By Edward Nawotka
Today’s feature store looks at former Penguin Canada CEO and publishing star David Davidar’s Ithaca, a roman à clef about the publishing business. Though our reviewer, Vinutha Mallya found the books to be uneven and less-than-revealing, you can’t fault Davidar for one thing: he is, as the old cliche goes, writing about what he knows.
Writers have often been tempted to write about the book business and the publishing world, with mixed results. We’ve had everything from The Devil Wears Prada to James Michener’s The Novel to murder mysteries (too numerous to recall) all set in the publishing world.
So tell us, what is your favorite look at the book business through a writer’s eyes?
16 Comments
Hands down: Ben Bova’s Cyberbooks. Yes, it’s a science-fiction satire, but it’s a completely brilliant (and utterly hilarious) one, and amazing how well it manages to predict some of the developments of the last few years.
Glad to see this post, Ed.
Your readers can find a few more fictional publishers at http://fictionalpublishers.com/, and suggestions for other titles I’ve missed so far can be left on the website by leaving a comment under “Suggest a Fictional Publisher”.
Looking forward to hearing.
“If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller” by Italo Calvino
Not quite publishing, but a brilliant and very funny novel about ‘the creative industries’ (well, newspapers in the 1960s): Michael Frayn’s Towards the end of the morning
Olivia Goldsmith’s ‘Bestseller’
A writer’s life from a wry, beautifully observed comic perspective: Bury my Heart at W.H.Smith’s by Brian Aldiss, outstanding science fiction author. (1990)
HAPPINESS, by Will Fergunsson.
The Great Pursuit by Tom Sharpe.
Olivia Goldsmith’s Bestseller — if only for the “index” at the back, which lists many publishing luminaries, even when they aren’t really in the book.
And it’s hilarious!
“Thieves of Manhattan” by Adam Langer – story about the publishing industry with a James Frey twist. Great book about the industry and one of my favorite books overall.
Bridget Jones’s Diary: Helen Fielding’s hilarious bestseller about a junior editor and her struggles with her love life and her various overindulgences (food, cigarettes, alcohol…).
The Hoax!
A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse.
Has to be The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe. 1958, women in NY publishing. Just brilliant.
I just found ‘China Cuckoo: How I Lost a Fortune and Found a Life In China’ on a shelf last week, about a successful expat publisher in China loses everything after Chinese authorities force him out of business. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet but the opening line is great…
‘Bestseller’ by Alessandro Gallenzi (founder of of Hesperus Press/Alma Books) is another