This year has been marked by a number of high-profile book releases. Jonathan Franzen’s epic suburban opus Freedom was heralded as “the last great American novel,” Jay-Z fought to have hip-hop lyrics acknowledged by poetry aficionados in Decoded, Patti Smith’s emotional and brilliant Just Kids won a National Book Award, Stephen King returned to the art of taut, disturbing short stories, and a whole slew of celebrities released tripe we’d rather not get into here.
Smaller presses, meanwhile, have also had a banner year, but with the rush of media directing the average book buyer’s attention, it’s easy for lower profile publishers to get lost in the shuffle. To help spotlight these lesser known but equally deserving publishing houses, here are five small-press titles that stand out among the best books released in 2010. Please share any other recommendations from the past year in the comments.
The world of Twitter can be hard to navigate. We know that you’re already following us @flavorpill, but we decided it would be fun (and possibly helpful) if we rounded up some of our other Twitter favorites in a series we call “The Followables.” This eighth installment, inspired by the new that Maya Angelou (who already has 385,000 Facebook fans) plans to launch her Twitter account at a belated 82nd birthday party, spotlights the tweeting literati we love. (If you want to learn about critics and publishers as well as authors, we’ve got a list for that, too.) Do us a favor and leave a comment with anyone who you enjoy who didn’t make our list.
Rachel Kramer Bussel hosts a monthly reading series at Happy Ending Lounge called In the Flesh that features the best erotic writers sharing sexified stories. Each month has a different theme — Virginity, GLBT, and Comedy Sex, to name a few — that readers use as a jumping off point for titillating the audience with steamy, lust-filled tales. For hours-long aural sex and free cupcakes from Baked by Melissa, In the Flesh provides a treat to all who (ahem) come. Read More »
Meet The Rumpus.net. When asked to describe his new online cultural magazine in six words or less, founder Stephen Elliott first spouted off the categories they’ll cover; “Books, Music, Art, Politics, Sex, Other.” Then he wrote, “Because the web needs an editor.” Then, “The literary equivalent of stolen wi-fi.” Then, “I only look like I’m online.” Once he got to “The national public radio of webzines,” we had to cut him off — he had to prepare for his site’s official launch out of beta 3 mode, which happened earlier this morning. But not before we asked Elliott a few more questions over IM; find our interview after the jump.
