Tag: What I'm Reading (1-10 of 11)

Nov 27 2011 10:33 AM ET

'My Week with Marilyn': How the book stacks up to the movie

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Marilyn Monroe was such a big star at her height that one young man’s brief encounters with her spawned not one but two memoirs, which in turn inspired a feature film that’s currently generating Oscar buzz. The two books by the late Colin Clark both document the author’s experiences at the age of 23 as the third assistant director — or really, as an errand boy — on the conflict-ridden, six-month-long shoot of The Prince and the Showgirl starring Monroe and Laurence Olivier. His first book about the shoot, The Prince, the Showgirl, and Me (1995), consists of his day-to-day, fly-on-the-wall journals of his on-set observations. The second book, My Week With Marilyn (2000), takes a deeper look at a magical nine-day period (mentioned just briefly in the first book) in the middle of that six months in which Monroe lured Clark into a semi-romantic affair. While the two books — published only five years apart — take a markedly different stance on Monroe as a person and an actress, My Week With Marilyn the movie, as the title would suggest, adheres very closely to the book of the same name, although it draws some expository details from the first book as well. Weinstein Books, the publishing arm of the studio that produced the film, has released the two books in one volume for the first time. Whether you have or haven’t seen the movie, is the book worth reading? (Minor spoilers ahead). READ FULL STORY »

Nov 7 2011 03:24 PM ET

Shelf Life Confessional: Which books have made you lose it in public?

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Image Credit: Blog

During the weekends, New York City is a hectic, overcrowded, energetic place to be. Throw in some great fall weather and additional out-of-town marathoners and you’ve got one even more hectic, overcrowded, energetic place to be. During these sort of weekends, a quiet moment in this city is about as reasonable a thing to expect as finding an affordable apartment.

So don’t ask me why I opted to read Mindy Kaling’s quirky, sweet new book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) in a busy, bustling park and assumed my giggle fits would go unnoticed. (They didn’t.) I knew I was in trouble when even the introduction made me laugh heartily in a public setting and I only continued to do so through her funny, relatable brand of storytelling. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 3 2011 05:30 PM ET

Hot new calendar features male librarians for every month of the year

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The male librarian is not as rare a specimen as you might think. In fact, there are enough of them to fill out every month of the year. With the 2012 Men of the Stacks, which is sort of the book world’s answer to sexy firemen calendars, we get photos of a diverse group of men — who also happen to be librarians — in their natural habitats, which isn’t always the library! My favorites are Mr. January (in a pose that’s very, very mildly NSFW), Mr. September, and Mr. December, who’s pictured on the right. Who’s your favorite sexy shusher?

Sep 26 2011 06:43 PM ET

'Moneyball': Love the movie? Read the book by Michael Lewis

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Even if you already saw and loved Moneyball this weekend, it’s still worth your time to read the book by author and financial journalist Michael Lewis. The movie does a great job constructing a narrative from what appears, on first glance, to be a somewhat un-cinematic story, but the source material drives home some of the thematic points in ways that the movie can’t. Reading the book after the movie doesn’t feel like a retread, but rather a closer look at Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) and his Oakland A’s.

People who, like myself, hate baseball will be surprised by how much there is to enjoy in this book (see also: The Art of Fielding). Moneyball isn’t just about baseball; it’s about baseball statistics. On the surface, there’s no worse hell imaginable than having to stare at a page of player facts and figures (I just had to remind myself via Google what “RBI” stands for), but it’s a testament to Lewis’ reporting and writing that the chapter I found most riveting, even inspiring, was about Bill James, the Baseball Abstract author and statistician who inspired Beane’s seemingly counter-intuitive player recruiting philosophy. 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

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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 »

Aug 31 2011 01:59 PM ET

Justin Torres Q&A: Author of 'We the Animals' speaks to Shelf Life

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At a slim 128 pages, We the Animals by 31-year-old first-time novelist Justin Torres makes an unforgettable impression. It’s a story about a difficult childhood and adolescence, but it’s not without flashes of joy. The narrator, who goes unnamed, is the youngest of three boys. He tells of growing up with a fragile white mother and an unpredictable Puerto Rican father. Writing in visceral yet elegant prose, Torres proves to be an author to watch – - he depicts the violence and messiness of young boyhood with incredible authenticity and takes the novel to unexpected, startling places. Having recently been published in The New Yorker, Torres took a moment before embarking on a national book tour to talk to me about We the Animals and what’s coming next. [Spoiler alert]

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So I know your novel is partially autobiographical, which is something a lot of fiction writers seem to look down upon because it’s seen as being less imaginative, perhaps — what’s uniquely creative about fictionalizing real life? READ FULL STORY »

May 16 2011 09:00 AM ET

Royal wedding fever continues with 'William & Catherine: Their Story'

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It’s been two weeks since the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine, and it looks like the fascination isn’t going anywhere. In  William & Catherine: Their Story (crashed into print and officially out May 17), Andrew Morton — author of the groundbreaking 1992 biography Diana: Her True Story, presents a photo-laden, gossip-studded history of the newlyweds that will satisfy royal fans hungry for more.  Oversized, with  printed endpapers, it has the feel of an expensive scrapbook.

