Last week, Lev Grossman wrote some uncollected, honest, and admittedly largely inexpert opinions on Amazon’s role in publishing and his preference to keep the publishing industry, to the degree possible now, intact. It is not a particularly insightful piece, though I do think it is largely representative of the current thinking of those whose interests [...]
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Last week The New York Times reported that French bookstores are doing exceedingly better than their British and American counterparts. Is it because French people love the printed word more than their English speaking friends? Most likely not - though it’s possible. What they have done is make it illegal for booksellers of any kind [...]
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There was a time when a person wishing to inform himself in the higher branches of literature or philosophy, would have been obliged to undergo the labour of perusing dry crabbed treatises, written professedly on serious and important subjects. Now, happy revolution! he may luxuriantly imbibe, in the tempting form of a novel, the [...]
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When in danger of a text tizzy at BEA, I retreated to the seductive arms of the art publishers’ booths. Stolen minutes with the photography books, illustrated tomes, and sleek graphics—after the glut of many thousands of words, these pictures were beyond price. Yayoi Kusama (D.A.P./Tate). The “polka dot princess” will bubble up everywhere this [...]
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Here are the most read stories from the last week in Critical Linking… His crutch words are gone. His plot has been untangled. The characters are no longer just cardboard cut-outs slotted into gaps but rather living, breathing entities, emotionally resonant and utterly believable. In praise of editors. ____________________________ “…it’s difficult to see Amazon as much more [...]
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Here are the most popular book trailers from last week on BookRiot.tv. Click on the cover to watch!
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Our most popular posts from the week that was… Lisa: ”Can you tell me what happens at the end of the series?” JK Rowling (kind of ticked): “Yes, he grows up and marries you… Is that what you want to hear?” Lisa (sighs, happily): ”Yes…” From The Top 10 Literary Quotes from The Simpsons by Greg Zimmerman ____________________________ [...]
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In the meantime, the next time you pick up your eBook reader, keep in mind that just because the book doesn’t weigh four pounds doesn’t mean that the author didn’t sweat blood and cry real tears writing that book, that an editor didn’t stay up late in the night providing notes to that author to [...]
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This installment of Riot Recommendation is sponsored by Unbridled Books and Afterlives of the Saints by Colin Dickey. In Afterlives of the Saints, Colin Dickey— author of Cranioklepty—presents us with a history of faith as told through some of the strangest stories of the saints. These are saints who murder, saints who gouge out their own eyes and hold [...]
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First order of business: Book Riot Forums are up and running. Check it out, wont’cha? Now, let’s make this open thread truly open. Reading anything good this week? What did you think of Prometheus? Big plans for the weekend? Thrilled that the NBA season is finally over? What’s on your mind today?
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J. Courtney Sullivan is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels Commencement and Maine. Maine was named a Best Book of the Year by Time magazine, and a Washington Post Notable Book for 2011. Courtney’s writing has also appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Chicago Tribune, New York magazine, Elle, Glamour, Allure, Men’s Vogue, [...]
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Earlier this week, we asked you to submit your favorite quotes about writing and the writer’s life to enter to win an awesome Writer’s Clock. You wasted no time flooding our inbox with wit, wisdom, and writing-related humor, to the tune of nearly 140 entries. We fired up random.org to select a winner. Her submission [...]
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Editor’s note: If you want to watch the trailer before Kit breaks it down for you, check it out here. ____________________________ :01- We start with a Tolstoy quote about love…which is so pretentious…which is good because PRETENTIOUS IS MY FAVORITE. :20 -Orchestra plays in pit as curtains come up on stage and all the characters [...]
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Our weekly round-up of the best bookish lists floating around the internet. At So Bad So Good, The 10 Worst Book Covers in the History of Literature At Flavorwire, 10 Important Lessons from Children’s Books At Publishers Weekly, Gatsby Dies: A Big List of Literary Spoilers At Lytherus, Lev Grossman Lists 20 Things Characters Should [...]
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Newspapers, journalists, novelists, Italian sea captains, let’s all get in that lifeboat together and row our way to whatever new world will have us. Travel agents can jump aboard as well. ____________________________ Last year as French publishers watched in horror as e-books ate away at the printed book market in the United States, they successfully [...]
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All right, you better finish whatever it is you are reading because on Tuesday, we’re kicking off the first Riot Read, Book Riot’s take on the book club/read-along with The Great Gatsby. Here’s what we’re cooking: –> A bunch of stuff about The Great Gatsby and F. Scott Fitzgerald on Book Riot itself, including Gatsby-themed [...]
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This installment of Name That Author! is sponsored by Arise by Tara Hudson and HarperTeen. Increasingly worried that dark spirits will carry out their threats and hurt the people she cares for most, Amelia is ready to try anything to protect them. And for his own very different reasons, Joshua has come to this cemetery at [...]
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Reading challenges–love ‘em, or leave ‘em? Do you like the idea of having a goal to guide your reading and fellow challenge takers with whom to celebrate (or commiserate, depending), or do you want to read what you want, when you want, with no framework? And what’s on your mind today?
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Even with your nose stuck in a book on the beach, it’s been hard to ignore all the political noise this summer. Whether it’s stuff happening internationally, or the campaigns going on here at home, sometimes the miasma of political conversation can seem almost stifling. But never forget, where there’s a bunch of people who [...]
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I am not much of a drinker. I don’t really care for wine, and I hate the taste of beer. When I do drink, I stick to hard cider and clear liquor. I spend a lot of time with beer drinkers, though, and that means that I drink a lot of coke while they achieve [...]
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