Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

at Thought Catalog, 25 Things You Didn’t Know About THE GREAT GATSBY

at Flavorwire, The Funniest Meanest Reviews of Dan Brown’s INFERNO

at The New York Times’ Paper Cuts, Anthologies That (Mostly) Stand the Test of Time

at Writer Unboxed, 10 Ways to Torture Yourself as a Writer

at HTMLGIANT, A Summer Reading List of Conceptual Literature

at EduHacker, 5 Reasons Libraries Will Fail–Published in 1864

at Word and Film, The Literary References Informing Mad Men

at Longreads, 6 Stories for the Science Fiction Newbie

at The Huffington Post, 17 Proper Ways to Treat a “Literary Lady”

at Ebook Friendly, 10 Examples of Book Love Gone Wrong (in Pictures)

Reducing an entire genre to one person’s books as a source of comparison is limiting and reductive of the nuances, the depth, and the range of voices that exist within it. Believe it or not, John Green is not the be all, end all of contemporary realistic YA fiction.

I hope you have your nerdfighter repellant handy.

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One caveat is that Open Road wants to run special sales involving promotional codes — to give a reader 10 percent off a title, for instance. Friedman said that with the exception of Sony, the retailers don’t support these yet, and so Open Road might run a limited number of promotions itself in the future.

Man, it’s stupid that online retailers don’t support promotional codes. This would work, folks.

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If readers upgrade their ‘phone or tablet then why should they have to buy the same book content again?

Ummmmm. You know you don’t have to do this, right? You’ve heard of apps, right?

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At the time of the final Borders store closings in September 2011, Borders had approximately 17.7 million outstanding gift cards with unredeemed balances of $210.5 million.

You mean there are people out there that don’t use gift cards within 17 minutes of getting them? Freaks.

As a geek who divides his time between books and video games, I seriously cherish those wonderful moments when literature and gaming find a common ground. Like when a game has a series of well written tie-in novels or you’re able to fight Agatha Christie as Edgar Allen Poe.

Recently Spry Fox!, a game developer from Seattle, announced a new puzzle game that totally hits that sweet spot.

Entitled Road Not Taken, the original game takes your character through an “ever-changing forest in the aftermath of a brutal winter storm”, and is influenced by Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken. The game is an exploration of at least one answer to the question… what happens when someone wanders off the path, and onto that road not taken.

You can learn more about the game over on Spry Fox’s website, but all you really need to do is watch that trailer, which features lines from Frost’s poem. The game hits at the end of 2013. And I can’t wait!

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Say you’ve always wanted to read something by William Faulkner. You probably know a bunch of his books: The Sound and the Fury; As I Lay Dying; Light in August; Absalom, Absalom! Maybe you’ve even come close to buying one. But every time you think about it, there’s that big question: Which should you read first? Start Here solves that problem.

It tells you how to read your way into 25 amazing authors from a wide range of genres–children’s books to classics, contemporary fiction to graphic novels. Each chapter presents an author, explains why you might want to try them, and lays out a 3-4 book reading sequence designed to help you experience fully what they have to offer. It’s a fun, accessible, informative way to enrich your reading life.

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Submit your response using the form below. Five randomly selected winners will receive the ebook of START HERE, Volume 1. Good luck!

**Be warned: if you Tweet your guess or leave a comment with your guess, you’re not only disqualified for this week, but for the rest of the month.**

Here we go:

Name Authors Who Wrote Books in Multiple Languages

When you participate, you agree to the following: I acknowledge that should I be a lucky soul who wins free swag, my free swag should arrive in a couple of weeks. The sponsor will fulfill the free swag in their preferred format. The format may be a scroll or a hardback, an ebook or an audiobook, or a download directly into my brain. Regardless, I acknowledge that it is free swag, and I’ll be happy because life is too short to be sad about free swag.

The panel was held at Politics & Prose (DC’s preeminent independent bookseller) and featured some of the heaviest hitters in the industry: leading children’s literature scholar Leonard Marcus, editor Neal Porter, authors Jon Scieszka, Meg Medina, and Mac Barnett and author/illustrators Christopher Myers and Laura Vaccaro Seeger.

Now, if you expect a picture book panel to be all fluffy bunnies and birthday cake, then you would have been terribly disappointed. However, if you’re looking for an erudite discussion about the future of picture books with topics ranging from David Foster Wallace to nipples, then my dear friend you came to the right place.

Seated before a full house on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the panelists wasted no time taking a deep dive into the key issues of their field. For those who don’t have the good fortune of living near Politics & Prose, here are some highlights from the sprawling 90-minute conversation.

(Disclaimer: all quotes should be considered paraphrasing because while I did take notes, my handwriting makes chickenscratch look like Lucida Calligraphy.)

• The Price We Pay: Does the high price point of picture books limit access for economically challenged populations? “We are pricing kids out of great stories,” Barnett lamented.  He and Scieszka pointed to literacy programs that betray their cause by distributing low-quality books (often cheap movie tie-ins) posing as literature. Scieszka, the first ever National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, made the simple but important point that “the way to get kids to be readers is to give them something great to read.” And while many of the panelists agreed that the art of bookmaking is thriving, Myers wondered if there is a danger in commodifying books as artistic objects–if we’ve reached a point of no return where books are no longer viewed as essential, but as luxury items. Marcus then provided a counterpoint by bringing out the nerd hammer and declaring the picture book to be actually quite affordable once you’ve “ammortized the cost over a year of reading”.
• Reflections on Race: Medina spoke forcefully about the challenges of writing geared towards a Latino audience, pointing out that “[America] is the only place where we’re Latinos, everywhere else we’re Guatemalans, Mexicans… there’s incredible diversity here and yet we’re all lumped into this one category.” Elaborating on the importance of diverse characters in literature, she described a potentially vicious cycle, because “children like to see themselves reflected in their books and if we want these children to become authors, we first have to fuel the fires that keep them interested in reading.”
• Uptight Americans: Speaking on the global publishing industry, Porter was asked if the international community viewed Americans as uptight. While wary of playing up cultural stereotypes, he said, “My short answer is yes. Everywhere I go people say, ‘Oh you Americans, you are so afraid of the nipple.’”
• Metafiction is Hilarious: Vaccaro Seeger (who’s brilliant First the Egg is an all-time great) pointed out that its “important to give children enough credit to challenge them—whether that’s using vocabulary that is not considered grade-level appropriate or challenging them conceptually and visually.” Barnett (who studied with David Foster Wallace) was especially excited about picture books as a perfect vehicle for experimental fiction (which is a particular soft spot of mine). Using the misadventures of Wile E. Coyote as an example, he said that while children might not get all the complexities of the joke, they laugh because, well, metafiction is hilarious. However, he also emphasized that the story still has to appeal to the young reader on a basic level because, “the stakes are high—if we don’t deliver [on other aspects of narrative], then they’ve been burned by experimental fiction.”
• Eeeeeee! Books!: On the topic of ebooks, Barnett had a very even-handed perspective. This is where he brought the thunder by mentioning “skeomorphism” (in short, design intended to make one medium look like another material or technology.  Think faux-leather, or in this case, the animated page turn.) “Books for the iPad should be written for that format.  There can be amazing stories for ebooks… but they’ll be something different, they won’t be picture books.” Porter was more blunt, comparing the experience of the animated page turn to “pushing a dead fish”.
• Whimsy vs. Dark Matter: Myers was most passionate when describing his desire to go to the dark side in his subject matter. “Children are dark little beings,” he declared to the delight of the crowd, “we have to give them a place to channel it.” And while describing the challenges of finding the right balance between the whimsical and the serious, he warned about the dangers of dichotomizing the two.  “We are giving kids ways to talk about their life, a vocabulary. If our stories only give them one or the other [the whimsical or the serious], then we have failed them.”

