The ABC did not fare too well, saying its tv coverage was "derelict" and that often on radio, presumably in the widest sense, books were largely seen as pure entertainment. This does not apply surely to programs like Ramona Koval's regular radio books slot and other ABC book coverage in its talk shows. The increasing brevity of reviews was also a worrying trend, which if extrapolated over a decade would mean the reader would only be left with e-content. It was also "reprehensible that wealthy Australian publishers did not advertise more or support "independent critique", which presumably includes journals such as Australian Book Review.

While book review copy from overseas newspapers, such as the Guardian and Spectator, was often excellent material,Rose felt that many of the books covered could have been reviewed by appropriate Australian reviewers. He particularly took to task the Australian Financial Review for its Saturday book coverage from overseas sources. Literary editors were often not to blame, as he recognised they were being "screwed down hard". Economics clearly play a part here but he noted the double standards where sports pages never seem to get cut, yet they often have less advertising than the literary pages.

Rose's talk will hopefully be published in full to stimulate further debate on this important topic of books and reviewing in the Australian media today.

Women turning to their library card for erotic fulfilment

The UK Sunday Times reports "This is better than real sex: A survey confirms my belief that most women of a certain age are better off turning to their library card for erotic fulfilment. According to a survey of women between the ages of 45 and 60 by the maker of Astral moisturiser, a good two-thirds of us like books with plenty of sexscenes because we find them titillating. And a raunchy 10% actively seek out books with sexual content. There is only one explanation for this and I am afraid it has something to do with middle-aged men... I worry that I am falling prey to romantic novelist syndrome, in which fiction looks altogether more enticing than fact.

Jilly Cooper, queen of the bonkbuster, once told me her husband had complained that every night he went to bed with Jilly and Rupert Campbell-Black, her devastatingly priapic hero. There were many headlines last week suggesting that since scientists are close to being able to manufacture sperm, men are no longer necessary; I would suggest that for novel-reading women of a certain age this has long been the case."

Read more about it here.

10 Latin quotes for the London underground

Professor Mary Beard

in her TLS blog comments "Drivers on the Piccadilly line would be adding some well chosen quotes to their announcements on the underground: "Hell is other people", "Beauty will save the world" and other appropriate thoughts for a commuting journey.

Surely, with Boris as Mayor, there ought to be some real Latin among the anglophone platitudes. Indeed, a surprising number of the best known Latin quotes turn out to be surprisingly appropriate for the journey to work. In no particular order:

1. "perfer et obdura! dolor hic tibi proderit olim" -- or "Be patient and put up with it; one day this pain will pay dividends". That's Ovid (Amores III, XIa) reflecting on the insults of his mistress -- but fits well enough for the rush hour commute.

2 "quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra" -- or "How long Catiline will you abuse our patience?". The famous first line of Cicero's first speech against Catiline, attacking the would-be revolutionary (or innocent stooge), Catiline. But you can substitute any adversary for Catiline.. 'quousque tandem abutere, Boris, patientia nostra?"

Isaiah Berlin, the Dictaphone don

A. N. Wilson in the TLS finds Isaiah Berlin "to be all too well served by two new books, the latest volume of his correspondence and a gathering of personal recollections. "This brilliant talker, sparkling essayist and champion of liberty was also malicious, treacherous, snobbish and not as clever as he thought he was.

While Burckhardt saved up for another trip to Rome, Berlin accepted offers to lecture at Harvard and Bryn Mawr and, more refreshing to his spirits, to stay with the rich in New York and meet Greta Garbo. At home, Clarissa Eden beckoned. To one of his correspondents he wrote, “Did you know that ‘grammar’ is the same word as ‘glamour’? It proceeds via ‘grimoire’”. He knew that he was “not of a too profound nature”. He had tried to be an analytical philosopher like his contemporary A. J. Ayer, and Ayer had beaten him at the game. He settled down to be a “historian of ideas”, but the great book never got written. He accepted the role of being a sort of Samgrass from Brideshead Revisited, the don at the rich man’s table, the brilliant chatterer, who moved among bright worldly people who had not read as much as he had, so were impressed... These are hardly the circumstances in which a new Die Kultur der Renaissance comes into being".

