Just when we were starting to put this season of Top Chef behind us: “A tipster caught quite the virtual tickle-fight between everyone’s local favorite Top Chef alums Stefan Richter and Fabio Viviani, and it seems that the Team Euro love that started on the television has now extended to the realm of Facebook. From what we gather, Stefan thinks Fabio — aka ‘prince of sandwiches and ice cream’ — has been lifting friends from his profile so he’s returned the favor in effort to win Top Facebook.” Whatever it is about social networking that makes us sad, reality TV stars exacerbate it. [via Eater] Read More »
Usually just one to three minutes long, the best book trailers swiftly inform potential readers of what to expect. But unlike most movie previews, these trailers are often interpretive, rather than plot-focused; they spring from the imagination of their creators, as well as from the books they represent. Search YouTube and you’ll find thousands of examples. Read More »
As we mentioned earlier, the long list of finalists for the Man Booker International Prize was announced today by judging panel chair Jane Smiley in a press conference held at the New York Public Library. Flavorwire pal Ron Hogan did some great Twittereporting from the conference; there’s a lot of chatter around the scarcity of East Asian and Middle Eastern writers on this and past Booker Int’l lists.
Speaking of lists and Brits, The Times has a piece on 10 literary one-hit wonders. Apparently, “one-hit” refers exclusively to novels, because the list includes Oscar Wilde, J.D. Salinger, and Sylvia Plath. Who needs plays, short stories, or poetry?
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Seven years into his involvement with short fiction, Wells Tower has finally released a book of collected stories. The young author is a regular in The Atlantic, and has had work in the Paris Review, The Believer, and McSweeney’s. The new collection’s title, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, hints at the inevitable tragedies within, but not so much at Tower’s stealthy observation and wit; in his inimitable vernacular, the writer addresses the ties that bind and the conversation between man and nature. Sabrina Jaszi at our sister publication Boldtype got his take on the debut.
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