It was only a matter of time though before the conversation took its inevitable turn to fluffy bunnies and birthday cake—but not how you might expect. Scieszka and Barnett are collaborating on a new book. The concept is that a child receives a book called The Birthday Bunny, the most trite, cloying book imaginable (which Scieszka and Barnett wrote by “turning off their brains”).

The kid then takes it upon himself to alter the text and pictures, transforming it into the book he actually wants to read: The Battle Bunny.

This is a fun concept that kids can relate to that just happens to feature a complex layering of visual and written language and challenges children to consider (consciously or not) the intricacies and possibilities of narrative. This is both kid’s play and not–and exactly what makes me love the world of picture books.

The field is filled with these incredibly innovative and passionate thinkers who are very serious about their craft, but do not take themselves too seriously. As the panel ended and the crowd dispersed, one thing was abundantly clear: while we may not be able to predict the future of the picture book, we do know that it is in very good hands.

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Novel Cheeseboard: Spare your actual books the knife marks and grease spots, with bookish teak cheeseboards.

Charles Bukowski Onesie: For the future hipster babies everywhere. Because who hasn’t peed in the sink?

Metroros Print: Game of Thrones’ Westeros as a subway map. Because it doesn’t get any more awesome.

Penguin Classic Luggage Tags: Never pick up the wrong bag at baggage claim again, with that familiar orange cover design you know and love strapped to the handle.

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Let’s face it: parenting a teenage reader can be a daunting task. With an ever-growing number of literary influences on today’s youth, it can often be difficult just to know where to start a bookish conversation with your teen. But after nearly five years teaching English to sixteen and seventeen year-old students, I feel confident in my grasp of the psychology of the teen reader and am pleased to offer, free of charge, some tips on how best to approach these tough conversations and steer your teen from the path of popular swill to the dizzying heights of great literature.

Be Prepared

As with many endeavors, preparation can be the difference between success and failure in a bookish conversation with your teen. Make sure you’ve done your homework, even if that means checking your child’s library checkout records, sneaking a peek into their backpack or the back of their sock drawers for evidence of the Wrong Kinds of Books (privacy schmrivacy say I, especially given the potentially dire situation). Ask the hard questions. When it comes to the words to which your son or daughter is exposed to, err on the side of caution.

And what if your research reveals something unpleasant? What if you discover that your child has been reading novelizations of Michael Bay movies or inexplicably popular self-published Twilight fan fiction?

Experimentation is Normal

It may be of little consolation to worried parents, but literary experimentation is completely normal for teenagers. You remember those vulnerable, confusing years, right? I know it would be wonderful if more of our kids turned to great works for comfort and inspiration, but if I’m honest, I can recall a fair few Star Wars Expanded Universe novels and mass market thrillers occupying my bedside table when I was a younger man, and look how I turned out. I’ve read Melville and Joyce. For fun!

There But for the Grace of God Go I

Now, I hear parents say all the time that they feel like frauds for confronting their children about their reading habits when they think back to their own youth and the questionable choices they made. But those choices are the very reason you need to be strong in the face of such doubts. The next time you see some poor soul walking out of the library with a stack of Danielle Steele under their arm, think about your kids. Think about the moment you knew you had to turn your reading life around. Not everyone will come to Austen and McCarthy and Morrison on their own. Be the change you wish to see in what your teen reads.

Tread Carefully

When you actually make it to the point of conversation, try to be understanding. After all, your teen may see what he or she is reading as perfectly natural in light of what “the other kids” read. Your son or daughter might not understand why you are so concerned, and may likely respond with hostility toward even the most innocuous questions about his or her reading. Let your child lead the discussion. Ask them to explain, if they can, what attracted them to the books they’re reading. Admittedly, you might not like what you hear, but no one ever said parenting a young reader was easy; if it were, everybody at Picador would’ve gotten a $5000 bonus from sales of Bolaño’s 2666, am I right?

Remember, though, that you’re the parent here. Understanding has its limits, and kids need guidance. I’ve found that teenagers respond especially well to being told what to do, and the responsibility will likely fall to you to set some boundaries for them.

Speak Softly, and Carry a Nobel Laureate

Conversations with teen readers can be rocky, and their fruits are not always immediately apparent. Nevertheless, it’s vital that you continue to set a good example for your child even when you aren’t sure if more direct efforts are making a difference. Make sure that great literature is prominently displayed and read frequently in common areas of the home. Teenagers are naturally curious beings. Use this to your advantage! Put a lock on the book cabinet if you have to, and send the message to your kid that some books are simply too mature for them. I’d bet that in a few short weeks that copy of D.H. Lawrence looks a little more well worn. I warn you that attempting to actually recommend these books to your child is likely to backfire. The trick is to make them think that reading great works is their idea.

