showing that slashing authors’ advances is the very last thing that publishers ought to be doing.  And will the cellphone kill the dedicated e-reader device?

In Eve’s Salmagundi Club, she looks at new trade news website BookBrunch, and its coverage of the highly active children’s publishing market in January.

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Links: The Write Report, Book Brunch

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