In a blog post for Newcity Lit college professor Monica Westin discusses the recent popularity of zombie books and questions the value of literary mash-ups like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Pride and Prejudice: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. The fact that many of these books have been bestsellers proves that they are obviously entertaining, but does this zombie trend have meaning beyond that? The proliferation of zombie tales of late could be owed in part to the novelty of experiencing characters that are primarily depicted in films or video games in print. Westin attributes most of the modern mythology and code of zombie behavior to George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead film franchise. Through the years, Romero and other fellow horror directors, have used the undead to symbolize cultural fears that range from the spread of communism to globalized viral epidemics. However, Westin argues that when zombies are introduced into a classic piece of literature, “the meaning of the original book often gets lost or marginalized with the addition of a monster plotline.” Read more…

Benedict Cumberbatch (left) and Martin Freeman (right) play Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in modern day interpretation "Sherlock".

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s archetypal detective Sherlock Holmes has been portrayed countless time on the small and big screen, most notably by Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett. But the new television series with a minimalist title, Sherlock, trades in the lace curtains of Victorian drawing rooms for the gritty streets of modern day London and puts a 21st Century spin on the beloved character. “It seemed to somehow make it a bit less reverent and a bit more fun,” show co-creator Steven Moffat tells NPR. “Much as we love Sherlock Holmes, we love Victoriana. Many of the adaptations become about the period as opposed to about the story.” The BBC show, which has been building quite a buzz in Britain, will begin airing in the U.S. on PBS’s Masterpiece on Sunday, October 24. Read more…

Screenshots from "Dracula: The Official Stoker Family Edition" interactive eBook app for the iPad.

A thoroughly modern approach to Bram Stoker’s classic spooky tale, Dracula, makes its debut on Apple’s App Store today, just in time for Halloween. Dracula: The Official Stoker Family Edition, a fully interactive eBook, blends nearly 300 pages of text with 600 illustrations and implements the iPad’s touch screen functionality to create a user experience similar to video game play. Readers can use a lantern to light up words on a page, reveal information on tombstones by blowing away leaves and use their virtual blood to uncover hidden messages. The interactive book was developed by Padworx Digital Media using the company’s proprietary game engine. “It really is a different kind of reading experience,” Jeffrey Schechter of Padworx Digital Media tells USA TODAY. “…Not only can we do everything other interactive books can do, but we can also bring in 3-D graphics and game-play elements.” Read more…

By Lee Child
Delacorte Press | 400pgs
Release Date: October 19, 2010

Summary:
Former military policeman Jack Reacher returns in Worth Dying For, the 15th book of Lee Child’s bestselling Reacher series. On the move again after narrowly escaping the deadly events of the previous novel 61 Hours, the battle-scarred hero finds himself in a small town in Nebraska. There, Reacher encounters a scene very different from the idealized mid-western farming communities. The Duncan clan, a small time crime family specializing in smuggling and human trafficking runs the town, and a confrontation with one of the members puts Reacher directly in their cross hairs. When he learns of a years-old case involving a missing eight-year-old girl, his deepening investigation puts the arrival of one of the Duncans’ valuable shipments in jeopardy. The family may be small fish in a big pond, but their partners who are in want of the shipment, are vicious sharks. In order to find justice for the long lost child and stop the Duncans’ intimidation of the town, the wandering hero must square off with a pack of the clan’s well-muscled henchmen, recruited directly from the defensive line of the University of Nebraska football team. Read more…

Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy starring the brilliant and enigmatic computer hacker Lisbeth Salander has the taken world by storm. Now, his father Erland, and brother Joakim are scheduled to appear on CBS Sunday Morning this Sunday to share details of a fourth book in the series. After Larsson’s death in 2004, it was revealed that a manuscript for a fourth installment existed, and rumors began to fly about how much of it he was able to develop before being felled by a heart attack. According to an article on the Los Angeles Times website, Erland claims to have seen and held the manuscript. His brother also speaks of receiving an e-mail mere days before the author’s death in which he writes of nearing completion of the book. Read more…

