There are divas and there are their lesser-known male counterparts, divos; the thing that unites them is their willingness to make demands and to do whatever it takes to stay in the spotlight. You cannot wrestle their trophies away from them; they will never give you the opportunity. A diva is a prima donna; the ego is there for all to see. There’s a vulnerability to that which can be touching, but most of the time you’ll never see it because the show they put on often obscures any real sense of themselves; they create and become spectacles — especially in the book world.
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Can authors write for both kids and adults? The Guardian doesn’t seem to think so, but with this list we beg to differ. Sure, there’s some crossover in genre — as we all know, a lot of adults love Harry Potter with all the strength in their muggle bodies — but the books we’ve picked were written expressly for children, regardless of whether or not grown ups like them too, and written by authors who are primarily famous for their adult literature. You may be surprised by who has made the foray into kiddie lit — it turns out that some of the most serious authors we can think of have a warm, nougat center full of laughter and sunshine. Or something like that. Click through to see our list of children’s book written by famous “adult” authors and let us know which of your favorites we’ve missed in the comments!
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1. An earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale hit off the coast of Japan this morning (the strongest ever recorded in the country), followed by a massive, 33-foot-high tsunami. Google has responded to the crisis by launching a tool that “helps you find a person or provide information on missing persons.” The site also “aggregates important resources, maps and other related information.” [via Mashable]
2. Salman Rushdie is writing the script for a new TV show! Next People, which will air on Showtime, is said to examine different aspects of American life. [via Vulture]
3. Microsoft has patented an online dating service that will help people with “fringe interests and eccentricities” find mates. And by “fringe interests and eccentricities” they mean “comic books.” [via Gawker]
4. Quentin Tarantino is suing his next door neighbor Alan Ball over some exotic birds on the True Blood creator’s property that emit “blood-curdling screams.” According to Tarantino, the noise has “seriously disrupted [his] ability to work as a writer in his home.” Check out a copy of the actual lawsuit here.
5. Forbes has released its annual list of hip-hop’s wealthiest artists: Diddy, Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Birdman, and 50 Cent. Sean Combs is worth about $475 million; Jay-Z a close second at $450 million. [via Jezebel]
Bonus link: Jon Cryer Admits He’s a Troll
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but can you judge a country by the kind of covers it puts on its books? We’ve always found the cover changes between US and UK editions of the same books pretty interesting – they must be reflective of our different cultures in some way incomprehensible to us. After all, book jacket designers are trying to capture the attention and imagination of their target populace, so it’s fascinating to see what the experts think will attract a Brit versus what they think might attract an American. Inspired by the annual US vs UK book cover comparison of Rooster contenders over at The Millions, we decided to make a list of our own, comparing the covers of our favorite books from last year — and, just for fun, a few of our favorite books from years past. Click through to see the comparisons and our picks for the winners, and let us know what you think in the comments!
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The release of Quirk Classics’ The Meowmorphosis reimagines Franz Kafka’s classic tale with a Lolcat friendly kitten instead of the original insect. Although Kafka isn’t known to have been particularly cute or cuddly in either his life or work (though skittish, yes), we couldn’t help but ponder which animals do match up with famous authors. It’s an imprecise science, sure, but here are our bids for cross-species author/animal pairings.
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1. Gap is reverting back to its old classic logo after everyone on the Internet hated the company’s recent rebranding, which was part of an attempt to appeal more to Millennials. [via NYO]
2. Salman Rushdie is writing a memoir about the years he spent in hiding because of the fatwa on his head over The Satanic Verses. [via ArtsBeat]
3. Courteney Cox and David Arquette have announced that they have separated after 11 years of marriage. [via EW]
4. Even though no one has approached him about it, Damon Albarn says that he won’t let Glee cover any of Gorillaz’s songs on the show because he finds their versions “a very poor substitute for the real thing.” [via Vulture]
5. Jon Stewart addressed New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino’s recent homophobic remarks on last night’s Daily Show. On a related note, we kind of wish that he’d run for governor. (video) [via Gawker]
Bonus link: The five greatest Cosby sweaters of all time
Excellent authors avoid writing cliches. The problem is that some of these very authors do not apply the same level of vigilance when it comes to taking promotional photographs, whether they’re for magazine profiles or back-of-the-book biographies. In an attempt to look uniquely profound yet accessible, or convey some novel combination of deep thoughts with good times, a lot of writers end up looking exactly the same as their peers. It doesn’t matter if the authors are well-established or just scheduling their first panel discussion — all are susceptible to producing hackneyed images.
Since we don’t expect authors to be virtuosos in every medium, we thought we’d take a critical look at five categories of promotional-author photography as a warning for all future writers who want to break out of the formula.
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Labor Day may have marked the unofficial end of summer, but last week’s long weekend also marked the beginning of the publishing world’s fall book rush. With dozens of new titles hitting shelves in the months leading up to December’s holiday shopping spree, this is the season to celebrate books across all categories. Our highlights for fall’s upcoming releases are spread out across a variety of genres, assuring ample reading options for every literary preference.
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When J.D. Salinger died last week at the age of 91, the Twitter- and the literatti aligned to mourn the reclusive writer. Charles McGrath wrote a touching obit in the New York Times; Lillian Ross waxed poetic in The New Yorker and Bret Easton Ellis, tweeted, “Yeah!! Thank God he’s finally dead. I’ve been waiting for this day for-fucking-ever. Party tonight!!!” Ah, the Twitterverse, where Chilon of Sparta’s maxim “Don’t speak ill of the dead” doesn’t apply, as long as you can do it in under 140 characters. We turned to the Twitterverse to see how other luminaries, literary and decidedly unliterary, marked Salinger’s passing*.
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Today at Flavorpill, we cheered for Judy Greer, a beloved character actress who’s finally getting her own ABC series. We couldn’t decide who we find more frightening: Glenn Beck or his armed bodyguard. We made a mental note never to piss off (or date) Salman Rushdie. We wished we lived in Australia, where Stephen Soderbergh is debuting Tot Mom, a play about Nancy Grace. We discovered it’s no accident that Christian Bale’s American Psycho performance reminds us of Tom Cruise. We welcomed Trent Reznor back to Twitter. How long do you think before Courtney Love caves? We learned how to eat a horse. We met Jordan Wolfson, winner of The Cartier Prize 2009 at the Frieze Art Fair. We discovered a positive side effect of reality TV. Now we’re off to watch the new Fever Ray video for “Stranger Than Kindness” which just premiered on VanityFair.com. You can watch it too after the jump.
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