Today sees the release of Catherynne M. Valente’s Six-Gun Snow White, a novella that sets the classic tale of Snow White in the Old West — a trick we’ve never quite seen before. To celebrate the book, and to suggest a little extra reading to those who are excited about it, we’ve chosen ten bizarre, out-there literary adaptations of fairy tales (which, let’s be honest, started out pretty strange in the first place) to add to your library. Maybe not your kids’ libraries, though. After the jump, ten of the strangest, best fairy tale reinterpretations we’ve ever read — and as always, if we missed your favorite, add it to our list in the comments. … Read More
Philip Pullman
10 Great Books for the Nonreaders on Your Holiday Gift List
If you’re a reader, you understand. For the holidays, all you want is a stack of books, so sometimes it can be hard to figure out what to get for your less literary-minded loved ones. Well, you can still give them books. But you have to choose carefully. Just as we did last year, this holiday season we’ve put together a helpful guide of new books that even your most prose-averse friends will love — whether they admit it to you or not. Click through to check out the gift guide, and let us know what you’re giving the nonreaders on your list in the comments. … Read More
The Disturbing Origins of 10 Famous Fairy Tales
If you know anything about us, you should know this: we’re suckers for a good story. Luckily, Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version, edited by fabulist extraordinaire Philip Pullman and on shelves today, is packed with them, complete with smart commentary and playful prose. While reading, we were struck by how many of our most pervasive stories can be found in the Grimm tales, or even earlier, and also by how much some of the stories have changed along the way — all the blindings and sexual misconduct and death have been mostly scrubbed away. Then again, none of the stories with people getting nailed into barrels and thrown down hills or into ponds have really made it into the mainstream. Take a look at a few terrifying, gruesome, often bizarre early versions of ubiquitous fairy tales after the jump, and maybe you’ll think twice before reading “Little Red Riding Hood” before you go to bed. … Read More
13 Famous Writers on Overcoming Writer’s Block
In honor of National Novel Writing Month, here’s advice from thirteen famous writers on how to conquer dreaded writer’s block and get your 50,000 words on the page before December… Read More
10 New Must-Reads for November
With the power outages and public transport shutdowns in NYC surrounding this week’s hurricane, we’ve spent a lot of time over the past few days curled up reading by candlelight. If you too have used the bad weather as an excuse to tear through your to-read pile, you’re in luck — November is full of opportunities to replenish it. This month, we have a lot of short stories on our plate, in addition to meditations on the hallucinatory and a posthumous collection of essays from one of our very favorite people. Click through to see the books on our must-read list for November, and let us know which ones will be keeping you inside this month in the comments. … Read More
Banned Book Trading Cards: Collect ‘Em All
Libraries across the country are celebrating Banned Books Week, which lasts through this Saturday, but Lawrence Public Library in Kansas has taken a rather (forgive us) novel approach to the festivities. The library put out a call for submissions for local artists to create “trading cards” inspired by banned books, the best of which they’re handing out at the library all week. Since we’re pretty covetous of all things collectable (and all things book-related), this seems like a genius idea to us — not to mention the fact that a lot of the resultant artwork is pretty wonderful. Click through to see some of our favorites from the submitted artworks, and then be sure to head here to check out the full collection. … 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 Flavorpill Fall 2012 Books Forecast
No matter what some may say, this year has already been a great one for literature — and from where we’re sitting, it’s only getting better. This fall promises to be a doozy, with September in particular filled with some serious literary heavy hitters, and enough great reads piled up through the autumn months to get you fat and happy just in time for winter. There’s a little something for everyone: essays, memoir, novels, short story collections, and one beyond-the-borders graphic novel. After the jump, read through our list of the fifteen books we’re most excited about this fall, and then be sure to let us know which reads you’re most excited about tackling in the comments. … Read More
What Your Favorite YA Series Says About You
This week, NPR published their list of the 100 Best YA Novels of all time — as nominated by their readers and then selected by a panel of judges. While we have our reservations about the ranking (Twilight before Earthsea?), the poll reminded us of the fact that no matter how many serious books grace their shelves, every devoted reader has at least one favorite YA series from their childhood (or, um, more recently than that) that they still think is pretty great. After all, of the 100 entries on NPR’s list, almost half of them weren’t novels at all, but rather series of novels at least three books long. So in case you’re wondering what that lingering affinity for Weetzie Bat means for your life on a grand scale, or wondering what strangers on the train think when they see you reading Vampire Academy, we’re here to help. Click through to find out what your favorite YA series says about you, and let us know if we’ve got you pegged — or if we’re totally off the mark — in the comments. … Read More
10 Artifacts from Literature That We Wish Were Real
This week, we stumbled upon some interesting news: that a specific strain of fictional marijuana — Elephant Crush, from Mark Haskell Smith’s Baked — had been created in the real world. “I’m totally surprised and delighted that someone would grow a fictional strain,” Smith said. “What happens when you smoke it? Do you enter a fictional world?” If only. Inspired by this recent development, we got to thinking about some fictional items from literature that we wish were real — and we’re talking real real, not collector’s item real. Click through to see what we came up with, and let us know which fictional objects you dream of owning in the comments. … Read More
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