The Elusive Accurate Stephen King Adaptation

So what is it about the works of an author so prolific that makes the material nearly impossible to accurately translate to the screen? Is it the breadth and depth of his work? Are the characters too complicated to accurately portray on the screen? Is it the twists and turns that can at times move at breakneck speeds? Is it the sheer size of some of his novels? To analyze each and every adaptation would be a book series in and of itself, but let’s take a look at a few of these adaptations and see what may have gone right, or terribly wrong....

December 3, 2022 · 8 min · 1656 words · Patricia Mcnamara

The Hate U Give Movie Streaming Free On Digital Platforms

— George Tillman Jr. (@George_Tillman) June 9, 2020 The Hate U Give is an American drama film starring Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, KJ Apa, Common, and Anthony Mackie. The story follows 16-year-old Starr Carter, who witnesses the murder of her childhood friend Khalil at the hands of the police. What follows is Starr’s reexamination of her place in her community, her racial identity, and her role as an activist....

December 3, 2022 · 1 min · 198 words · Stacy Nelson

The Lasting Power Of Alexander S Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

Alexander’s day starts off on the wrong foot and, honestly, it doesn’t get better from there. And we’ve all had days like that. Days where it seemed like nothing can get better. Hell, my son had a day like that the other day. That actually was the inspiration for this article. But it’s still true. In elementary school, this was a go-to comfort read when I was having a bad day....

December 3, 2022 · 7 min · 1317 words · Herman Woo

The Most Popular Library Books In The Us January March 2019

The Panorama Project looks at the books most frequently requested at libraries across the U.S. and breaks down the popularity by region. This snapshot is extremely intriguing, as it not only gives the top-down perspective of the current big books, but it also gives a more micro level look at books which are popular by specific areas of the country. It’s a neat means of seeing if some books are more popular in, say, the midwest than in the southeast, or in California as opposed to the northeast....

December 3, 2022 · 14 min · 2873 words · Madeline Boswell

The Most Popular Under The Radar Books In Libraries Quarantine 2020 Edition

“These latest Picks align with NPD Books’ recent report [PDF] on the strength of backlist titles which represented an all-time high of 69% of print sales in Q2 2020. For every bestseller that captures national attention, there are literally hundreds of backlist titles that are still brand new to most readers—and Panorama Picks helps surface the ones they’re actively interested in,” said Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, Project Lead for Panorama Project....

December 3, 2022 · 16 min · 3355 words · Robert Massey

The Nose Knows A Perfumer Captures The Scent Of A Library

With his line of scents under the banner I Hate Perfume, Brosius captures certain experiences, like walking in a snowstorm. Among his favorite experiences are hours spent browsing in bookshops or getting lost in a story, so book-inspired scents were a natural step. Several of his perfumes have a literary connection, such as A Room with a View, sparked by the Forster novel. (Sniff the violet-based scent and dream of George kissing Lucy....

December 3, 2022 · 10 min · 1963 words · John Hanley

The Secret Reading Life Of A Literature Grad Student

In high school I found great solace in the library amongst fictional friends whose thoughts and workings were more accessible to me than the unreadable characters of the real world. I wasn’t restrictive with my books, reading widely across periods, regions, and genres, from Austen and Adichie to Zola and Xaba. I thrived in English classes under the tutelage of my English teacher who, like most English teachers, was the best teacher in the world....

December 3, 2022 · 4 min · 678 words · Mildred Martin

The Shadow Knows 8 Books About Shadow Work

What exactly is shadow work? The term has come into regular use lately as a way to label the “dark” side of the personality. The dichotomy of light/dark has positive/negative connotations, however, and there is a growing belief that because we contain multitudes, we can embrace our shadow self as well as our persona, which is the side we present to others. The concept of the shadow self was first developed by Carl Jung in the early 1900s and serves as a counterpoint to Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis....

December 3, 2022 · 2 min · 246 words · Suzanne Elsberry

The Top 25 Tiktok Book Recommendations 2022

With everything from brand new releases to books that have been in circulation for a while there’s something for everyone. Most of the books on this list weren’t released in 2022, but have gained attention throughout this year. So even if you’re looking at a book on this list and it was published a few years ago, you can be sure its still the talk of the town on booktok....

December 3, 2022 · 1 min · 189 words · Sylvester Dipiano

The Ugly History Of Japanese Characters In American Comics

Historically, comics have done an incredibly poor job of depicting Asian characters. Thanks to a combination of wars and already existing racial bias, Asian characters in comics — including not just Japanese, but also Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese characters — have often been one-note and extremely negative. Today, thankfully, we are seeing efforts from many publishers to amplify the voices of both Asian creators and Asian characters. Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour (out September 20th) is a highly informative case in point....

