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At £150m, Rowling is the richest celebrity
According to this year's Forbes' list, Harry Potter author JK Rowling earned more than any other celebrity. Apparently, she made $300m (£150m) last year. Other British celebrities included in the list were Keira Knightley (the world's second best paid female actor), Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe and David Beckham.
According to this year's Forbes' list, Harry Potter author JK Rowling earned more than any other celebrity. Apparently, she made $300m... more -
Beatrix Potter drawing sets record
An original watercolour illustration by Beatrix Potter for the final scene from the Rabbit Christmas Party set a new auction record on Thursday at 289,250 pounds.
The sum was nearly five times the top end of the pre-sale estimate of 40-60,000 pounds, making the painting of rabbits leaving the party by candlelight the most expensive book illustration ever sold at auction, Sotheby's said.
Sotheby's said the buyer was a private British collector.
It was one of 20 original illustrations, books, unpublished Christmas cards and letters by children's author and illustrator Potter from the collection of her brother Bertram Potter on offer at the London sale.
The whole collection, the most extensive group of Beatrix Potter artwork to have appeared on the market in decades, realised a total of 748,200 pounds.
(Reuters) An original watercolour illustration by Beatrix Potter for the final scene from the Rabbit Christmas Party set a new auction record on... more -
Stolen Shakespeare first edition found
A FIRST folio edition of a William Shakespeare book from 1623 that was stolen from a British university 10 years ago was uncovered in Washington and a suspect was arrested in Britain, the FBI said today. A FIRST folio edition of a William Shakespeare book from 1623 that was stolen from a British university 10 years ago was uncovered in ... more
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Could Google monopolize knowledge?
Should a single company be left in charge of putting all of the world's books online?
An impressive list of world-class libraries and book publishers don't seem to mind. In 2004, they signed on as partners with Google, the Internet search and advertising colossus based in Mountain View, Calif.
Yet some observers have strong concerns about Google Book Search and how the collected thinking of human history will be accessed in the future.
Those anxieties rose late last month when Microsoft announced that it was withdrawing from a rival book-scanning project headed by the nonprofit Internet Archive (archive.org).
Internet access to books is becoming more important, some observers say, as portable book readers, such as Amazon's Kindle, become more common and as more people expect to find all their reading needs online.
"I wouldn't say Google is 100 percent of the digital book world, but it's getting near 90 percent," says Siva Vaidhyanathan, a cultural historian and media scholar at the University of Virginia, who writes a blog called "The Googlization of Everything."
(ABC News) Should a single company be left in charge of putting all of the world's books online? ... more -
Hidden Kafka papers set to emerge
Experts are to examine previously unseen documents belonging to the writer Franz Kafka, which were locked away in a Tel Aviv flat for 40 years.
The papers have been gathering dust in the home of the former secretary of Kafka's literary executor, Max Brod.
Read more... Experts are to examine previously unseen documents belonging to the writer Franz Kafka, which were locked away in a Tel Aviv flat for ... more -
Salman Rushdie wins 'Best of Booker' Prize
Midnight's children, the bestselling 1981 novel by the recently Knighted Indian-British novelist Salman Rushdie has been awarded the 'Best of the Booker' prize. The award, voted for by the public, was to find the most popular winner in the Booker Prize's 40 year history. The book centres around events in India before and after the independence and partition of the country, which took place at midnight on 15 August 1947.
Rushdie attracted controversy from the Muslim community for his 1988 novel 'The Satanic Verses', which was inspired in part by the life of Muhammad. He was subsequently forced into hiding after the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran, issued a fatwa on Rushdie, which invited Muslims to kill him for their religion.
Midnight's children, the bestselling 1981 novel by the recently Knighted Indian-British novelist Salman Rushdie has been awarded the '... more -
Omdurman
The very artistic paintings found on iron doors in Omdurman's market. (Sudan)
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'I'm like Heathcliff': Brown reveals his passionate side
Gordon Brown has likened himself to Heathcliff, the brooding, intense character in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights.
