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Introducing Barely Literary

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:28:34 -0600

Barely Literary is a blog about book reading culture including book reviews, trailers and movie adaptation news. It’s not about writing. We have a healthy relationship with our parents and have never been to Brooklyn.

Please follow along there and tell a friend. I’ll now be using this tumblr to pass along important photos and videos like the one below.

Dark Tower 4 ½ sounds complicated

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:33:53 -0600

Dark Tower 4 ½ sounds complicated

Technical Difficulties

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:06:00 -0600

Sorry folks, no posts over the last few days while I’m migrating my blog over to it’s own powerful domain. Fear not, I will be returning very shortly.

LINKS this week

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:28:49 -0600

Stop everything and watch this dancing zebra. (via The Clearly Dope)

Good job internets with that SOPA thing. Now if we could just harness that power to bring back Community. |Uproxx|

New Hunger Games poster. Movie poster designers talking around the water cooler: Designer 1 “Hey, maybe we should do one that’s not diagonal.” Designer 2 “Shut your filthy mouth.” |Pajiba|

Do you like Banksy’s innovative street art but think it could benefit from more Turner and Hooch references? Meet Hanksy. |Uproxx|

Cormac McCarthy sold a spec movie script. |FilmDrunk|

Baby sloths getting swaddled to take your mind off of sinking cruise ships and Newt Gingrich. |YouTube|

The Nike+FuelBand. Yes please. |The Smoking Section|

Seth Grahame-Smith’s Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter adaptation is still a thing. |Pajiba|

Archer returned last night for it’s third season on FX. Here is an interview with real life Lana Kane, Aisha Tyler. |Uproxx|

BOOK REVIEW: Machine Man by Max Barry

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:29:00 -0600

In Machine Man, engineer Dr. Charles Neumann (get it? new-man. lol) crushes his leg in a gruesome workplace accident. He gets the idea to improve upon the leg’s biological design while building his prosthetic. The only problem? that other “fleshy” leg he has left is holding him back. So begins Charles’ obsession with bodily improvement through science, engineering and amputation.

Just like in Barry’s previous excellent books Jennifer Government and Company, he creates a shallow yet philosophical world where large corporate bosses aren’t referred to by real names, only titles, and corporations exist outside the boundaries of law. The story is absurd at one turn and frighteningly possible in another. If Charles works on his prosthetic leg at work, who owns it, Charles or the company?

There’s also amputee love, bionic security guards and tiny dogs dressed in human clothes. It would be impossible for me to NOT like this book. The pacing is fast and the ending is satisfying. Barry wrote the script 1 page a day, posting each page on his website for his rabid followers to discuss and dissect. They helped him with everything from technical details to story line. Kind of like commentators helping bloggers write…good.

Be sure to check out Machine Man’s book trailer below.

Most highlighted quote from Kindle users:

“It was pointless to ponder who I was because I was whichever combination of chemicals happened to be sloshing around at that time. So I decided not to search for a true self. I decided to choose who I wanted to be.”

If you like anything from Joshua Ferris, you’ll like this.

Movie note: Darren Aronofsky, one of this generation’s greatest directors and hipster clothing fashonista is attached to direct while Mark Heyman (Black Swan) is adapting the screenplay. I haven’t seen any news lately, and Aronofsky keeps himself pretty busy, so I’m not sure where everything’s at right now.

This review is my fourth for Cannonball Read IV. Read all about CBR4 here.

Cannonball Read IV reviews of note

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:16:00 -0600

This year I’m participating in Cannonball Read IV. Cannonball Read is a race among Pajiba readers to read and review 52 books in a year. Or 26. Or 13. A charitable donation is made for those who get to 52.

There are 240 people signed up this year. That’s a lot of book reviews. I’ll try to find some of the interesting reviews plus reviews of books I’ve read and post them here.

An intern at a crappy hospital gets mixed up with the mafia and must get through the next 8 hours to Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell
Joshua Foer writes an article on the US Memory Championships. 1 year later he returns in an attempt to win it.* Nonfiction. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
I don’t…uh…I’m not sure what’s going on here. But it sounds pretty interesting. A Singular Man by J.P. Donleavy
The 12th novel in the Discworld series that I’ve always wanted to get into. Maybe I will after I finish all 20-whatever Dresden Files books. Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett

Books I’ve Read

I think I’m enjoying YA books books more now that I’m an adult (of sorts). Ender Wiggin’s journey as “the chosen one” to defeat the alien buggers is one of my favorite sci-fi novels of all time. Oh and it also predicted video games and China’s population control. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Great book and great movie. They both blend together for me. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Reviewer Magpie is as baffled as I am about this somewhat empty book that critics loved. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

*Taken from the ridiculously simplified synopsis on Shelfari.

