Gabriel García Márquez

Richard Tuttle’s Incredible One-of-a-Kind Bindings for Classic Books

Put away that e-reader and take a peek at the incredible book cover art of Richard Tuttle. Tuttle, whose work was recently featured at Book Patrol, creates one-of-a-kind bindings for classic novels, interpreting the stories as beautiful, often cheeky sculptures. Tuttle explains: “I make literary artifacts. They are designed to pull books down off the shelf and display them in the salon, gallery or home as if they were works of art, which, of course, they are. Whether binding books with leather, paper, paint, wood, and found artifacts or building sculptures to encase the volumes, I seek to find a perspective that shouts out a piece of the essence of the literary work. I try to put myself in the author’s or character’s mind to say something about the time it was written in; the attitude that is explored and expressed; the magic that makes it a work of art.” Most of these unique editions are available (for a pretty penny) at Franklin Books. Even if you don’t have the cash, you can ogle them to your heart’s content after the jump. … Read More

Your Favorite Authors’ Favorite Musicians

Here at Flavorwire of late, we’ve been looking at what some of our favorite creative types have appreciated in the work of their peers — our favorite actors’ favorite actors, etc. We do like a bit of genre cross-pollination, though, so we thought we’d extend the remit of the idea across genre lines, starting with some of our favorite authors discussing the work of the musicians who inspire, excite, or just generally impress… Read More

33 Wonderful Fan-Designed Covers for Famous Novels

Here at Flavorwire, we’re suckers for a great book cover — even if that book cover never actually made it into production. After all, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine that sometimes the best book covers come from those designing without the constraints of publicity departments or authorial preferences. To that end, after the jump you will find a collection of unofficial book covers for famous works — created by students, career designers, or mysterious people on the Internet — that we totally love. Publishing houses, take note: we would buy these if ever we saw them in the pulpy flesh. Did we miss your favorite (or your own)? Link us to more literary design goodness in the comments. … Read More

Adorable Gabriel García Márquez Photos Juxtaposed With Poignant Gabriel García Márquez Quotes

Happy birthday, Gabriel García Márquez! The author, whose family recently announced that he has stopped writing on account of his dementia, turns 86 today. Known both for his charmingly goofy character and his sweeping, gorgeous accounts of humanity, he is certainly a writer we will miss. After the jump, a few of his most heartrending quotes juxtaposed with a few of his most adorable photos — it’s his birthday, after all. Chime in with your own favorite Márquez quote in the comments. … Read More

Literary Fashions for Serious Book Nerds

We don’t cover too much fashion here at Flavorpill, but we do very much enjoy new ways to express our lit-nerdiness, whether it’s people dressed up as literal books or fashion designers inspired by literature. Recently, we saw a dress that might be the nerdiest of them all (but also the greatest) and were inspired to hunt down a few more literary fashions, from dresses based on book covers to entire ball gowns made completely out of children’s books. Click through to see what you’d be wearing if you really liked literature (well, maybe), and let us know which outfit is your favorite in the comments. … Read More

Famous Literary Truces: Epic Feuds That Fizzled

This week, the literary world was abuzz with the news of the reconciliation of Salman Rushdie and John le Carré after fifteen years of enmity, though we have to admit, we’re a little disappointed. You just don’t get that many good literary feuds these days, what with all the excessive apologizing and proper behavior (or maybe it’s just that there’s not enough drinking), and Rushdie is one of the last living writers ready for a dust-up, even if it’s just with Facebook. Still, we know our mothers would tell us that it’s better to be friends than enemies, so after the jump, we present a short list of famous literary feuds that went sweet and ended in truces. Click through to get the warm and fuzzies, and let us know who we missed in the comments. … Read More

10 Great Books That Should Be Movies

Hollywood has always looked to literature for inspiration and adaptation fodder, but these days, it seems more likely than not that any given new film will be based on a book (or be a sequel or a superhero movie, but let’s set that aside). Not that that’s a bad thing — we’re looking forward to Cloud Atlas, On the Road, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower as much as the next guy. Still, we’re baffled at some of the books that, for whatever reason, haven’t yet been snapped up by the Hollywood machine. After the jump, we’ve put together a list of novels that we’d love to see hit the big screen — click through to check out our picks and add your own wish list in the comments! … Read More

Famous Authors Who Were Forced Into Retirement Too Soon

This week, we were saddened by the news that beloved 85-year-old Colombian novelist and Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez is suffering from  dementia and has stopped writing. Though not every can scribble up until the very moment of their death (thought many do), it’s always a little heartbreaking to see the deterioration of such an amazing mind. We’ve put together a list of famous authors that were forced into retirement because of illness, depression or slightly more elusive reasons — check them out and mourn the late-life novels that might have been with us in the comments. … Read More

Contemporary Authors We Think We’ll Still Be Reading in 100 Years

Earlier this week, we read a fascinating article over at The New Yorker that asked the question, “why is literary fame so unpredictable?” Apparently, in 1929, the readers of The Manchester Guardian were asked to vote on the authors they thought would still be read widely in 2029, and their top choice was John Galsworthy, who — though he won the Nobel Prize for The Forsyte Saga in 1932 — is now relatively unknown, or at least not very popular. The article goes on to discuss the difficulty in making predictions of literary prestige over long periods of time, noting a couple things that might give clues (a staunch but small readership of fellow authors, for one). While we concur that this kind of thing often rests on chance, fashion and unforeseeable future circumstance, we thought we’d take a stab at rounding up a few of the contemporary (read: living) authors we think we might still be reading in 100 years. Click through to see our predictions, and let us know your own in the comments. … Read More

Gorgeous Illustrations Uniting People with Their Favorite Book

Any bookworm can tell you that our favorite novels play an enormous part in making us who we are and shaping our relationships. Germany-based illustrator Simon Prades brings that formative influence into the physical plane in Our Books, a series of pencil drawings that represent both great works of literature and the people Prades feels connected to through them. Taking inspiration from J.D. Salinger, Albert Camus, Gabriel García Márquez, and more, the illustrations are deeply personal, driven more by what the artist associates with his subjects than the concrete details of the books themselves. See the series after the jump, and visit Prades’ Behance page to see more of his work. … Read More