They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but can you judge a country by the kind of covers it puts on its books? We’ve always found the cover changes between US and UK editions of the same books pretty interesting – they must be reflective of our different cultures in some way incomprehensible to us. After all, book jacket designers are trying to capture the attention and imagination of their target populace, so it’s fascinating to see what the experts think will attract a Brit versus what they think might attract an American. Inspired by the annual US vs UK book cover comparison of Rooster contenders over at The Millions, we decided to make a list of our own, comparing the covers of our favorite books from last year — and, just for fun, a few of our favorite books from years past. Click through to see the comparisons and our picks for the winners, and let us know what you think in the comments!
Here’s one of our favorite comedians interviewing one of our favorite authors — except they’ve inexplicably swapped roles and there’s not a fern in sight. It’s kind of brilliant. The money quote: “From 9 to 5, I listen to the song ’9 to 5,’ and what a way to make a living.” Oh, and also this awkward exchange: “Uh, do you consider—” “No, not really.” Incidentally, John Wray penned “The Making of Zach Galifianakis” for the New York Times Magazine last year around the same time when his own novel Lowboy came out (we interviewed him about that here). Grab the paperback version in stores now.
Remember that Nylon Mag feature with the kids from Hair that we found so bizarre? Well it seems that Esquire has to decided to one-up the Bumble & Bumble advertorial with something that’s even more strange: a “fashion fiction” feature with our old pal John Wray, author of Lowboy.
Wray’s writerly task? To “imagine the stories behind a few of this season’s most lived-in, luxurious items.” An example, pegged to the image above:
“Polly Jean Johansson had long suspected that Charlie Grass did not, in fact, read the hardcover books that lay artfully strewn about his dingy one-room apartment above the Duane Reade, but it was his red-white-and-blue cardigan that clinched it.”
Is it just us, or is this an earnest attempt at J.Cruel-style prose gone wrong? Or maybe we were just turned off by the concept altogether. We do find it interesting that the most affordable item in this story is a pair of $80 jeans — which would buy approximately 32 subway rides for a paranoid schizo on the lam like Will Heller.
What do you think? Is this piece bordering on highbrow shilling? [via Jacket Copy]
“While still in high school, Galifianakis developed what he considers his first full-fledged comic ‘character’: an effeminate redneck, with a wildly exaggerated lisp, whose mother warned him about coming into physical contact with black people. ‘The black kids at school loved it,’ he told me. ‘They used to bump into me in the hallway, just to hear me go into my bit.’”
- New York-based novelist John Wray (who we interviewed here) profiles Zach Galifianakis in this week’s New York Times Magazine. We spotted Zach at Fette Sau a few weeks ago, where he was dining with John Hodgman(!); we got super excited and did this weird fist pump/salute thing in his direction, and he did it right back. WE. LOVE. HIM. The Hangover opens in theaters this Friday.
Usually just one to three minutes long, the best book trailers swiftly inform potential readers of what to expect. But unlike most movie previews, these trailers are often interpretive, rather than plot-focused; they spring from the imagination of their creators, as well as from the books they represent. Search YouTube and you’ll find thousands of examples. Read More »
As we mentioned earlier, the long list of finalists for the Man Booker International Prize was announced today by judging panel chair Jane Smiley in a press conference held at the New York Public Library. Flavorwire pal Ron Hogan did some great Twittereporting from the conference; there’s a lot of chatter around the scarcity of East Asian and Middle Eastern writers on this and past Booker Int’l lists.
Speaking of lists and Brits, The Times has a piece on 10 literary one-hit wonders. Apparently, “one-hit” refers exclusively to novels, because the list includes Oscar Wilde, J.D. Salinger, and Sylvia Plath. Who needs plays, short stories, or poetry?
The “one problem” mentioned in the title is an embarrassingly minuscule one, we promise. Nit-picking, really. If you’re a publicist, reading this to collect clips — or blurbs! blurb us for the paperback edition! — honestly, consider this a ringing endorsement. Lowboy was fantastic. We stayed up past our bedtime and rejoiced when we missed trains on the way to work, just to finish the book and soak it all in as quickly as possible. But after hopping onto the bandwagon of laudatory reviews, we almost wished we had a bone to pick. Something to offer besides a “Ohmygod It’s The Holden Caulfield Of Our Generation.” So, what’s the only thing we could find wrong with this outstanding novel? Read More »
We started reading Lowboy only a few days before we walked into Barnes and Noble and saw its dark cover prominently displayed, featured next to other titles from the weekend’s Times book review. Since then, we haven’t been able to stop reading it, much less reading about it. We’re just glad we got drawn in by Lowboy’s visions and hops through the New York City subway system mere moments before the Timesgave it a rave review and New York Magazine declared Wray’s novel “a long-deserved breakout from a phenomenally versatile writer.”
We got the chance to ask Wray a few questions about his third novel, which follows Will Heller, a sixteen-year-old with paranoid schizophrenia who stopped taking his meds, and is traveling through the NYC subway system, steadfast and alone. After the jump, we ask him about the writing process, being an MFA drop-out, and what it feels like to be compared to J.D. Salinger.
came out (we interviewed him about that 
