The HBO adaptation of Jonathan Franzen’s National Book Award-winning novel The Corrections has been surrounded by a whirlwind of casting rumors and confirmations since the series was greenlit back in November. The most recent rumbling of the rumor mill is that Maggie Gyllenhaal is in talks to play Denise Lambert, a professional chef who has an affair with both the owner of the restaurant where she works and his wife. The cast thus far includes Hollywood heavyweights Dianne Wiest, Ewan McGregor, and Chris Cooper; actors who we adore, but don’t necessarily see as casting home runs for Franzen’s characters. If we had license to keep Gyllenhaal and build our dream cast around her, these would be our picks — let us know your corrections in the comments.
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Last week saw the publication in English of France’s resident literary bad boy Michel Houellebecq’s newest novel, The Map and the Territory, heralded by some as his magnum opus. The resurgence of the literary great got us to thinking about other literary bad boys who rocked the boat and won notoriety for it — most of them buoyed by endless talent, or just star power. After all, everyone loves to hate (or in some cases, loves to love) the literary rebels and the scandalous men of letters. Click through to check out our list of legendary literary bad boys — and if we’ve forgotten your favorite enfant terrible, be sure to let us know in the comments.
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There are so many books out there these days that sometimes — even with every media outlet doing their own Best-Of list this month — it’s hard to decide what to read. To combat the deluge of recommendations, we generally lean towards taking advice from those we consider to be most in the know: our favorite authors themselves. After all, if they can write prose that delights us so much, they must surely be able to recognize it in the work of others, right? Right. And as Henry David Thoreau said, “read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.” With that in mind, we’ve collected a few of our favorite authors’ year-end recommendations from around the web. Now, authors are flighty creatures, and many of their 2011 book lists include books published in other years. But we’re confident that you’ll still manage to glean some holiday vacation reading suggestions or last-minute gifts from their choices. Click through to check out our favorite authors’ favorite books from the past year, and if your to-read stack isn’t monumental enough by the end of this list (or even if it is), we highly recommend that you check out the sources for each list for many more recommendations from many more great writers. Read More »
Halloween: It’s always more complicated than you want it to be. Even if you’ve got your plans set, it’s a struggle to find the perfect costume — without resorting to the same crappy, overpriced, pre-packaged getups everyone else will be wearing. Thankfully, just as we did last October, Flavorpill is helping you out with a series of easy DIY costume guides tackling various pop-culture realms. Don’t worry — there’s no sewing involved.
In our newest installment (we’ve already tackled music, art, and film!), channel your inner nerd with our selection of literary costumes. You may choose from some of the year’s most iconic author looks, a few our favorite literary characters new and old, or even learn how to turn yourself into one of the most talked-about books of the season. Trust us, you won’t even think about staying home to read on Halloween night with these costumes at your fingertips — but get ready to explain yourself to a lot of girls dressed like Snooki.
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1. Deadline is reporting that Dianne Wiest and Chris Cooper are negotiating to play the leads in HBO’s forthcoming Noah Baumbach-helmed adaptation of Jonathan Franzen’s award-winning novel, The Corrections. We approve heartily!