SOPA/PIPA day :-(

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:49:00 -0600

Stolen from The Oatmeal. Be sure to check them out, but not today because they are blacked out.

The internets are full of info about SOPA and PIPA today. Here are some of the more informative articles I’ve read.

Internet property lawyer and Pajiba writer Seth Freilich give us an informative and profanity laden argument. |Pajiba|

An interview with Cheezburger CEO Ben Hue. |Consumerist|

A nice infographic from Google. |Google|

Here is a quick “what if”:

What if SOPA was passed? What if after SOPA passed, one of my 3-5 readers made a comment on my preview of the new Everybody Poops adaptation? What if that comment contains a link to a site that has an unreleased trailer of said Everybody Poops movie? The answer: My site could be immediately and indefinitely taken down. I could be subject to prosecution and possible jail time. oof.

It's Raylan Givens Day!

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:37:00 -0600

Today Elmore Leonard’s new book Raylan goes on sale. And tonight the third season of Justified premiers on FX. At 86 years old, Leonard is still cranking out crime novels and it sounds like he has quite an impact on the show. In an interview with show producer, star and teen heart throb (probably) Timothy Olyphant, he describes the give and take:

…there seems to be some synergy between the show and Leonard’s upcoming book, Raylan.
I’m well aware of it. [Chuckles.] We steal a lot from that. I’m a big fan of his stories, so I read them at every turn I get as it is. But that book, we stole a lot of it for season two. We just stripped it apart last year. We were sort of privy to the book as it was being written in its various stages, so last season, we read some of what he was writing, and many of the characters are in large part from the book. We did our own thing with it — in the book, it was a patriarch instead of a matriarch — but he had the sons, the storefront, the marijuana, and Loretta McCready hanging out, as well as the coal mining representative coming to Harlan, the town meeting, and Raylan as security detail. That’s all in the book, and he encouraged us to steal from it.

But he’s also stealing right back.
[Laughs.] We had the original stories, Graham [Yost, the showrunner] took those and added some of his own characters, and Elmore, God bless him, then wrote about some of the characters that were created for the show. For instance, Rachel is a character Graham created for the show, and Elmore took her and put her in the Raylan book, and then he took the liberty of telling us things about her that we didn’t know — like where she’s from and how she paid her way through college. So we took it right back, and put it in episode four of this new season.

|Vulture|

The character of Raylan Givens has appeared in three previous Leonard works: 1993’s Pronto, 95’s Riding the Rap and 2002 novella Fire in the Hole on which Justified is based.

Warming Glow reviews the new season of Justified here.

Wall Street Journal’s profile on Elmore Leonard here.

LINKS this week

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:59:00 -0600

Pic from Vanity Fair outtake. To see more awesome people hanging out with Paul Rudd click here.

20 Books to read before they become movies in 2012 |BuzzSugar|

Mastering the Mix of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo |Underwire|

Rachel Ray leaves Random House |WSJ| - Warning! Stupid pay wall

Paul Rudd to guest on Parks & Rec |Warming Glow|

Avett Brothers working with Rick Rubin again. New album coming. |SKOA|

Interview with Gary Ross, director of the Hunger Games |Hero Complex|

Cannonball Read IV reviews of note

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:34:00 -0600

“A La Modeliste” - Mark Ronson, Mos Def and Erykah Badu with help by Trombone Shorty and The Dap Kings.

There are 240 people signed up this year. That’s a lot of book reviews. I’ll try to find some of the interesting reviews plus reviews of books I’ve read and post them here.

