The winners of the Goodreads Choice Awards have just been announced, and the results are a little surprising. As Shelf Life points out, the Goodreads Choice Awards are the closest thing the literary world has to the People’s Choice Awards, with 1,156,852 votes cast by readers for their favorite books in 20 categories, including Fiction, Memoir, Poetry and YA. So we could expect that the winners would skew commercial — no snooty critic here to put in her two cents. That said, we were still rather amazed that J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy was voted as the best work of fiction of the year. Surely, the name recognition isn’t enough — nothing against Rowling, but there were so many better books in 2012. That said, other picks — like Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl for Best Mystery, John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars for Best Young Adult, and Cheryl Strayed’s Wild for Best Memoir — we’re totally on board with. See the complete list of winners after the jump, and let us know what you think in the comments. … Read More
J. K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling’s ‘The Casual Vacancy’ to Become BBC TV Series
The New York Times may have slighted J.K. Rowling’s debut adult literary novel from their annual roundup of notable books, but its appeal isn’t lost on the BBC. The Hollywood Reporter alerts us that BBC One and BBC Drama have reached a deal with Rowling’s representatives, The Blair Partnership, to create… Read More
25 Notable Books Unfairly Overlooked by ‘The New York Times’
Earlier this week, The New York Times published their annual year-end list of the “100 Notable Books of 2012,” as chosen by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. As usual, the list is filled with very predictable (though often very worthy) choices, but this year we were surprised not only by the amazing, under-the-radar books the Times ignored, but by the equally amazing but high-profile and relatively commercial books that also got snubbed. To that end, we’ve compiled an alternative, or an addendum, if you will, to the Times’ list, including both lesser-known books we loved this year, and some big name books we can’t believe didn’t make the cut. Click through to read our list, and if you so desire, register your own addendums to our addendum in the comments. … Read More
10 Great Authors We Should All Stop Pigeonholing
This week, we read a great article at Slate about Ursula K. Le Guin and the genre distinctions (or lack thereof) in her work. This article portends an even greater event, the publication of Le Guin’s new self-chosen best-of collection, The Unreal and the Real, later this month, so we’ve decided to take a look at Le Guin and other authors who have found themselves neatly boxed and categorized by the collective consciousness — but shouldn’t be. Click through to check out a few great authors we should all really stop pigeonholing, and if we’ve missed one, add to our list in the comments! … Read More
The Flavorpill Guide to DIY Pop Culture Halloween Costumes: Books
Halloween: It’s always more complicated than you want it to be. Even if you’ve got your plans set, it’s a struggle to find the perfect costume — without resorting to the same crappy, overpriced, pre-packaged getups everyone else will be wearing. Thankfully, just as we have done for the past two Octobers, Flavorpill is helping you out with a series of easy DIY costume guides tackling various pop-culture realms. Don’t worry — there’s no sewing involved.
Last week, we took you through a few easy-as-pie options in the realm of television, giving our suggestions on channeling everyone from Hare Krishna Paul Kinsey to Evil Abed, but if you spend more time with your nose in a book than you do catching up on the latest shows (or just want to seem like you do), this week’s installment is or you. While we’re sure this Halloween will see its usual abundance of Poes and Plaths and Maxes from Where The Wild Things Are, we’ve put together a few slightly more original costume ideas inspired by the ups and downs of this year in the book world. Detailed instructions on how to channel a few authors, characters and even entire books after the jump. … Read More
J.K. Rowling Reveals Her Favorite Children's Books
Most of today’s twenty-somethings grew up reading the Harry Potter series, but have you ever wondered what books J.K. Rowling escaped with when she was young enough to be a first year at Hogwarts? “The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge; Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott; Manxmouse, by Paul Gallico; everything by Noel Streatfeild;… Read More
10 YA Novel to Film Adaptations That Kept Their Edge
The Perks of Being A Wallflower, the film adaptation of the ’90s cult young adult novel by Stephen Chbosky, is out in wide release today, and we couldn’t be more excited. While some of its critics are saying the film packs in more issues then the entire canon of after school specials, no one is accusing it of shying away from the dicier topics that made the novel so relatable to its teenage readers. This, unfortunately, is not always the case for adaptations of classic YA books — The Princess Diaries, for example, was totally Disney-fied, much to our chagrin. To inform your viewing, here are some other movies based on YA books that managed to keep their edge. … Read More
Famous Authors’ Funniest Responses to Their Books Being Banned
As you might have already heard, it’s Banned Books Week, and booksellers, librarians, and literary critics of all kinds are taking the opportunity to celebrate their favorite once-banned (or oft-banned) literature. But what do the authors themselves have to say about all this? After the jump, we’ve collected a few of our favorite hilarious responses from authors when their books were banned or challenged — because when there’s a challenge, why not challenge right back? Click through to hear what visionaries like Mark Twain, Harper Lee, and Maurice Sendak have to say to those who would deprive the world of their… Read More
The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories
1. Sons of Anarchy actor Johnny Lewis was found dead outside of a home in LA yesterday; police say that he “appeared to have died from some type of fall, either from the stairway, or from the balcony, or from one of the roofs.” Lewis is also considered a suspect in the murder of an… Read More
The Most Interesting Tidbits from J.K. Rowling’s ‘New Yorker’ Profile
In spite of her ubiquity — she’s sold an estimated four hundred and fifty million books — J.K. Rowling is known for being a private person who does relatively few interviews; but with The Casual Vacancy, her first novel geared toward adults due out on Thursday, she sat down with The New Yorker’s Ian Parker for a massive profile that is now available for free online. Assuming that most muggles won’t have the patience to wade through all ten pages of the piece, we’ve plucked out a few of the highlights below. Check them out, and let us know in the comments if you plan on picking up Rowling’s latest, which apparently is already setting pre-order records. … Read More
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