Author: Jen Doll

Ben Greenman and Being a Literary Provocateur

Ben Greenman is a writer who pokes, prods, and sets readers off balance in hopes of generating emotion and thought — and maybe, sometimes, simply because he feels like it. This is a man who has purposely inserted typos in his books.

By Jen Doll

Jun 7, 2012

Y.A. for Grownups

The Talk of Book Expo America

At Book Expo America, we got a sneak peek at the most-talked about new Y.A. and children's titles, and we referred to some publishing industry insiders for their takes on the books you don't want to miss. 

Comments | 5,673 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 7, 2012

17 'Fifty Shades' Stories That Haven't Been Written Yet

We're starting to wonder...what Fifty Shades of Grey-related story—trend piece, reported article, interview, spin-off book—has yet to be written?

Comments | 4,168 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 7, 2012

Autographs, Galleys, and the Paying Public: Taking a Reading of Book Expo

Today is the third and final day of BEA, or Book Expo America, which is being held at New York's Jacob Javits Center. Gauging the health of an industry by looking at how many industry people are at an industry event is something, but it's not everything.

Comments | 557 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 7, 2012

Vatican Book Ban Is the New Oprah Effect; Remembering Ray Bradbury

Today in books and publishing: A nun's banned book on sexuality has a renewed life on Amazon; the business of digital self-publishing; writers and friends remember Ray Bradbury; BEA's last day. 

Comments | 930 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 6, 2012

Exercise Freaks Are Ruining the Workplace

"Work" and "exercise" are being combined to a greater and greater degree, as if someone forgot that these are two totally separate things, not meant for combining at all.

Comments | 4,761 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 6, 2012

Cissy Houston to Write Whitney Memoir; How to Walk and Read

Today in books and publishing: A memoir for Whitney Houston; how to walk and read; day two of Book Expo of America; and more.

Comments | 256 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 6, 2012

Meet 'The Martha's Vineyard of the Bronx'

Declaring some part of New York City the "new" it spot is as much a trend as going to the beach in the summer. For your consideration: The Martha's Vineyard of the Bronx.

Comments | 1,145 Views

By Jen Doll and Richard Lawson

Jun 5, 2012

Debating the Importance of 'Ferris Bueller'

As you probably not aware, today is Ferris Bueller Day, the celebration of the day, some 27 years ago, that the fictional Chicago teen of Ferris Bueller's Day Off cut school and went out on the town. In that spirit, let's discuss the movie. Is it an essential classic or not?

Comments | 1,141 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 5, 2012

Women Do Not Need 'Reasons' for Being Single or Childless

Women should feel free not to have babies, or not to get married, as they see fit. That's the mark of a progressive society! Except, if that's the case, why do we have to keep talking, talking, talking about it?

Comments | 11,881 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 5, 2012

BEA Begins; J.K. Rowling's New Augmented Reality 'Harry Potter' Book

Today in books: Book Expo America is on; Sony introduces an augmented reality book for Playstation by J.K. Rowling; Amazon buys Avalon Books; and more.

Comments | 3,416 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 5, 2012

Who Sleeps Better, Couples or Singles? The Debate Rages

Hold on to your mattresses, single people living alone: "Couples may get health benefits simply from sleeping in the same bed, a burgeoning field of study is showing."

Comments | 4,867 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 4, 2012

A Handy Glossary for Adweek's 'Breastvertising' Opus

Adweek has a pretty breastactular article on the science and history of the mammary in advertising today. 

Comments | 1,552 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 4, 2012

Paris Has Ruined Brooklyn; Brooklyn Has Ruined France

Julia Moskin's New York Times trend piece on how artisanal food trucks are all the rage in Paris not only offends our dearly departed Artisanal, but serves to inflict a mortal wound upon Brooklyn, not to mention the entire country of France.

Comments | 5,732 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 4, 2012

Oprah's New Book Club Is Different But the Same; Sex Is Better in E-Books

Today in books: Oprah's book club is back, e-books stands for "erotic," and the Vatican does not approve of nuns talking sex.

Comments | 1,461 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 4, 2012

Mad Women: Happiness Is a Moment Before You Need More Happiness

Sunday's episode of Mad Men brought the death that everyone's been waiting for. Throughout the episode there was also a theme of men struggling to become men and women struggling to become women, with success in varying degrees.

Comments | 4,483 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 1, 2012

Can Copy Editors Really Save Amercia, and Does Amercia Want Saving?

If there's one thing Amercia loves, it's a good, old-fashioned viral typo.

Comments | 4,356 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 1, 2012

Journalism's Gender Imbalance Includes Who's Quoted, Too

There's a further gender gap in media, and this one extends beyond the bylines themselves.