“Two magicians begin a contest, a game or test of skill. However, they play through intermediaries, their students.” Everyone seems to love this book. I’m still emotionally scarred from reading Geek Love. And circuses in general freak me out. Night Circus by Eric Morgenster
A time-traveling English teacher from the year 2011 who is given the opportunity to prevent the JFK assassination. Last year’s Full Dark No Stars and 2009’s Under the Dome have shown that King is on top of his game. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
Drama at the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago! White City follows the architect of the Worlds Fair and a serial killer hunting young women. Historical nonfiction that reads like a novel. Good. That’s the only kind of historical nonfiction I can choke down. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Books I’ve Read

Powerful and unique. Room is told from the perspective of a 5 year old. That made it a little tough to get into, but once you really get into the meat of the story, it’s almost impossible to put this book down. I recommend it, this reviewer does not. Room by Emma Donoghue
The same reviewer also dislikes this book I enjoyed. Maybe they should read One Hundred Years of Solitude. I’d rather punch myself in the face than read that again, so she might like it. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

BOOK REVIEW: Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:25:00 -0600

The orphan, the freakshow, the tugboat, the narrator; this is Lionel Essrog. Through his mind, riddled with tourettic symptoms, we view his own private Marlowe detective story.

Lionel, along with 3 other orphans from St. Vincent’s Home for Boys, is mentored and employed by Frank Minna, a small time mobster that runs a car service/detective agency. The 4 boy’s entire world view is filtered through Frank’s observations and teachings. When Frank is killed, it falls to ”the Freakshow” to solve his murder.

Frank used to say“wheels within wheels” to sneer at the boys’ notions of coincidence or conspiracy. Motherless Brooklyn is full of wheels within wheels. Why is the Giant chasing Lionel? Where did Frank’s wife go? How are the Buddhists connected? What does this have to do with sea urchins? Can Lionel get thru an interrogation without screaming “Stickmebailey!!”?

Lethem has been praised for blending literary fiction with genre fiction. I think, in Motherless Brooklyn, he’s created an incredible book. It’s incredible because I generally hate any literary fiction set in New York. God help me if it’s literary fiction about a writer living in New York. Oh, you could have gotten the pretty girl but you screwed up? :-( die in a fire.

Where was I? Oh right, this wasn’t anything like that. It was a mesmerizing look into the life of someone suffering from Tourettes, and a killer mystery to boot.

Most highlighted quote from Kindle users: And he was too moronic to be properly self-loathing—so it was my duty to loathe him instead.

If you like Michael Chabon, but wish he wrote more like Raymond Chandler.

Movie note: Edward Norton has optioned the film and plans to adapt, star in and direct. This is good news. Norton plays some of the best ‘crazy’ in Hollywood.

This review is my third for Cannonball Read IV. Read all about CBR4 here.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo opening sequence contains details from all 3 Larson books.

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:40:00 -0600

David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has inspired a lot of debate among fans of the Stieg Larsson’s books and the original Swedish films. I’m going to see it, but I’m not sure the big screen is the best way to watch a 5 minute rape scene. So I’ll probably wait until I can view it on the old 27” Magnavox.

However, there is no denying that the opening credit sequence, created by Blur Studio and accompanied by the badass Immagrant Song cover produced by Trent Reznor with Karen O and Atticus Ross, is amazing.

Fincher wanted “a conceptual re-creation of Larsson’s full Millennium trilogy”. The result is a combination of shots, all created digitally using software I’ve never heard of.

I can’t imagine watching this heart-pumping opening sequence, then settling into 45 minutes of exposition about Swedish libel law. So, here’s hoping Fincher found a way to spice up the first act.

LINKS this week

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:19:00 -0600

7 Things about the Justified cast that you probably didn’t know. |Warming Glow|

Creepy Got Milk ads. |Warming Glow|

James Franco signs book deal to write a fictional book about James Franco. |The Hollywood Reporter|

The amazing Merrill Garbus and the tUnE yArDs perform Bizness on Kimmel. |Some Kind of Awesome|

Gladwell's Intellectual Adventure Stories, collected

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:01:00 -0600

Malcolm Gladwell’s 3 most recognizable books, Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers, have been redesigned for this stunning collection available at Amazon. I’m pretty sure my dog ate one of these and I loaned another out to some mystery person, so I may have to grab this set.

The set was designed by Paul Sahre and Brian Rea.

“During our initial meeting with Malcolm, he referred to the three books as ‘intellectual adventure stories,’” Sahre tells Co.Design. “Brian and I really responded to that, as it suggested a specific and interesting way to think about how the books could be designed. We wanted the books to feel like first editions of Moby-Dick or Treasure Island or The Wizard of Oz.”

Read the rest over at kotke.

Cannonball Read IV reviews of note

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:37:00 -0600

I’m going to assume Satan’s Lamborghini is a Diablo.