The chapters focus mostly on William — his early years, adolescence and student life, including intimate details about life at the Palace, his parents’ messy separation and William’s role as Diana’s confidante during her struggle to find independence. The pictures follow his journey from shy youngster — look for an adorable picture of Wills and Harry playing on a vinatge fire engine — to the charming and handsome lad that the teen mags went gaga for.

There’s just one chapter devoted solely to Kate Catherine, but in it, Morton shares private details about her life, from a copy of her birth certificate to a story about how she and a boarding-school roommate mooned boys across the hall. (Let’s hope the Queen didn’t hear about that one.) There’s also a small section, which surely could’ve been more extensive considering the interest, on Catherine’s fashion.

The latter half of the book focuses on William and Catherine’s life together — their initial meeting, the ups and down of their relationships, the engagement proposal in Kenya, and finally, of course, the big day. Unlike the rest of the book, we don’t get too many extra details. Instead, it serves as a recap: Wills whispered, “You’re so beautiful,” once his bride made her way to the altar; they drove away in an Aston Martin; Prince Harry organized the raucous after-party; and so on. And we’ve seen the pictures before, too, perhaps too much, on the weekend of April 29. But seeing those images (the dress! the hats! Pippa!) in this compendium makes the somewhat saturated media hoopla feel special again.

Would you pick up a book on William and Catherine now? Are you still interested in all things royal?

Photo: St. Martins Press

Apr 4 2011 04:32 PM ET

The 'Game of Thrones' Book Club, week 1: First impressions, and when I got hooked

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I’m going to level with you, Shelf Lifers: I wasn’t immediately sucked into A Game of Thrones. I found the prologue perplexing, the shifting perspectives  difficult to follow, and — though I know this is a tiny quibble — the names a tiny bit irritating. (Why, George R.R. Martin, do you give your characters monikers that are thisclose to being regular, like “Eddard” and “Tommen”and “Joffrey”? Why not just call them “Edward” and “Thomas” and “Jeffrey,” especially since other characters are named things like “Robert” and “Jon”? Arrrg.)

I know that many people admire Martin’s prose for the way it zips along, managing to keep a huge, thick book relatively fast-paced. But for me, at the beginning, things were moving too fast. While I respected the fact that Martin’s sophisticated storytelling wasn’t trying to hold anybody’s hand, I would have appreciated a little more exposition. Alas, I found out too late that there’s an extremely helpful appendix in the back of the book that lists all the characters and their relationships to one another. If only I had read the comments you left on my first post more carefully!

Despite my initial ambivalence, I plodded onward, assuming (and hoping) that things would get better. And boy, am I glad I did. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 28 2011 04:42 PM ET

The 'Game of Thrones' Book Club: Join us!

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By all accounts, the books in George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series are sweeping, indelible works of fantasy on par with The Lord of the Rings or The Once and Future King. They also, however, range in length from 674 to 1216 pages — which is the main reason I’ve never sunk my teeth into them. Until now. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 31 2010 12:14 PM ET

How do you judge a book without a cover?

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You’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, and with e-books, that’s not a problem. There are no covers!

In today’s New York Times, there’s an interesting article about how, with the rise of Kindles, Nooks and — in a few days –iPads, it will be increasingly difficult to find out what people around you are reading. The days may soon disappear where you can lean over in an airplane, on the subway, or on the sidelines of your kid’s soccer practice, take a look at the book the guy or gal next to you is reading, and then quietly judge them.

For some, that’s a good thing. Many consumers of romance novels don’t appreciate getting disapproving looks because their book happens to have a shirtless man and scantily clad woman embracing on the front. Some don’t want to read the latest best-seller or buzzworthy work just to fit in. For others, though, examining the reading materials of strangers is part of the fabric of their day. They can see if multiple people are reading the same book, what authors have new releases out, and what just looks interesting because of its neon-hued or graphically clever cover.

A lot of magnificent works are hidden behind boring covers (go to Barnes and Noble’s website, type in “classics,” and be prepared to fall asleep while looking at the thumbnails of the results), so perhaps with e-readers, people will focus more on descriptions of books, rather than covers. My favorite covers are the bright, intricately designed ones from books I read as a child (Nancy Drew’s The Mystery of the Fire Dragon comes to mind), but I would still only actually purchase them if I liked the summary. Books are expensive, and just because the cover’s glitzy, I won’t be buying it if it’s going to cost me $20 and I’m not sold on the plot.

So while I am generally a pretty nosy person, I’m OK with the fact that I won’t be able to tell what you’re reading on your Nook. I’m just glad you’re reading something. Besides, when I’m on the subway, the last thing I care about is what someone’s reading. I’m more interested in when I’m going to get a seat and how soon I can use my hand sanitizer after holding onto the fingerprint smeared pole.

What do you think? Will you start asking strangers what’s on their e-reader? Come on, admit it, do you judge people based on the books they read?

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