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 ]
Lit Lists T. Patrick Ortez Fantasy is often overlooked when it comes to literature in translation, but from Gilgamesh to the Edda to The Epic of Darkness, fantasy lies at the heart of human storytelling. The genre has changed a lot since then, but fantasy... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-10-01 14:00:27 UTC ]
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Man Booker-winning author Anne Enright’s next novel, Actress, about sexual power and celebrity, will be published by Jonathan Cape in February 2020. Jonathan Cape publisher Robin Robertson acquired UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada from Peter Straus of Rogers, Coleridge & White... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-27 08:38:57 UTC ]
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Nick Hornby’s first novel in five years, Just Like You, will be published by Viking. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-27 01:29:37 UTC ]
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The Center for Fiction named its 2019 First Novel Prize shortlist this morning. The post Center for Fiction Names 2019 First Novel Prize Shortlist appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2019-09-26 17:53:27 UTC ]
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Lit Hub is excited to announce the shortlist for the 2019 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. This year’s judging panel included Tommy Orange, Emma Straub, Monique Truong, Maaza Mengiste, and Claire Messud. They are: De’Shawn Charles Winslow, In West Mills Chia-Chia Lin, The Unpassing Julia... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-26 13:59:29 UTC ]
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Today, Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell announced his next project: Utopia Avenue, which will be first full-length novel since 2014’s The Bone Clocks. (I suppose he has some time now that he’s done writing The Matrix 4.) Mitchell said in his announcement that the idea for the book came in part... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-26 12:40:53 UTC ]
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Due out next summer, the novel will explore the power of music, following the career of the eponymous psychedelic bandCloud Atlas author David Mitchell is to tackle the story of “the strangest British band you’ve never heard of” in his first novel for five years, Utopia Avenue.Announcing the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-09-26 10:42:58 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan has landed the first novel in a historical crime fiction series from D V Bishop. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-20 00:24:27 UTC ]
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Interviews Carolyne Larrington Audible’s new fiction podcast, Hag, launching August 29, features eight reimaginings of traditional British folktales by eight contemporary female writers, with folktales chosen from across the UK. The collection will be... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-08-30 14:21:50 UTC ]
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The Center for Fiction announced its 2019 First Novel Prize Longlist yesterday. The award is given to the “best debut novel published between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of the award year,” and the prize-winning author receives $10,000. Here is the 2019 longlist (featuring many titles from our 2019 Book... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2019-07-25 17:22:45 UTC ]
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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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