Start ‘em Young

Maybe your children have not yet reached their tumultuous teenage years. Count yourself fortunate, and start taking steps now that will alleviate your concerns later. A younger mind is much more susceptible to direct influence. It’s best to take full advantage and get your child hooked on great literature early. My three year-old sleeps with a copy of Pale Fire under his pillow that I told him was left there by the book fairy, who’ll be highly disappointed if he hasn’t read and annotated it by the next time she shows up. This may sound extreme, but later on, when kids his age are getting into the Percy Jackson novels, he’ll be busy with the Norton Critical Edition of Heart of Darkness. Who will look silly then, huh?

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“New stories inspired by books, shows, movies, comics, music, and games people love.”

So, uh, you mean fanfiction, right, Jeff?

As I understand it, Amazon has licensed certain characters and shows so that they can be written about…and sold.

People can now earn royalties on their DamonXStefan slash fic*. I’m not sure how I feel about this.

Here’s the thing, I love fanfiction. I think it’s often a great supplement to the original work. It’s a great way to gain camaraderie in a fandom, to see the trends of what is and isn’t popular. And it’s a way to get what you want while still respecting canon.

And there is good fanfiction. Wide Sargasso Sea is a wonderful book. It is also total fanfiction. It’s Jane Eyre, but from Bertha’s perspective. And it’s awesome. And in 2006, the Pulitzer prize winner for fiction was a novel called March. Which is, as you may have guessed, Little Women from Mr. March’s POV.

So why is it that this Amazon promise of royalties puts such a pit in my stomach? Is it the self-publishing aspect? Or is it that these are currently running series and books? Or… is it that a lot of Fanfiction is poorly written and usually just an excuse for fan service?

Amazon’s already said no pr0n, so the denizens of AFF.net are fairly displeased. And as many on Twitter have attested, Fanfiction is already free. Why in the world would people want to pay for it? Does Amazon think it can monetize everything? (… Probably.)

Here’s a rundown of reactions on Twitter. They seem to me largely negative, but among all the HAVE YOU EVEN READ FANFICTION, AMAZON? tweets, there were some who were pretty excited about the prospect of getting paid for what they love to do.

Twitter responds to Kindle Worlds

http://storify.com/runwithskizzers/amazon-and-fanfiction

*Please don’t do this. They’re brothers.

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I was very skeptical going into the first edition of The cOlbert Book Club, Stephen Colbert’s group read of The Great Gatsby. I’m usually more of a Jon Stewart girl, especially when it comes to the interviews — Colbert tends to overpower his guests (I know, I’m a cranky old lady), so I wasn’t sure how a book club inspired discussion would go.

Surprisingly, I thought the episode about The Great Gatsby was awesome. From the goofy opening video with Carey Mulligan and LeVar Burton to the giant glass of white wine Colbert poured author Egan to the really funny interview with director Baz Luhrmann, it was all great.

I’m not sure if Colbert is going to keep this up, but if he does I have some suggestions about other books I’d love to “read” along with The cOlbert Book Club:

1. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville — All of the books that Colbert might read have to be American, and Moby-Dick seems to be one of the big novels to tackle. I’d also like to see what Colbert thinks about Captain Ahab and his quest for the white whale.

2. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn — One of Colbert’s takeaways from The Great Gatsby is that “bitches be crazy.” If that’s what he thinks of Daisy Buchanan, I can’t wait to hear what he makes of Amy Dunn.

3. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon — This is another one of those books that I think can be looked at as a great American novel. It’s more contemporary, which has an appeal to me in thinking about Colbert. Plus, I think Colbert would have a hard time with comic books, and that’d be funny.

4. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith — Colbert is such a character, that I think any book that centers around someone unreliable or a scammer would be up his alley. I think Colbert would see Tom Ripley as a guy who pulled himself up by his bootstraps in a way that should be admired.

5. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway — Again, a famous American novel. This one came to mind because of all the testosterone. I’d pay to see Colbert go to the running of the bulls.

I almost included Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand on this list, but that one seemed too obvious. But I think Colbert’s take on it would be awesome. If you like to read about dream book adaptations, make sure you check out Kit’s really excellent post 5 Books for Baz Luhrmann’s Next Adaptation, which also has some Colbert-ready choices.

What book would you like to read with Colbert?

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Amazon Publishing announces Kindle Worlds, the first commercial publishing platform that will enable any writer to create fan fiction based on a range of original stories and characters and earn royalties for doing so.

Someone is going to unlock all the potential of fan fiction. Amazon has the pull to do it, but do they get the ethos of fan fiction? We’ll see, I guess.

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And so it behooves us as authors of all shapes and designations and genital configurations (oh and I’m talking to you, too, publishers, if you’ll listen) to look deep into the hearts of our stories and to see if we’re leaning on lazy archetypes, stereotypes, conventions, historical myths or outright buckets of bullshit.

And I would guess nearly all of us are.

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Bestselling author Dan Brown has told fans he knows “exactly what [he] is writing next”, and that he has a locations in mind that “fall into Robert Langdon territory”—though he stopped short of confirming his next book will also feature his famous professor of symbology.

Even his real-life cliffhangers are pretty obvious (and fun).

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A first edition copy of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” that contains author J.K. Rowling’s notes and original illustrations fetched 150,000 pounds ($228,000) at a London auction on Tuesday.

Nerd.

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In this graduation season, it doesn’t take much to see the plunge into a new book as a not imperfect metaphor for life’s journey. To follow-up on Josh Corman’s recent Book Riot posts on some of the best commencement speeches by writers and recommended gifts for graduates, here are three bookish things to keep in mind as you move on to what comes next in this our annual season of renewal.

1) The Metaphysics of Possibility: Ok, so Jorge Luis Borges’ 1941 story, “The Garden of the Forking Paths,” has nothing to do with graduation, but it is all about choice and possibility and the forging of identity. It’s the old idea that every time we make a choice we set our lives on one path or another or another, and that as we come to the next sequential choice, we move further down one specific path and further away from another. Of course, our subsequent choices down these various forking paths can potentially merge again (or not) as we move on down the road.

In Borges’ story, this contrast of infinite possibility and the very finite consequences of choice is represented by a novel—The Garden of the Forking Paths—which is peopled by characters who die on one page and reappear on the next and that unfolds in a series of episodes, some of which overlap and some of which have no logical connection. The idea is that—if you accept the philosophy of the forking paths—that the person you are now could be very similar to another version of yourself out there on another path, or equally that the person you are now could not recognize or even be able to conceive of the “you” out there on one of those other paths.

