The World on a Bookshelf - for Your Literary Wanderlust

I wonder how many more book prizes there are. If you know others, please comment.  Some links go to Wikipedia until I find the website of the prize.  Pulitzer Prize : Administered by Columbia University, this is one of the most prestigious American awards, with categories for fiction, poetry, drama, and history. It's often considered the highest honor for American authors. National Book Award : Given by the National Book Foundation, this prize recognizes the best American literature in five categories: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people's literature. It's often referred to as a "writers' award given by other writers." National Book Critics Circle Award : This prize honors the finest books in six categories: fiction, non-fiction, biography/autobiography, poetry, criticism, and debut fiction. The winners are chosen by a board of professional critics and editors. PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction : This is the largest peer-juried p...

In anticipation of the 2025 shortlist publication in September and the winner's announcement in October, I use the time and provide the early years' data in batches. Data: Wikipedia  and  Deutscher Buchpreis Archive Abstracts: Deutscher Buchpreis Archive  (in German only) see also: Deutscher Buchpreis 2005 to 2025, Nomination Demographics ISBN from 2017 available to me, if I ever find time, I search for the other books (don't rely on that) 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 - shortlist data in September, Winner in October

I have an e-book subscription on my phone, as this subscription is not available on a Kindle. It is available on another e-reader, but I would have to buy that device in Germany, and several reviews of it are not encouraging. Since 2016, all my devices have been "Made by Google". In 2020, I "upgraded" to a Pixel 4a, and in 2024 to a Pixel 8a, but I have to admit that I like the Nexus 5 best. This is probably because it is thinner than all the other devices when not using a cover. It simply fits well into my hand and it doesn't bother me that the display size is smaller.

 There are a few sites on the internet that claim to showcase the "best" Japanese books. That is, of course, utter nonsense, as with so many similar claims. Some of the lists are even identical, apparently made by Mr.Copy & Ms.Paste. The main purpose seems to be to make money by encouraging people to follow the links and buy from Amazon — you don't find such money links here. So, what do we have here? A list of the best Japanese books?  No, we have here a simple list of Japanese books, famous and not so famous. Read them and judge by yourself. Enjoy. You can ask any AI (Gemini, ChatGPT, etc) to introduce a book to you. Example . I will try to update if I find more interesting books. I am not so familiar yet with Japanese books. I got some additional recommendations: A Personal Matter 人生の親戚 1964 Kenzaburō Ōe The Day He Himself Shall Wipe My Tears Away みずから我が涙をぬぐいたまう日 1972 Kenzaburō Ōe Death by Water 水死 2009 Kenzaburō Ōe The Dancing Girl 舞姫 1890 ...

I have an old Kindle Paperwhite (generation 1) from 2012. Last year, I bought a sleep cover for it on AliExpress. I could not find a cover for such an old device anywhere else. I put the Paperwhite in the cover and it worked well for a while, until the display suddenly became unresponsive. It wasn't broken, but it didn't respond to touch. I guessed that the cover was somehow responsible. I asked many people and checked many websites for an explanation, but to no avail. Most of the so-called 'helpful' comments on forums were 'buy a new one'. These people clearly knew nothing, but apparently felt the need to comment on it anyway. I put it aside, and many months later, while cleaning my disk and shelves, I stumbled upon it again. I thought, 'Well, let's check again.' This time, I found a page that said, 'Magnets can freeze a touch display'. I took it out of the cover and started charging it. A few minutes later, the Paperwhite woke up and the di...

A very productive author First column: Story # Second column: when I first saw it on Amazon Third column: print length (according to Amazon) Update:  43: July 29, 40 pages 44: August 12, 32 pages 45: August 12, 22 pages 46: August 26, 94 pages 47: September 2, 37 pages 48: September 2, 37 pages Supernatural speed for an author

One of the travelogues which I want to read is Reinhold von Werner: Die preussische Expedition nach China, Japan und Siam in den Jahren 1860, 1861 und 1862 , 2. Aufl. F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1873 It exists as pdf which is difficult to read on small devices. You find text/epub files of this travelogue on archive.org and other sites but they consist of 95% errors and bad OCR. The problem is the old font used in the 19th century. Fortunately, there is help available (Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum & Google). The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Referat Digitale Bibliothek/Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum (DB/MDZ) offers high-quality scans as jpg files. Example These files can be loaded one by one into https://images.google.com. You get automatically an OCR. This OCR is now of high-quality. You just need to copy and paste it into a text file. Example: text after OCR "Um 5. März 1860 verließen wir den Hafen von Hamburg und sagten damit dem deutschen Vaterlande Lebewohl, und zwar f...