2. Dark Blood, the movie that River Phoenix was filming at the time of his death, might be getting released almost 20 years later, thanks reedits from the director and some possible voice-over work from River’s brother Joaquin Phoenix. [via Vulture]
3. The Jeff Mangum-curated winter installment of All Tomorrow’s Parties has been pushed back to March due to “a set of extremely unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances.” Refunds will be available for ticket holders who can’t make the new dates. [via NME]
4. Multiple Tony award-winning writer Robert Lopez, who collaborated with Trey Parker and Matt Stone on The Book of Mormon, will also be teaming up with them for upcoming episode of South Park that will air on October 26. We expect big things! [via ArtsBeat]
5. Criterion will finally release a digitally-restored version Godzilla Blu-ray/DVD this January; along with a load of special features, you’ll be getting both the 1954 Japanese original as well as the 1956 American remake of the film, which starred Raymond Burr. [via Slashfilm]
Bonus Buzz: 10 Halloween Costumes to Avoid
Last week, we had the pleasure of reading John Warner’s great article, “The White Male F*ck-Up Novel,” over at Book Riot. “You know the story,” Warner writes, “white male protagonist, comes from a privileged background, should have the world by the short hairs, but manages to screw up his life at every turn. Depression, extra-marital affairs, other methods of self-sabotage. Bellow made a career of them.” While it’s true that the field is overrun with these “WMFuNs,” we couldn’t help but wonder: what about all the lady bunglers in literature? True, the male screw up is more iconic (as of course is the male protagonist, for that matter), but we wanted to give our favorite tragic heroines a little love as well. After all, as Daisy Buchanan famously opined, “that’s about the best a girl can hope for these days, to be a pretty little fool.” Right. Click through to see our list of white female fuck up novels, and let us know if we’ve missed any of your favorites in the comments.
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Exciting news for fans of TV shows about dysfunctional families — which as far as we’re concerned, should be just about everyone: According to The Daily Mail, there’s a rumor floating around the Venice Film Festival that Noah Baumbach is interested in adapting Jonathan Franzen’s 2001 National Book Award winner, The Corrections, into a drama series for HBO. As Amanda Dobbins over at Vulture notes, the material would be a far cry from “his traditional broken home bread and butter,” but given his recent less than stellar track record (we liked Greenberg, but Margot at the Wedding?), maybe shaking things up would signal a return to Squid and the Whale-level output for the filmmaker. Plus, he’ll still get to create something that’s super depressing — it doesn’t get much darker than the Lambert family. We see this as a chance for HBO to add something along the lines of Six Feet Under or Big Love back into the rotation. What do you think?
It’s strange to see a TV character reading a book, since it’s such a solitary activity. But do we really expect them to reference imaginary novels in conversations in their fictional universes? Sometimes there’s a break in the narrative and the outside world comes into the story, alerting the viewer to the fact that both worlds can be fluid. This happens pretty frequently in Mad Men, where time-appropriate novels are read and discussed with bartenders, spouses, or in secret in the ladies’ lounge. (We’re looking at you, Lady Chatterley’s Lover.) Last year, we created a summer reading list of books referenced in the show. This time around, we were inspired by this Tumblr post to expand our focus to include more series, so get ready to discover what your favorite characters leaf through on a lazy afternoon when you’re not around.
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Everyone knows that you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but um, we kind of do it all the time. In fact, half the fun of that anachronistic pleasure known as bookstore browsing is to indulge in that very vice — allowing certain covers or color schemes to catch your eye and draw you over to a tome you might never have picked up otherwise. That’s not to say that the covers, or even the descriptions on the back or inside flaps are necessarily good indicators of the book itself. Some cover designs achieve a perfect pairing of style and substance, some are to the point, and some are wildly off-base, inducing disgust and/or laughter when you actually read the book in question. Enter our new favorite tumblr: the delightfully witty Plausible-Seeming but Tonally Inappropriate Book Covers, in which a mystery artist (artists?) imagines possible bad book covers for some of our modern classics, complete with brilliant (and consistent, and upsetting) accolades from modern American hero Jonathan Franzen. Click through to see some of our favorites and let us know what you think in the comments.
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Sometimes the best and most engrossing stories are those about the most terrible and heartbreaking events. Inspired by the Guardian’s article on the joys of unhappy marriage literature, we thought we’d catalog a few of our own favorites (a few of which, we admit, overlap with the Guardian’s choices). These novels, sad as they are, are completely beautiful. It’s like not being able to look away from a car accident, hard as you try — intense grief is an incredibly captivating emotion, and as humans, empathy is rewarding and cathartic. Click through for our list of unhappy marriage literature that is nonetheless wonderful to read, and let us know which books contain your own most dearly held crumbling marriage stories.
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