Characters are at the heart of every story, driving the plot and engaging readers. In this study, we explore the understanding of characters in full-length books, which contain complex narratives and numerous interacting characters. We define two tasks: character description, which generates a brief factual profile, and character analysis, which offers an in-depth interpretation, including character development, personality, and social context. We introduce the BookWorm dataset, pairing books from the Gutenberg Project with human-written descriptions and analyses. Using this dataset, we evaluate state-of-the-art long-context models in zero-shot and fine-tuning settings, utilizing both retrieval-based and hierarchical processing for book-length inputs. Our findings show that retrieval-based approaches outperform hierarchical ones in both tasks. Additionally, fine-tuned models using coreference-based retrieval produce the most factual descriptions, as measured by fact- and entailment-based metrics. We hope our dataset, experiments, and analysis will inspire further research in character-based narrative understanding.

A whopping 350 years after it sank off the coast of Norfolk, authorities have revealed on Friday that HMS Gloucester has finally been found. The'outstanding' ship, which sank on May 6, 1682 after hitting the Norfolk sandbanks in the southern North Sea, was uncovered 28 miles off the coast of Great Yarmouth half-buried on the seabed. But HMS Gloucester is just one of thousands of shipwrecks that litter the British coast, the majority of which haven't been seen by the human eye for centuries. It's thought nearly 40,000 wrecks could be waiting to be found off the British coast, according to Historic England, providing snapshots of the UK's rich maritime heritage. But at least 90 are known to exist and experts have pinpointed their location, although many likely won't ever be brought to land and could disintegrate to nothing in the decades to come.

"Many a true word hath been spoken in jest." "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on." "There was a star danced, and under that was I born." Who can write like Shakespeare? Or even spell like Shakespeare?

"Many a true word hath been spoken in jest." "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on." "There was a star danced, and under that was I born." Who can write like Shakespeare? Or even just spell like Shakespeare?

That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There were things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth." I haven't even gotten my reading light adjusted, and already I am stuck in the conundrum that is present on every page of David Lodge's generous novel. More importantly, whom should I believe? Mark Twain" disguised as Huck?

A nine-year-old boy is facing juvenile charges after an Amazon Echo device recorded his voice during a break-in. An unnamed child is facing charges of breaking and entering and larceny after his neighbor told police her iPhone, phone charger and cash were stolen from her apartment on Tuesday. Authorities in Gloucester, Massachusetts, were able to identify the boy through a voice recording captured by Amazon's Alexa which was sent to the woman's phone. A boy, nine, is facing charges after a break-in on Tuesday in Gloucester, Massachusetts. A neighbor was able to identify him through a voice recording by Amazon's Alexa (file photo) Police said the boy confessed to entering the woman's home on Arthur Street three separate times and taking the stolen items.