This week saw the release of Leigh Stein’s debut novel The Fallback Plan, a hilarious take on the post-college, self-absorbed, 20-something in existential crisis. We were pleased to see it, because in general, it seems like the 20s are a little bit of a dead area in fiction — there are hundreds of books about making it as a teenager (or even as a child prodigy) and hundreds more about grown-up issues and disaffected men in their 30s and 40s, but fewer about the post-college, pre-life choices period that many young Americans seem to be wallowing in these days. However, to give all you angsty 20-somethings in existential crisis mode something to read while you’re waiting out the weird years, we’ve created an absolutely required reading list, for bathtubs and bar stools alike. That’s right: you have homework, a little direction. Don’t you feel better? And hey, maybe you should read them while listening to these. Click through to fill your home-made bookshelves with the tomes on our required reading list for your quarter life crisis, and then try to buck up a little. It’s not so bad.
Yesterday marked the release of Miranda July’s newest book, It Chooses You, a quirky piece loosely tied to her newest film, The Future, which will be released on DVD November 29th. July’s style and persona has been the subject of much debate — people usually either love or hate the precious, semi-ironic, self-aware sweetness that we have come to call “twee,” and of which July is one of the most prominent contemporary examples. The reemergence of the pixie princess of literature inspired us to consider a few other authors whose work can veer into the impossibly twee. Now, don’t get us wrong — we’re not saying that twee-ness is an inherently bad thing. In fact, several of the authors on this list number among our all-time favorites in any genre, and we happen to be on team July, at least most of the time. Click through to check out our list of twee authors, or at least authors who write twee books sometimes, in between setting up tea parties for their kittens, who are all wearing argyle socks, and let us know which of them tickle your fancy in the comments. Read More »
Yesterday saw the release of Joan Didion’s newest memoir, Blue Nights. Didion is the master of the memoir, but more specifically, she is the master of the genre of the memoir of loss, of teaching us something through her exquisitely rendered grief, of sharing her family and heart. The book got us to thinking about other wonderful examples of memoirs in this genre, which just seems to get more and more popular, despite its inherent sadness, so we’ve compiled a list of a few of our favorites. Click through to see our list of our ten favorite memoirs about loss, and let us know your own favorites in the comments.
We admit, we’re suckers for this kind of thing — but we imagine some of you are too, so we hope you’ll forgive us. Levi’s has partnered with food activist Alice Waters, along with Sophia Coppola, Dave Eggers, David Byrne and Maira Kalman, to create a mini collection of t-shirts to benefit Waters’ great Edible Schoolyard project, a national initiative that teaches grade-school children about growing and making healthy food. The t-shirts, which sell for $30 a pop, are 100% organic, and feature plantable tags (with organic seeds, even!) for maximum environmental friendliness. Click through to see the designs, and head here to buy your own.
Daniel Chang is an artist living in Los Angeles whose diverse work draws inspiration from antique botanical drawings, maps, and mythology. If you happen to be a fan of Dave Eggers, you might recognize this drawing, Horsefly, which was featured as the cover of How We Are Hungry, his 2005 collection of short stories. To learn more about Chang’s work and buy a signed, limited-edition print, head over to his page on 1xRun.
Skiing in the Alps, laying back in roomy, first-class seats, shopping in Milan — it’s the life, isn’t it? Unfortunately, it’s not the life that most of us get to live. However, if you aren’t able to throw down a couple hundred bucks for a last-minute plane ticket around the world, you can still travel from the comfort of your home by living vicariously through the new wave of travel books growing in popularity. Fish-out-of-water essays, transporting novels, and bright pictorials are one way of leaving home without changing out of your pajamas. So, go ahead, dive into these life-changing travel books and pretend you didn’t just spend the week in an office.
Food and wine pairings are old hat. Sure, there are some sommeliers that agonize over whether which notes go best with which sauces, and while our tummies sure appreciate their work, all we know is that fish goes with white wine and fava beans go with a nice chianti. But we think food and books go pretty well together. At least all of this writer’s childhood books are full of crumbs from a decade of eating and reading, the right hand pages tucked underneath the plate for safekeeping. And if you’re going to snack during storytime, you should probably eat something that goes with your reading material, whether it enhances the experience or just helps you make it through to the end. Click through for our expert list of essential food and literature pairings, perfect for your next nerdy themed dinner party – or just your average Sunday night at home.
In the late 1920s, newspaper columnist, reporter, playwright, and Algonquin wit Herman J. Mankiewicz moved from New York, the hotbed of American literary activity, to Hollywood. A few months later, he sent this cable to his writer friend Ben Hecht: “Millions are to be grabbed out here and your only competition is idiots. Don’t let this get around.” Sooner or later, though, it did. Since their inception, the moving pictures have offered scribes the opportunity for comparatively easy money — a few weeks’ work dashing off a screenplay or a punch-up job to subsidize the year it’s going to take to write The Great American Novel.
Yesterday’s news that Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon will take a pass at the script to Disney’s Magic Kingdom movie (in the wake of Pirates of the Caribbean, that studio will not rest until every square inch of its theme parks have been turned into films) wasn’t a huge shocker — and not just because Chabon has done previous work for Disney, or worked on the script to Spider-Man 2. He is simply the latest respected author to take Tinsel Town up on the offer of a generous paycheck. Join us after the jump for a look at ten other literary figures that did the same.
The extremely unconventional 36th issue of McSweeney’s quarterly magazine is a box-shaped head filled with short stories, art postcards, a “lost” work by Michael Chabon, and a tiny scroll.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius author Dave Eggers founded McSweeney’s independent publishing house as a forum for indie literary-fiction authors to articulate progressive ideas. Issue 36 is a “275-cubic-inch full-color head-crate” filled with booklets and other objects, ripe for the sifting.
[Editor's note: Flavorwire is counting down our most popular features of 2010. This post comes in at position number 1. It was originally published November 9, 2010.] The Guardian recently ran an article in which Rick Gekoski remarked on the disappearance of essential cultural books. He argued that a few decades ago, “there was a canon, which wasn’t limited to Shakespeare, Jane Austen and Scott Fitzgerald. You could assume people had read the hot contemporary books; when they hadn’t, it occasioned not merely puzzlement, but disapproval.” Well, Mr. Gekoski, we beg to differ. Here’s a short list of books that have found a place in Generation X’s (and for that matter, Y’s and W’s, too) common culture; books that people know about, relate to, and converge around, all from the last 25 years. Please share any other literary touchstones that are also part of this contemporary canon in the comments section.
