Last week marked the release of Flavorwire favorite Michelle Tea’s newest novel Mermaid in Chelsea Creek, a YA stunner filled with old magic, grit, love and girls making trouble. To celebrate the book, Flavorwire asked Tea to suggest a few more literary teen girls in trouble, each of them likely to sneak into your garden shed and/or soul. She writes, “I started reading YA when I was a little too young for it, and the many 1970s books I read about teenage girls getting into trouble filled me with an awe and and anxiety that kept me reading… forever. Though I will always have a place in my heart for I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, Lisa Bright and Dark and The Best Little Girl in the World, these more contemporary heroines keep me writing — and reading.” … Read More
Grace Krilanovich
A Weird Girl Reading List: 10 of the Best Outsider Books for Teenagers
Today, we came across Darren Shan’s list of “essential reads for teens about those who exist outside the boundaries of the established norms” over at the Guardian, and while we can’t take issue with any of his choices, we did notice that each of his choices was written by, and is largely concerned with the exploits of — you guessed it! — a straight white man. Not the most outsider of demographics, if you don’t mind us saying so. As a response, we’ve put together an alternate essential reading list of outsider lit for teenage girls — or teenage boys willing to read outside the mold. Read through our picks after the jump, and add on any of your favorites that we’ve missed in the comments. … Read More
10 Essential Surrealist Books for Everyone
Shane Jones knows a little bit about surrealism. In his first novel, Light Boxes, the inhabitants of a tiny town fought against perpetual February — and in his wonderful and hallucinatory new novel, Daniel Fights a Hurricane, the weather has only gotten meaner — and the people stranger. Because we’re so consistently bewitched by his work, we asked Jones to curate a list of essential surrealist reads for us, so we can pass the time between his novels a little more easily. He writes: ”My motivation here isn’t to offer a pretentious list of obscure artsy books – I could very easily do that – but to provide suggestions for books that can be easily found, tastefully devoured, and will supply a healthy shot of the weird stuff. Nothing too weird, but also nothing too easy – no mentions of Salvador Dalí or my mother’s 1960s era fairy tale pictures that hang in the living room. Here are the essential surrealist works for everyone – some old, some new, all must-reads.” We wholeheartedly concur. … Read More
The Future of American Fiction: An Interview with Grace Krilanovich
If you haven’t noticed, we spend a lot of time thinking about literature here in the Flavorpill offices, digging through its past, weighing its current state, and imagining its future. Take a look at our bookshelves and you’ll find us reading everything from Nobel Prize winners to age-old classics to paperbacks printed at the bookstore down the street. Call it Chick-Lit, Hysterical Realism, Ethnic-Lit, or Translit — if it’s good fiction, we’ll be talking about it. So this summer, we’re launching The Future of American Fiction: an interview series expanding on that endless conversation about books we love, and yes, the direction of American fiction, from the people who’d know. Every Tuesday from now through August, we’ll bring you a short interview with one of the writers we think is instrumental in defining that direction. … Read More
Contemporary Writers and Their Old School Counterparts
This week, we read an article over at The Guardian which suggested that the “anxiety of influence” is waning — that is, that writers publishing today are no longer as closely influenced by the literary canon as they once were, and instead look to their contemporaries. Well, considering that this conclusion was the result of a mathematical study based on the number of “content-free” words like ‘of’, ‘at’ and ‘by,’ we’re not sure how much water it holds, but it inspired us to think about some modern writers who do seem to be carrying the torch for their old school counterparts, whether in topic, thematic style, or character. After all, the past never really goes away — especially in… Read More
The Most Cryptic Titles in Literature (And What They Mean)
This week, Laurent Binet’s HHhH, which we can safely say is blessed with one of the strangest titles we’ve ever encountered, hit shelves. Inspired by the sheer weirdness of the title (we’ll explain what it means later), we’ve compiled a list of some of the most cryptic book titles in literature, from the confusingly short to the numerically based to the grammatically incomprehensible. We’ve left out children’s books, of course — as we’re sure you’re aware, the nonsense words and silly symbols gracing their covers just are too many to count. Click through to check out our list, and if we’ve missed your own favorite cryptic title, let us know in the comments. … Read More
Indie Booksellers' Favorite Books of 2010
Thirteen finalists have been chosen and only one book will win this year’s Indie Booksellers’ Choice Awards. Aren’t you excited? The winner — as chosen by employees of independent bookstores across America — will be announced on May 23rd at Housing Works Bookstore in New York, and additional details are here. There’s a great amount of debut novels in this bunch, plus some work from writers who have been toiling in relative obscurity. We think The Orange Eats Creeps is one of the best titles we’ve heard in awhile, but we also love Barbara Comyn’s twisted posthumous publication, so we’re torn. Who do you think should win, dear readers? … Read More
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