As web sites like Netflix and Spotify continue to expand, so do e-book streaming sites.
According to Entertainment Weekly, two e-book streaming start-ups, Scribd and Oyster, have struck up a partnership with publishing company Macmillan. Considering Macmillan is one of the largest publishing companies out there, this is great news for the start-ups. It means many, many more e-books and audiobooks are now available to Scribd and Oyster.
Both Scribd and Oyster offer hundreds of thousands of books for a $9 or $10 monthly fee, similar to Netflix.
It takes a lot for a brilliant college professor like Alice Howland to forget her words in the midst of a big speech. But she does. It takes even more for her to get lost just blocks from her home in the middle of her regular run. But she does. It’s then that Alice decides to go for testing. And it’s then — at the ripe age of 49 — that Alice learns she is suffering from early on-set Alzheimer’s disease. It doesn’t feel like suffering then. But it does soon, after she clues in her husband and three grown children.
Still Alicetells the story of Alice and her family as they cope with the disease over the next few months. Two of Alice’s children use that time to take a test to determine whether they have the gene associated with the disease — one does, one does not. Alice’s husband spends a lot of that time away from Alice. Her youngest daughter is the one that uses this time to get to know her mother, especially since their relationship has always been somewhat strained.
The movie Still Alice does not stray far from the book. In fact, the way it’s filmed beautifully parallels the way the book is written. In the book, author Lisa Genova writes from Alice’s point of view. As the novel continues, the writing becomes more and more disorganized and confusing to keep in line with Alice’s brain and the effect Alzheimer’s has on it. In much the same way, part of the movie includes blurry, hazed shots — to help show what things look like through Alice’s mind. The movie also becomes disorganized toward the end. Certain plot points are not told to the viewer. We, instead, must figure it out ourselves, similar to the way an Alzheimer’s patient who can’t make sense of things would have to do. It’s messy. There are gaps in time. But that’s what it’s like inside the brain of an Alzheimer’s patient.
It goes without saying that Julianne Moore’s performance as Alice is both breathtaking and heartbreaking. She portrays that hazy glaze effortlessly — showing that Alzheimer’s is much more than just forgetfulness; it’s a state of desperate confusion and incapability to understand. It is difficult to see onscreen how careless some of her family members are, and Alice’s oldest daughter (Kate Bosworth) and husband (Alec Baldwin) portray that well. However, in the book, her husband does a lot of research on Alzheimer’s and still has a hard time coping. In the movie, we don’t see any of the research or willingness to try to understand. We mostly see her husband giving up on trying altogether.
But what both the movie and book have in common is the power to raise awareness, the power to make us feel, and the power to — hopefully — make a change.
Recap: When a traumatic and potentially life-ruining legal matter threatens Emma Cohen’s shot at finishing college, she takes a sabbatical — which isn’t really much of a sabbatical at all — interning for the newspaper her father works for during a summer in Rio De Janeiro. It starts out fun, but quickly becomes dramatic when a famous environmentalist is suddenly murdered.
She flies with her father to the Amazon to cover Milton Silva’s suspicious death and funeral. Along the way, she meets a good-looking photographer, Jimmy, but because of her ongoing legal battle in New York, she must keep her hands off. Emma decides to focus on the story of Milton Silva and — together with Jimmy — begins to investigate.
But the deeper they dig, the more they come across crime and suspicious activity. Add to that the craziness and chaos of Amazonian weather and and you’ve got yourself a crazy thriller-adventure with a little romance mixed in.
Analysis: Amazon Burning starts off strong. There’s a mysterious murder. There’s a college girl, with a secret of her own, working to uncover all the details. There’s a sexy man, a sexy location and a sexy summer season. But the story itself doesn’t exactly live up to the hype.
As Emma and Jimmy get deeper and deeper into their investigation, they open up, and we finally learn what Emma’s secret is. But their investigation doesn’t go as far as they’d like. They get closer and closer, but ultimately reach several dead ends. As it turns out, the biggest plan they coordinate winds up screwing up a federal investigation that’s going on at the same time.
As much I wanted to root for them, their inability to solve the case made it hard. Then I got to thinking — why would they even try to solve it? As a journalist, I understand the job of a reporter, and of course, were one to come across a case that they thought they could solve, that’s great. But more likely than not, reporters are following cases and reporting on them, not solving them themselves. That’s the job of an officer or detective. The journalist aspect story seemed far-fetched, especially by involving a college student. And when Emma and Jimmy wind up failing anyway, it makes the story that much more unfulfilling.
It’s been more than 20 years since the famed children’s author died, but Dr. Seuss’s (real name: Theodor Geisel) wife and friend will be releasing some of his recently discovered lost manuscripts as soon as this summer.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the author’s wife and former secretary found the manuscripts in Geisel’s office, complete with some black-and-white illustrations, in 2013. The first release will be What Pet Should I Get, due out on July 28th. The book includes characters from Seuss’s One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.