December 3, 2022 · 8 min · 1578 words · Susan Crisci

The Ultimate Guide To New Winter Ya Books 2022 January March

As always, this list of new winter 2022 YA books will not be comprehensive, especially as book publication dates are still periodically shifting. With printing challenges due to paper sourcing and COVID-19, as well as the still backlogged supply chain issues, this might be the reality for a bit. Use this list less as definitive this season and more as pretty accurate with some potential changes. Then preorder any book that strikes your fancy....

December 3, 2022 · 79 min · 16700 words · Helen Lucas

Thoughts About Fairytales And Disability

Amanda Leduc, author of Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space, posed different possibilities in an interview we had earlier this year: “[W]hat if the Beast doesn’t turn into a handsome prince at the end but has [to] still become kind and gentle? What if the Little Mermaid doesn’t kill herself at the end of the Hans Christian Andersen tale but instead learns sign language and begins to communicate with her prince after all?...

December 3, 2022 · 9 min · 1881 words · Roland Moore

Three Children S Books About Artists And Their Pets

Klimt and His Cat by Bérénice Capatti, Illustrated by Octavia Monaco Enter the world of the famous Viennese painter Gustav Klimt through the eyes of his mischievous cat Katze. Throughout the book, Katze distracts models in Klimt’s studio, attends museum and gallery openings, and even goes with the artist on vacation. Behind the feline storyline, the steps of the artistic process are explained, from inspiration to the hard work of painting....

December 3, 2022 · 2 min · 348 words · Ella Seabrook

Tips For Authors Visiting Schools

I’ve put together some tips for authors based on things I’ve noticed and experienced in eight years of hosting author visits in schools. For an author that has done many visits, this might seem like second nature, but for authors new to the process, here’s a quick a checklist of things to go over. Touch Base Before the Visit This can be done in simple ways. First, you need to establish a contact....

December 3, 2022 · 6 min · 1121 words · Wendy Correia

Transgender Children S Books To Remain In Children S Section Votes Library Board

In a 6-to-1 board vote, the board upheld the library’s original categorization of the books in the juvenile section. The challenge came from parent Marci Laffen, who challenged the books as “indoctrination of children.” Each of the challenged books features an adolescent transgender person as their central subject. I Am Jazz is a nonfiction picture book about the life of a transgender child, George features a transgender girl revealing her identity at school, and Lily and Dunkin explores adolescent gender identity and mental illness....

December 3, 2022 · 2 min · 236 words · Nancy Gamboa

Troubles In Adaptation The 2013 Adaptation Of The Great Gatsby

We’re in a moment where class distinctions have never been worse. The rich have the ability to create bubbles for themselves, and have to consider if they should continue allowing support staff into their homes. Service workers who helped maintain the lifestyles of the extremely wealthy are now more obvious to us because their work has been radically altered or completely stopped. When I read The Great Gatsby again in my early 20s, I could only think about the staff that put together Gatsby’s house for parties every night, because I felt I would be more likely to clean up after a party like that than attend it....

December 3, 2022 · 7 min · 1390 words · Tracy Berry

Uncovering Stories Of Japanese Internment For A Place To Belong

I think all things in life start for me with my parents. When I was a young child, we lived in Georgia and Arkansas towns where there were very few Nikkei—people of Japanese ancestry. All of them were always involved with the hard work of sexing chickens—separating male from female chickens shortly after they hatch. My mother was a stay-at-home mom. We were part of a small, self-contained community, where my family was my everything....

December 3, 2022 · 5 min · 1063 words · William Light

Unsettling Reading Why Are Darker Women S Stories Growing In Popularity

The London Book Fair took place earlier this year, for the first time in two years. Following the fair, The Guardian published an article asking “What will we be reading next year?,” going through the broad upcoming trends in books that we can expect to see on the shelves in the near future. One of these trends was “darker women’s stories,” focusing particularly on thrillers and dark historical fiction. A stark contrast from upbeat romance or cosier fiction, which has enjoyed popularity in previous years, these darker stories explore murder, abuse, postpartum depression, sexual violence, and other difficult topics....

December 3, 2022 · 4 min · 703 words · Bonnie Peffley

Vandalization At Major Libraries Aims At Voter Intimidation

Outside the Boston Public Library in Boston, Massachusetts, vandals set fire to an official ballot box on Sunday, October 25. Roughly 35 of the 122 ballots inside were damaged. Officials said between five and ten of the ballots were completely lost. A quick arrest was made, with prosecutors noting that the individual in custody has a history of arson and that this particular incident was not related to voter intimidation....

December 3, 2022 · 3 min · 505 words · Robin Cardenas

What Dani Shapiro S Inheritance Taught Me About How I View Family

I find it difficult to critique memoirs because they are so personal. It feels like any negative commentary on the work is necessarily a negative opinion of the writer as an individual. Memoirists-—writers—humans have a right to whatever emotions they feel about the particulars of their lives. This isn’t a criticism, but rather a response. Although I don’t have a lot in common with Shapiro, I found it very easy to connect to her in her previous work....

December 3, 2022 · 5 min · 896 words · Julie Moore