Berlin comments in a letter "I have seldom enjoyed an event more than Trevor-Roper’s inaugural lecture, it was amusing in itself - I must send you a copy - but what was funny were the preliminaries; he had hoped for a large incursion of smart persons from London and deputed Lord Furneaux and Chips Channon’s son - he wrote them that he gathered that they were socially-minded and would know the faces of Cabinet Ministers and Ambassadors - to act as ushers. He caused four rows of the School to be kept empty for “the quality”; it was terrible to see aged dons and white-haired ladies rudely pushed away from these empty places which were waiting to be filled by elegant persons from London. In the end, apart from the Duke of Wellington and about eight members of the Astor family and his own wife and her sister Doria nobody came and the seats were filled by plebeians in the end". More here

The UK Guardian interview: Jay McInerney

"McInerney shot to fame in 1984 with his first novel, Bright Lights, Big City, which chronicled the lives of wealthy New York hedonists. So how is the poster boy of 80s excess faring in the middle of a global recession? A quarter of a century and '17 midlife crises' after his debut, the writer, still at the top of his game, meets Rachel Cooke and talks about his many marriages and how the Wall Street crash is at the heart of his next novel". More here

Check ing book values on the web

The Bookride blog says "The first thing to remember is that most books are of low value or no value. Some books are worth less than nothing. A quick look on ABE (or in the case of newer books, Amazon) will ascertain whether the book is common or not. In the case of a book of negligible value the screen will fill with copies with prices starting at £5 or less, sometimes at £0.01. Prices less than this are not permitted. Do not (at first) put in too much information -author's surname and part of the title will do (e.g. Steinbeck /Wrath) with a few boxes ticked such as 'first edition' 'Dust Jacket' etc., Too much information entered can lead to the impression the book is rarer than it is --this is a ploy, by the way, sometimes used by canny sellers to demonstrate a book is more valuabe than it really is. Beware.

The mistake most people make when valuing books on the web is to take their price from the highest or the mid range. None of the books listed have sold and anybody who had to buy one would choose the cheapest in decent condition; only a mad person would choose to pay more than necessary. Take your price from the low end of books in comparable condition. Considerations of postage and proximity may then be taken into account and you might pay a little more to a reputable, proven dealer. If you were selling the book a dealer might give you between a third and a half of the low price, or if you were to sell the book on Ebay you might achieve half or possibly a tenth and in some cases nothing. Once in a blue moon you will get way more than this, but you will almost never achieve the highest price--nor will the seller even if he waits 150 years...

Good luck. Apart from ABE and Amazon I recommend megasearchers such as the excellent viaLibri which can also take you to world libraries for further research. Also Bookfinder and Addall are very useful. For sobering or unpredictable prices check if copies are currently being sold on Ebay. Lastly Google can sometimes uncover copies for sale on independent sites run by oddballs who have not joined the bookmalls."

Tara Brabazon in the Times Higher Education Supplement wonders how bookshops can survive

"The internet does not have to spell disaster for the publishing industry: Tara Brabazon visits the San Francisco bookstore that holds out hope There is much talk about iPhones and apps, Tweets and vodcasts. But while record shops are crushed by legal and illegal downloading, the concurrent closure of bookshops is rarely as publicised. Waterstone’s remains, yet its commitment to serious titles has fallen as the sales of Katie Price and Jade Goody auto/biographies rise. Charing Cross Road - once a haven for bibliophiles - is a shadow of its former self. Murder One has closed, with its website reporting: “we are not a bookstore anymore”. Silver Moon has been “incorporated” into Foyles. Some businesses, such as Sports Pages, have migrated online.

Our university bookshops are also suffering. Conservative buying practices ensure the purchase of textbooks that have passed through too many revisions and incorporated too little new research. The great works that appear on further reading lists - the “read before you die books” - have tipped off the shelves.

