If We Are What We Read, Who Are We, Exactly?
According to research recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the book characters we love are the real-life characters we become.
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Allow me to present a hypothesis: Dan Brown is the Anne Hathaway of authors. Hard-working, serious about his craft (even if others aren't), with lots and lots of money to show for his work. And people love to hate him as much, and sometimes even more, than they love to love him.
According to research recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the book characters we love are the real-life characters we become.
Today in books and publishing: the truthiness of David Sedaris draws scrutiny post-Mike Daisey, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is headed for bankruptcy, and a defense of the coming New York Public Library Renovations.
Yao Ming's memoir is going to a very limited edition, John Updike's fixer-upper of a boyhood home will be turned into a museum, and the truth about book blurbs.
There is a triumvirate of success in the annals of Y.A. book history: Potter, Twilight, Hunger. What comes next?
Today in books: Multivolume biographies aren't what they used to be, Amazon has some big Harry Potter news, and the 2012 election will result in a quickie Ann Coulter book.
Ernest Hemingway's Toronto Star columns are now available online, John Irving's new book debuts to tepid notices, and Fifty Shades of Grey is not welcome in Brevard County libraries.
Can one even begin to count the contributions to kid lit, and later, to our adult lives, made by Maurice Sendak?
Today in books: Not everyone adores Robert Caro's sprawling biography of Lyndon Johnson, Andrew Cuomo is writing a book that sounds very presidential, and a rave for Toni Morrison's new novel from Michiko Kakutani.
Today in books and publishing: Glenn Beck is reworking a series of technothrillers to appeal to his fans, the founder of Perseus Books has died, and SNL gets around to making fun of Fifty Shades of Grey.
At some point in my early tweenhood, my mom ushered me into a room, just the two of us, away from my dad and younger brother, and presented me with a book.
Today in books and publishing: Target is kicking Amazon out of their stores, the Fifty Shades of Grey parody book boomlet is here, and Steve Coll also has a big, important piece of non-fiction out this week that isn't about Lyndon Johnson
To assume that an entire nation of parents is great is as silly as assuming that an entire set of people born in under one birth sign are exactly the same. But that hasn't stopped the ongoing "Where is it better to be a mom?" debate.
Bill Clinton reviewed the new Robert Caro book for The New York Times, the Fox News mole is shopping a book that Fox-bashers will adore, and the giant hedge fund that sponsors the Man Booker Prize is having a bad run of luck.
Every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the video clips that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention.
Today in books: Buzz Bissinger's plan to do something nice for a Friday Night Lights character was derailed by Apple and Amazon, a Duke alum vows to expose the "toxic culture" of Wall Street, and Books-A-Million may be going private.
Today in publishing and literature: The release date of Joe Posnanski's authorized Joe Paterno biography gets moved up, a book based on a Tumblr that's actually worth buying, and Uggie the dog continues to extend his 15 minutes of canine fame.
In 1965, 11 years after the Supreme Court outlawed segregated schools, Nancy Larrick wrote an article titled "The All-White World of Children's Books" for the Saturday Review. Much has changed since then. Some has stayed the same.
Today in books and publishing: Tom Hanks reads Stephen Colbert's children's book for adults, gamers are going to be getting a taste of Henry David Thoreau, and Yertle the Turtle is too politically charged for British Columbia.
Today in books and publishing: A possible sighting of the new Dave Eggers novel, to mark the release of his 63rd book, Vulture ranks the work of Stephen King, and Christopher Hitchens came up empty at this year's Orwell prize.
Today in books and publishing: Adaptation screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is adapting Lionsgate's next big YA series, Jonathan Franzen's new essay collection is here, and the "weirdos" of World Book Night had a good time giving away literature for nothing.
Today in books and publishing: The e-book pricing courage of the publishing industry, William Shakespeare turns 448, and John Irving explains why he's not a Hemingway fan.
Today in books and publishing: Ernest Hemingway's estate leaps into the luxury hotel business, Amazon has a copycat bestseller problem, and a tour of Jane Friedman's sprawling, well-read Manhattan duplex.
What exactly is "Y.A."? What does it mean? Why did it begin in the first place, and when was that? What has it become since? We conferred with librarians, agents, publishing world executives, and the experts of the Internet to put together a primer of sorts.
Today in books: Jonathan Safran Foer has a new book coming out next year, James Bond's license to kill now comes from Jeff Bezos, and a first edition of The Importance of Being Earnest can be yours for somewhere in the neighborhood of $190,000.
