Most Popular
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10-man S. Korea lose to Indonesia to miss out on Paris Olympic football qualification
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Hybe-Ador feud should have limited effect on Hybe's overall performance: analysts
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Second Gimpo civil servant found dead, after apologizing for not finishing work
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DP leader says he will meet Yoon without conditions
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First-ever meeting of president, opposition chief set to finally happen
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NewJeans' singles, Japanese debut to proceed as planned, despite Hybe-Ador feud
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Experts raise concerns about Japan putting pressure on Naver over Line
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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Samsung mobile chief, Google device head meet in Seoul
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Ship linked to NK arms shipments to Russia is moored in China: State Dept.
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‘ROTC Kills’ finds poet looking back
ROTC Kills: PoemsBy John Koethe (Harper Perennial)In his new collection, John Koethe opens by contemplating “the impossible world from which I’m absent” with a “sudden stab of fear,” aware that the “never-ending sentences” he creates will one day actually end.At 66, Koethe has earned his moments of dread, as well as his right to look back in anger, disappointment and bitterness. “ROTC Kills” takes its provocative title from a Harvard student strike poster of 1969, whose countercultural idealism
Sept. 13, 2012
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If you like to read, you’ll want to ‘Read This!’
Last fall, Chris Fischbach suggested to Hans Weyandt that his blog might make a good book. Weyandt only laughed.Fischbach was on his way to Germany to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair, and Weyandt joked, “If you bring me back some gummy bears, we’ll call it a deal.”A week or two later, Fischbach showed up again, jet-lagged, perhaps, but persistent, and holding a sticky bag of gummy bears.That is the short version of how Weyandt’s blog, “Mr. Micawber Enters the Internets,” turned into “Read This! H
Sept. 13, 2012
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Literary giants talk about life, literature in Gyeongju
Nobel Literature Prize laureates Wole Soyinka and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio met with South Korean poet Ko Un for a literary forum in Gyeongju, an ancient city southeast of Seoul.Soyinka, Clezio and Ko cited rage, self-satisfaction and condolence, respectively, as the origin of their literary world during the forum held Wednesday as part of the 78th PEN International Congress.The Nigeria-born writer Soyinka opened the talk, saying that writing always makes him happy but entails pain. The pain
Sept. 13, 2012
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Hilary Mantel and Will Self make Booker Prize shortlist
LONDON (AFP) ― Former winner Hilary Mantel and radical contemporary author Will Self have both made the shortlist for Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize for Fiction, it was announced Tuesday.The six-person list included authors from Britain, India and Malaysia. The winner, due to be announced at London’s Guildhall on October 16, receives $80,000.Mantel, from Britain, was listed for her novel “Bring up the Bodies,” a sequel to her 2009 Booker winner “Wolf Hall.”They are the first and second volum
Sept. 12, 2012
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PEN International calls for freedom of speech
Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka says writers should defend human freedoms with languageGYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province ― Nobel laureates and writers on Monday stressed the importance of freedom of speech and their members who are currently imprisoned, at the opening of the 78th International PEN Congress in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province.One PEN International member in Beijing, Jiao Guobiao, has been prevented by the Chinese government from attending the literary event in Gyeongju, said PEN
Sept. 11, 2012
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Germany’s ex-first lady denies having worked as escort
BERLIN (AFP) ― Germany’s former first lady, Bettina Wulff, denies she ever worked as an escort in a book to be published Wednesday, seven months after the ex-president stepped down over a political favors scandal.In a chapter entitled “The Rumours,” 38-year-old Wulff seeks to snuff out stories that have swirled about an alleged previous life suggesting she worked as call girl under the pseudonym “Lady Viktoria.” The former PR executive, who married Christian Wulff in 2008 and with whom she has a
Sept. 11, 2012
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International PEN Congress opens in historic city of Gyeongju
Literary forum discusses issues concerning media and human rights with Nobel laureates GYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province ― The 78th International PEN Congress opened on Monday in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, kicking off a seven-day event focusing on issues of media, literature and human rights. A London-based international association of writers, PEN International has been hosting the congress, which consists of networking and literary events and lectures, in different cities around th
Sept. 10, 2012
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Politics, dirty campaigns fill election yarn
The Other WomanBy Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge) Myriad “other women” form an ever-widening circle of political intrigue in award-winning author Hank Phillippi Ryan’s highly entertaining hardcover debut.Politics, dirty campaigns and compromised candidates are a compelling plot foundation in any year, but especially in this presidential election year. Ryan combines both a timely tale and a multi-layered plot with gripping suspense. “The Other Woman” works well as a political thriller and romantic su
Sept. 6, 2012
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Author undone by his own style
The Devil in SilverBy Victor LaValle (Spiegel & Grau)Nobody is his or her own best editor, not even the writer of this review, so you wonder whether Victor LaValle didn’t get advice about his third novel, “The Devil in Silver,” or simply chose to ignore it. It’s sad, really, because what might have been a first-rate thriller about madness, corruption and monsters in a Queens asylum is too glib to get a reader fully committed, no pun intended, although it’s a great example of how an author can be