How far you want to go down that rabbit hole is yet another personal choice, but it is a valuable way to think about the meaningfulness of our decisions, of the odds that one way or another we end up walking the path we choose. As for the actual Borges story, it’s a good one—a World War I detective story featuring a German spy (who is also a Chinese expatriate) on the run in the English countryside from a British intelligence officer (who is also an Irishman who grew up under British rule) toward a climactic scene at the rural home of an old colonial Sinologist and antiquities collector who just happens to have an artifact of great importance to the German spy’s Chinese ancestors. These people and their choices . . .

2) Practical Advice: In 2006, novelist Ann Patchett returned to Sarah Lawrence, her alma mater, to deliver the commencement address. Two years later, HarperCollins published an extended version as What Now?, a book clearly targeted at the graduation gift market (thin hardback, big font, and lots of overly symbolic fork-of-the-road images). Packaging aside, the book is a good quick read, especially for young aspiring writers as Patchett builds her speech around the question What now? and its centrality to human life.

About those forking paths . . . after graduating from Sarah Lawrence, Patchett returned back to her hometown in Tennessee and waited tables until an accident with a steam washer got her fired for her own safety. Patchett then headed off to the Iowa Writer’s Workshop to get an M.F.A. But after a one-year teaching stint, she was back again in Tennessee, this time waiting tables at a T.G.I.Fridays. As she tells her story, Patchett shares several pieces of practical advice, including:

• Practice mindfulness and continuous learning: “It was for me the start of a lesson that I never stop having to learn: to pay attention to the things I’ll probably never need to know, to listen carefully to the people who look as if they have nothing to teach me, to see school as something that goes on everywhere, all the time, not just in libraries but in parking lots, in airports, in trees.”
• Listen to others: “Chances are, anyone who claims not to need the input of any other person on the planet is probably crazy.”
• Be both patient and fully engaged: “If you’re lucky, putting together your life is a process that will last through every single day you’re alive.”

Some of this feels like the usual graduation fodder, but Patchett grounds her advice in the life of her past experiences and memories, and what she says feels true and valuable (more on that below). The book also includes a postscript in which Patchett describes the process of writing and scrapping and rewriting the speech and of the continuing influence and inspiration of two longtime teachers—a reminder that even at the height of her success, Patchett is still open to turning to others for help.

3) Out on the Path (w/the boys of Middle Earth): Ok, I’m about to Tolkien-out a little, but are there any better journey stories than The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings? In the latter, the fate of the entire world rests on the ability of a small group of people to help one another live up to their absolute full potential while facing down all kinds of expected and unexpected obstacles. Here are two quick moments to remember in times of uncertainty and change:

Midway through Two Towers, in a flashback to before the journey began, Aragorn tells Arwen (yes, his elfin princess) of his doubts about what lies ahead. “My path is hidden from me,” Aragorn says. But Arwen is confident. “It is laid before your feet,” she tells him. “You cannot falter now.”

And early in The Hobbit, Bilbo weighs his own uncertain journey, asking Gandalf, “Can you promise that I will come back?” “No,” Gandalf answers. “And if you do, you will not be the same.”

Of course that’s exactly the point: why we open that book, why we set out the door each morning. One way or another, we will not be the same. That’s what Patchett is getting at when she urges her crowd of graduates to “choose a life that will keep expanding.” Of that question—What Now?—Patchett advises that we see it not as a burden, but as something that “represents our excitement and our future, the very vitality of life . . .it is a declaration of possibility, of promise, of chance.” Whatever the obstacles, whatever we cannot change but must face, wherever our path, Patchett frames What Now? as a kind of calling: to engage deeply, to choose our best possible life.

First Impressions:

I had to watch the 1974 Gatsby in high school. I say had to because the only thing I remember from that experience is being BORED OUT OF MY EVER LOVING MIND.

On rewatching it, I can kind of appreciate how Jack Clayton (director) and Francis Ford Coppola (screenplay) were trying to make the book “cinematic” in a 1970s sort of way. It might have actually been a good movie if it weren’t for a few problems that I’ll get to in a bit.

As for the 2013 Gatsby, I’d forgotten that Luhrmann’s films always overwhelm me when I first see them. I left the theater with a massive headache and a general reaction of “Meh,” but I’ll probably like it more when I rewatch it. And it does have its redeeming qualities, especially in comparison to the 1974 version.

Beginning:

The opening of 1974′s Gatsby does a great job of introducing the story in a purely visual way. We see Gatsby’s fancy-butt house, his scrapbook of Daisy paraphernalia, his monogrammed hairbrush, and a photograph of her on his vanity. A guy with a vanity? That’s not a normal guy.

The beginning of Luhrmann’s version opens with Nick in a sanitarium whinging about how people drank too much. Back in the day. Which was like, what, a month ago? This intro makes me think the story is the rambling of syphilitic mind. Then a “doctor” tells Nick he should write this shit down instead of boring him with it, and THEN the movie starts. Because if there’s one thing The Great Gatsby needs, it’s more framing. *headdesk*

WINNER: 1974

Acting:

I don’t know about you all, but if there’s anyone who can look more like my mental image of Jay Gatsby than 38-year-old Robert Redford, I’ve never laid eyes on them. Which makes the fact that he really phones the role in that much suckier. He should have been able to hit this one out of the park; instead, he doesn’t show any emotion AT ALL. Leonardo DiCaprio, on the other hand, does manage to capture Gatsby’s intensity—that’s like DiCaprio’s schtick, right?—and manic mood swings and charisma. Gatsby’s vulnerability could use a little work, but you know.

Elizabeth Debicki plays golf star Jordan Baker in the most recent Gatsby, and she rocks that role out. I love Jordan now! Lois Chiles opens her mouth and blinks a few times in her portrayal of the character. You could honestly cut Jordan out of the 1974 film altogether and no one would notice.

Which one of these men is Sam Waterston and which is Tobey Maguire? YOU DON’T QUITE KNOW, do you???

Nick is played by Sam Waterston in the 1974 version and Tobey Maguire in 2013, and I swear to god THEY LOOK EXACTLY ALIKE. Seriously. Are they related? Because they definitely could be.

And now for Daisy. After watching both these movies, I realized something: Daisy may not do much or develop as a character in any way during the course of The Great Gatsby, but she’s the most important person in the entire story. Like the king on a chessboard—if you lose it, game over. Personally I thought Carey Mulligan brought a lot to the role of Daisy. I could definitely see her as a bird fluttering against the bars of her gilded cage. She’s not a fool, but she wishes she could be so she might at least be happy. Mia Farrow, on the other hand… OH LORDY LORD, Mia Farrow. Her Daisy WAS a “beautiful little fool”; not to mention loud, obnoxious, dull, and kind of narcissistic. Gatsby chasing after some sixty-year-old harridan aunt would make about as much sense.

