With Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching, the more bookish among you may be thinking about getting literary gifts for your loved ones. A swell idea, as far as we’re concerned, but be warned — when given as gifts, books can take on special, often unintended meanings, so choose with care. For instance, as much as we love American Psycho, we’d never gift it to someone we were interested in dating. It just kind of sends the wrong message (like, “I’m imagining your death right now”). So, to save you from any possible missteps, we’ve created a guide to what books not to give to your Valentine, whether you’ve been together for three weeks or three years, and offered our suggestions as to what you might slide across the candlelit table instead. Click through to see what we chose, and good luck.
Read More »
Yesterday, Dalkey Archive released a new edition of William Gaddis’ postmodern masterpiece, The Recognitions, the book that Jonathan Franzen called “the ur-text of postwar fiction.” The new edition reminded us of our undying love for postmodern literature — the chaotically playful, the metafictional, and the experimental alike — and inspired us to check out a few books missing from our collection, so we’ve put together an essential postmodern reading list for devotees both old and new. Click through to check out some of our favorite works of postmodern lit — and since of course this is only a starter list, and there are many important postmodern works not listed here (we don’t have unlimited reading time, you know), be sure to let us know if we’ve missed any of your favorites in the comments.
Read More »
Today marks the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens, the greatest novelist of the Victorian era — and possibly some other eras as well. Though Dickens was skilled at creating plot and much loved for his winking sense of humor, perhaps his greatest talent was creating characters, many of whom are still household names a century and a half after their creation. His biographer, John Forster, wrote that Dickens made his “characters real existences, not by describing them but by letting them describe themselves.” Indeed, his characters are extremely rich, and even the most cartoonish of them glow with a certain kind of truth, not to mention some incredible names. To honor Dickens on his 200th birthday, we’ve put together a list of what we consider to be the best of the great author’s many fantastic figures — click through to check out our choices, and do let us know if we’ve missed your favorite (because there are so many other favorites to be had) in the comments!
Read More »
If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite literary characters might be listening to while they save the world/contemplate existence/get into trouble, or hallucinated a soundtrack to go along with your favorite novels, well, us too. But wonder no more! Here, we sneak a look at the hypothetical iPods of some of literature’s most interesting characters. What would be on the personal playlists of Holden Caulfield or Elizabeth Bennett, Huck Finn or Harry Potter, Tintin or Humbert Humbert? Something revealing, we bet. Or at least something danceable. Read on for a cozy reading soundtrack, character study, or yet another way to emulate your favorite literary hero. This week: the second eldest (and most fiery) March sister, Jo.
Read More »
We’re always fascinated by the way advertising and product design has evolved over the years, so we were excited to see this roundup of cereal box evolution over at Retronaut. Like so many other design aesthetics, cereal boxes have gotten smoother, more “3-d” and more, well, ecstatic across the board — characters who used to smile contentedly now invariably have their mouths wide open in wild excitement at the sugary flakes they are about to consume. The colors have become garishly bright (though in some cases, we admit, more appealing), and everything is just so much shinier. To us, the character development is the most interesting — we love seeing the 1950′s Tony the Tiger, who has morphed from a friendly-looking, almost shy cat into a striped pseud0-bodybuilder. Click through to see a few of our favorites, and then be sure to head over to Retronaut for even more.
Read More »
It’s the day of the Superbowl, and millions of fans are waiting with great anticipation for “the greatest show on earth,” even though they’ll have to sit through at least an hour of sports to get to it. In case you haven’t heard, this year, after a series of mostly ho-hum post-Nipplegate classic rock performers, the NFL has asked the Queen of Pop to perform the halftime show, and supposedly it’s going to be a doozy. We know, we know, they say that every year. This time, Madonna has promised that viewers will be “knocked out of their seats from beginning to end,” but we’re thinking you might need a little help with that, so we present to you our patented 2012 Superbowl Halftime Show Drinking Game, for use this evening as you watch Madge knock it out of the park (or kick it under the table) — not to mention a bunch of football. Click through to find out the rules, and let us know what you think of the performance in the comments!
Read More »
Today would have been the 98th birthday of legendary author William S. Burroughs, one of the most influential writers not only in the literary realm, but in the cultural landscape at large. Extremely prolific, he wrote 18 novels (or novellas), six short story collections, and four essay collections, and has five published books of correspondence and interviews, as well as appearing in several films and collaborating with musicians. The man had a finger in just about everything, at least culture-wise, and his legacy has lived on in the minds of his still-rabid fans — not only has he been cited as an influence by just about everybody, he gets name dropped left and right, and it seems like almost every band has lifted a song title, album title, or their own name from his prose. To celebrate the birth of the great man, we’ve collected some of Burroughs’s most prominent references in pop culture for your perusal. Click through to explore the web of Burroughs’s influence, and then we suggest taking another look at Naked Lunch, possibly as a Superbowl alternative.
Read More »
Saturday Night Live returned last night with a spotty show hosted by fighting/dancing actor and ex-stripper Channing Tatum, and featuring a musical performance by Bon Iver. We didn’t expect much out of Tatum — we think it’s safe to say he gets hired for his looks, not his subtle acting or comedic brilliance — but he managed to make us laugh more than once, and approached the whole show in a good-natured, charming way. Also, his Matthew McConaughey impression is spot-on. Who knew? Click through to watch clips of the best and worst skits from last night’s SNL, and let us know if we missed (or hated on) your favorite in the comments.
Read More »
When you look at art, you see what you want to see. And some people, as Irene Gallo, the art director for Tor Books, points out, see science fiction. BoingBoing pointed us towards the Tor blog, where Gallo has collected a great series of sci-fi-themed artworks inspired by classic paintings. Whether translating modern painting to hyper-modern painting or just swapping out a traditional angel’s wings for something a little more nerdy, these works are playful studies that were probably as much fun to make as they are to look at. Click through to see some of our favorites, and then be sure to check out even more over at Tor!
Read More »
So, apparently this is the pop-up book of the future — and while we’re not exactly sure that the future needs a special kind of pop-up book, we have to admit it’s pretty awesome. Between Page and Screen, an “augmented reality pop-up book” by Amaranth Borsuk and Brad Bouse due to come out this spring in a limited run from Siglio Press, has printed symbols on every page that when held up to your webcam, spring up from the paper to become 3D poems. Poetry in three dimensions? Could get kind of interesting. Click through to watch the video, and let us know what you think in the comments.
Read More »