The Prime Minister is normally at pains to avoid being compared with other figures but his guard dropped in an interview with New Statesman, published today, in which the interviewer, Gloria De Piero, suggested to Mr Brown that many women viewed him as a Heathcliff-like figure.
Given that the character is famed for his vindictive side, the Prime Minister might have been expected to recoil in horror at such a comparison. But no. "Absolutely correct," he replied, before adding: "Well, maybe an older Heathcliff, a wiser Heathcliff."
Perhaps it is the character's passion that Mr Brown associates with. But, keen to correct any impression that he may be a tortured soul, he added: "I've tried to stop biting my nails. They're pretty good." Then, as he glanced down at his hands, he laughed and added: "OK, they're not."
The Prime Minister also dismissed rumours that (like Heathcliff) he has a short fuse. "When you've got difficult decisions to make, you've got to be calm and considered," he said. '"I don't generally lose my temper."
-- Andrew Grice, Independent UK Gordon Brown has likened himself to Heathcliff, the brooding, intense character in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. ... more -
Bertuzzi Valley
The magical atmosphere of the Po's delta , crowned with the mystery of a new language .
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Chroniques de Mount Lavinia
The fascinating trip of a normal family to Sri Lanka, through the waves of the Indian ocean and chicken pox.
L'affascinante viaggio di una famiglia in Sri lanka , con le Onde dell'Oceano Indiano e la varicella. The fascinating trip of a normal family to Sri Lanka, through the waves of the Indian ocean and chicken pox. ... more -
Barack's Bookshelf: what does Obama read?
Now that we know what is on his iPod, it is time to find out more about Obama, the reader. Apparently, "the most literary president in recent memory", as he is described in the article, fancies a bit of Herman Melville, Toni Morrison, E.L. Doctorow and Philip Roth ...
What do you make of his reading list? What does it tell us about Obama, or rather, what is it suppose to tell us about him? Now that we know what is on his iPod, it is time to find out more about Obama, the reader. Apparently, "the most literary president in... more -
Tolkien postcard found behind fireplace
A demolition worker has discovered a postcard which was written to Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien 40 years ago stuck behind a fireplace.
Stephen Malton, who runs Prodem Demolition in Bournemouth, was removing the fixtures from the author's former home in Poole, Dorset, before the property was demolished. As he dismantled the carved wooden fireplace he found three postcards, the last of which was addressed to Tolkien and dated 1968.
Malton, 42, has now begun investigating how much he can sell the postcard for and said a collector in Belgium had offered $US500,000 (£253,186) for the card and the fireplace.
The postcard is addressed to the author at the Miramar Hotel, Bournemouth, where he and his wife Edith spent many of their holidays. It is signed Lin, which some have speculated could be fantasy author Lin Carter, who wrote A Look Behind the Lord of the Rings, published in 1969. The postcard focuses on the landscape in Ireland, describing hedgerows along with walking and driving in the countryside. It reads: "I have been thinking of you a lot and hope everything has gone as well as could be expected in the most difficult circumstances." A demolition worker has discovered a postcard which was written to Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien 40 years ago stuck behind a fi... more -
Naples Living the tragedy
The focus is all on Naples and its mixture of unique art and alas, garbage.
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Dancing in the magic
The traditional Balinese dance in one of Balis many villages.
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The play on thread.
The very strange story narrated in a very strange language by very strange people.
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Marocco my love
Probably the most fascinating place on Earth , few pictures describe Marocco-s huge importance to humanity.
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I'm going to see Gerry
The folly which took over reason
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Vers Kaboul
A voyage In an old Turinese Renault from Turin to Kaboul just preceeding the Russian invasion.
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Codfer Bas
The first thirty thousand seconds of an infants life passed in the company of primordial bears and malign-looking moons.
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