Archive: September 2011 (21-30 of 54)

Sep 21 2011 02:35 PM ET

Amazon rolls out Kindle library lending service

by
Categories: Apple Tablet, E-Readers
kindle

Want to write in the margins of your library books? No problem, now that you can check out books on a Kindle app. Amazon announced that starting today, more than 11,000 libraries will be able to loan out Kindle books to readers. The Kindle library books will include all the e-reader’s signature features, including Whispersync, which automatically syncs up any digital notes, bookmarks, or highlights you might make — and even cooler, all of your notes will be available the next time you check out that particular title.

You don’t need to have an actual Kindle device, although you do need an amazon.com account. Library books will be available READ FULL STORY »

Sep 21 2011 01:25 PM ET

Batman #1 and other new DC Comics reviews

by
Categories: Batman, Comic Books, Review

Another week, another batch of issue #1s from DC. I’m skipping the ones I think are duds (Supergirl? Kinda blahh. Captain Atom? Irritating) and zooming in on the books that were striking for various reasons.

Batman #1 Writer Scott Snyder (American Vampire) really knows how to launch a new chapter in Batman‘s history. He pulls from the oldest aspects of the Batman myth, combines it with sinister-comic elements from the series’ best period (that would be the same Dick Sprang-drawn, ’50s era that Grant Morrison also enjoys), and gives the whole thing terrific forward-spin by setting up an honest-to-gosh mystery for Batman to solve. Throughout, the art by Greg Capullo leads with jutting jaws and faces creased with rage, exertion, fear, and grim determination. Batman’s mask covers the very tip of his beaky nose — a nice, distinctive touch. Snyder’s script, much of it about the depressed, disspirited city — talk about “investing in Gotham’s future,” its “fears, frustrations… demons” — works as a metaphor for the economy and general mood of America. Really, the only thing I didn’t care for here is the new, stiff, metallic-looking Batman cover logo. A-

Catwoman #1 Comic books come under fire so regularly for their objectification of women that this Catwoman amounts to a nose-thumbing manifesto: It’s all about the gradual yet partial undressing of Selina Kyle, culminating in a Cat-on-Batman sex scene. Literally. That’s Judd Winick’s story. What hell: go for it; Selina certainly seems to be enjoying herself. The art by Guillem March backs up everything Winick’s drives toward throughout. A low-down gas. B READ FULL STORY »

Sep 21 2011 11:42 AM ET

A book commits suicide every time you watch 'Jersey Shore': Do you read high-brow, watch low?

by
Categories: Funny Business, Is It Just Me?, Shelf Life Confessional

What you need is a bookend! Random House, Inc. posted this funny picture and axiom on its Facebook page. If you look closely, you can see what appears to be To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and an unidentified book plunging to their deaths because they refuse to exist in a world in which Jersey Shore is being watched. The photo is obviously a joke, but I refuse to believe you can’t read smart books while enjoying trash reality TV. In fact, many of the smartest people I know do both — something about being capable of holding two opposing ideas in mind at the same time.

I read To The Lighthouse this year, and while I can’t say I found it wildly entertaining, I stuck with it and felt like a better person for having finished it. Then I binged on the first season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills READ FULL STORY »

Sep 21 2011 09:45 AM ET

On the Books Sept. 21: News on Alice Walker, Neil Young, Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, and more

by
Categories: On the Books
Alice-Walker

Image Credit: Monica Morgan/WireImage.com

++ The MacArthur Foundation has doled out its 22 “Genius” grants.

++ Alice Walker’s The Color Purple is finally getting an ebook release. Walker supports the new format, saying that books are getting “heavier and heavier.”

++ Flavorwire has gathered reimagined covers of 20 classic books. These are really, really cool.

++ Gabriel García Marquez’s 1996 work News of a Kidnapping has sold out in Iran stores after opposition leader Mir Houssein Mousavi’s endorsement. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 20 2011 04:58 PM ET

Borders employees list grievances: 'Ode to a bookstore death'

by
Categories: Books, Bookstores, Controversy, In Memoriam, Oprah Winfrey, Quiet Desperation, You're kidding me!

Yet another artifact from the slow, painful death of Borders has emerged. A fascinating look inside a (justifiably) angry bookseller’s mind, this manifesto of sorts, “Things We Never Told You: Ode to a bookstore death” informs us of what those helpful Borders folks had to put up with. (I have to admit — seeing the list, I realize I’ve been a bad customer in the past.) Hopefully, we’ll learn from our mistakes and treat the Barnes & Noble people better. The statements from the list are re-printed below — which ones do you agree with? READ FULL STORY »

Sep 20 2011 03:27 PM ET

'Being Kendra': I read it so you don't have to!

by
Categories: Celebrity, I Read It So You Don't Have To!, Memoirs
Being-Kendra

Quick poll: Does Ex-Playboy Playmate Kendra Wilkinson writing, “I would always ask some of my black friends how they got their butts and thighs,” make you A). Uncomfortable  B). Bored or  C). Amused?