WINNER: 2013

Sound:

Probably the biggest difference between the films is in their sound—not just the soundtracks, but everything from dialog to sound effects. A lot has been made of Baz Luhrmann’s soundtrack and how appropriate it might or might not be (the Will Friedwald article about it in Wall Street Journal that Cassandra linked to a few weeks ago, for example). Luhrmann uses contemporary artists and musical styles, including hip-hop, as the soundtrack to his film, and I didn’t mind it when I saw the movie; but after seeing the 1974 Great Gatsby, which uses period music, I have to say I agree with Friedwald. It just made more sense and worked a hell of a lot better. Who knew music would be such an important component to Fitzgerald’s sensibility, eh?

Even aside from the soundtrack, though, Clayton’s Great Gatsby is a quieter movie. There’s no score, no crashes or sis-boom-bahs, and no shouting. Even the party scenes are quiet: instead of jumping into the pool and doing the Charleston, people do the tango. I would say it’s actually TOO quiet. There’s no crescendo, either sound- or story-wise. Luhrmann’s movie, on the other hand, might be a little too loud and obnoxious. But at least it kept me awake.

WINNER: DRAW Surely there’s a happy medium between these two.

Parties:

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?

I was going to conclude this without addressing the party scenes, but then I realized that was the crazy talking. No director can resist the lure of a party! I swear the opportunity to film a Gatsby party is the only reason this book has been made into a movie so many times.

Anywho, I think we all know Baz Luhrmann can direct a party. But I have to disagree with Kit (from her post Am I the Only Person on the Internet Who Liked the Great Gatsby Movie?) that he nailed the party scenes here. They seemed more Disneyland than debauchery. Although the party scenes in the 1974 version weren’t a spectacle by any stretch of the imagination, I could believe the people in them were actually partying. They were very nights-at-Max’s-Kansas-City. Like I said, no one’s jumping into a pool, but they were convincingly bacchanal.

WINNER: 1974

Final Thoughts:

Look, neither of these movies are the definitive version of The Great Gatsby. That’s still the book. On The Colbert Report, Luhrmann said the difficulty in filming The Great Gatsby was capturing Nick’s inner monologue, but I have to disagree. Movies are told from a single character’s perspective all the time. No, what makes Great Gatsby adaptations difficult is that, like another one of my favorite books, Jane Eyre, it’s about what the narrator’s not seeing, all the stuff that happens off the page. It’s not about the parties, it’s about what built the parties. Even worse, it’s about what people don’t WANT to see, because then the parties would stop.

That’s why, even though Clayton and Coppola made more of an effort to turn The Great Gatsby into an actual movie, it winds up being boring, because the meaning of the book isn’t in it. Despite Luhrmann’s comment, I think he does he understand what the book is about; and even though his version feels at times more like a recreation of the novel than a film adaptation of it, I can appreciate that he tried to show the things that are only alluded to in the book. I loved how he preserved the absolute awkwardness of the novel and, even though the line about Daisy’s voice sounding like money isn’t in the film, Luhrmann shows us that Gatsby doesn’t just want Daisy. He wants Daisy, and the house, and the car, and the pool, and the shirts. So many shirts! And Daisy damn well knows it.

So even though I did have some problems with the 2013 Gatsby, I definitely think it’s worth seeing if you love the book, and that overall it’s more successful than Clayton’s version.

Helene Hanff could be known as a one hit wonder of the literary world, that is unless you know better. Most people know her book (that was turned into a play, and then a movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft), 84, Charing Cross Road. And they should know her for this – it’s a fantastic piece. It’s in those pages where most people will start with Helene’s work; also the place where they will start to fall in love with her work. However, don’t stop there, she offered more wonderful reads in her witty, intelligent, signature voice.

Each book is a quick read, and most are quite short, so she doesn’t even require that much of a time commitment. You’ll come to be sad about this eventually, when you realize you’ve sped through her library of work and there are no more to come. The great thing? Her books are fantastic to read over and over again! She is one of my favorite authors, and I regret that I didn’t come to know her work before she passed away, as I would have written her a letter and eagerly awaited a return (she was well known for personally answering letters from her readers). These books, instead, will be the letters that she wrote to me and to other book lovers and book learners all around the world.

Start With 84, Charing Cross Road

In her most popular work, Hanff (a New York City based freelance writer) shares with the readers a series of letters that she exchanged with a London bookseller, Frank Doel as they became friends, exchanged ideas, and wrote about their love of books. These letters make us privy to the decades long epistolary friendship between two people so bonded through their love of books and their letters to each other that you will wish for a time where Internet didn’t exist just so you could buy books in this wonderfully enchanting way as well.

Continue with The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street

What is thought of as the sequel to 84, Charing Cross Road, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street tells us what happens after the pages close on the letters between Helene Hanff and Frank Doel. Readers of 84, Charing Cross Road will be happy to have this piece as they will be left with an open space in their hearts after finishing the first book so quickly. Also non-fiction (Helene detested fiction), this will answer questions and give more details that weren’t included in the letters that Frank and Helene exchanged. It also will take us a step further to see what happens when the moment readers have been waiting for, since the beginning of 84, happens.

Finish (well don’t finish; keep reading after – see suggestions below) with Q’s Legacy

Anyone who reads 84, Charing Cross Road without a list of books to read by the end isn’t really a book lover. And anyone not curious about this Q whom Hanff refers to time and again, just wasn’t reading properly. Lucky for the readers, Hanff dedicates an entire book to Q (aka Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch) in Q’s Legacy, so we can delve deeper into who he was and what he taught this brilliant autodidact. Part travel memoir, this book also wraps up some of the themes and questions readers might be left with after reading 84, Charing Cross Road.

Don’t Stop There

Don’t forget to pick up copies of Letters to New York and Underfoot in Show Business for more Hanff goodness!

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1.) The (Fill in the Blank)’s Wife/Daughter 

Why are you pushing that feminist soapbox toward me? Why are you lifting it up and forcing me to stand on top of it? I don’t need to yell about how annoying it is for the central female character to be defined in the title of the story by the primary male figure in her life! I would much rather rant about how I hate how derivative and overused this type of title is! Get me my “I hate all things derivative” soapbox!

