Recently, Design writer Jude Stewart stopped by the NPR studios to talk about her new book ROY G. BIV: An Exceedingly Surprising Book About Color. The author offers a new perspective on the colors which surround us daily and how different cultures can view and describe the same colors differently. Regarding the relationship between color and language, the book reveals a fascinating link among many languages around the world. Even diverse languages, that share no common root, develop names for colors in the same order: “black, white, red, green and yellow, blue, and then brown.” Read more…
By J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company | 512 pages
Release Date: September 27, 2012
Summary:
Today, rabid fans can finally get their hands on The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling’s eagerly awaited adult novel. The story begins with the unexpected death of good-natured parish council member Barry Fairbrother, which throws the small village of Pagford into upheaval. The surface of Pagford may be story-book perfect, but underneath roils a a toxic combination of anger, lust, racism and pretentiousness. Some of the less ethical members of the council, lead by businessman Howard Mollison, angle to fill Fairbrother’s empty seat with one of their own, in a ploy to foist responsibility of their undesirable council estate (British version of the Projects) onto a neighboring village. With their hands washed of what is perceived as a blight on their community, the residents of Pagford will no longer be obliged to educate the children of the poor and downtrodden in their local schools. Rowling paints a sociological portrait of Pagford, revealing various states of the human condition, warts and all. Though this story is decidedly directed at more mature audiences, there are themes in The Casual Vacancy that run parallel to the Potter series. “I think there is a through-line,” Rowling explains in an interview with The New Yorker. “Mortality, morality, the two things that I obsess about.” Read more…
Though procrastination is often seen as a negative trait, Stanford Philosophy professor, John Perry, argues for a more positive view in his new book The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing (Workman Publishing Company, 112pgs). During an interview on NPR‘s All Things Considered, the author draws a distinction between being lazy and being a procrastinator. “So, it’s a kind of a paradox. If I get all this stuff done, how can that be when I’m a crummy procrastinator? And it occurred to me, well, there’s a difference between procrastinating and being lazy — I’m not lazy. I do a lot of stuff, as long as it’s a way of not doing something else that I’m supposed to do,” he explains. Read more…
Writer Justin Halpern, whose explosively popular Twitter feed @shitmydadsays grew into a bestselling book and a television series, mines the stories of his youth again for the new memoir I Suck at Girls. This time the focus is Halpern’s own coming of age and early experience (or lack there of) in the dating world. “I just felt like there were a lot of books for people that score with the ladies all the time, and then there are a lot of books for people that were total social outcasts who really went through a lot just to live a normal life. And I didn’t feel like there was a lot of that in between, where I felt most people fell, including myself, and I was like, you know what? People share way more embarrassing stories than these. Maybe I can just give them something that makes the common person feel like they have a kindred spirit,” says the author in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, explaining the inspiration for the book. Read more…
By Stephen King
Publisher: Scribner | 320pgs
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Summary:
Fans of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series will rejoice with the release of the new book The Wind Through the Keyhole. Those who have been jonesing for more stories about the Gunslinger Roland Deschain and his adventures through Mid-World, will get the rush of plunging into the author’s incredibly detailed Western/Sci-Fi/Fantasy world for the eighth time. This book, considerably shorter than the last few novels of the series, is a detour that falls between the fourth book Wizard and Glass and the fifth book Wolves of the Calla, in the Dark Tower timeline. As Roland and his ka-tet (Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy) take refuge from a destructive storm, he recounts a story from his youth, the hunt for a vicious shape-shifting serial killer. The teenage Gunslinger investigates the murders, and befriends a young boy left bereft in the wake of the shape-shifter’s violence, comforting him with a mythical legend. Thus begins an intricate story within a story, crafted with King’s signature style and imagination. Read more…
By Jack Whyte
Forge Books ©2012 | Hardcover 512pgs
Scottish history buffs and fans of historical fiction will have no trouble immersing themselves in The Forest Laird: A Tale of William Wallace, the first novel in the new Guardians Trilogy by Jack Whyte. The bestselling author of the Dream of Eagles series and The Camulod Chronicles, Scottish born Whyte imagines the early life of one of his homeland’s greatest heroes. The author conducted in-depth research into his subject, even traveling throughout Scotland on a fact-finding mission. Unfortunately little documentation remains of the freedom fighter’s life before his stunning victory against the English at Stirling Bridge in 1297. However, this absence of fact is fertile ground for the mind of an historical novelist, and the writer fills the void with very interesting and well-developed characters. Read more…
Comedian Steve Martin stopped by NPR’s Morning Edition program last week to talk about his latest book The Ten, Make That Nine, Habits Of Very Organized People. Make That Ten., inspired by his Twitter feed. Martin did not join the Twitter universe until 2010, when friend Tom Hanks encouraged him to try tweeting for promotional purposes. “…I thought, well that’s interesting, because I was growing frustrated that when you do a movie or a record, that you have to promote it. I was going on television [and] playing to an audience of 4 million, for example, and maybe only 400 of them were interested in my so-called product. And I thought if I had a Twitter feed and say I had a following of a 100,000, that means 100,000 of them would be interested in my book,” the funny man explained.
“It was logical, but it didn’t turn out to be true. It turned out if I had a Twitter feed of a 100,000, four of them were interested in my book. So, tweeting is really only good for one thing — it’s just good for tweeting … It is rewarding, because it’s just its own reward. It’s sort of like heaven.” Read more…
Modern American society seems to prize the extrovert, those with brash, outgoing personalities often climb to the tops of both corporate and social ladders. Yet, as former attorney, Susan Cain, writes in her new book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, introverts have their own subtle advantages. The Harvard law school alumna viewed her own cautious manner as a sort of hindrance in her professional life, until research into the introverted personality helped her realize that many traits that society views as faults are actually very powerful attributes. Quiet, the result of her research, draws from personal interviews, as well as the latest finds in neuroscience and psychology, and works to correct misconceptions of introverts and empower them to embrace their nature. Read more…
By John Green
Dutton Juvenile | 336pgs
Release Date: January 10, 2012
Summary:
Award-winning young adult author John Green addresses the serious issues of sickness and death in his latest novel The Fault in Our Stars. Protagonist Hazel Lancaster is a teenager grappling with her terminal cancer diagnosis when she meets Augustus Waters in a cancer support group. Their shared enthusiasm for ultra-violent video games and Dutch author Peter van Houten fosters a love that grows despite their illnesses. Told with a spark of humor to balance the gravity of the subject matter, Green crafts a story that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Read more…
After a six-year break, children’s author Dav Pilkey will publish two new books in his Captain Underpants series. Hugely popular with the elementary school set, the stories follow the hijinks of practical jokers George and Harold and their comic book creation Captain Underpants. The titles, both of which will evoke quite a few giggles from readers, are slated for release over the next year. Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers will hit stores on August 28, 2012, and Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers will arrive in January 2013. Read more…