Jan
9
2012
In Somerset Maugham’s essay THE ART OF FICTION, he writes that it is perfectly fine to skip sentences while reading because “a sensible person does not read a novel as a task. He reads it as a diversion.” Robert McCrum explores this idea further in his essay in The Guardian. Have you ever skimmed a book? Do you find it enhances the enjoyment of reading?
Jan
6
2012
Karen Russell’s debut novel, Swamplandia!, is the newest hot literary book that HBO wants to adapt as a TV series. The book centers on a Florida family who runs an alligator wrestling tourist attraction and was voted as one of the best books of 2011. Ava is 12 years old and due to a family tragedy becomes the main attraction at her family’s carnival show. She is also searching for her lost sister while wrestling the demons of her family’s history.
How Scott Rudin is going to turn this into a comedy is puzzling, especially with the dark subplots (ghost of a Depression-era teen). Hopefully Rudin will stay true to Russell’s beautiful eye for magical realism.
This on the heels of news of adaptations of The Corrections, A Visit from the Goon Squad and The Art of Fielding, HBO will (hopefully) add a very literary pedigree to their TV lineup.
Jan
3
2012
According to the New York Observer, James Franco is publishing a novel through book selling powerhouse Amazon. The book is called Actors Anonymous and was acquired by Amazon’s fiction editor Ed Park from Mr. Franco’s agent, Richard Abate.
The novel is said to be a fictionalized version of Mr. Franco’s experiences as an actor (and grad student?). Mr. Franco’s first book, a collection of short stories called Palo Alto, was published by Scribner.
Jan
2
2012
SheKnows has selected SARAH’S KEY by Tatiana de Rosnay as their January 2012 book club pick.
About SARAH’S KEY:
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family’s apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.
Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France’s past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl’s ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d’Hiv’, to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah’s past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.
Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.
Dec
29
2011
One of the best ways to understand and appreciate a book’s importance and impact is to hear from someone who found solace in the words. I was perusing Nina Sankovitch’s exceptional blog, Read All Day, and she writes eloquently about the comfort found in books. She was writing about Joan Didion’s BLUE NIGHTS specifically but also about all books, and art, in general.
Most of us make it through to the other side of grief. We will never be returned to who we were before — we are changed, perhaps even maimed — and yet we are still here, whether we want to be or not.
The morning we wake up and notice once again the spreading pink sky of sunrise or look forward to the deepening blue at dusk is proof of our resilience. Art helps us to understand what life offers, both in the fullness of our present sorrow and in the promise of a morning after.
I selected BLUE NIGHTS as one of my favorite non-fiction books of 2011 on NPR’s The Emily Rooney Show because I truly believe that no one writes narrative non-fiction as beautifully as Ms. Didion. Stunningly gorgeous and achingly honest.
Summary: From one of our most powerful writers, a work of stunning frankness about losing a daughter. Richly textured with bits of her own childhood and married life with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and daughter, Quintana Roo, this new book by Joan Didion examines her thoughts, fears, and doubts regarding having children, illness, and growing old.
Blue Nights opens on July 26, 2010, as Didion thinks back to Quintana’s wedding in New York seven years before. Today would be her wedding anniversary. This fact triggers vivid snapshots of Quintana’s childhood—in Malibu, in Brentwood, at school in Holmby Hills. Reflecting on her daughter but also on her role as a parent, Didion asks the candid questions any parent might about how she feels she failed either because cues were not taken or perhaps displaced. “How could I have missed what was clearly there to be seen?” Finally, perhaps we all remain unknown to each other. Seamlessly woven in are incidents Didion sees as underscoring her own age, something she finds hard to acknowledge, much less accept.
Blue Nights—the long, light evening hours that signal the summer solstice, “the opposite of the dying of the brightness, but also its warning”—like The Year of Magical Thinking before it, is an iconic book of incisive and electric honesty, haunting and profoundly moving.
Dec
28
2011
Another Piece of My Heart by Jane Green is being published in the UK under a different title with a different cover. What are your thoughts?
From the New York Times bestselling author of JEMIMA J, and THE BEACH HOUSE, comes Jane Green’s most emotional and powerful novel yet: a story that explores the complications of a woman marrying into a ready-made family, and the true meaning of motherhood.
Andi has spent much of her adult life looking for the perfect man, and at thirty-seven, she’s finally found him. Ethan–divorced with two daughters, Emily and Sophia–is a devoted father and even better husband. Always hoping one day she would be a mother, Andi embraces the girls like they were her own. But in Emily’s eyes, Andi is an obstacle to her father’s love, and Emily will do whatever it takes to break her down. When the dynamics between the two escalate, they threaten everything Andi believes about love, family, and motherhood—leaving both women standing at a crossroad in their lives…and in their hearts.
ANOTHER PIECE OF MY HEART is a novel that illuminates the nuances and truths about relationships and is Jane Green at her absolute best.
Coming from St. Martin’s Press, March 13, 2012
Dec
27
2011
“If I read our story backwards,
it’s about how I un-broke
your heart, and then we were
happy until one day, you
forgot about me forever.”
| — | The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories by HitRecord & Joseph Gordon-Levitt |
Dec
20
2011
The Lucky One is the latest Nicholas Sparks novel to be turned into a film. It stars Zac Efron and is scheduled for release April 20, 2012. I’m sure Nicholas Sparks fans will be rushing to the theaters to check this one out.
Dec
12
2011
The Huffington Post announced today that they are launching a book club. They are hoping to “create a unique intersection between the digital and physical world,” with their use of Twitter, Facebook and Flickr, allowing readers to interact and discuss the selections. The first official selection for the book club is a title that is already being hailed as one of the best books of 2011, THE TIGER’S WIFE by Tea Obreht. Obreht was one of New Yorker’s 20 under 40 and was was a 2011 National Book Award Finalist.
The Huffington Post Book Club will feature ten books in 2012, starting with The Tiger’s Wife. The club will officially begin on January 3rd and on February 7th they will host a free event at St. Mark’s Bookshop featuring Tea Obreht.
Dec
6
2011
We are pulling together our BEST BOOKS OF 2011 List and we would love your suggestions. There have been many titles tossed around, vying for the top spot. What are your picks for Best of 2011?
Here are some titles that we are seriously considering.