At least another two books are expected, but publishers have not announced dates or titles.
“More” is a word that echoes so much through the book Fifty Shades of Grey and its film adaptation. Fifty Shades follows the journey of a young, naïve college student named Anastasia Steele, who’s on the verge of graduation and starting a new life. Instead of typical post-grad problems, Ana stumbles into a man and a relationship that prove more daunting than finding a job. Christian Grey beguiles Ana. He is immensely attractive, and for the first time in her life, she wants to be kissed. In fact, she wants “more” with him. But falling in love isn’t always “hearts and flowers,” and Christian isn’t your typical boyfriend. He’s a well-known, billionaire CEO whose lifestyle is bizarre, scary and confusing.
The story isn’t just “mommy eroticism” as some have speculated. If the story were solely about a dominant/submissive relationship, it would not have the worldwide acclaim and support it has today. The story shows that love isn’t always simple. It isn’t always about making easy choices. You have to ask yourself what you are willing to change, give up, perhaps even open yourself up to for the person you love.
With a phenomena like Fifty Shades of Grey and the controversy and awe that goes with it, the next step — naturally — is a film adaption. But this isn’t your typical screenplay transformation. This project had the possibility to be a lose-lose scenario when you consider the disappointment dedicated fans could potentially face if the movie was not handled properly, as well as the countless moral, religious, judgmental groups that would be chomping at the bit to condone its very existence. As an educated Fifty Shades fan, I consider the film a tremendous success.
While significantly trimmed down from the book, the movie says so much more than the dialogue on screen, speaking volumes about the story and the relationship between Christian and Ana by not speaking at all. Jamie Dornan proves a master of the closed-off, guarded Christian Grey, conveying pages of dialogue with a series of looks. Christian Grey, at his center, is an often unreadable persona. Reactions of a “lack of chemistry” between the stars demonstrate the lack of understanding that comes from knowing the character of Christian Grey. This is a man who doesn’t understand love. He’s damaged and broken. Key components and quotes from the book were not left out, and fans should feel very satisfied.
As both a fan of the series and someone who understands the moviemakers’ desire for a large profit, the ending was perfection. You are not meant to feel at peace after this movie because that’s not how their story is. It’s wrapped in ups and downs and a lot of layers and this movie needed to set the stage for everything that comes down the line, and it did that perfectly. The movie is witty, and Dakota Johnson (Ana/Anastasia Steele) was perfect for the role. She brought comedic timing to an often dark story and lightened the mood many times. Jamie Dornan brings Christian to life. He is the perfect combination of steely and endearing. Fifty Shades of Grey was made for the fans, and that shows. If you know the story you can’t help but love this movie. People will judge what they do not understand. I never imagined I’d be a part of something so doused in controversy, but I am extremely hopeful that reviews like this take the stigma and the shame out of this story that shows love isn’t always black and white; sometimes it’s grey and on even rarer occasions it’s “fifty shades” of grey.
According to Entertainment Weekly, a lingerie shop was built for the set of The Casual Vacancy in Painswick. The Casual Vacancy centers around a parish council, and now people in the village of Painswick are making complaints to their actual parish council about the lingerie shop, as Megan Daley explains:
“They complained about it at the local parish council meeting,” the show’s director, Jonny Campbell, told The Telegraph at a screening of the first episode at BAFTA. “They said it was a disgrace on the one hand, but on the other a couple of little old ladies with white hair came walking past, looking in the window, and said ‘we’ve already got all that stuff.’
Recap: JJ Green comes from a family of lawyers, and she’s expected to become one as well. But as a 16-year-old growing up in New York City in the 1960s, she doesn’t want to be a lawyer; she wants to be a songwriter. She lucks out when she nails an interview and lands herself an internship at one of the biggest music publishing offices in the city. That’s when she makes a deal with her parents: if she writes and sells a song to be published by the end of her summer internship, her parents will have to let her continue on the songwriting path.
As her internship begins, JJ is quickly thrown into the real world and adult life — meeting Luke, a cute, older boy on the elevator and running into her estranged Uncle Bernie, who’s said to be involved in some illegal side activities. But things get real, real fast when she learns that one of her friends has died, and it just happens to be the same woman who recorded an amazing demo for JJ’s new song. The police rule it a suicide, but she knows there’s more to the story. Suddenly her songwriting summer is swirling with love and the mystery of murder. She wants to help solve it, but she also has to sell her song — big goals for one young girl in one short, crazy summer.
