http://www.avclub.com/feed/BooksThe A.V. ClubFri, 06 Nov 2009 13:35:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/november-6-2009,35099/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books In 1975, cartoonist and children’s book illustrator Stuart Hample had the bright idea to take the luckless, lovelorn, philosophical persona of Woody Allen—then famous for what the aliens in Allen’s <i>Stardust Memories</i> would later call his “early, funny films”—and turn it into a daily newspaper strip. Amazingly, Allen agreed, and even offered to provide Hample with a thick stack of pages compiled from his old notebooks, full of jokes and fragments of ideas. In 1976, <i>Inside Woody Allen</i> debuted from King Features, and it ran until 1984, by which time Allen’s stature in popular culture ... Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:35:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/november-6-2009,35099/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/two-more-chances-to-see-the-av-club-read-from-inve,35060/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books As you might have heard somewhere or the other, we have a delightful new book out called <i><a href="http://store.theonion.com/new-inventory-by-the-writers-of-the-av-club-p-1013.html">Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined By Saxophone, And 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists</a></i>. Man, it’s a fantastic book, really. And it would make a great holiday gift. And <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Inventory-Featuring-Saxophone-Obsessively-Pop-Culture/dp/1416594736/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1257464724&amp;sr=8-1">affordably priced</a>? You bet! Wait. What was I talking about? Oh yeah! We’re going to be doing two more, probably final, appearances reading from the book next week, one in Milwaukee and one at our home base in Chicago. Details, you say? Tuesday, November ... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:58:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/two-more-chances-to-see-the-av-club-read-from-inve,35060/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/wyclef-jean-to-write-tellall-book,35028/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books <a href="http://www.sohh.com/2009/11/wyclef_reveals_tell-all_book_details_the.html">Sohh.com is reporting </a>that Wyclef Jean has inked a deal to write a tell-all memoir chronicling his time in The Fugees. Anthony Bozza, who recently co-wrote Tracy Morgan's memoir, will co-write the book, which will be released by It Books, an imprint of Harper Collins, The book will reportedly cover Jean's childhood in Haiti, breakthrough with the Fugees, solo career and incestuous relationship with Mamas and The Papas frontman John Phillips. Boy, that guy really gets around. Sohh.com goes on to report that Q-Tip is reportedly working on a tell-all as well. Finally, we shall all ... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:38:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/wyclef-jean-to-write-tellall-book,35028/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/philip-k-dick,35021/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books Pop culture can be as forbidding as it is inviting, particularly in areas that invite geeky obsession: The more devotion a genre or series or subculture inspires, the easier it is for the uninitiated to feel like they’re on the outside looking in. But geeks aren’t born; they’re made. And sometimes it only takes the right starting point to bring newbies into various intimidatingly vast obsessions. Gateways To Geekery is our regular attempt to help those who want to be enthralled, but aren’t sure where to start. Want advice? Suggest future Gateways To Geekery topics by ... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/philip-k-dick,35021/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/douglas-coupland-generation-a,34996/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books After Douglas Coupland’s 1991 novel <i>Generation X</i> became an international bestseller and slapped a name on a generation of kids, he resisted becoming a spokesperson for them, and disavowed the label he’d given them. For his 13th novel, <i>Generation A</i>, he establishes the source of the Gen-A term up front in an commencement-speech epigraph from Kurt Vonnegut—supposedly Vonnegut’s rebuttal to the Gen-X label. And again, he isn’t trying to label an entire age group. His protagonists are treated as anything but typical, thanks to a zoological fluke that brought them together, and through which they ... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/douglas-coupland-generation-a,34996/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/anne-rice-angel-time,34995/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books In retrospect, Anne Rice was way ahead of her time. Imagine the fortune she could be making on books and ancillary properties if she were publishing her Vampire Chronicles in the vampire-crazy 21st-century market. Perhaps it’s to her credit that she got vampires out of her system before the glut, but what she’s pumping out these days is enough to make anybody wish she’d hop back on the bloodsucker bandwagon. Rice returned to her childhood Catholicism with a vengeance in 2004, and since then, she’s been writing “only for the Lord.” And now she’s taken ... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/anne-rice-angel-time,34995/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/tracy-morgan-with-anthony-bozza-i-am-the-new-black,34998/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books Tracy Morgan is an extremely funny, naturally gifted comedian who has led a crazy life. He’s also black. Regardless of whether those things are obvious, readers will be reminded of them again and again and again in Morgan’s thin autobiography, <i>I Am The New Black</i>. His story is undoubtedly interesting: He grew up in tough New York neighborhoods, hustling to make ends meet, and to meet girls. His father, a PTSD-stricken Vietnam vet, died from AIDS after years of IV drug abuse. After stints as a drug dealer (among other things), Morgan eventually focused on comedy and essentially ... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/tracy-morgan-with-anthony-bozza-i-am-the-new-black,34998/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/john-irving-last-night-in-twisted-river,34997/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books <i>Last Night In Twisted River</i> is the <i>I’m Not There</i> of John Irving novels. Like Todd Haynes’ attempts to turn Bob Dylan into a figure of myth in that film, Irving playfully invents a story that’s as much about the pleasures of reading one of his novels as it is anything else, until it poignantly turns into a paean for a dying art and a plea for the idea of the story. This could all seem self-indulgent. Instead, it’s Irving’s best since the ’80s. As a novelist, Irving simultaneously seems to invite questions of how much ... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/john-irving-last-night-in-twisted-river,34997/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/rob-young-editor-the-wire-primers-a-guide-to-moder,34999/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books In its 27 years, the London-based music magazine <i>The Wire</i>—whose function has been to treat German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, astral-jazz shaman Sun Ra, and dubstep pioneer Kode9 as pop stars—has found an enviable niche as one of the few newsstand titles in its league continuing to thrive as more mainstream-minded titles go belly-up. Besides catering to a hard core of music lovers who think there’s more to life and listening than the umpteenth Beatles cover story, <i>The Wire</i> runs essential regular features like Invisible Jukebox (name-that-tune sessions that expand into discussions of the interviewee’s career and ... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/rob-young-editor-the-wire-primers-a-guide-to-moder,34999/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/berenstain-bears-movie-to-change-the-way-you-think,34913/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books Thanks to <em>Where The Wild Things Are</em>, Hollywood now knows that you don't need to have more than 130 words in a source material to make a successful live-action children's-book-to-film adaptation. (However, you may need a lot of therapy-speak, some great costumes, and the ability to wring of James Gandolfini's loud, sonorous breathing for every ounce of dramatic effect possible.) Of course, words and already developed characters might not <em>hurt</em>, which is maybe why Hollywood (the giant, monolithic entity. Heard of it?) has decided to make a movie out of the beloved <em>Berenstain Bears</em> books. Well, that ... Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:15:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/berenstain-bears-movie-to-change-the-way-you-think,34913/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/reminder-to-the-white-sea-is-novembers-book-select,34915/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books Still reading along with <em>The A.V. Club</em>'s Wrapped Up In Books club? Here's your official reminder of the next selection. Starting Monday, November 30th, we'll spend a week delving into Scott Tobias' suggestion for the section, James Dickey's <em>To The White Sea. </em>Here's what Scott has to say about why he selected it:<i> </i> "After hearing that the Coen brothers intended to adapt <em>To The White Sea</em> as a movie—a project they’ve since put on indefinite hold—I was curious to imagine how this deep cut in Dickey’s bibliography (he’s most ... Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:55:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/reminder-to-the-white-sea-is-novembers-book-select,34915/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-comics-journal-cuts-back-to-twiceyearly-and-ot,34828/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books Still more comics tidbits, non-superhero department:  -The vanguard alt-comics publisher Fantagraphics has announced that its flagship news/reviews magazine <em>The Comics Journal</em> will now be published only twice a year, though those two editions will be "uniquely sized and formatted, evocatively visual and tactile," and feature themed content, similar to the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_2_14?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=comics+journal+library&amp;x=0&amp;y=0&amp;sprefix=comics+journal">special "library" editions</a> <em>TCJ</em> has released in recent years. To supplement the magazine, Fantagraphics will be upping the content on the <em>Journal</em>'s website, <a href="http://tcj.com/">tcj.com</a>, adding more material from the magazine's archives, more up-to-the-minute news, and sections of audio, video, and original art. (Here's hoping the ... Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-comics-journal-cuts-back-to-twiceyearly-and-ot,34828/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/marvel-comics-to-offer-some-issues-to-buyview-via,34827/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books Good news for those who like their superhero comics to be really, really tiny! <a href="http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/10/30/more-on-marvel-on-iphone/">As reported on The Beat</a> over the weekend, Marvel Comics is now offering some its titles on the most-popular comics-buying/reading iPod apps: Comixology, iVerse, Panelfly and Scrollmotion. At the moment, there are only a limited number of issues available (and they're somewhat different for each app, oddly). Also, the price seems a little high: either 99 cents or $1.99 per issue. But hey, Marvel has to cover the cost of... um... scanning them in? Anyway, this is a step in a positive direction ... Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:30:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/marvel-comics-to-offer-some-issues-to-buyview-via,34827/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/yall-jealous-of-sarah-palin,34766/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books On this special Halloween edition of the Hater podcast, Amelie Gillette and former Onion video contributor/current writer/producer for Grist.org, Jennifer Prediger, don't mention Halloween once! But they don't need to because there is something inherently scary about every topic they discussed— which fictional characters are jealous of Sarah Palin; Charmin's devious plan to confine people to bathrooms in Times Square; and Sandra "Here's A Stack Of Cakes" Lee.  Enjoy, but watch out for razorblades. Subscribe to The Hatecast <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=321206433">iTunes</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://feeds.theonion.com/hatecast">feeds.theonion.com/hatecast</a> Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500http://www.avclub.com/articles/yall-jealous-of-sarah-palin,34766/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/ghost-story-tasha-robinsons-comments,34753/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books Don’t feel so alone here in the middle ground, Ellen. If the bell curve is any indication, it should probably be pretty crowded here. Frankly, I’ve been a little surprised at the vitriolic backlash against <i>Ghost Story</i>, which I thought would be a pretty popular book-club choice, accessible and easy to discuss. I’d never read Peter Straub before (apart from the two <i>Talisman</i> books he co-authored with Stephen King), but I had somehow mentally conflated him with King and with John Saul, and I thought <i>Ghost Story </i>would be a relatively quick, pulpy, beachy kinda read. So ... Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:32:00 -0500http://www.avclub.com/articles/ghost-story-tasha-robinsons-comments,34753/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/ghost-story-live-chat-kicks-off-here-at-430-pm-et,34743/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books <a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=1cd0232851" >Wrapped Up In Books: Ghost Story</a> Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:19:00 -0500http://www.avclub.com/articles/ghost-story-live-chat-kicks-off-here-at-430-pm-et,34743/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/hp-lovecraft,34737/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books Pop culture can be as forbidding as it is inviting, particularly in areas that invite geeky obsession: The more devotion a genre or series or subculture inspires, the easier it is for the uninitiated to feel like they’re on the outside looking in. But geeks aren’t born; they’re made. And sometimes it only takes the right starting point to bring newbies into various intimidatingly vast obsessions. Gateways To Geekery is our regular attempt to help those who want to be enthralled, but aren’t sure where to start. Want advice? Suggest future Gateways To Geekery topics by ... Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -0500http://www.avclub.com/articles/hp-lovecraft,34737/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/chuck-klosterman-eating-the-dinosaur,34714/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books In <i>Sex, Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs</i>, Chuck Klosterman writes that he empathizes with Billy Joel’s complaints of being inexplicably depressed and unimpressed with success. While plenty has changed in pop culture and Klosterman’s own life since his first essay collection was published in 2003, it’s clear from reading <i>Eating The Dinosaur</i> that he still feels ambiguous about his now-even-greater fame. Of course it’s unlikely he’d ever admit that. Klosterman, a contributing editor for <i>Esquire</i> and a regular writer for <i>The New York Times Magazine</i> (and, full disclosure, an occasional contributor here) admits multiple times in ... Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500http://www.avclub.com/articles/chuck-klosterman-eating-the-dinosaur,34714/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/colin-harrison-risk,34717/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books Charles Dickens’ detractors blame his often-florid style on the original method in which he published many of his novels, in serialized, paid-by-the-word newspaper installments. Colin Harrison’s seventh novel, <i>Risk</i>, first published in <i>The New York Times Magazine</i>, gives the lie to presumptions about what the serial can do. The form may be due for a reinstatement if it produces more books like this energetic tale of an unlikely private investigator. An insurance lawyer whose career is solid but unexciting, George Young is summoned to the scene of a several-weeks-old accidental death only at the behest of the widow of ... Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500http://www.avclub.com/articles/colin-harrison-risk,34717/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_bookshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/dino-buzzati-poem-strip,34719/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books Based on the Greek mythological story of Orpheus and Eurudice, Dino Buzzati’s pioneering graphic novel <i>Poem Strip</i> was originally published in Italy in 1969 (as <i>Poema A Fumetti</i>), and it’s surprising that it’s taken four decades to see print in the U.S.—Marina Harss’ English translation is its first. Comics have been described as movies on paper, and this one reads like a rock ’n’ roll-sexploitation-fantasy-occult midnight cult favorite.  <i>Poem Strip</i> is mostly an excuse for Buzzati to reimagine Milan as a phantasmagoria as alluring as any of the artists he liberally borrows from: His plot ... Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500http://www.avclub.com/articles/dino-buzzati-poem-strip,34719/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_books