Comments | 1,166 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 1, 2012

No Apology Can Save John Edwards from the Public's Verdict

After learning how much was lacking in John Edwards — lack of character, lack of what we need in a leader and, more personally, in a  husband and father, lack of a certain kind of humanity — his criminal trial came down to a lack of evidence.

Comments | 1,042 Views

By Jen Doll

May 31, 2012

Y.A. for Grownups

A Y.A. Lover's Summer Reading List, by Judy Blume, R.L. Stine, and Others

We asked some of our favorite Y.A. book authors for the titles that would have been on their ideal summer reading lists, and why. 

Comments | 7,652 Views

By Jen Doll

May 31, 2012

How Keeping Salaries Secret Makes Employees Complicit in Wage Inequality

Even though money sits at the heart of the most fundamental human issues, we fear talking about it, quite possibly making money issues, including pay equity, worse.

Comments | 5,664 Views

By Jen Doll

May 31, 2012

The Classist Side of Mayor Bloomberg's War on Soda

Those who've lived in New York City for a while remember fondly a time when not much of anything was banned at all. But there's an even darker side to bans. They widen the divide between the rich, who can find a way around them, and the poor, who perhaps cannot.

Comments | 6,564 Views

By Jen Doll

May 30, 2012

Artisanal, Reluctant Branding Pioneer, Dies at Age 474

Artisanal, a word that fought early in his career to ensure recognition of craftsmen for their important contributions to society before later being drafted into the creation of a worldwide gourmet branding glut, died Wednesday.

Comments | 23,464 Views

By Jen Doll

May 30, 2012

Do Female Journalists Have a Confidence Problem?

Every couple of weeks another report comes out with a new statistic that demonstrates what we should all know by now: women writers are not being published as often as men. But we're still working at getting to the heart of the matter.

Comments | 3,276 Views

By Jen Doll

May 30, 2012

Cozy Tales of the Clintons of Chappaqua

Even though the Clintons consist of the current Secretary of State (Hillary) and the former U.S. President (Bill), they are just normal folks, and pretty darn good neighbors, too, more involved in their chosen town more than anyone might have imagined, writes Peter Applebome in a piece in The New York Times.

Comments | 1,933 Views

By Jen Doll

May 29, 2012

A Back-to-Work Guide to Internet Outrage

On the Internet, there are certain principles that remain the same, regardless of the breaks you take or long weekends that are thrust upon you without your approval. One of those things is anger. 

Comments | 2,231 Views

By Jen Doll

May 29, 2012

The Horrifying Rise of the 'Relationship Contract'

There's a new trend in relationship management, and it's called the "relationship contract." How fun does that sound?

Comments | 8,199 Views

By Jen Doll

May 29, 2012

New York Post Mocks Anthony Weiner's Mortifying Life as a Stay-at-Home Dad

It was nearly a year ago that Anthony Weiner resigned from his Congressional seat after being busted in a sexting scandal. But The New York Post is not done with him yet.

Comments | 3,112 Views

By Jen Doll

May 29, 2012

Mad Women: 'She Comes and Goes as She Pleases'

Sunday night's episode of Mad Men was a culmination of themes that have been percolating all season—and quite possibly, the best episode thus far of season five.

Comments | 7,223 Views

By Jen Doll

May 25, 2012

Can a 16-Year-Old Girl Be a Cougar? Asks the New York Times

Is there a G-rated word more hideous and nasty to women than the word "cougar"? What about when we apply it to 16-year-old girls?

Comments | 15,745 Views

By Jen Doll

May 25, 2012

The Ingredients of a Perfect Summer Read

Everyone's busily putting forth what, exactly, you should be reading this summer, so we won't bother you with that. Instead, we're supplying you with the information you need to choose the right book all by yourself. 

Comments | 4,853 Views

By Jen Doll

May 25, 2012

The Long Viral Life of 'Overanalyzing' Magazine

Once again, nearly as consistently as prying public discussions into the supposed ticking of our biological clocks, the Cosmo-esque fake cover of Overanalyzing magazine has been recirculating. Where did it come from?

Comments | 8,671 Views

By Jen Doll

May 25, 2012

Stop Judging Mark Zuckerberg for His Relatively Normal Wedding

In the many phases of how to feel about Mark Zuckerberg's marriage, we have reached "wedding shaming." Is it possible for a billionaire to have a nice, relatively normal wedding without being mocked for it?

Comments | 4,183 Views

By Jen Doll and Richard Lawson

May 24, 2012

What Your Favorite Wes Anderson Movie Says About You

What's your favorite Wes Anderson film? You would be amazed at what your preferences say about who you are, at least according to this entirely unscientific but completely authoritative exploration.