There are ~~almost 200~~ 236 people signed up this year. That’s a lot of book reviews. I’ll try to find some of the interesting reviews plus reviews of books I’ve read and post them here.

Satan is a hotshot professor that drives a Lamborghini. Someone is trying to bring about judgement day and he has to figure out who before it’s too late. I’m guessing it’s Ted Haggard. What Would Satan Do by Anthony Miller
Reviewer LurkeyTurkey describes this book as an open love letter to 80s and 90s culture. “Truly nostalgia porn”. USA Cartoon Express references or GTFO. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The Sisters Brothers is a book about 2 brothers with the last name Sisters. Ok now say the book title again. Different eh? The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

Books I’ve Read

Game of Thrones by R.R. Martin - Watch the show. Read the books. R.R. is a master of weaving 50 story lines together seamlessly. If you’re already a fan, you’ll enjoy this video of Tyrion slapping King Joffrey set to Led Zeppelin’s “Achilles Last Stand”.

BOOK REVIEW: Fun and Games by Duane Swierczynski

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:37:00 -0600

Charlie Hardie is a drunk, overweight, damaged, professional house sitter that just happens to stumble into a wild conspiracy laden plot to kill action movie star Lane Madden. Directing this attempted assassination is ultimate bad girl Boobs McGee. Actually she goes by Mann, but seriously, she’s topless for the first ⅓ of the book. The only person Charlie can trust is Deke the FBI guy that keeps Charlie’s family in hiding and knows the dark secret that nearly destroyed him.

Non-stop action, fast paced, explosive; all the superlatives that usually go along with a blockbuster action movie can also be used to describe Fun and Games by Duane Swiercynski. Unfortunately, it also shares an abundance of underdeveloped characters and plot holes.

I like conspiracy theories and fast paced action so this was actually a pleasant read. I probably won’t remember it tomorrow, but it was better than watching a Michael Bay movie. And, you know, there’s a topless assassin.

Fun and Games is the first of 3 books featuring Charlie Hardie. I was intrigued enough that I’ll probably check out the second book Hell and Gone. Let’s hope it’s better than most Hollywood sequels.

Most highlighted quote from Kindle users: The world is divided into three classes of people: a very small group that makes things happen a somewhat larger group that watches things happen and the great multitude which never knows what happened. —Nicholas Murray Butler

If you like action movies, books about actors, and quotes from action movies, you’ll probably enjoy this.

BOOK REVIEW: Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:20:00 -0600

Under Wizard in the Yellow Pages, you’ll only find one result:

Harry Dresden - Wizard Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties or Other Entertainment.

As the only openly practicing wizard in the country, you’d think Harry would be rich and famous. You’d be wrong. Harry’s broke, down on his luck, mobsters, monsters and other miscellanious beings after him.

Set in gritty modern day Chicago, Storm Front is the first in the popular Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. It’s hardboiled crime fiction down to it’s core. From his duster jacket to his habit of pissing everybody off, including his friends, Harry could easily fall into a noir cliche. However, instead of using noir as a crutch, Butcher uses it as a framework to craft a complex and original character. Oh, and then there’s magic. Wizards, faeries, vampires, demons, they’re all there, just under the surface of everyday living. My favorite is Bob the skull. He’s Harry’s lab assistant, and kind of a party animal.

This book was a great introduction into Harry’s world. I look forward to catching up with the series. The mystery itself, ok, it wasn’t too hard to guess the killer. But the ending was climactic and action packed. If you got into the Sookie Stackhouse novels by way of True Blood and want to step up to a more complex and accomplished series, you should give this one a try.

Most highlighted quote by Kindle users: “Paranoid? Probably. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that there isn’t an invisible demon about to eat your face.”

If you like Charlene Harris, but wished she wrote more like Raymond Chandler and less like Nora Roberts.

LINKS: Best of Edition

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:51:00 -0600

Best of 2011: Pop Culture’s Tastiest Bits |Underwire|

The Best Books of Cannonball Read III |Pajiba|

140 Characters of Ego: December Edition |Uproxx|

The 20 Most iconic Book Covers of All Time |Flavorwire|

The 2011 UPROXX People of The Year |Uproxx|

Baby Goat on a Skateboard. That is all. From FilmDrunk sent in...

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 10:58:00 -0600

Baby Goat on a Skateboard. That is all. From FilmDrunk sent in by one of their readers.