Posts tagged with lists
Beach reads for a very intellectual swimmer
Former president Barack Obama just released another list of recommended reads, and his choices are predictably excellent—thoughtful, important, challenging books. I'd actually quite like it if Trump would do something similar, if...
Congratulations?
In honor of April Fools' Day, The New York Times has put together a list of their favorite literary hoaxes of the 20th century. James Frey made the list...
So many choices!
I've never heard of the gossip website Oh No They Didn't!'s monthly reading challenge before, but I really like this idea: in December, they're challenging their followers to read a book that won an award (any award) in 2018...
A taste for cheese
For the past six moths, PBS has been running their “The Great American Read” survey, which garnered over four million votes. The winner (which was always the frontrunner) was Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, which beat everything from Harry Potter to Pride and Prejudice...
Timely!
Paste Magazine recently compiled a list of the 30 Best Dystopian Books of All Time. I have some questions (the books are very English-language heavy; surely there are some great dystopian novels that haven't been translated yet?), and...
Maybe...
Entertainment Weekly just rounded up 14 recent or currently-airing TV series based on books, in case you're looking for something cinematic to read. I'm mildly interested in Luke Jennings’s Codename Villanelle...
Don't you want to read this, based on the cover alone?!?
If you'd like to start off the new year on a hopeful, socially-mindful note, Electric Literature just posted a helpful list of 46 books by women of color to read in 2018. It's an ambitious, intriguing list, and...
Pre-Valentine's Day
NYMag's new site The Strategist just posted a list (charmingly) titled "12 Romantic Books That Won't Make You Gag". I'm not, you know, a six-year-old boy, so romance doesn't actually disgust me, but whatever. They have some good picks on there...
Holiday Gift Pick #7
Gift Idea #7: Pop Chart Lab's 100 Essential Novels Scratch-off Chart
I'm not a gambler, so I've never been able to experience the mysterious delights of scratch-off tickets. This gorgeous poster...
Spectacular
A few months ago, Wired compiled a list of 10 of the Most Beautiful Libraries on Earth. Beauty is subjective, and I suspect people who prefer their libraries to resemble, say, Hogwarts aren't going to find much to admire in this list. But...
Two thumbs up
Entertainment Weekly recently put together a useful list of 31 Spooky Books to Read This Halloween. In addition to the fact that I always love dorky holiday-themed reading lists, their picks are actually really good: there are plenty of expected names...
Ever? No.
The Daily Dot recently compiled a list of the 9 Best Fantasy Book Series. The title of this list is misleading—it's more a list of recommended series for fans of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones, and as such, the choices are fine...
Shocker!
THR just posted their annual list of "Hollywood's 25 Most Powerful Authors". The list is determined by book sales, number of adaptations, projects in development, additional credits, and "cultural influence", and features a combination of first-time honorees and...
Beach reads
In honor of Banned Books Week, Forbes put together a list of the "Top 5 Ancient And Medieval Censored Books To Read During Banned Book Week". I have no idea how they determine what makes these books the "Top 5"...
Useful for someone, I guess.
Last week, Vulture helpfully compiled a list of Book-to-Film Adaptations Still to Come in 2016. There is nothing on this list I would willingly shell out $10.50 for, but fans of inspiring (read: tear-jerking) nonfiction...
Even more vital
Last week, Pajiba put together a list of Jane Austen's heroes, ranked by level of swoon-worthiness. (Please note: these are the film versions of various characters, not the book versions.) Of course, I firmly believe that Edmund Bertram could be played by Sex Incarnate and he'd still be a judgmental, easily manipulated doofus, so I'm ignoring their #10, but...
I'm gonna miss The Toast.
In one of the last posts on The Toast, author Lindsey Palka compiled a list of "Things Lucy Maud Montgomery Lied To Me About". This was my favorite part...
Expanded (but not enough)
The more I think about Common Sense Media's list of 50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12, the more I quibble with it. They chose a lot of great books, sure, but others range from flawed (Ender's Game) to age-inappropriate (The Fellowship of the Ring) to straight-up unworthy (The Bad Beginning: A Series of Unfortunate Events)...
Moderately impressed
*Common Sense Media put together a list of 50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12, and while I don't agree with all of their choices (or missing choices—um, where's Harriet the Spy? Or anything by Diana Wynne Jones? Lloyd Alexander? Jeff Smith's Bone series?), they...
No thanks.
The Guardian put together a list of the "Top Ten Uncanny Graphic Novels", for those of you with fearless natures, strong stomachs, and lots of disposable income. Their picks are all solid (and include Charles Burns's Black Hole, which I still haven't fully recovered from...
Does not compute.
In an effort to arrive at a definitive list of the United Kingdom's greatest novels, BBC Culture contributor Jane Ciabattari polled 82 non-British book critics for their favorites. The resulting list is novels only (no short stories/poetry/plays), and it is perfectly respectable, although...
Oh, the cover art
Hey, finally! At long last, NPR has released the list they compiled of 100 Swoon-Worthy Romances. I've been waiting for this all summer, and I'm genuinely impressed by a lot of their choices...
I want these. All of them.
I love both cookbooks and nerdy literary slide shows, so there's no way I wasn't going to be all over this: Paste recently compiled a list of the Saddest Cookbooks Ever, and it is a delight...
Early but unhelpful
Publishers Weekly has already compiled their "Best Summer Books of 2014" list, because they are revoltingly well-organized. As usual, though, I can comfort myself with the thought that while I won't come up with a recommended summer reading list until late June (and possibly not even by the end of July), at least none of my picks...
G-rated swooning
The website Avidly recently put together a lovely list of G-Rated Moments of Swoon featured in literature. I've never read a few of their picks (including the Trixie Belden series, although their description was enticing enough that I now intend to do so as soon as possible), but I absolutely agree with the others...
An awesome sign of things to come
Happy New Year, everybody! 2013 is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice, so I have sky-high hopes for this year. A major Pride and Prejudice anniversary means this is clearly going to be a great year for... something. No idea what (other than a bumper crop of scholarly P&P analysis, obviously), but I'm sure it will be amazing...
Wordcandy's 2012 Holiday Gift List
It's time for our annual Holiday gift suggestions, dear readers, and we're totally proud of ourselves for A) choosing reasonably affordable stuff, and B) getting this list out before December 20th. (We aim high.) Anyway, here you go...
Ridiculous gifts inspired by a ridiculous book
I treasure this, I truly do: the fine people at TresSugar have put together a suggested gift list inspired by five of the year's best-selling books: Gone Girl, Fifty Shades of Grey, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), Where We Belong, and The Hunger Games. It's a cute idea, except the very first item is a candle that costs $495...
Lies, damned lies, and statistics (I hope)
I'd like this eye-catching poster more if it conveyed less depressing information. I always find the sales figures for The Da Vinci Code and the Twilight books depressing, but seeing them totally trump The Diary of Anne Frank like that is heartbreaking....
One more...
Here's another summer reading list, this one featuring 101 high school-appropriate choices. It, too, is largely devoted to depressing books, but at least it presents its misery-pushing in the form of a beautiful flow chart.