Also, this kind of title feels like book club bait. Probably because it IS book club bait. But still. Turn down the volume on the obvious, dudes.

Bad Boys and Girls: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin, The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, The Calligrapher’s Daughter by Eugenia Kim, The Murderer’s Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers

2.) The (Quirky Quality) of (Usually Oddly Named Title Character)

Your title character better be Amelie Fucking Poulain to merit this kind of quirked up title, you hear? Oh, I KNOW you hear. And you know what, even Amelie, the quirkiest little thing in all of space and time, even Amelie didn’t have to have a bananas title. It’s JUST HER NAME, AMELIE! There’s just something that feels disingenuously folksy and trying too hard to be magical about this kind of title.

Bad Boys and Girls: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski

3.) The (Fill in the Blank) Club

Again, this feels like book club bait. Like “Oh, we’re a club, so we should read a book about a club!” I feel like this post makes me sound snotty about book clubs and I’m NOT, I promise, I would love to join yours and I will bring a sheet of lemon squares. What I’m snotty about is a smug publishing industry that thinks they have book clubs all figured out, THAT’S what I’m snotty about.

Bad Boys and Girls: The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler, The Women’s Murder Club series by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

4) A Sentence With No Memorable Words

Because when I go to the bookstore and try to ask for your book I CAN’T REMEMBER WHAT IT’S CALLED. I try to paraphrase the title and describe what the author photo looks like on the inside cover and I become that bookstore customer I HATED when I was a bookstore clerk that came in spouting lines like “I’m looking for a book…the cover is kind of blue…” Vague sentenced title, I HATE YOU FOR MAKING ME THAT BOOKSTORE CUSTOMER.

Bad Boys and Girls: No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July, How a Person Should Be by Sheila Heti, No One is Here Except All Of Us by Ramona Ausubel, And Then We Came To An End by Joshua Ferris

What types of titles are you red rover, red rover, so f—ing over?

Here are the rules that turned out not to be so arbitrary after all:

1. Always stop at the end of a chapter. Always.

2. Use specific bookmarks. I really do have a system for this. There’s a Harry Potter bookmark with a Patronus pendant only to be used when reading Harry Potter books. When I go to the library, I grab their colored cardstock ones for my library books. If I own the paperback, I have some cheap-but-cute bookmarks, brown-, red-, or black-beribboned, and I choose the one whose ribbon best matches the book cover. If I’m reading a hardback I own, I tuck the pages I’ve read into the dust jacket until the unread stack is smaller, then I switch sides.

2a. No dog-earing, bending, or folding of pages. On this point especially, my husband and I are opposites. For years, he worked outdoors and the machine he ran meant quite a bit of waiting while it did its thing; he spent that time reading. His copies of the books he read on those jobs are grease-stained and dog-eared, and the pages are falling out.

Witness our very different copies of the same book: his, top, grease-stained; mine with its lightly broken spine and general “survived three moves” scuffing.

2b. Weirdly enough, spine-breaking is fine, just don’t get too crazy with it.

3. Always read two books at once. This has only recently become a rule. Since I don’t like to buy two copies of a book (except out of necessity, like with A Song of Ice and Fire), I’m always reading something in ebook form for portability and a regular book for long-term sitting and reading. The two must be different enough that I won’t mix them up or lose interest in one. Right now, I’m reading Code Name Verity in ebook format and The Woman Upstairs from the library. One day, publishers will catch up with the music industry and offer an ebook download with purchase of a hardback. Until then, it’s two books at once for me.

4. No (or minimal) writing in books. No highlighters ever. Marginalia mars my rereading experience should I decide the book warrants a reread. I like to approach books with as fresh an eye and as few distractions as possible if I do read them again, to ensure the possibility of taking something entirely new from them the next time around. Exception: Twilight. Without my marginalia, I’d have gone insane, and there’s no chance in hell I’m reading that again.

Yes, I know what she probably meant, and I know his face is literally hard because of the whole like-marble thing. Still, come on.

5. Rereads must be earned because there are too many great books out there to read an okay one twice. My guaranteed rereads are: classics like Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and the Alice books; Margaret Atwood and Sarah Waters novels; beloved series like Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, and the Looking Glass Wars; and my new favorite book, Summer and Bird, which I know I’ll revisit at least once a year from now on.

Earlier I said that my husband and I take very different approaches to reading. We’re different in many other ways, too, ways that make perfect sense when you look at how we read. He is a multitasker, flexible, spontaneous. I am none of these things. If I multitask, all hell breaks loose and nothing gets done. I like plans with backup plans that have backup plans. I require six years’ advance notice for possible social engagements. Knowing only these things about us, a total stranger could easily separate our book collections.

Sure, there’s the argument straight from Inkspell about leaving things behind in books, each reader and reading leaving a mark. It’s the “I like my books to look like they’ve been read!” argument. Then there’s the one that says books are like lovers, so there’s no universal approach for reading them. Some demand to be devoured; some long to be savored; some want the tenderest touch. As it were. Ahem. And then there’s batty ol’ me.

Actually, my only argument is for the reading of books, however it makes you happy. I don’t expect anyone to follow my rules, nor do I recommend any of them (except maybe always stopping at the end of a chapter, which is a good one). Why would I? They’re crazy!

Readers, do you have rules? Do they reflect your personality? And before you ask, why yes, I have been treated for OCD.

Round One of the Purge: Downstairs Shelves

I can’t specify what exactly prompted the urge to purge. I think it was a combination of spring cleaning momentum, getting tired of dusting all these cheap Target book shelves, getting tired of constantly trying to teach my toddlers not to rip covers off my paperbacks, plain old fashioned running out of room, and…(gasp) reading more and more books from the library on my ereader.

So, I girded my loins and began pulling out every single book that I had no plans to re-read, and every book in my TBR pile that had been there longer than two years. The books that are in the public domain were downloaded to my Nook in case I ever got a wild hair and decided that YES I AM GOING TO RE-READ THE SCARLET LETTER (that is literally never going to happen, but knowing it’s there is a security blanket).

