Tony Judt, the author of Postwar, a monumental history of Europe after World War II, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 62.
Penguin fanatic? Then cover your walls with this stacked paperback wallpaper.
Graceland removed from Florida reading list.
Drink while you read! The New York Times blogs a list of literary drinking games. Cheers!
Google counts all the books in the world. All 129,864,880 of them.
Camden, N.J., prepares to close all its libraries.
A British newspaper has collected famous last words of writers.
The Los Angeles Times wins some kind of award for yesterday’s headline: “A Squid Attacks This Week’s L.A. Times Bestseller List.” They’re talking, of course, about China Miéville’s Kraken.
And another author has waded into the chick-lit fray.
Ever wondered what your favorite author’s home looked like? Well now it’s just a click away with the website Writers’ Houses. Created earlier this year by A. N. Devers, the website is an effort to collect information about writers’ houses (hence the name) so you can visit the places where the stories were born. And while information on many of these homes is only a Google search away, Devers explains on the site that Writers’ Houses intends to keep all that info in one convenient place. You can search homes by author, city, state, or country. So whether its F. Scott Fitzgerald who tickles your fancy or Robert Frost (or both!), you can use the site to plan your next author-inspired getaway.
Think of it this way: The website is like a much more sophisticated version of MTV’s Cribs (or the later CMT version) where cameras venture into the homes of stars, giving us a tour of the 10-car garages, ostentatious media rooms, huge bathrooms, and other outrageously expensive home decor in the chosen abode. And while it’s always a bit over the top, there are times when I wish I had a oversized closet just to hold my designer shoes. But I digress. Instead of showing off what us mere mortals could never afford, Writers’ Houses shows how we can escape to the places that gave life to the stories we love. All together now: awww.
What author’s home would you most want to visit? My pick (Charles Dickens) is not on the list yet.
What makes a book a good beach read? Should it be short or long? Fiction or nonfiction? Frivolous or intellectual? Common logic seems to suggest that the best kind of book to read during your summer vacation is one with as much complexity as a bucket of sand–you know, chick-lit, celebrity memoirs, James Patterson novels. Why think when you can tan? These sorts of books have never really worked for me, though. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the turn-off-your-brain appeal of such titles, but I think I’m just a different breed of vacationer. When I’m sitting on the beach, looking out at the ocean, I don’t feel dumb and lazy—I feel profound!
Thoughtful, meandering memoirs like Donald Miller’s religious Blue Like Jazz appeal more to me when I’m beach-bound. The breeze along the shore, the sand in my toes, and the sound of constantly crashing waves somehow heighten my senses and enhance the reading experience. I feel more. I absorb more. Maybe it’s because I’m finally not distracted by the tempting black hole that is YouTube, but books just seem better to me when I’m on vacation–so why waste my time with inane trivialities? This year, I’m hoping to tear through Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card’s philosophical follow-up to his sci-fi classic Ender’s Game.
Of course, I’m not completely against all popular books—you are reading this on EW.com, after all! This year’s trip to the beach could be the perfect time to finally join the masses and read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. What do you think Shelf Lifers? What books do you like to read at the beach? Got any recommendations for me?
The Kama Sutra, that ancient sexual almanac, is being published as an audiobook. Hopefully, it won’t be read by Gilbert Gottfried.
Sean Penn is in negotiations to play Max Perkins, the famously oddball editor who worked with Fitzgerald and Hemingway.
NPR listeners love thrills, and apparently not just the thrill of finding a bug in their Kashi. Fans of public radio cast their ballots for the top 100 thrillers of all time.
Earlier this Summer, I picked up a book called The Affinity Bridge by George Mann that was lying around the EW offices. It had a nice cover, and it said something about “steampunk,” “automatons,” and a “glowing police officer” on the back. I wasn’t quite sure what any of those terms meant, but they sounded pretty cool, and I liked the idea of reading a Sherlock Holmes-y mystery tinged with sci-fi elements. To my delight, The Affinity Bridge ended up being a completely fun summer read. Was it the most well-written piece of literature? No. But was it exciting and creative? Absolutely! Mann brought industrial London to life with mysteries, fight scenes, zombies, robots, criminals, red herrings, and some major flirtation between the two protagonists. It was sort of like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie in book form.
Imagine my excitement, then, when I went to check if a sequel had been released yet, only to find that the latest Newbury and Hobbes Investigation, The Osiris Ritual comes out today. Even better, it looks to me just as wonderfully over-the-top as it its predecessor. The cover features a sarcophagus (which means there will certainly be walking mummies involved), and the product description includes the phrase: “his villainous predecessor, who is hell-bent on achieving immortality.” Um, yes please! I can’t wait to head to the book store this afternoon and pick up the latest edition of this goofy series, in which I hope to see even more dastardly villains, fast-paced fights, and blossoming romance between Maurice and Veronica. But what about you, Shelf Life readers? Do you like George Mann? Are you looking forward to reading The Osiris Ritual?
Come, let’s away to prison. An antiques dealer caught with a 387-year-old stolen Shakespeare folio was sentenced to eight years in jail.
Neil Gaiman blogs about a Russian magazine that superfluously photoshopped his hair.
Twilight is significantly affecting how Americans name their babies, with a marked increase in Cullens and Bellas. All I can say is thank goodness this didn’t happen with Dr. Seuss, or we’d all be named things like Phooswacker and Bortle.
Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, has announced plans to publish a memoir from Charlie’s Angel Kate Jackson.
Ever since investigative reporter Joe McGinniss rented the house next door, the Palins have avoided their front lawn.
Has sex disappeared from the British novel?! Onetime British poet laureate Andrew Motion thinks so. He told the Guardian, “It’s as if [writers] were paranoid about being nominated for the Bad Sex Award,” referring to one of the country’s more colorful literary prizes. The Guardian‘s piece comes with a list of “Literary Lust” milestones.
The man given access to the manuscripts of J.G. Ballard—author of Crash—reports on what he’s found thus far.
