Five Great Reads: memories of Shane, a rogue’s gallery and the democracy Super Bowl Guardian Australia’s weekend wrap of essential reads from the past seven days, selected by Imogen Dewey The Guardian - AU · Dec 22, 2023
First Thing: Texas governor signs bill allowing police to arrest migrants entering US illegally Law gives officers sweeping powers as well as empowering local judges to order people’s expulsion. Plus, is the book world turning against Goodreads? The Guardian - UK · Dec 19, 2023
‘It’s totally unhinged’: is the book world turning against Goodreads? The influential user review site has suffered a year of controversies, from cancelled book deals to review-bombing, and exposed a dark side to the industry The Guardian - US · Dec 18, 2023
Publisher drops author for using fake accounts to ‘review-bomb’ peers Cait Corrain, whose book Crown of Starlight was due to be published next year, admits to leaving notices ‘that ranged from kind of mean to downright abusive’ The Guardian - UK · Dec 13, 2023
The Goodreads "review bombing" scandal A debut author has lost her book deal after being accused of "review bombing" other authors Salon · Dec 13, 2023
Debut author admits creating fake profiles to flood other books with nasty reviews Cait Corrain said she was ‘sorrier than you can ever know’ for her actions, which caused her to be dropped by her agent, publisher and distributor The Independent UK · Dec 12, 2023
Andrea Dworkin's Intercourse: the raw, radical critique of male power resonating with Gen Z feminists today When Andrea Dworkin’s Intercourse hit the bookshops in 1987, it was extolled by Germaine Greer as the “most shocking book any feminist has yet written”. The Conversation · Nov 13, 2023
How BookTok trends are influencing what you read – whether you use TikTok or not If you’ve been in a bookshop recently, you may have seen references to BookTok – whether it’s stickers on books or whole tables dedicated to “BookTok favourites”. The Conversation · Sep 21, 2023
Best free apps for iPhone in 2024 Here's our pick of the best free apps for iPhone that you can download right now. iMore · Sep 12, 2023
Goodreads Is Terrible for Books. Why Can’t We All Quit It? It’s not entirely clear who it’s for and what its function should be in a rapidly changing literary ecosystem The Walrus · Aug 29, 2023
Royal romances have always been fantasies of transformation. How does new-generation teen fiction reflect queer and diverse desires? A royal romance is once again trending on social media. The Conversation · Aug 11, 2023
Amazon removes books ‘generated by AI’ for sale under author’s name Jane Friedman claims she had to fight against Amazon’s refusal to remove the misattributed titles because she had not trademarked her name The Guardian - UK · Aug 9, 2023
Goodreads is right to divide opinions, wrong to boil them down I don’t choose books based on the aggregate rating as if they are skincare products, nor do I think any critical verdict is the final one The Guardian - UK · Jul 25, 2023
Elizabeth Gilbert halts release of a new book after outcry over its Russian setting The Snow Forest by the author of Eat, Pray, Love was set to be released in February 2024, exactly two years after Russia invaded Ukraine. The backlash included hundreds of negative GoodReads reviews. WEKU · Jun 12, 2023
The Guardian - UK · Mar 28, 2023 Points mean pages: why I’ve embraced the world of online reading challenges I’ve set a goal of reading 50 books this year, and logging my progress is strangely satisfying. Some might not approve of turning reading into a game, but if it works for you, why not?
The Conversation · Oct 6, 2022 Friday essay: romance fiction rewrites the rulebook Romance fiction has one of the most recognisable brands in book culture. It is known for a handful of attributes: its happy-ever-after endings, the pocket Mills Boon and Harlequin editions, the covers featuring Fabio (in the 1990s) or naked male torsos (the hot trend in the 21st century). It is…
The Guardian - UK · Jun 28, 2022 ‘It’s dopamine’: why we love to track our watching and reading habits Sites such as Letterboxd and GoodReads encourage us to document our cultural consumption. But does gamification get in the way of actually enjoying the arts?
The Guardian - UK · Jun 18, 2022 The book that tore publishing apart: ‘Harm has been done, and now everyone’s afraid’ Kate Clanchy’s memoir about teaching won the Orwell prize. Then, a year later, it became the centre of a storm that would engulf the lives of the author, her critics and dozens of people in the book trade. So what happened?