I’m going with a combination of A and B, but for those that say, “Kendra’s just being Kendra,” there is more where that inner monologue came from in Wilkinson’s new book, Being Kendra: Cribs, Cocktails & Getting My Sexy Back, out today.

Being Kendra is the follow up to the New York Times best-seller Sliding Into Home, in which Wilkinson discussed the path that led her to the Playboy mansion and beyond.

In the follow up, Wilkinson talks about life post-baby. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 19 2011 04:32 PM ET

Jennifer Close, J. Courtney Sullivan, Sloane Crosley: Chick authors who avoid the 'chick-lit' stigma

by
Categories: Controversy, Fiction, Memoirs, What I'm Reading
Jennifer-Close-Dresses

Image Credit: Bill O’Leary/Getty Images

For some smart, young female novelists, having their books branded “chick lit” is the worst imaginable insult. On Friday, author Polly Courtney wrote about her decision to drop her publisher, HarperCollins, after it tried to “shoe-horn” her latest non-chick-lit novel into a “frilly, chick-lit” package. When the pastel-hued cover doesn’t reflect the work inside, she writes, everyone is disappointed: “the author, for seeing his or her work portrayed as such; the readers, for finding there is too much substance in the plot; and the passers-by, who might actually have enjoyed the contents but dismissed the book on the grounds of its frivolous cover.” No surprise, Courtney’s complaints drew ire from those who have more nuanced views on chick-lit, and this debate will undoubtedly pop up again and again.

But isn’t the term “chick-lit” itself a bit passé, very pre-2006? READ FULL STORY »

Sep 16 2011 02:01 PM ET

'Hello, Cupcake' authors Karen Tack and Alan Richardson preview treats from upcoming book

by
Categories: Cookbooks, Cover Peek, Food Books
Cupcakes-Cookies-Pie-Oh-My

Even though their forthcoming book Cupcakes, Cookies, & Pie, Oh, My! extends their special creative style to all types of desserts, Karen Tack and Alan Richardson still refer to their practice as the catch-all “cupcaking.”

“We just decided to take the whole decorative approach and put it on everything,” Richardson said during a hands-on demo in New York City on Thursday.

The new book — third in the 20-year-strong duo’s sweet-tooth series that includes the bestselling Hello, Cupcake and What’s New, Cupcake? — won’t hit shelves until January, but many of the new creations were on display Thursday. Richardson seemed particularly excited about READ FULL STORY »

Sep 16 2011 12:02 PM ET

On the Books Sept. 16: Harlan Ellison sues to stop 'In Time' starring Justin Timberlake, scratch-and-sniff NYC guide forthcoming

by
Categories: On the Books, You're kidding me!
In-Time

++ Science fiction author Harlan Ellison is suing to halt the release of next month’s In Time, a dystopian thriller starring Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, and Olivia Wilde (playing Timberlake’s mother). Ellison, who previously lodged a claim against James Cameron’s The Terminator, is claiming that the upcoming film lifts elements from his 1965 story “Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman.” The Atlantic notes that this copyright infringement suit will be hard to win, tracing the roots of the plot concept in question — of people being given an allotted amount of time to live — back to 8 B.C. But if In Time has a lengthy, breathless scene featuring jellybeans raining from the sky, Ellison totally has a case.

++ Digital self-publishing phenoms have been making headlines lately, but hotel concierge Amber C. Johnson is a different kind of scrappy author. Her book, New York, Phew York, is a scratch-and-sniff guide to New York featuring 20 smells, including READ FULL STORY »

Sep 16 2011 12:00 PM ET

Veronica Roth's 'Insurgent' cover revealed -- EXCLUSIVE

by
Categories: Books Into Movies, Divergent, Veronica Roth, YA
Insurgent

Veronica Roth made her YA debut earlier this year with Divergent. And even though the sequel won’t hit shelves until May 2012, EW has the exclusive cover reveal for Insurgent today. But there’s even more! We also got Roth to answer a few questions about the trilogy. Don’t, however, expect her to give away too much — Roth remains tight-lipped about what’s coming up in book 2. Read on to find out how Roth came up with her trilogy, the success of the series, and what book 3 will not be called.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Where did you come up with the idea for Divergent and the subsequent trilogy?
VERONICA ROTH: I came up with the idea when I was driving to Minnesota, where I spent my first year of college. I was just listening to a song, and an image of someone jumping off a building, but not for a self-destructive reason, popped into my head. When I thought about why a person might do that, I came up with the first faction — Dauntless — and also the story of a person within that faction. READ FULL STORY »

Advertisement

TV Recaps

Powered by WordPress.com VIP