About Books & Literature: The Best Books of the Year... So Far

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Books & Literature From Megan Romer, your About Books & Literature Editor I am sitting here trying to pack for a day at the beach, looking at the enormous stack of books that I haven't read (and a few with serious re-read potential) and wondering what to pack. Vacation is hard. The Best Books of 2010 (So Far) Any of these five books -- 2010's finest -- should do the trick. The only downside is that none of them are in paperback yet, and will thus add about forty pounds to my already-overstuffed beach bag. These books might just have to wait until Thursday's post-vacation relaxy-time. Poor me. Review: Paul Murray - 'Skippy Dies' And, to make my already difficult life even more confusing, people keep publishing new books to add to the stack. This coming-of-age novel is no exception. Manga Review: Romeo X Juliet I love to read manga, but it's not my favorite for beach reading. Usually I feel like I can't appreciate the art in super-bright sunlight. That just means more fun reading for post-vacation vacation, and that's fine. How about a manga retelling of Romeo and Juliet? Why, yes. I think I will. What's Your Favorite Little Golden Book? I might be past the age where a Little Golden Book can fully entertain me at the beach. Probably not, actually. The Saggy Baggy Elephant is pretty awesome, let's face it. Books & Literature Ads Books Best Children Books Top Kids Books Reading Books Online Read Aloud Books Featured Articles The Every-Girl Romance My Favorite Poetry Recording What is Style? Edward Albee is Awesome SPX Profile Mary Arden's House.... The Real One!   More from About.com Plan a Unique Vegas Wedding The minister, music and champagne are just the beginning -- why not get married aboard a helicopter or have a pirate swing in to deliver your rings? Arrrr! More> Join About.com's User Panel! Share your opinions and help us make About.com more relevant, informative and enjoyable to use. More>   Sign up for more free newsletters on your favorite topics You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to the About Books & Literature newsletter. If you wish to change your email address or unsubscribe, please click here. About respects your privacy: Our Privacy Policy Contact Information: 249 West 17th Street New York, NY, 10011 © 2010 About.com   Advertisement

About Books & Literature: 'The Hunger Games' Trilogy and More...

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Books & Literature From Megan Romer, your About Books & Literature Editor I don't need anything else to read. The summer days are growing shorter and my books-to-read stack is growing taller. That, of course, does not mean that I won't be adding to the stack. In fact, I just see it as a challenge. 'The Hunger Games Trilogy' by Suzanne Collins I'm a bit behind on this one. The third and final installment of Collins's acclaimed trilogy, Mockingjay, is hitting the bookshelves today, and I haven't even read the first two. Our reviewer, Mike Sullivan, swears that the books are appropriate for everyone from young adults to seniors, and that the prose surpasses anything that Stephenie Meyer (Twilight) or J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) has ever produced. Sounds like a good weekend marathon read to me! 'Packing for Mars' by Mary Roach I have quite enjoyed Mary Roach's last three nonfiction works (Stiff, Spook, and Bonk) and, as someone who spent the first six years of her life wanting to be an astronaut, I look forward to her quirky take on space travel. A Fairy Tale Day... Want something classic, possibly scary, with a little romance and lots of fantasy? Don't forget about fairy tales -- the original short stories. They're always fun to revisit and read with the whole family. 'Eat, Pray, Love' Movie Review Long story short: our reviewer didn't much like it. It either didn't translate well from book to screen or perhaps it just wasn't destined to work on film no matter what. At any rate, I'll still probably see it, but I might hold off on paying 17 kajillion dollars (or whatever movies cost these days) and wait until it comes to DVD. Books & Literature Ads Books Spelling Games Shooting Games Books and Books Fun Games Featured Articles 2010 Ignatz Awards Nominees Carpe Diem Poems What Did Children's Authors Read This Summer? Farewell Stanley Wells! Fall 2010 Writing Contests for Students 'Mrs. Warren's Profession' by George Bernard Shaw   More from About.com Plan a Unique Vegas Wedding The minister, music and champagne are just the beginning -- why not get married aboard a helicopter or have a pirate swing in to deliver your rings? Arrrr! More> Join About.com's User Panel! Share your opinions and help us make About.com more relevant, informative and enjoyable to use. More>   Sign up for more free newsletters on your favorite topics You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to the About Books & Literature newsletter. If you wish to change your email address or unsubscribe, please click here. About respects your privacy: Our Privacy Policy Contact Information: 249 West 17th Street New York, NY, 10011 © 2010 About.com   Manga Talk Felipe Smith Interview Stu Levy and the TokyoPop Tour Otaku Six Interview ComicCon 2010 - Manga Translation Panel Advertisement