Analysis: “I’m Glad I Did” isn’t only the title of the book. It’s also the title of JJ’s original song. It’s also how I felt after having read the book. Yes, I am aware that those three sentences were a little hokey. To be fair, the book is a little hokey as well. But as a YA novel, it should be exactly that, and a lot of fun. The book had some dark undertones, dealing with interracial relationship in the 1960s, gambling, alcoholism, drug addiction, and death. But ultimately it was fun. This girl is living the dream — writing songs with a dreamy boy in New York City and solving a murder mystery. Is it a little far-fetched? Yes. But I put myself into the mind of a 14-year-old girl reading this book, and I couldn’t help but think JJ was awesome and living a pretty fabulous life.
What’s impressive about I’m Glad I Did is that it was written by Cynthia Weil, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame songwriter. She helped write classics such as “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” and “On Broadway.” Knowing that, I trusted her take on what happens behind the scenes of the songwriting business in the 1960s. I had to imagine that at least some of the story came from real-life experience, and that only made the story more intriguing and exciting.
MVP: JJ. She’s a teenage badass. She stands up to her parents and works toward the career she wants. She stands up to police, insisting they continue to investigate the murder. For a girl who considers herself to be unconfident, she sure is ballsy. And it’s fun and empowering to see her succeed time and time again.
While the Grammy Awards on are television tonight, many others are turning on their TVs for one other very important pop culture reason: the start of the new Breaking Bad spinoff, Better Call Saul.
To tie in with the new show on AMC, HarperCollins, in conjunction with Sony, has released a fun, colorful book about the one and only Saul Goodman. Saul Goodman is the character from the hit AMC show Breaking Bad — the same character who will now have his own show on the same channel. The book details the way in which the character came to be the famous, lawbreaking, beloved lawyer in Albuquerque. It explains everything from the kinds of cases he handles to the significance of the items on his desk and decor in his office, as well as who Saul’s clients and associates are. Details and stories about Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, and all of the Breaking Bad characters are intertwined throughout the book.
The book is silly. But for any fan of Breaking Bad, it’s pretty hilarious, if nothing more than a fun little coffee table book that will certainly get guests talking the next time you host a little get-together.
In addition to the seven books in the series, fans will also be able to download HP counterparts, including Rowling’s Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
The best part? Readers can pick their house before reading — each house has its own color settings and typography in the e-book!
It’s not everyday that book news goes viral, or becomes worthy enough for the Associated Press to send out a breaking news alert.
But it happened today with the announcement that Pulitzer-prize winning author Harper Lee, who wrote the classic To Kill a Mockingbird is releasing a new novel — her first since Mockingbird was published 55 years ago.
According to The Guardian, her new release, Go Set a Watchman, will tell the story of a grown-up Scout, the main character from Mockingbird. Apparently Lee wrote Go Set a Watchman before Mockingbird, but never released it. In fact, she didn’t even think the manuscript still existed after all these years, but her lawyer Tonja Carter allegedly found the manuscript three months ago. Plans to publish it were kept under wraps until today.
Not to mention it’s somewhat of a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird. How often do we wonder what’s happened to our favorite characters after we’ve finished reading a novel? (I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve hoped for Newland Archer and Ellen Olenska to get it on after I finished reading The Age of Innocence.) Sequels and the continuation of a story is a luxury, of which we often take advantage (hello, Hunger Games and Harry Potter).
It’s also worth noting that Harper Lee is 88, mostly deaf and mostly blind. Though she wrote the novel when she was younger, it is still quite a achievement to go through the process of publishing a book at that age and that state of health.
To Kill a Mockingbird was such a powerful book. It combines humor and warmth while also dealing with serious topics like race and rape — issues that 55 years later are still prevalent in our society. We can only hope that Lee’s latest endeavor will shed light on the important issues of a society that’s always striving for better future.
As web sites like Netflix and Spotify continue to expand, so do e-book streaming sites.
It’s been more than 20 years since the famed children’s author died, but Dr. Seuss’s (real name: Theodor Geisel) wife and friend will be releasing some of his recently discovered lost manuscripts as soon as this summer.
Contributed by: Christine Anderson
It wasn’t too long ago that 
Recap: JJ Green comes from a family of lawyers, and she’s expected to become one as well. But as a 16-year-old growing up in New York City in the 1960s, she doesn’t want to be a lawyer; she wants to be a songwriter. She lucks out when she nails an interview and lands herself an internship at one of the biggest music publishing offices in the city. That’s when she makes a deal with her parents: if she writes and sells a song to be published by the end of her summer internship, her parents will have to let her continue on the songwriting path.
Unless you’ve checked out J.K. Rowling’s 
It’s not everyday that book news goes viral, or becomes worthy enough for the Associated Press to send out a breaking news alert.
Lara's Book Club 