Of Google, Memoirs, Lessing and the Nobel

Google/Yahoo Deal: Antitrust or Not?
Friday's New York Times had a story that opened this way:

Will Google and Yahoo come together on a search advertising partnership? The two companies have been discussing an agreement under which Google would deliver some ads alongside Yahoo’s search results. Since Google on average earns much more than Yahoo for every search, the deal, at least in theory, would boost Yahoo’s revenue. The two companies conducted a two-week experiment to make sure that was indeed true and both companies have called the test a success.

Read the entire story here.

Should Memoirs Tell the Truth?
Also on Friday, the Christian Science Monitor had a story about the recent rash of "fake" memoirs. Here's an excerpt:

"Fiction has lost its allure because of this primitive belief that memoir is more worthy, more authentic," says Todd Gitlin, a professor of sociology and journalism at Columbia University, and author of the memoir "The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage." At the same time, he says, "The bubble of a wholly reliable reminiscence has burst."

That paradox is central to the future of the memoir, say authors, booksellers, and publishers. Though the form has undoubtedly lost some of its luster, memoir sales will likely continue to rise over the next few years, spurred by what Mr. Gitlin calls a search for "authenticity." Since 1999, sales in the biography-and-memoir category have grown from $170 million to $270 million, according to the annual Bowker Industry Report.

Read the article here.

Doris Lessing Calls the Nobel "A Bloody Disaster"
Back on October 14, I posted the video clip here of Doris Lessing reacting to the news that she'd won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

On Sunday, the BBC printed a report of a radio interview she'd given in which she describes the Nobel win as "a bloody disaster."

Read the story here.

And, among the video clips on YouTube, I found a brief excerpt of an interview Lessing did on writing. I've posted it below: