An internal Lonely Planet email reveals a rather amusing little prank from the publishing house’s Czech & Slovak Republics guidebook that clearly slipped past the subs.
Life / Culture / Books
The 100 best books of the decade
The Times lists its pick for the 100 best books of the noughties, with plenty of controversial picks sure to see the scones flying at your next book club (Twilight? The 9/11 Commission Report? The Da Vinci Code?).
Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue: the reviews are in…
The most highly-anticipated book of the year, Going Rogue by former Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin is about to hit shelves, and the critics have weighed in. Is it scandalous? Insightful? Coherent? The WSJ wraps the coverage.
Fiction is dead; long live the autobiography!
What’s with the spate of tell-alls, autobiographies and memoirs lately? According to a new book, it’s all about the “democratisation” of authorship: everyone has a story to tell, and it’s now easier than ever to tell it.
Rundle: Bob Carr, PIR galah
Bob Carr’s weekend op-ed in The Oz demonstrates in miniature all the arrogance and mendacity of the big chains’ participation in the parallel book imports debate — and why they lost it, says Guy Rundle.
Where’s the book buyer’s voice in the book debate?
We’ve heard from the ideologues, the book sellers and working authors. So where’s the book buyer’s voice in the book import discussion? Michael R. James weighs in.
More revelations from Sarah Palin’s book
The contents of Sarah Palin’s new book, Going Rogue, are beginning to leak out. Amongst the revelations, Palin claims she was hushed-up from speaking on election night and the McCain campaign slugged her with a $500k legal bill.
PIR decision: Australian writers need to be left the fuck alone, to write
The government’s decision to retain parallel import restrictions on books is a rotten one, most of all for Australian writers, writes author Jack Robertson.
A tantalising taste of Sarah Palin’s new book
What’s in Sarah Palin’s new book, Going Rogue? Mark Halperin has the inside scoop: McCain aides and the national media cop a bashing, plus a cheeky “screw you” to the DC establishment.
Kerr: Rudd betrays his party roots for publishers
Kevin Rudd showed celebrity means more to him than education and ideas by supporting the publishing industry over cheaper books for consumers, says Christian Kerr. His ALP forebears would not be impressed.
Stutchbury: Rudd’s book backdown shows a lack of spine
Kevin Rudd’s inability to stand up to Australia’s lightweight publishing industry and a bunch of angry authors betrays his lack of policy backbone in supporting the free market, says Michael Stuchbury.
Rudd ducks again: book import slug stays
So we retain parallel import restrictions on books. Those of us who don’t buy our books online will continue to pay too much, with the bulk of that extra cost going to overseas authors and publishers.
Great Gatsby! The inside story on F. Scott’s Fitzgerald’s finances
Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald didn’t just write about the lives of the rich, he lived it. From the age of 23, he was in the top 1% earning percentile of taxpayers, earning today’s equivalent of $US500,000.
Behind the covers: secret curiosities of the New York Public Library
The NY Times dips inside the dusty bookshelves of the New York Public Library, from its most scandalous book to 40,000 restaurant menus and the one item its library curators would save if there was a fire.
Top authors explain: how to write a great novel
Some of the literary world’s brightest stars, including Junot Diaz, Hilary Mantel, Anne Rice and Kazuo Ishiguro, explain their novel methods for writing great works of fiiction — from retreating to the bathroom to color-coded plot charts.
Guy Rundle: The long, plodding March of Patriots
Guy Rundle reviews Paul Kelly’s new book, The March of Patriots: the literary equivalent of cleaning out the garage on a grey Saturday afternoon.
Macquarie Anthology to have a global reach
The Macquarie PEN Anthology will have a considerable effect on the burgeoning study of Australian literature abroad, writes Nicholas Birns. Yes, some bits are very literary, and some authors miss out, but finally Australian literature might get its deserved world recognition.
Nam Le: Stuff Facebook, read a real book
Nam Le’s The Boat has scooped this years PM Literary Award for best fiction. In his witty acceptance speech, Le says that social media, TV and film can never engage a community like literature can.
More drama over the PEN anthology
After nearly 40 years of public support for our literature, dramatic literature is still the poor relation, writes Katherine Brisbane. Are plays really that difficult to enjoy?
revealed 
A new twist in the JFK assasination
A recently declassified oral history by JFK’s former military aide claims that, following the president’s assassination, he found Lyndon Johnson huddled in the bathroom of Air Force One, crying, “They’re going to get us all. It’s a plot. It’s a plot. It’s going to get us all.”
Andrew Agassi: no more heroes anymore?
Five-times Grand Slam champ Andre Agassi’s new autobiography is getting lots of attention for all the wrong reasons, with revelations he used crystal meth, took speed before matches, and his ’90s mullet was a fake. Neil Walker laments another sporting hero’s fall from grace.
The beat up over Jack Kerouac’s estate
The Telegraph examines a fascinating 15 year bitter fight over the multimillion dollar estate of Jack Kerouac, author of beat generation classic On the Road. The stoush between his third wife, his ignored daughter, his wife’s family, his nephew and his biographer leave no one a winner.
Book import change can only hurt consumers
What sets Australia’s book retail environment apart is its variety and the range of books on our shelves, but the latest turn of events in the saga of Australian territorial copyright for books is putting that reputation at risk, writes Steve Robinson.
revealed Inside Campaign Obama
Get a peak inside Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign from the man pulling all the strings, campaign manager David Plouffe, with this extract from his new memoir, The Audacity to Win
Caucus debate misses the point, chapter and verse, on books
What’s happening with parallel book imports? The publishing industry is on the cusp of major change driven by online delivery. The most appropriate role for the government is to step aside and let consumers take the lead.
