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Shelf Life Book news, reviews, trends, and talk

Sep 1 2011 11:42 AM ET

Perez Hilton's children's book, 'The Boy with Pink Hair'

Categories: Celebrity, Children's Books, Review

In a nod to Lady Gaga’s brand of self-acceptance, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton begins his book with “He was born that way — the Boy with Pink Hair.” Parents who aren’t fans of the controversial, sometimes pink-haired Hilton don’t have much reason to get riled up about his new children’s book. It tells the simple story of a boy with bright, “cotton-candy” hair who gets bullied, makes a friend, and discovers a true passion. No, the “Boy with Pink Hair” isn’t a euphemism for “Boy with Homosexual Tendencies,” READ FULL STORY »

Aug 31 2011 04:52 PM ET

'Hunger Games' author Suzanne Collins wrote for 'Clarissa' -- what do Clarissa and Katniss have in common?

by Stephan Lee

Categories: Books Into Movies, Katniss Everdeen, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, You're kidding me!

Image Credit: Murray Close; Nickelodeon

One’s a starving, militant rebel living in a post-apocalyptic world. The other is a fashion-forward teen thriving on a bright Orlando soundstage. What do they have in common? One clearly versatile writer: Suzanne Collins.

Ever since reading The Hunger Games, I’ve been intrigued by the fact that the same woman who wrote such a gritty, violent series also wrote for the fizzy, neon-colored sitcom Clarissa Explains It All (and also for The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, which I think is sort of underrated). Collins didn’t create Clarissa, but I’m sure she lived and breathed Clarissa while she worked for the show, just as she lived and breathed Katniss while writing the novels. We’ll learn about Collins’ journey from Clarissa to Katniss in the upcoming comic book about the author’s life, but for now, it’s fascinating to see ways in which the 90′s Nickelodeon heroine could have inspired the very different teen who made Collins famous. Okay, all of this is a huge stretch, and it’s easier to think of ways they almost-might-be similar but are completely different, but here goes: READ FULL STORY »

Aug 31 2011 01:59 PM ET

Justin Torres Q&A;: Author of 'We the Animals' speaks to Shelf Life

by Stephan Lee

Categories: Fiction, Interview, What I'm Reading

At a slim 128 pages, We the Animals by 31-year-old first-time novelist Justin Torres makes an unforgettable impression. It’s a story about a difficult childhood and adolescence, but it’s not without flashes of joy. The narrator, who goes unnamed, is the youngest of three boys. He tells of growing up with a fragile white mother and an unpredictable Puerto Rican father. Writing in visceral yet elegant prose, Torres proves to be an author to watch – - he depicts the violence and messiness of young boyhood with incredible authenticity and takes the novel to unexpected, startling places. Having recently been published in The New Yorker, Torres took a moment before embarking on a national book tour to talk to me about We the Animals and what’s coming next. [Spoiler alert]

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So I know your novel is partially autobiographical, which is something a lot of fiction writers seem to look down upon because it’s seen as being less imaginative, perhaps — what’s uniquely creative about fictionalizing real life? READ FULL STORY »

Aug 31 2011 08:02 AM ET

'Justice League' #1 review: Batman meets Superman, as DC Comics gets back to basics

by Ken Tucker

Categories: Comic Books

Starting today, DC Comics is re-numbering 52 super-hero comic books, old titles and some new ones, back to #1 (“The New 52!,” they’re dubbing it). This morning it begins with the release of Justice League #1, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee. If the idea is to get back to basics, to attract a new batch of readers by starting the tales of DC’s biggest heroes from scratch, Justice League #1 is scratch ground-zero. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 30 2011 02:56 PM ET

Book abuse -- scribbling, tearing, fly-swatting: What's your worst offense?

by Stephan Lee

Categories: Is It Just Me?, Shelf Life Confessional

Image Credit: Spike Mafford/Photodisc/Getty Images

In his New York Times column, Geoff Dyer writes not about a book’s effect on the reader, but the reader’s effect on the book, the actual physical object. He recounts the experience of finishing a particularly challenging work, Why the Allies Won, and the toll his studious read had on the binding and pages of the book. In his assessment, a battered book is the sign of a worthwhile intellectual pursuit: “… those creases became the external embodiment of the furrow-browed effort that reading it required.” Dyer even admits that the experience of reading the book literally drew blood, but not from paper cuts: ” … I can’t seem to read without picking my nose — hence the blood stains.” Gross, Geoff! Seriously!

