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Jonathan Franzen

Books

Former Students’ Recollections of Classes Taught by Famous Authors

By Emily Temple on

This week, we read a wonderful essay at The New York Review of Books from a former student of Vladimir Nabokov, a juicy read for anyone who wishes that they could have taken one of the genius writer’s classes (i.e., everyone). Inspired, we hunted around for more first-person recollections of classes taken with famous writers — whether they were famous at the time or only later on. Read through a few of the ones we found after the jump, and add your own memories (if you’re lucky enough to have them) in the comments. … Read More

Books

Judging 2012 Book Covers: US vs. UK

By Emily Temple on

While paging through the Guardian‘s gallery of the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist earlier this week, we were struck by how different many of the nominees’ covers are from the American ones we know and (sometimes) love. Of course we knew this already, but we were newly inspired to take a look at some of 2012′s best books, and judge them by their covers, both at home and abroad. A disclaimer: your literary editor has little in the way of formal design education, but is instead approaching these as a voracious reader and picker-upper of pretty things in bookstores. … Read More

Books

The Best-Selling Books in 10 Countries Around the World

By Emily Temple on

We know what we’re reading in America, but what about the rest of the world? Next week, Indonesian writer Andrea Hirata’s first novel The Rainbow Troops, will be published in English for the first time. The novel, which with over five million copies sold is Indonesia’s best-selling book of all time, got us thinking about the books topping the charts around the world — that we may have never even heard of. After the jump, some potentially surprising — or just illuminating — best-sellers from India to the UK. Let us know your thoughts in the comments. … Read More

Books

10 Famous Authors on the Importance of Keeping a Journal

By Emily Temple on

Many famous writers have kept journals or diaries — for many, it is a creative necessity, for others, a place for exploration, and for some an art form in and of itself. This week, Brain Pickings treated us to a few passages on the art of keeping a diary from Virginia Woolf’s A Writer’s Diary, and we were inspired to see what other authors had to say on the topic (we were also inspired to resume our old diaries, but never mind). After the jump, read ten famous writers on the importance of keeping a journal (or, in some cases, the lack thereof), and let us know whether you keep your own notebook, journal or diary in the comments. … Read More

Books

10 Best-Selling Novels and the Directors Who Should Adapt Them

By Emily Temple on

Yesterday, we heard that David Fincher, director of Fight Club and The Social Network (among numerous other things), is considering signing on to direct the adaptation of Gone Girl, the thriller that took this year’s book world by storm. Fincher is great and all (and, as Deadline so awkwardly points out, “has handled female-themed Panic Room with Jodie Foster”), but we don’t think he’s the best man for the job. After the jump, we’ve taken a look at ten contemporary bestsellers, including Gone Girl, and picked the directors that we think would be the best at adapting them (even if, er, film versions have already been made). Click through to see our choices, and feel free to argue us down in the comments. … Read More

Books

20 Excellent Photos of Famous Authors Partying

By Emily Temple on

Whether they be bad boys (or bad girls), dirty old men or just legendary party animals, there’s no denying that the literary set knows how to get down. From dance parties to book parties to whatever’s going on in that car, writers are adept at letting off steam, and so this year, we thought we’d get a little New Year’s celebration inspiration from a few of our favorite authors. And hey, if you’re still trying to figure out your signature cocktail at this late hour, you can model that on your favorite writer too. After the jump, raise a glass with everyone from Ernest Hemingway to Rita Dove to Nora Ephron. Happy New Year’s Eve, everybody. … Read More

New York

New York’s 100 Most Important Living Writers

By Flavorwire Staff on

Philip Roth’s recently announced retirement got us thinking about the state of New York City’s literary landscape. As a result, we’ve compiled a list of the city’s 100 most important… Read More

Books

12 Famous Authors’ Very First Author Photos

By Emily Temple on

We scoured the web to pull together a few surprising, intense, and charmingly youthful author photos from some of our very favorite authors’ first works, from Truman Capote to Stephen… Read More

Books

Writers Praising Writers: 15 of the Best Compliments from One Author to Another

By Emily Temple on

We all know authors can insult one another with aplomb, but do those bitter wordsmiths ever have anything nice to say? Well, yes, of course. If we had to guess, we’d say that most authors’ biggest fans are other authors, who might understand a given piece of literature better than any mere mortal — or they might just be more likely to write about it. In the excellent collection Object Lessons: The Paris Review Presents the Art of the Short Story, which hit shelves last week, 20 famous writers choose and introduce the short stories from the periodical that moved and thrilled them. In honor of the book’s publication, we’ve put together a few of our favorite author-on-author compliments. Click through to spread the love, and if we’ve missed your favorite compliment, add to our list in the comments. … Read More

Books

20 Famous Writers on Death and Mortality

By Emily Temple on

Today marks the publication of Mortality, confrontational journalist Christopher Hitchens’ posthumous work about his experiences with the cancer that killed him. We’ve lost a lot of great minds recently — Nora Ephron, Maurice Sendak, David Rakoff, and Hitch himself — and we think this end-of-life memoir in essays, full of Hitchens’ trademark wit and his clear-eyed dissection of life as he sees it, may just heal us a little bit, as books tend to do. To celebrate the book’s publication, and to help recalibrate our own perspectives on the loss of so many of our intellectual heroes, we’ve put together this selection of passages on death and mortality from a few of our favorite authors. Read through after the jump, and since there are an infinite number of these, add your own favorite to our collection in the comments. … Read More