The impact on readers, writers and publishers is clear. In the 2009 summer edition of the Society of Authors’ magazine, The Author, a range of articles explore the role of supermarkets in selling books, the shrinkage of newspapers’ readerships and the decline of the book review. Perhaps the most disturbing article in this important magazine is by Sara Nelson. She states that “the one thing you hear every day is that ‘publishing is going global’. But unless we come up with better ideas than these, the only way global publishing is going is south.” One obvious solution to Nelson’s concerns is reinvesting the local, regional and national with intellectual and commercial value, rather than making arbitrary and ambiguous statements about globalisation, internationalisation and mobility. Good bookshops with informed and enthusiastic staff are part of this strategy to invest a place with a purpose" More here

The July issue of the UK literary review has the following online:

REDS UNDER THE BED

Nearly sixty years after McCarthy's hearings, archival evidence has revealed that the post-war American Establishment was indeed riddled by Soviet spies. Tim Tzouliadis cups his ear to the wall....

BILL & BESS

John Stubbs speculates about the encounters between Shakespeare and Elizabeth I. There is no historical evidence that they ever met, but the possibility has continued to fascinate writers and artists.

BLOOD BROTHER

William Doyle cross-examines Georges Danton, revolutionary demagogue and rival to Robespierre.

IT PAYS TO BE NICE

According to evolutionary psychology, the urge to mate is the key to successful marketing. Colin Tudge seeks adverts that make the heart grow fonder.

Jonathan Miller’s capacity for invective is as virile as ever

As the UK Times reports. "He hasn’t done yet. Reminded about his description of Mrs Thatcher’s voice as “a perfumed fart” he says, “Oh yes, I’d forgotten that” and looks far from displeased. It might be easier to dismiss this as the contempt of the old liberal arts for Tory “philistinism” if he did not now say of Tony Blair: “Well, I have a deep disdain for them [Tony and Cherie]. I couldn’t bear that grinning, money-hungry, beaming, Cliff Richard-loving, Berlusconi-adoring, guitar-playing twat. I suppose I would say that, at the risk of being inoffensive. No, it’s that beaming Christianity and that frightful wife with a mouth on a zip-fastener right round to the back of her head. And both of them obsessed with being wealthy. And he got us into this disastrous war with Iraq because he had consulted with God. Like Bush. Well, anyone who claims to do something on the basis of a personal relationship to a non-existent deity” More here

Size Does Matter. The Longest Novels from ABE

"Some books are a sprint, most involve a few laps of your imagination but others require marathon-like endurance. Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace is legendary for its length but there are many other novels that require patience and stamina from the reader. There is currently an online book club dedicated to helping readers finish David Foster Wallace’s sprawling novel, Infinite Jest, before summer turns into fall.

AbeBooks has selected 15 massive books - all them heavyweight contenders for the title of longest novel. They will take you to Australia, France, India, Japan, Russia and America’s South. There are crimes and misdemeanors, winners and losers, lovers and leavers, turmoil and war, trouble and strife, Samurai and swords, economics and politics, and some confusing post-modernism - all in great detail. Plus we have supplied Twitter-style descriptions of each behemoth so today’s attention-challenged generation can grasp the plot in 140 characters or less.

Shantarum

Gregory David Roberts (2003)

An unlikely 936 pages in paperback

Twitter Description - Fact meets fiction. Aussie armed robber gets sent to the Big House, escapes and goes on unlikely journey to India.

Poor Fellow My Country

Xavier Herbert (1975)

1,463 pages Down Under in paperback

Twitter Description - It's Australia before World War II. Almost everything that makes Australia Australia goes under the microscope.

Make your next read a big one".

ODD BOOK TITLE

The Romance of the Civil Service. Samuel McKechnie. Samson Low. 1930.

Libraries Australia,Thanks to Debbie Campbell, report copies here.

Strange ly enough no copies in Canberra. This was relevant in a week that saw Andrew Podger launch his ANU E-Press book (free online here) "The Role of Departmental Secretaries", in which Podger outlines both the romance and the frustrations of the Departmental Secretary.