About Books & Literature: Revisiting 'Eat, Pray, Love'

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Books & Literature From Megan Romer, your About Books & Literature Editor Eat, Pray, Love was a literary sensation when it hit the shelves a few years back. It's headed to the big screen this week, starring Julia Roberts, so if you haven't read it, now would be a good time. 'Eat, Pray, Love' - The Book Elizabeth Gilbert wrote Eat, Pray, Love, her debut memoir, after a year-long trip to Italy, where she ate; India, where she prayed; and Indonesia, where I won't tell you what happened, at the risk of spoiling the ending. (You might be able to guess, if you're a wily sort.) 'Eat, Pray, Love' - The Film How well does a real-life story transfer from page to screen? It sort of depends. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Often they're nothing alike, but work (or don't) independently of each other. How will this adaptation be? You tell us! 'Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage' Committed is Elizabeth Gilbert's second book, and it's quite different from the first. It's half memoir, half cultural criticism, and half historical sociological analysis. (Hey, leave me alone, I write about books and music, not math.) Eat, Pray, Love -- A Way of Life? Need a little eating, praying, and loving in your life, but not quite ready to tackle the book or the movie adaptation? Perhaps contemplating some nice quotations on the subjects will pass a few minutes of your time in a pleasant way. Books & Literature Ads Books Best Children Books Literature Horror Books Fiction Sci Fi Literature Featured Articles Tips for Writing Children's Plays Nicholson Baker - 'The Anthologist' Video: Create a Reading-Friendly Home Shakespeare's Stratford-Upon-Avon... or is It? Steinbeck's Rudimentary Suggestions About Katharine Lee Bates   More from About.com Plan a Unique Vegas Wedding The minister, music and champagne are just the beginning -- why not get married aboard a helicopter or have a pirate swing in to deliver your rings? Arrrr! More> Join About.com's User Panel! Share your opinions and help us make About.com more relevant, informative and enjoyable to use. More>   Sign up for more free newsletters on your favorite topics You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to the About Books & Literature newsletter. If you wish to change your email address or unsubscribe, please click here. About respects your privacy: Our Privacy Policy Contact Information: 249 West 17th Street New York, NY, 10011 © 2010 About.com   News and Views From the Book World Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour Why Libraries are not the Same as Manga Scanlations Chelsea Clinton's Wedding Poem -- A Hidden History? Advertisement

About Books & Literature: Egypt, England, and Kindergarten

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Books & Literature From Megan Romer, your About Books & Literature Editor For me, summer is not over until I say it's over, so let's please all stop talking about how it's coming to a close. Pshaw, I say. It's just beginning. 'One Day' by David Nicholls ... which is a good thing, of course, since I'm nowhere near done with my summer reading list. One Day, an import from England, is a latecomer to the list, but an important one, since it seems like everyone is talking about it and I still haven't read it. 'Tutankhamun: The Book of Shadows' by Nick Drake I really enjoyed the first installment in Drake's Egyptian series (Nefertiti), and from what I hear, this one is excellent as well. Yet another reason to keep stretching out this summer. Books About the First Days of School For some of the smaller set, summer comes to an end too soon, as mandated by fun-hating adults. If you've got a wee beastie in your life who'll be entering school for the first time this year, we've got some suggestions for books that might help to ease the transition. Best and Worst Manga Panel at San Diego Comic-Con Back and at least mostly recovered from Comic-Con, our own Guide to Manga, Deb Aoki, has all sorts of fun things to report. For starters, she was on an awesome panel of important folks from the manga world to discuss what's worth reading and what's not. Read some of the highlights of the transcript. Books & Literature Ads Kindergarten Best Children Books Vocabulary Books Reading Books Online Top Kids Books Featured Articles Antigone in 60 Seconds Max's Advice to Young Writers Shakespeare's Grave Robert Browning's "Love Among the Ruins" The Cyclical Nature of Comics George Eliot Profile   More from About.com Plan a Unique Vegas Wedding The minister, music and champagne are just the beginning -- why not get married aboard a helicopter or have a pirate swing in to deliver your rings? Arrrr! More> Join About.com's User Panel! Share your opinions and help us make About.com more relevant, informative and enjoyable to use. More>   Sign up for more free newsletters on your favorite topics You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to the About Books & Literature newsletter. If you wish to change your email address or unsubscribe, please click here. About respects your privacy: Our Privacy Policy Contact Information: 249 West 17th Street New York, NY, 10011 © 2010 About.com   Advertisement