Mad Men, the hit show centered around an advertising firm in the 1960′s has inspired more than a love for retro fashion and classic cocktails over lunch. It was also the impetus for the “Mad Men Reading List”, created by Billy Parrott, manager of the Battery Park City branch of the New York Public Library. The list includes all the books read by characters in the series. “I love the show,” says Parrott in an interview with the New York Daily News. “And being a librarian, I always take note when someone’s reading something.” The list, which is featured on the library’s blog as well as on Twitter under the name batteryparkcity, is becoming quite popular with patrons. “Now, the day after the show, people come in and start asking about stuff.” Read more…

In recognition of Banned Books Week, the Los Angeles Times published a list of the top 10 most-challenged books of 2009 and the highly acclaimed children’s book And Tango Makes Three garnered a spot near the top of the list, yet again. Authors Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell tell the touching true story of two male penguins in New York City’s Central Park Zoo who nurture an adopted egg and hatch their little daughter Tango. This picture book, aimed at preschool–2nd grade age children has oft been maligned as promoting a gay agenda, which is the reason for the challenges. In an age where “family values” are constantly decried, it is disappointing that some would want to deprive children of an uplifting story about a loving family because of outdated prejudices. Read more…

By David Sedaris
Little, Brown and Company | 176pgs
Release Date: September 28, 2010

Summary:
Humorist David Sedaris, best known for mining his family life and slightly misspent youth for his wildly entertaining memoir collections, takes a cue from Aesop in his latest book Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modern Bestiary. This thin volume of fables, accompanied with illustrations by Ian Falconer, features a menagerie of winged and furry creatures that share the same frustrations and malaise of life that we humans do. In the The Faithful Setter, the marriage of an Irish hound and his mutt wife is strained by her breed insecurities, while Hello Kitty features a disgruntled cat ordered to mandatory AA meetings. But, make no mistake, these are not kiddie fables. The dark humor that is characteristic of Sedaris’ style weaves through most of the plots. In an interview with USA TODAY, the author describes the book “as bedtime stories for children who drink.” Read more…

Portrait of Roald Dahl, 1954. By Carl Van Vechten.

Yesterday, marked author Roald Dahl’s 94th birthday and was the kick off day for a month of activities in Britain planned in honor of this giant of children’s literature. Though Dahl died in 1990 from leukemia, his body of work, which includes James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, remains wildly popular among kids and adults. Roald Dahl Day was initially launched on September 13, 2006 to commemorate his 90th birthday, but the outpouring of public affection for the writer and his stories has turned the event into a month-long celebration. “We thought it was going to be a one-off celebration but, because the previous years have been so successful, we can’t stop,” Felicity Dahl, the author’s widow, explains to The Guardian. “Roald was a great believer in birthdays being filled with treats, so he would be so happy that this tradition seems to be becoming an annual event.” Read more…

By Anne Fortier
Ballantine Books | 464 pages
Release Date: August 24, 2010

Summary:
The heartbreak that Julie Jacobs feels over the loss of her cherished aunt Rose soon turns to puzzled dismay as she learns the entire estate has been left to Julie’s twin sister, while she herself has only been bequeathed a single key. The mystery and adventure of Anne Fortier’s Juliet, begins with this small key, once owned by Julie’s dead mother, that fits a safety-deposit box in the city of Siena, Italy. The Twenty-five-year-old American travels to Siena and unlocks not only the box, but dangerous secrets about her Italian ancestors. She discovers a familial link to Giulietta Tolomei, a girl who fell in love with a young man from a rival family named Romeo in 1340, all to disastrous effect. This tragic love story went on to be immortalized through the ages by artists and writers, most famously by Shakespeare himself. The letters that Julie finds in the safety-deposit box point to the long hidden treasure of “Juliet’s Eyes,” beautiful jewels that adorn a gold statue. In her quest to find the valuable artifact, she encounters a mysterious contessa as well as intimidating mobsters, and realizes the blood feud that started between ancient families still exists in modern Siena. Alternating between the 21st and 14th centuries, Fortier weaves a story of intrigue and romance centered around one of the world’s most famous couples.
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