Jezebel: Booknotes

From Here To Eternity Gets Its Gay Back

Sadie Stein — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:16:00 EDT

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From Here to Eternity, the 1951 James Jones novel that gave birth to the classic 1953 film, may be best known today for its iconic rolling-in-the-surf love scene. But if the unexpurgated version had been published, we're guessing Frank Sinatra would never have signed on. More »

Is Your Favorite Book of 2010 on the New York Times' List?

Katie Baker — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 15:40:00 EST

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Mine, Citrus County by John Brandon, did not make the cut :( But the annual release of the year's "100 Notable Books" list remains a beloved Thanksgivingtime tradition. Which have you loved, and which should be avoided? [New York Times] More »

Women Dominate National Book Awards

Sadie Stein — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 11:25:00 EST

Yesterday's National Book Awards have some wags calling this "the Year of the Woman in letters." Well, anyway, a year when judges took notice. More »

What Books Will Spark Conversation With Strangers?

Sadie Stein — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:47:00 EDT

Someone queried the Paris Review, "Can you recommend any books that will make interesting people approach me if I read them on the subway?" We certainly can. More »

It's The Summer Of To Kill A Mockingbird

Sadie Stein — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:00:09 EDT

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This year marks the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee's classic children's book. And although To Kill a Mockingbird has a famously private author, the book's birthday shall be acknowledged! More »

Man Seeks "Secret Of Female Grace"; Finds It In Other Men

Sadie Stein — Tue, 18 May 2010 14:20:00 EDT

Can we have a moratorium, please, on "defining feminine beauty?" No? Okay, then! Here's a 500 page book on it! Available for Kindle! More »

Does 10-Year-Old Bookworm Identify With Anne Frank?

Sadie Stein — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:30:00 EDT

"No," she tells the New Yorker in her informative Q&A! [NewYorker] More »

Little Golden Book

Sadie Stein — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:30:00 EDT

"The Country Bunny's message: plucky little girl bunnies who defy prejudice and believe in themselves can grow up to become fully actualized lady bunnies who raise smart, happy, kind children and do fulfilling work outside the warren." [NewYorker] More »

Book Of The Month Club

Sadie Stein — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:40:00 EST

Want to track the nation's reading list? Check out Books of the Century, a website created by a Berkeley history Ph.D. candidate that chronicles "a century's worth of best-sellers, itemized year by year." [New Yorker] More »

Kindle On The Wall...

Sadie Stein — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:45:00 EST

Mediabistro asked one pair of industry insiders about their publishing predictions for the decade to come. Among them? "95% of all reading will be on screens" and "most authors will be indie authors." [Mediabistro] More »

Invincible Louisa

Sadie Stein — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:30:00 EST

It must be said, devoted fans will already have known the "Five Things You Don't Know About Louisa May Alcott." But can you really hear enough about opium and transvestism? In short, we'll be watching the upcoming PBS biopic. [YouTube] More »

Sticks And Stones

Sadie Stein — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST

Julie Powell: "Somehow, it seems to me, there's something particularly eye-opening about the pans for Cleaving...some way in which writing about the book seems to reveal as much or more about the reviewer as about the book being reviewed." [XX] More »

Wrestlemania

Sadie Stein — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:40:00 EST

Late comedy auteur Andy Kaufman's career wrestling women, accompanied by mock-misogynistic rants, resulted in a lot of hate mail. And now, those screeds (with Polaroids!) have been gathered into the book Dear Andy Kaufman I Hate Your Guts [WSJ] More »

Ex Libris

Sadie Stein — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:40:00 EST

A scientist has analyzed the "old book smell" based on tomes' volatile organic compound emissions. The results, published in the journal Analytical Chemistry, involve the word "lignin" and, misleadingly, do not involve any Moby Dick perfume whatsoever. [NYT] More »

Gothic Archness

Sadie Stein — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST

Amazing, Friday-the-13th-apropos news: Edward Gorey's "lost" book, The Recently Deflowered Girl: The Right Thing to Say on Every Dubious Occasion, has been reissued - and released - by Bloomsbury. And Emily Post just rolled in her grave. [NYT] More »

Munro Pulls A Heigl

Sadie Stein — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:30:00 EDT

Alice Munro has taken her new collection "Too Much Happiness" out of the running for Canada's prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize, which she's won twice before - thereby ending literary nerds' hopes for a showdown with Margaret Atwood. [NYT] More »

Classics

Sadie Stein — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:30:00 EDT

It makes a certain kind of aesthetic sense that Ruben Toledo should illustrate "Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions" of Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and The Scarlet Letter. Now, if we can just get his wife to costume them...[Nylon] More »

Girl Power

Sadie Stein — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:40:00 EDT

A tipster just drew our attention to the awesome digital version of one of our favorites: 1903's Three Hundred Things A Bright Girl Can Do (not to be confused with Three Hundred and One Things A Bright Girl Can Do, A Hundred Things a Girl Can Make or 211 Things A Clever Girl Can Do.) Among 298 others, she can do "joinery" and taxidermy! [GoogleBooks] More »