Dyer’s admissions led me to think of how I treat my books. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 30 2011 10:55 AM ET

On the Books Aug. 30: 'Maggie Goes on a Diet' creates a stir, Michele Bachmann announces book

by Stephan Lee

Categories: Apple Tablet, Bookstores, Campaign memoir, Children's Books, Controversy, On the Books

++ The children’s book Maggie Goes on a Diet is meant to help kids with making the right eating choices, but it’s riling up nutrition and body image experts even before its publication in October. It tells the story of a girl who diets, loses weight, and becomes more popular and successful at school. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 29 2011 04:57 PM ET

Center-court seats: Five books for tennis lovers

by Stephan Lee

Categories: David Foster Wallace, Fiction, Manga

Image Credit: Laurie Sparham

Despite the chaos and flooding over the weekend, the U.S. Open kicked off today without a hitch. Tennis is the only sport I regularly watch, mostly because it’s a fascinating, emotional sport. Angry outbursts like Serena Williams’ tirade against a lineswoman at the 2009 U.S. Open are shocking but the frustration behind them is somewhat understandable. Traditionally, tennis has a reputation for being rather stately and civilized to a fault, but it’s really a sport that can bring out a person’s competitive nature, even over a seemingly friendly rally. In movies, especially comedies, players use the sport to send an aggressive message to one another (see Bridesmaids, Mr. Deeds). In literary contexts, tennis can play a more nuanced role in exposing a character’s passive aggression or self-defeating tendencies. Tennis requires pounding a projectile at an adversary, exposing and taking advantage of an opponent’s shortcomings — but these epic battles can take place in a waspy, country club setting, complete with tennis whites. All fertile ground for below-the-surface tension. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 29 2011 10:29 AM ET

On the Books Aug. 29: Gwyneth trumps Irene, the economics of being attractive, and more

by Stephan Lee

Categories: On the Books

Image Credit: Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images

++ What are the essentials for surviving a hurricane? Flashlights, gas, food … an autographed copy of Gwyneth Paltrow’s My Father’s Daughter? For a big crowd at the BookHampton bookstore in East Hampton, Paltrow’s guide to healthy eating (and name-dropping) proved to be a must for waiting out Hurricane Irene. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 29 2011 09:07 AM ET

Former prosecutor readies Casey Anthony book for late November

by Jeff Labrecque

Categories: Celebrity, Controversy, Nonfiction

Jeff Ashton, the assistant state attorney who prosecuted Casey Anthony in the high-profile murder case of her daughter, 2-year-old Caylee, is writing a book about the experience. Ashton confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel that publisher William Morrow will publish Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony in late November. Casey Anthony was acquitted of the major charges against her, and Ashton retired days after the not-guilty verdict was delivered.

Aug 26 2011 02:54 PM ET

Borders: Goodbye to all that. What are some of your Borders memories?

by Stephan Lee

Categories: Books, Bookstores, In Memoriam, Is It Just Me?

Image Credit: Ramin Talaie/Getty Images

Today is a big deadline for Borders — bids for its smaller stores are due, and Books-a-Million, of all places, has offered to snatch up a number of locations. Borders is a big corporation that in many ways got itself into its own mess, so it should be hard to muster much sympathy. To use an analogy from You’ve Got Mail, it has way more in common with Tom Hanks’ evil megachain Fox Books than Meg Ryan’s quaint, scrappy Shop around the Corner. Borders matched Starbucks in terms of cool, corporate calculation, with its ubiquitous burgundy signage, arctic indoor temperatures, less than ample (or comfortable) seating, and ambient Norah Jones tunes on endless loop.

So why do I feel like I’m losing a friend? READ FULL STORY »

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