Sept. 6, 2012
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Molly Ringwald taps into her literary interest
Picture a film shoot somewhere in Canada. On one side of a swimming pool, the gear, the crew and most of the cast; on the other side, Molly Ringwald. They’re shooting the rest of the scene before her part, so she sits on a box to wait. She begins tapping on her phone, and as the hours pass, that’s all she does: Sit on the box, tapping. By the time the camera turns her way, she has finished the first draft of “When It Happens to You,” the impassioned, clever title story of her first book of ficti
Sept. 6, 2012
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Bulgarian rewarded for delving into Slavic roots in short stories
When Miroslav Penkov moved to the United States from Bulgaria just short of his 19th birthday, he was so insecure about his accented English that he’d often rehearse conversations in his head. In line at the grocery store, before ordering a Coke on the airplane, even when talking to peers, Penkov turned over the phrase dozens of times.That experience of being an outsider in a foreign country would define him as a writer ― and make Penkov, 29, a rising literary star.His collection of short storie
Sept. 6, 2012
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German magazine rethinking ‘no models’ policy
BERLIN (AFP) ― One of Germany’s top women’s magazines said Monday it was reviewing its policy of only publishing photographs of amateur models instead of professionals.The fortnightly magazine, Brigitte, made international headlines in October 2009 with the news that it would only print pictures of “real women” after readers complained they could not identify with ultra-thin professional models.A spokeswoman for Gruner + Jahr publishing house told AFP that a new editor-in-chief planned a thoroug
Sept. 4, 2012
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Chinese ‘blind spot’ for Western readers
HONG KONG (AFP) ― A potent mix of state censorship, conservative publishing choices and scant translation means international readers are given a narrow view of contemporary China, industry critics say.There are the occasional books by Chinese authors that hit the international bestseller lists such as the blockbuster “Wild Swans” by Jung Chang, which has sold millions worldwide, and Adeline Yen Mah’s “Falling Leaves.”But both of those authors are based in the West ― highlighting the paucity of
Sept. 3, 2012
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Recovery hits the road
The Revised Fundamentals of CaregivingBy Jonathan Evison (Algonquin Books)Who among us wouldn’t like to put the car in reverse, hurtling back past some long-vanished stretch where we somehow swerved from the road, forever changing life’s scenery through all the miles to come?Benjamin Benjamin, the 39-year-old narrator of Jonathan Evison’s “The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving,” knows the feeling. As Evison’s novel opens, Ben has endured two rocky years reliving an accident ― which may have bee
Aug. 30, 2012
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When you learn you are dying
One Last Thing Before I GoBy Jonathan Tropper (Dutton)Drew Silver is one of modern literature’s more pathetic losers. And that’s before he discovers an aortic dissection is about to kill him.The good news for Silver ― which is what everyone, even his daughter, calls him ― is that surgery can save his life. There’s a bit of bad news, and part of it is that the procedure would be performed by Silver’s ex-wife’s fiance. The other is that Silver, who is 44, doesn’t want the surgery.The sad-sack hero
Aug. 30, 2012
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Posnanski’s ‘Paterno’ complicates Penn State story
Joe Posnanski moved to State College, Pa., to write a much different book.Posnanski, a former Kansas City Star sports columnist, imagined his biography of Penn State University’s heralded head football coach Joe Paterno would be about the man who, as Posnanski noted in a USA Today column last week, “always said ... that winning ... wasn’t what mattered. And yet, he won more games than anyone.” The book he was writing was based, after all, on full access to the coach and his records.And then ever
Aug. 30, 2012
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Kim Ran-do’s new collection of essays lacks depth, thoughtfulness
SNU professor back with another advice book for youthIt seems like Seoul National University Professor Kim Ran-do still has a lot of advice to give to young people, even after the success of his first collection of essays, “You are Young, Because You are Suffering.”The consumer science professor recently published another advice book, which is also written for 20-somethings in the country. While his former best-selling book specifically targeted university students, the new one, titled “You Beco
Aug. 30, 2012
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Beijing book fair to open with S. Korea as country of honor
The Beijing International Book Fair will open Tuesday with South Korea invited as the country of honor in celebration of 20 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Some 2,010 publishers from 75 countries around the world, including South Korea, will participate in the Beijing fair, one of the four largest book fairs in the world.During the 19th fair set to last till Sunday, 72 South Korean publishers and copyright agencies will seek ways to broaden their exports while displaying sele
Aug. 28, 2012
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Fluff with right amount of starch
Shadow of NightBy Deborah Harkness (Viking)Deborah Harkness’ “Shadow of Night,” a sequel to her best-selling “A Discovery of Witches,” pretty much defines excellence in the literary subgenre of fluff.The term fluff, as devotees recognize, need not connote bad, as “Shadow” irresistibly proves. Under Harkness’ assured, witty hand, it remains feather-light over the course of nearly 600 pages, with plenty of suspense and a romance for the ages. Literally, as it happens.Spoiler alert: To discuss this
Aug. 23, 2012
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Novel lacks humanity
Kill DecisionBy Daniel Suarez (Dutton)The most interesting characters in Daniel Suarez’s new techno-thriller, “Kill Decision,” are a trained pair of ravens who hover over the good guys as guardian angels.That’s unfortunate.There are a lot of big ideas in this novel, which warns against a future where machines make even the ultimate decision ― to kill ― without human intervention.And I’m sure Suarez’s book will find many fans among tech heads and futurists. But his audience would be much larger,
Aug. 23, 2012