Another year, another Booker. After last year's fun but not particularly informative blog roundup, I thought I'd take another crack at a look at what bloggers have said so far about the Booker longlist. ...

There's something that I'm finding increasingly troubling: the majority of the books I purchase to read, or receive for review, shouldn't have been published. At least, not in their current state. ...

Ian MacKenzie's promising, but ultimately flawed, debut novel follows Paul Metzger as he attempts to salvage something from his collapsing relationships with his estranged brother, his ex-wife, and his dying father. This futile existence takes a turn when he gets involved in a street fight, and finds himself being stalked by a violent stranger. ...

In Sum, a compact and attractive new book from Canongate, neuroscientist David Eagleman presents us with forty vignettes that imagine variations on the afterlife. ...

Talk of the Town is the first novel from poet Jacob Polley, a coming-of-age tale set in Carlisle during the summer of 1986, and narrated in vernacular by schoolboy Chris Hearsey. His friend Arthur—never the most stable of kids—has gone missing, and Chris sets out to try and find him. ...

Following an abortion and her break-up with a no-good boyfriend, nightclub singer and mother of two Maria begins receiving death threats. As the situation escalates, she begins to doubt her own sanity, and flees to her childhood home on the coast... Bitter Lemon Press published this fast-moving thriller from Dutch author Saskia Noort. ...

Postscripts is the flagship speculative fiction quarterly from PS Publishing. Issue #18 marks its transition from a magazine to a full-fledged anthology, and is dedicated to new writers. So what does it have to offer? ...

Far North, Marcel Theroux's fourth novel, treads well-worn paths of post-apocalyptic wastelands and the ease with which morality breaks down... but does it add anything new to the mix? ...

Remembering Rebel Inc. Classics, an imprint that specialised in resurrecting a broad range of counter-culture literature, from Richard Brautigan to John Fante, from Knut Hamsun to Alexander Trocchi. ...

A group of hotels in Italy have got together to offer free books to their guests. ...

Rhyming Life and Death, the latest book from Israeli author Amos Oz, is that gem of the literary world: a novella that takes an idea, explores it with conciseness and wit, and then wraps up before it's outstayed its welcome. ...

For the third review in the series looking at publishers' websites, The Fiction Desk turns its attention to tech-savvy independent publishers Snowbooks. ...

Earlier this year, round about the time when everybody else was getting into Roberto Bolaño's 2666, I decided to investigate Brothers, by Chinese author Yu Hua... and I've been "investigating" it ever since. ...

The discovery of some Armed Services Editions (paperbacks given to American troops serving in World War II) in Porta Portese market, Rome, Italy. ...

Books are books and television is television, and never the twain shall meet... but here's a look at some of the TV series that have been most enjoyed by book lovers over the years. ...

The new Magnum Collection from Penguin is a good-looking little set of classics, including titles by Truman Capote and Norman Mailer, repackaged using images from the Magnum Photo Agency. ...

A look at the website of PS Publishing, the award-winning, UK-based small press that prints limited runs of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and crime. ...

Forget Rick Steves' travel guides... With the economy the way it is, the travel industry must be holding its breath to find out which destinations are featured in The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown's upcoming follow-up to The Da Vinci Code. ...

Following on from the post about publishers’ websites, I wanted to start looking at some specific sites and find out what they do well... and what they do badly. First up is Angry Robot Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. ...

I seem to spend a lot of time browsing publisher websites and, with some exceptions, I'm always surprised at how little effort these sites put into attempting to engage me as a consumer. The Internet is a great tool for communicating with your customers, and for direct selling, and publishers just aren't taking advantage of this. ...