The adaptation of Sally Rooney’s first novel can’t quite bring tricky source material – repressed characters, digital communication – to lifeIt was always unlikely that Conversations with Friends, the new Hulu and BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney’s first novel, would be able to repeat the lightning strike of Normal People. The latter show, another Hulu/BBC production based on Rooney’s bestselling second novel and released in April 2020, was the rare combination of right material, right time. Its straightforward, though elegantly told, premise – on-and-off, boy-girl love story over several years – and naturalistic, genuinely hot depictions of physical intimacy (one sex scene lasted 9 minutes and 24 seconds, a full third of the episode) struck a nerve during a time of mass isolation.Conversations with Friends is a harder sell. The book and series follow a thorny quadrangle of sex and friendship between two best friends/ex-lovers and an older married couple – none of whom, in classic Rooney fashion, seem party to their own motivations. It’s a murkier tangle than Normal People, made even more inaccessible by the characters’ psychological opaqueness and general aversion to speaking. Key figures from Normal People – Irish production company Element Pictures, director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Alice Birch – strive for a similar quiet, meditative realism on Conversations, with characters who communicate more frequently, and significantly, through text and email. (Rooney co-wrote... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2022-05-24 06:05:00 UTC ]
The Center for Fiction just announced the longlist for this year’s best debut novel. The shortlist will be announced in September and the winner will be announced in December at The Center for Fiction’s Annual Benefit and Awards Dinner at its new, spacious, happening location in Brooklyn.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-25 16:41:15 UTC ]
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A drowning haunts Susan Steinberg’s dark first novel about teenagers’ summer adventures. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2019-07-23 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Fig Tree will publish journalist and author Dolly Alderton’s debut novel, Ghosts, about a food writer with a dedicated online following whose personal life is falling apart. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-10 16:29:40 UTC ]
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Tochi Onyebuchi’s young adult books, the duology Beasts Made of Night and Crown of Thunder, are fantasy novels with a Nigeria-influenced setting. His upcoming War Girls is set in a post-nuclear, post-climate change Nigeria of 2172. Riot Baby, his first novel for adults (also forthcoming), is a... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-07-04 11:00:10 UTC ]
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She published her first novel at 50, and her heroines were invariably rich, savvy, ambitious and preternaturally beautiful. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-06-24 20:37:23 UTC ]
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As she celebrates a series of career milestones—which coincide with the 20th anniversary of her publisher, Dafina Books—the author starts a new chapter by revisiting classic characters in the long-awaited sequel to her first novel, My Brother’s Keeper. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-06-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado I've absolutely loved this collection of short stories, which floats between the weird and the queer, passing horror, black comedy and feminism along the way. Doubles and others are especially important: a wife enters her wife’s dream when they... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-04-11 08:49:28 UTC ]
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As another year draws to a close, key figures at major publishers share insights on how they are defining success and refining their strategies moving forward. The post Executive Perspectives: Where Eight Publishers Are Focusing in Q4 and Beyond appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2017-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sally Whitaker, one of the key figures behind the inception of Nielsen Bookscan is remembered, with her time as m.d. of J Whitaker & Son notable for its many groundbreaking advances. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Key figures in the American publishing community are unified in their call for a lift of the US embargo of Cuba as it pertains to books. The post Cuba’s Book Embargo Tackled by Trade With White House Petitions appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Reviews editor Alex Crowley recommends 'The Pentagon's Brain,' about DARPA, the rationale and strategy that underpins defense science, and key figures in this shadowy world. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The BBC is adapting Hilary Mantel’s novel about the French Revolution, A Place of Greater Safety, following its recent adaptation of her Man Booker Prize-winning Tudor novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies (all Fourth Estate). The 1992 novel tells the story of three young men who were key... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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