Every other book or so, I’d have a mini panic attack and think OH GAWD WHAT IF MY KIDS WANT TO READ THIS SOMEDAY WHATEVAH WILL I DO and the rational part of my brain would reply, “library.” Then I’d think WHAT IF SOMEONE WANTS TO BORROW THIS SOMEDAY and again, “library.” I journal the books I read, so it isn’t like I need a totem around my house, marking the event. So what was I really keeping all these never-to-be-read-again books for? So other people would know I read them? Let’s be real: I’m not social. Ain’t no one coming up in here to judge my library.

I got rid of about 200 books (not much to some people, but it was about a third of my library). So now my shelves only hold books I seriously want to make out with, beautiful old volumes and first editions that I love, and a TBR pile that involves no guilt. And I’m dusting a whole heck of a lot less. I’ve mini-purged before and whatever I got rid of was quickly replaced by compulsive shopping, but now that I’m heavily library and e-reader dependent, I don’t think that will happen this time. I’ve gone from being anti-e-reader and someone who obsessively holds onto every book I touch to being a digital reader who sometimes views physical books as just more clutter to deal with.

But only sometimes.

So tell me, kids: have you ever done a major personal library purge? Did you feel better afterwards, or do you totally regret the experience?

It seems simple enough that a local library could put one together for a bring one/take one kind of event, especially in a nearby park. I’d go. What about you?

Girls, not boys, in all three countries received more time from parents on three activities: reading, storytelling, and teaching letters and numbers.

Maybe boys aren’t as interested, and so the interest isn’t reinforced? Too squirrelly to keep still? Huh.

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Ebook besteller lists will now appear only online, not in print. The reasoning behind this is a bit more tenuous, given the documented overlap between print and digital readers. Heavy readers, the kind likely to bother even glancing at bestseller lists, are reading in both formats. The real thought steering this might be that the digital bestsellers are so driven by pricing whims—99 cent ebooks feature heavily—that they have little bearing on literary culture outside of those lists.

What a strange decision.

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Looking to transform Hollywood’s pile of unproduced scripts into publishable e-books, James West, a motion-picture industry entrepreneur, has launched Script Lit. The company licenses optioned, but never produced, scripts, to turn them into commercial fiction.

Fascinating idea. Some of the best storytellers in the world are working in film, but only a very small percentage of their work gets produced (and often for reasons totally separate from the quality of the story). Turning those stories into good books, though…..not that easy.

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Australia’s Qantas Airlines is promoting the announcement of its extended flight routes by commissioning a series of books that last exactly as long as each flight. 

You know if Infinite Jest is waiting there on your seat for ya, you’ve got a ways to go.

May 21

Cold Killing by Luke Delaney (William Morrow)

The debut novel in a terrifying London-based thriller series featuring D.I. Sean Corrigan, who becomes ensnared in an increasingly dangerous psychological game with a killer.

After a young man is found brutally murdered in his own flat, D.I. Sean Corrigan, responsible for one of South London’s Murder Investigation Units, takes on the case. At first it appears to be a straightforward domestic murder, but immediately Corrigan suspects it is much more and it soon becomes clear he is hunting a particularly clever and ruthless serial killer who changes his modus operandi each time he kills, leaving no useable forensic evidence behind…

Then by Morris Gleitzman (Square Fish)

Felix and Zelda have escaped the death camp train, but where do they go now? They’re two runaway kids in Nazi-occupied Poland. Danger lies at every turn of the road. With the help of a woman named Genia and their active imaginations, Felix and Zelda find a new home and begin to heal, forming a new family together. But can it last? Morris Gleitzman’s winning characters will tug at readers’ hearts as they struggle to survive in the harsh political climate of Poland in 1942. Their lives are difficult, but they always remember what matters: family, love, and hope.

Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan (St. Martin’s Griffin)
Forget the cud. They want blood.

It began with a cow that just wouldn’t die. It would become an epidemic that transformed Britain’s livestock into sneezing, slavering, flesh-craving four-legged zombies. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the fate of the nation seems to rest on the shoulders of three unlikely heroes: an abattoir worker whose love life is non-existent thanks to the stench of death that clings to him, a teenage vegan with eczema and a weird crush on his maths teacher, and an inept journalist who wouldn’t recognize a scoop if she tripped over one.As the nation descends into chaos, can they pool their resources, unlock a cure, and save the world?

Three losers. Overwhelming odds. One outcome . . .Yup, we’re screwed.

Eat the City by Robin Shulman (Broadway)

Beneath the urban shell of New York City is an uprising of local farmers and producers. While the city has historically been a center of food production, the rural, folksy traditions of making beer, planting heirloom vegetable gardens, and cultivating honey are not easily associated with New York’s fast-paced lifestyle. But it is happening, in dimly lit kitchens and vacant lots across the boroughs. Here, the good food movement thrives; its legacy is extensive and as varied as the people who champion its growth.In Eat the City, journalist Robin Shulman explores urban food production from both a historical and cultural perspective to elucidate the origins and history of this movement and why it is so important environmentally, culturally, and socially.

Three Strong Women by Marie NDiaye (Vintage)

The story of three women who say no: Norah, a French-born lawyer who finds herself in Senegal, summoned by her estranged father to save another victim of his paternity; Fanta, who leaves a contented life as a teacher in Dakar to follow her boyfriend back to France, where his depression and dislocation poison everything; and Khady, a penniless widow put out by her husband’s family with nothing but the name of a distant cousin in France. As these three lives intertwine, each woman manages an astonishing feat of self-preservation against those who have made themselves the fastest-growing and most-reviled people in Europe. In Marie NDiaye’s stunning narration we see the progress by which ordinary women discover unimagined reserves of strength.

Transparent by Natalie Whipple (HarperTeen)

An invisible girl is a priceless weapon. Fiona O’Connell’s father is a powerful crime lord in Las Vegas, and he’s been forcing her to do his dirty work-stealing cars, robbing banks, and spying on people-since she was five years old. Fiona’s had enough, so she and her mom flee to a small town to try and build a normal life. But her dad isn’t going to let her escape without a fight….

With its contemporary setting and spot-on teen voice, Natalie Whipple’s debut novel is a witty and utterly relatable tale of friendship, family, and romance-with an irresistible paranormal twist.

