Books :: Paste

Finalists for 2009 National Book Awards are Announced

By Emily Riemer on 10:15 AM on October 16, 2009

The 60th annual National Book Award Finalists have been announced for 2009. The prize is awarded to one work out of five nominees in each of four genres (fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people’s literature). This year, 193 publishers submitted a total of 1,129 books for consideration.... read more

Tennessee Williams Festival Kicks Off in Mississippi Today

By Emily Riemer on 8:59 AM on October 16, 2009

Festival attractions include porch plays, panel discussions and a "Stella" shouting contest... read more

A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh Book Sees Sequel After Eight Decades

By Gage Henry on 12:30 PM on October 15, 2009

Before Winnie the Pooh was produced as an icon in a plethora of Disney movies, cartoons and colorful picture books, he was drawn in the illustrations of E.H. Shepard as a rather English, rural and naked bear who lived in the Hundred Acre Wood, the setting of the children's tales penned by A.A. Milne in his 1928 book, The House at Pooh Corner.... read more

Writer Walker Lamond is Ready to Share Rules for My Unborn Son

By Michael Saba on 11:55 AM on October 14, 2009

As the past few years have taught us, there's serious money to be made in turning a much-hyped blog into a book (see: Stuff White People Like). Or, you know, at least a shot at converting internet fame into real-life notoriety. And writer/documentarian/renaissance man Walker Lamond aims to do just that by cribbing the choicest morsels from his Rules for My Unborn Son blog and compiling them into a book bearing the same name, due out Oct. 27.... read more

Neil Gaiman Crowdsourcing a Short Story Via Twitter

By Gage Henry on 2:18 PM on October 13, 2009

Coraline author Neil Gaiman wants to make a writer out of you.... read more

Andy Kaufman's Wrestling Career Put to the Printed Page in Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts!

By Michael Saba on 2:04 PM on October 13, 2009

In 1979, Andy Kaufman issued a direct challenge to the women of America. Kaufman was a longtime follower of the ridiculous machismo and overblown personas of professional wrestlers, and began to wrestle women as part of his stage act, declaring himself the "inter-gender wrestling champion of the world." The perennial oddball offered a $1,000 prize to any woman who could pin him in a grappling match, with the added guarantee that he would shave his head and also marry the woman who could beat him.... read more

Authorized, Illustrated Stooges Book Hits Shelves

By Justin Jacobs on 10:13 AM on October 13, 2009

The music of The Stooges has long inspired fans to engage in many a destructive act: throw a fit, break things, crush beer cans, send your pretty face to hell. You know, general rock 'n' rollisms. But how about sitting down with a book? Iggy and company sure hope so—the band's most comprehensive biography, The Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story, has just hit shelves.... read more

David Byrne, Sarah Silverman, Billy Corgan, More Tap into the Unconscious at Carl Jung Red Book Discussion

By Christina Lee on 3:00 PM on October 9, 2009

When psychoanalyst Carl Jung found himself face-to-face with haunting visions and inner voices, he did not bow down. Instead, he proceeded to document and decipher his battles for 16 years. The end result is his Red Book, and now, more than 25 music, film and cultural personalities are set to debate each of its 205 pages.... read more

Victor LaValle: Big Machine

By Derek Prall on 4:00 PM on October 5, 2009

Former heroin addict Ricky Rice has resigned himself to a... read more

Nick Hornby: Juliet, Naked

By John Hood on 10:00 AM on September 29, 2009

Duncan is the kind of guy who won’t man-up... read more

Joss Whedon Unveils Astonishing X-Men Motion Comics

By Michael Saba on 4:00 PM on September 28, 2009

To call Joss Whedon a god of nerd-dom probably understates the influence of one of this generation's most beloved writer/directors. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: Just about everything he's applied his alchemy to has transformed into geek gold. And since he's already penned a comic or two in his time, it's only natural that he would be turning his talents to write a motion comic for Marvel, titled Astonishing X-Men: Gifted.... read more

Elijah Wald: How The Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll

By Nick Marino on 11:00 AM on September 28, 2009

In 2004, music writer Elijah Wald released... read more

Michael Taeckens (Ed.): Love is a Four-Letter Word: True Stories of Breakups, Bad Relationships and Broken Hearts

By Christopher Myers on 12:00 PM on September 25, 2009

Comedy and tragedy intertwine in these tales of mankind’s most... read more

David Byrne: Bicycle Diaries

By Nick A. Zaino III on 2:30 PM on September 21, 2009

David Byrne admits early on in his Bicycle Diaries that... read more

Vote for Your Favorite Books of the Decade

By Josh Jackson on 10:30 AM on September 21, 2009

Vote for your favorite Books published during the 2000s. Just list one to 10 books from the beginning of 2000 to the present in the comments section below... read more

Backspacer Cover Artist Releasing a Children's Book

By Michael Saba on 8:45 AM on September 18, 2009

Liberally-minded readers of alt-weeklies have probably seen the work of Tom Tomorrow, the nom-de-plume of political cartoonist Dan Perkins. Perkins pens This Modern World, a series that riffs on ripped-from-the-headlines topics, usually offering laughs and insight in the same serving.... read more

Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard Announce Kerouac Live Dates

By Gage Henry on 12:00 PM on September 15, 2009

Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard have lately been devoting their artistry to converting Jack Kerouac's spirited prose into song and verse, a collaboration album known as One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur. To support their project, which is slated for an Oct. 20 debut, they'll be hosting a special series of four concerts around the U.S. where they'll perform songs from the record along with other surprise material.... read more

An Interview With Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

By Charles McNair on 8:01 AM on September 15, 2009

Read Paste's full issue 56 cover story on Where the Wild Things Are here.--Paste: What’s the magic in the story Where The Wild Things Are? Why do you think children and their parents open this book again and again to read about Max and the wild things?O: I think Maurice struck on some winning formula. So much of the magic is in his voice as an illustrator and writer. The book is brimming with both darker and lighter sides of imagination—there is something bittersweet about the story, and maybe there is some hidden depth in that bittersweetness that kids connect... read more