What do Sylvia Plath, Joan Didion, Grace Kelly, and Rita Hayworth have in common? All of them were former residents of the Barbizon Hotel. Intended as a safe haven for the “Modern Woman” seeking a career in the arts, it became the place to stay for any ambitious young woman hoping for fame and fortune. This is the first history of New York’s most famous residential hotel, and the remarkable women who lived there....
In Dragon Hoops, a 2021 Michael L. Printz Honor recipient, New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, and the high school where he teaches. Gene doesn’t get sports. But at the high school where he teaches, it’s all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity team is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page....
Audre Lorde wrote: “…poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action. Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives....
Princess Mononoke is set in a historical fantasy version of Japan, and centers around gods and humans coming into conflict over the overuse of natural resources and environmental destruction. Ashitaka, a young prince, gets caught in the middle of this conflict when he must leave his home behind after being cursed while protecting his village from a demon-corrupted boar god. Among those he encounters are Lady Eboshi, the ruler of Iron Town (a refuge for societal outcasts that had been established by clearing massive swaths of forest) and San, the eponymous Princess Mononoke who was raised in the wild by the wolf goddess Moro....
Through these books like Pod Save America, listeners can deepen their knowledge and understanding of today’s political climate. Get up to speed with the issues discussed on the pod with these choice recommendations.
It started with Cixin Liu. The Three-Body Problem is the start of my favorite science fiction trilogy, and never once felt stilted or obviously translated. It opened a door for me to read more global literature, for one, but, specifically, now my favorite subset of global lit is Chinese Science Fiction. Chinese science fiction is a diverse, undeniably unique type of sci-fi. And it contributes to the worldliness of the genre as a whole, one whose strengths rest in societal critique and philosophy....
But what exactly is this thing you’re reading? Is it a comic? Is it a comic book? Is it a graphic novel? And will people make fun of you if you call it the wrong thing? No worries, dear reader: you’re among friends. Let’s talk. Comics The general term for the thing with the words and the pictures and the speech bubbles is comics. That’s it! It’s super duper simple....
What is Pastoral Poetry? Pastoral poetry (or pastorals, as they’re often referred to in poetry circles) focuses on nature as an idyllic setting. Cities were and are dirty, bustling places filled with noise and smells and hectic schedules. For as long as humanity has had cities, we’ve longed to escape on occasion, idealizing a simpler time when we were one with nature. Pastoral poetry is one expression of this need to escape the city and reconnect with the natural world....
Many people have done charts for Star Wars Myers-Briggs types, and we didn’t want to be left out. But one thing we noticed about most of the existing charts is that they tend to include characters from the original and prequel trilogies, and no one else. Understandable, since most of them were made before the new cycle, so we decided to use only characters that appear in the new trilogy (The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi) or one of the Star Wars Stories (Rogue One and Solo)....
This movie had triggered a good memory of something from his childhood. Now, don’t feel bad if you can’t remember the trailer or the movie. I saw it, and I don’t even remember what happened. It was a visual retelling of the radio serial of the same name from the Golden Age of Radio. Most people may think of the decades between the 1920s and ’30s when they hear this term....
Very briefly, Les Miserables is the story of French convict Jean Valjean. Valjean breaks his parole, is pursued by police inspector Javert, adopts a little girl, and eventually finds himself involved in the student uprising of 1832 in Paris. It is a story that takes place over multiple generations with many characters. They explore the relationships between good and evil and forgiveness versus obsessive punishment. There are love stories, political commentaries, songs, and history all in one large novel....
Shakespearean Insult Mugs Take no prisoners with this “Thou Art A Flesh Monger” mug from LibertyDesignsShop. Starting at $20. Get ready for a battle of wits with this mug from Book Lovers Merch. Look, it’s pretty much the coolest dis ever and ends an argument before it even begins. $13. What more is there to say than: “What, You Egg”? The mug from Real People Goods already says it all. Starting at $22....
In a Twitter thread posted by ComiXology on February 12, which was supposed to shed light on the transition, many users grumbled about how it ruins their reading experience. “All my purchased comics are gone, just like that. From now on, I won’t be buying anything from ComiXology ever again. Thanks a lot, you guys f— up. I want my money back,” one Twitter user quote tweeted in response. The Twitter thread was bombarded with similar angry responses....
Corgis are herding dogs and need a ridiculous amount of exercise, so I listen to a lot of audiobooks while walking them. But it was nice to unplug and take them on adventures into the wider world. I’ve also been cleaning out several closets in my house. While marathoning through A House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas, I reorganized my entire pantry. That’s one of my favorite parts of being an audiobook listener; I’ve developed an intense ability to multitask....
For me it was last week, when I was reading Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. I am admittedly very late to the David Sedaris game, but I’m playing catch up at a rapid pace. I read the book in a few days and decided to read some essays out loud to my partner. One four-page essay about a clogged toilet had me doubled over, laughing so hard that I couldn’t finish my sentences....
The PEN celebration netted $2.6 million for the organization’s work that advocates for human rights and free speech. PEN is critical for our time: we have a United States president enraptured by the authoritarian regimes that crush free speech. For the first time, the United States, in two separate studies undertaken by Reporters Without Borders and by the PEN organization, has earned the dubious distinction of ranking fifth in the world’s deadliest countries for journalists—following Afghanistan, Syria, Mexico, and Yemen....
You can see all the winners and finalists below, with descriptions provided by the Pulitzer site. (Because I have not read any of them. Which is so surprising to me! I will be correcting that soon.) Oh, and it’s “pull-it-sir.” Fiction: The Overstory by Richard Powers An ingeniously structured narrative that branches and canopies like the trees at the core of the story whose wonder and connectivity echo those of the humans living amongst them....
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It’s been a minute since we went took a look at a hero from the Big Two, but DC graced us with the trailer for a new Batman animated feature film last week, the ’70s set, uber-groovy Batman: Soul of the Dragon set for streaming release Jan 12, 2020, and DVD release on Jan 26. Directed by Sam Liu, the newest Elseworlds story finds Bruce Wayne training in martial arts under a world renown master with DCU brawlers Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger (Michael Jai White), Shiva (Kelly Hu), and Richard Dragon (Mark Dasascos)....