Today in books: There are more than fifty shades of grey in the Fifty Shades of Grey headlines; we're still awaiting the news of the inevitable Fox Mole book deal; and the most awful short sentence is not that terrible. Really.
Today in books and publishing: Duel of the Andrew Cuomo biographies, a call to leave Ralph Ellison alone, and science explains why books smell like books.
The ironic and rather wonderful thing about banning books is that the act doesn't, actually, do much to keep the books from being read. If anything, it inspires further interest in them, and sometimes sales, too.
Today in books and publishing: J.K. Rowling's new book has a title and skeletal plot outline, Salman Rushdie rechristened himself for his memoir, and what books people wanted banned in 2011.
When Gawker unveiled their "Fox Mole," an anonymous employee at Fox News who has been posting about the inner workings of Fox News and their bathrooms, our first thought was that this guy is going to get outed, fired, and then pitch a book. So how much can he hope to get?
Today in books: Lady Gaga's Book Club is a sleeping giant, Apple and Macmillan will not negotiate, and the James Joyce-Kool Keith quote game is hard, but fair.
Today in books: Richard Russo is putting his money where his dislike of e-books is, another filmmaker lands a deal to write a filmable series of YA books, and 2012 has been a good year for fans of baseball books.
Today in books and publishing: 96-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner Herman Wouk gets a book deal, deconstructing Amazon's charitable ways, and a non-heartbreaking letter from David Foster Wallace to Don DeLillo.
Today in books and publishing: Amazon is selling Spanish language e-books, David Foster Wallace once misused a word, and you can now read Dickens with all the original ads.
This kicks off our new series, Y.A. for Grownups, in which we talk about Y.A. literature—from the now nostalgia-infused stories we devoured as kids to more contemporary tomes being read by young people today. Despite what Joel Stein wants, grownups are reading Y.A. Let's embrace it.
Today in books and publishing: A possible settlement between some of the Big Six publishers and the Department of Justice, Pottermore sold an estimated $1.5 million in e-books in its first three days, and a depressing look at an Amazon fulfillment center.
Today in books and publishing: The real-life history behind Game of Thrones, David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust phase is getting the celebrity biography treatment, and Canada's libraries balk at Random House's e-book price hike.
Today in books: Carrie Brownstein gets a book deal, the last edition of Encylopaedia Britannica is flying off shelves, John Grisham has a humble brag, and precocious kids discover self-publishing.
Today in books and literature: Penguin was the runner-up in the Greg Smith memoir sweepstakes, the case against adults reading books for kids, and Frank Langella has written a gossipy memoir.
Today in books: Charlie Kaufman is writing something clever for Grand Central Publishing, Hemingway's softer side, and a new scene from The Pale King makes us miss David Foster Wallace.
Today in books and publishing: Zadie Smith's run of good news continues, HBO gobbles up another book for a potential series, Jewel writes and sings, and Stephen King's Dark Tower series continues.
The Internet has seized upon the mortifying story told by Dara-Lynn Weiss, who put her 7-year-daughter Bea on what people are calling the "Tiger Mother" diet, and then wrote about it in Vogue magazine.
Today in books: Like magic, the Harry Potter e-books have arrived, E.L. James made a lot of money selling the film rights to Fifty Shades of Grey, and Ian McEwan has a late addition to the November publishing slate.
Today in books: Former Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith is shopping a book proposal, more fallout about the role of the ghostwriter, and Chuck Palahniuk was in a scary car accident.
Slyly if not secretly, Facebook has just tightened its grip on the intellectual property right to yet another incredibly generic, remarkably common word: "book."
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Today in books and publishing: Linsanity may be subsiding, but the Knicks guard is still going to the subject of a biography for kids
Today in books: Vintage has acquired rights to the James Bond books, The Hunger Games sends Scholastic stock soaring, and Dante is under siege in Italy.
The print edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is no more, a fact that's already sending bibliophiles to mourn the death of print (even more) and digital types to cheer on Wikipedia (even more). As the Chicago Tribune put it, this is "a cultural benchmark and, certainly, a moment in history." True, but it's not a sad one.
Today in books: The Academy Award-winning actor is going to be offering his own contribution to The Big Lebowski literary canon, a bull market for Katy Perry's memoir, and why you shouldn't feel guilty about putting a novel down unfinished.
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