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Posts tagged books
A lot of work went into finding the perfect ampersand for the cover of Cathleen Schine’s Fin & Lady. I think we got it right.
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Why is it—and Eleanor & Park fan fiction—not a thing? Because it should be. Seriously.
By Fiel Estrella
February 1, 2013What inspired you to write a misfits-in-love story like Eleanor & Park?
I have always, always wanted to write a first love story. I feel like, when you’re 16, you have the greatest-ever capacity for romantic love … You also know that what you’re feeling probably won’t last. First love usually doesn’t. There’s a built-in tragedy to falling (truly) in love when you’re 16. It’s like every 16-year-old in love is either Romeo or Juliet. That is what I wanted to write about.
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Days of Yore: Did you read a lot when you were little?
Sarah Manguso: Yes. One quirk of my early reading life was that our town had an unusually well organized dump — okay, “waste management facility” — and it included a fantastic book swap. I found all sorts of weird, antique, out-of-print books. Periodically someone would dump a big box of correspondence. Old, old handwritten letters. Old magazines. I went there on Saturdays, with my father, and I was allowed to take home whatever I wanted.
Read the full interview with Sarah Manguso, author of The Guardians, An Elegy for a Friend
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If you’re worried about going insane, you very rarely are.
Psychotherapist Philippa Perry explores the ideas within her book How To Stay Sane.
For more videos, visit The School of Life library.
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“Everything that I wish I could be” is the title of a series of book collages made by Kent Rogowski. He used the titles of self-help books to create larger narratives, which become portraits of emotions, people and events in life. (via today and tomorrow)
In his new book, The Biographical Dictionary of Popular Music, Dylan Jones devotes an entry to “Cover Versions: 75 of the Best,” from Rufus Wainwright’s popular take on the Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah,” to Hendrix doing “All Along the Watch Tower.” It’s a very fine and noble list, of which you can listen to the top fifteen on the Huffington Post. (See also two great excerpts at Salon and the Daily Beast.)
In that spirit I’d like to present my own list of “Favorite Covered Songs!” I warn you though, if you can’t make it through this video of Sid Vicious singing Frank Sinatra’s standard “My Way” then this Spotify playlist is not for you!:
Tracks:
1. “Love Goes On” (The Go-Betweens) by Nada Surf
2. “Video Killed the Radio Star” (The Buggles) by Joyce Manor
3. “Black Diamond” (Kiss) by The Replacements
4. “Many Rivers to Cross” (Jimmy Cliff) by Harry Nilsson and John Lennon
5. “What’cha Gonna Do About It” (The Small Faces) by Condof****
6. “My Generation” (The Who) by Patti Smith
7. “Can’t Hardly Wait” (The Replacements) by Justin Townes Earle
8. “Speeding Motorcycle” (Daniel Johnston) by Mary Lou Lord
9. “Thirteen” (Big Star) by Elliott Smith
10. “After Hours” (The Velvet Underground) by Rilo Kiley
11. “Benny and the Jets” (Elton John) by The Beastie Boys featuring Biz Markie
12. “Attitude” (The Misfits) by Guns N’ Roses
13. “Hey Jealously” (Gin Blossoms) by The Ergs
14. “Louie Louie” (The Kingsmen) by Black Flag
15. “Wendy” (The Beach Boys) by Descendents
16. “Mercury Blues” (Douglas/Geddins) by David Lindley
17. “I Gotsta Get Paid” (Fat Pat) by ZZ Top
18. “Strangers” (The Kinks) by Wye Oak
19. “If You Want Blood” (AC/DC) by Mark Kozelek
20. “Sea of Love” (Phil Phillips) by Cat Power
Oh, I love covers!
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Bringing A Book To Life | The High Definite
I like what Peter Mendelsund says at 3:30 about designing a jacket that gets a reader’s attention and represents the narrative in a deeper way “if you look at [it] long enough.” Book jackets that reveal secrets or tell inside jokes are the best.
By Jeremy Greenfield
June 11, 2012
Publishers, distributors and e-book retailers can at least agree on one thing: They want more fields to be included in metadata feeds to help market and sell their books … “What they really want – publishers in particular, but also retailers and wholesalers – are things that help people discover, assess and buy books,” said Brian O’Leary of digital publishing consultancy Magellan Media, who is authoring the study.
Things like related editions, movie tie-ins, titles and information on other books in a series and greater tracking of industry awards. If properly displayed on book retail sites, these fields could help readers find new books and make better informed decisions on whether they want to buy them.
“Because ONIX has so many fields, data suppliers (publishers) don’t always populate or update all of them, and retailers don’t always display or update all of them,” said Len Vlahos, executive director of the BISG.
For instance, when on a book’s online retail page, a reader may not know immediately that it’s the third book in a series where the first was made into a movie and that it won a science-fiction readers’ choice award or was recognized by a certain magazine or website as one of the ten best of the year – all points of data that could help sell the book.