Mrs. Robinson’s Disgrace by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury USA)

Headstrong, high-spirited, and already widowed, Isabella Walker became Mrs. Henry Robinson at age thirty-one in 1844. A successful civil engineer, her husband moved their family to Edinburgh’s elegant society in 1850. But Henry traveled often and was cold and remote when home, leaving Isabella to her fantasies. No doubt thousands of Victorian women faced the same circumstances, but Isabella recorded her passionate innermost thoughtsand especially her infatuation with a married Dr. Edward Lanein her diary. One fateful day, Henry chanced on the diary. Aghast at his wifes perceived infidelity, he petitioned for divorce on the grounds of adultery. Until that year, divorce had been illegal in England, the marital bond being a cornerstone of English life. Their trial would be a cause celebre, and her diary, read in court, was as explosive as FlaubertsMadame Bovary, just published in France but considered too scandalous to be translated into English until the 1880s.

The Double Game by Dan Fesperman (Vintage)

A few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, spook-turned-novelist Edwin Lemaster reveals to up-and-coming journalist Bill Cage that he’d once considered spying for the enemy. For Cage, a fan who grew up as a Foreign Service brat in the very cities where Lemaster set his plots, the story creates a brief but embarrassing sensation. More than two decades later, Cage, by then a lonely, disillusioned PR man, receives an anonymous note hinting that he should have dug deeper. Spiked with cryptic references to some of his and his father’s favorite old spy novels, the note is the first piece of a puzzle that will lead him back to Vienna, Prague, and Budapest in search of the truth, even as the events of Lemaster’s past eerily-and dangerously-begin intersecting with those of his own. Why is beautiful Litzi Strauss back in his life after thirty years? How much of his father’s job involved the CIA? Did Bill, as a child, become a pawn? As the suspense steadily increases, a long chain of secrets may finally be broken.

May 28

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth (Balzer & Bray)

When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl. But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone, and Cam becomes an expert at both.

Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship, one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self-even if she’s not quite sure who that is.

The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig (Angry Robot)

Meet Mookie Pearl.

Criminal underworld? He runs in it.

Supernatural underworld? He hunts in it.

Nothing stops Mookie when he’s on the job.

But when his daughter takes up arms and opposes him, something’s gotta give…

The Original 1982 by Lori Carson (William Morrow Paperbacks)

What if you could go back to a moment in time and change one crucial thing? How would your life be changed? In what ways would it be the same?

It’s 1982, and Lisa is twenty-four years old, a waitress, an aspiring singer-songwriter, and girlfriend to a famous Latin musician. That year, she makes a decision, almost without thinking about it. But what if what if her decision had been a different one? In the new 1982, Lisa chooses differently. Her career takes another direction. She becomes a mother. She loves differently, yet some things remain the same.

Alternating between two very different possibilities, The Original 1982 is a novel about how the choices we make affect the people we become-and about how the people we are affect the choices we make.

The Raft by S. A. Bodeen (Square Fish)

The harrowing story of a teen girl who is the sole survivor of a plane crash, and ends up stranded in the middle of the ocean. Is she alone? Robie, 16, lives with her family on the Midway atoll, a group of islands in the middle of the Pacific. After a visit to her aunt on Hawaii, Robie is left to return home alone. On her flight back to Midway the cargo plane hits nasty weather, and goes down. Robie is pulled aboard a raft by Max, who is injured and slipping in and out of consciousness. They have a bag of candy and very little water between them. Robie hopes they’ll be found quickly. But she’s not sure she was even on the flight manifest. Her parents must be looking for her…right?

The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller (Mariner Books) 

Storied, fiercely competitive Mariana Academy was founded with a serious honor code; its reputation has been unsullied for decades. Now a long-dormant secret society, Prisom’s Party, threatens its placid halls with vigilante justice, exposing students and teachers alike for even the most minor infraction.

Iris Dupont, a budding journalist whose only confidant is the chain-smoking specter of Edward R. Murrow, feels sure she can break into the ranks of The Devil’s Advocate, the Party’s underground newspaper, and there uncover the source of its blackmail schemes and vilifying rumors. Some involve the school’s new science teacher, who also seems to be investigating the Party. Others point to an albino student who left school abruptly ten years before, never to return. And everything connects to a rare book called Marvelous Species. But the truth comes with its own dangers, and Iris is torn between her allegiances, her reporter’s instinct, and her own troubled past.

Graveland by Alan Glynn (Picador)

On a bright Saturday morning, a Wall Street investment banker is shot dead while jogging in Central Park. Later that same night, one of the savviest hedge-fund managers in the city is gunned down outside a restaurant. Are these killings a coordinated terrorist attack, or just a coincidence? Investigative journalist Ellen Dorsey has a hunch they’re neither, and her obsessive attention to detail leads her to an unexpected conclusion. Days later, when an attempt is made on the life of another CEO, the story blows wide open—and Ellen’s theory is confirmed. Racing to stay ahead of the curve, she soon encounters Frank Bishop, a recession-hit architect, whose daughter’s disappearance is tied to the murders.

The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio (Plume)

On the eve of World War II, the last surviving specimen of a camellia plant known as the Middlebury Pink lies secreted away on an English country estate. Flora, an amateur American botanist, is contracted by an international ring of flower thieves to infiltrate the household and acquire the coveted bloom. Her search is at once brightened by new love and threatened by her discovery of a series of ghastly crimes.

More than half a century later, garden designer Addison takes up residence at the manor, now owned by the family of her husband, Rex. The couple’s shared passion for mysteries is fueled by the enchanting camellia orchard and an old gardener’s notebook. Yet its pages hint at dark acts ingeniously concealed. If the danger that Flora once faced remains very much alive, will Addison share her fate?

The Difficulty of Being by Jean Cocteau (Melville House)

By the time he published The Difficulty of Being in 1947, Jean Cocteau had produced some of the most respected films and literature of the twentieth century, and had worked with the foremost artists of his time, including Proust, Gide, Picasso and Stravinsky.

This memoir tells the inside account of those achievements and of his glittering social circle. Cocteau writes about his childhood, about his development as an artist, and the peculiarity of the artist’s life, about his dreams, friendships, pain, and laughter. He probes his motivations and explains his philosophies, giving intimate details in soaring prose. And sprinkled throughout are anecdotes about the elite and historic people he associated with.

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Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.

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If you have to live in a scary land filled with monsters, you better hope for some magic to help you fight them off. Also, magic is just rad, and it would make the monster-ness a little less unpleasant, don’t you think? Harry Potter had to deal with Dementors and Death Eaters, but at least he had spells and wands to help him. For ast long as fiction has been a thing, it’s been filled with stories about seemingly ordinary people who discover their previously hidden powers to fight off the baddest big bads and save the world. Today we want to know: what are your favorite books about monsters and magic?