Comments | 34,763 Views

By Jen Doll

May 24, 2012

Y.A. for Grownups

The Boys We Learned to Love

Who were the boy characters who formed our impressions of who guys were supposed to be, who set crushable standards, who we wanted to grow up and some day meet—or become—ourselves? 

Comments | 3,002 Views

By Jen Doll

May 24, 2012

The '50 States of Grey'; Woodward Set to Tell All About Obama and the Economy

Today in books: 50 Shades is read in the North but loved in the South; Bob Woodward's new book is about the Obama economy; authors are not reading their elders. 

 

Comments | 1,552 Views

By Jen Doll

May 24, 2012

Should We Care if Bill Clinton Posed with Porn Stars?

By now you've seen the photo of Bill Clinton with the porn stars, the one that began circulating on Twitter last evening and is now in Page Six, and in various other tabloids, along with faux shocked headlines like "What would Hillary say?"

Comments | 14,374 Views

By Jen Doll and Rebecca Greenfield

May 23, 2012

Cocktail Crossfire

Cocktail Crossfire: Are Nasty, Evil, Anonymous Commenters Good for Anything?

Proposed legislation in New York State hopes to rid the Internet of mean, anonymous commenters. But do we really want to get rid of those people, even if we can?

Comments | 1,077 Views

By Jen Doll

May 23, 2012

No Sympathy for the Singles

Guess what, single friends! The Wall Street Journal's Sue Shellenbarger has a tip for you: You're doing it wrong.

Comments | 8,244 Views

By Jen Doll

May 23, 2012

Media Diet

The Fug Girls: What We Read

Heather Cocks (left) and Jessica Morgan, creators of the blog Go Fug Yourself and authors of books including the upcoming Messy, have slightly different strategies for their similarly extensive daily media consumption.

Comments | 6,162 Views

By Jen Doll

May 22, 2012

The Alleged Sexiness of '50 Shades of Grey'

Look, I'm not afraid to say it: 50 Shades of Grey is a terrible book. I know this because I have started reading it. It didn't take long to figure out.

Comments | 195,879 Views

By Jen Doll

May 22, 2012

Gloria Allred: Ambulance Chaser of 'Feminism'

Gloria Allred, a name we're accustomed to seeing in the news, has been in the news even more than usual the past few days.

Comments | 1,897 Views

By Jen Doll

May 22, 2012

Why We Can't Resist a 'Too Hot for Work' Story

There's a made-for-the-tabs story on the covers of the New York Post  and New York Daily News today, and ostensibly, it's about breasts. But really, it's about much more than that. 

Comments | 3,793 Views

By Jen Doll

May 21, 2012

Reflections from 20 Years of 'The Real World'

Remember The Real World? It first came out 20 years ago, on this very day back in 1992.

Comments | 5,378 Views

By Jen Doll

May 21, 2012

Of Golf Clubs, Boys' Clubs, and Workplace Equality

Two contrasting articles about gender and jobs are circulating today. One is FINS reporter Julie Steinberg's piece, "Yes, Ladies You DO Need to Play Golf." The other is a New York Times piece about men entering fields traditionally dominated by women.

Comments | 846 Views

By Jen Doll

May 21, 2012

Dating Survey Guy Speaks, Defends Himself Against Creepiness

Last week, the dating "mistake" that had the Internet cluck-clucking in joyful schadenfreude was the "creepy" survey sent by a "24-year-old finance guy," known as Mike, to one of his dates. Mike has gotten in touch to share his side of the story.

Comments | 9,235 Views

By Jen Doll

May 21, 2012

Mad Women: 'It's the Same Place Everywhere I Go'

You can't change your life until you change who you are. 

Comments | 3,104 Views

By Jen Doll

May 18, 2012

Someone Finally Asked Successful Women for Career Advice for Women

After Jack Welch likened women's employee groups to "victim's units," The Wall Street Journal's John Bussey has canvassed the female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies for their career tips for women. 

Comments | 1,845 Views

By Jen Doll

May 18, 2012

These Are Not the 'Shades of Grey' You Are Looking For

Have you heard of 50 Shades of Grey? Have you maybe confused it for one of those other "Grey" or "Gray" books out there on the market? If you have, you are not alone.

Comments | 5,879 Views

By Jen Doll

May 18, 2012

There's a Hell of a Lot of Cursing in Teen Fiction; Twitter Book Clubs

Today in publishing and literature: Foul-mouthed Y.A. characters are everywhere nowadays, pregnancy books have changed, George Bush is writing a book about economic growth, and Twitter book clubs are a thing.

Comments | 1,035 Views

By Jen Doll

May 18, 2012

The Edwards' Defense: He's a Sinner, But Not a Criminal

A final, if expected, blow to the reputation of the guy who was once headed for big things—if not president, Supreme Court justice, or maybe attorney general?—comes from his own defense team.

Comments | 170 Views

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