S. by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst – review

Mark Lawson finds authorial controversy and romantic scrawl in an imitation library bookCreators of popular television have often invoked comparisons with written fiction: Dennis Potter and Steve Bochco both used the term "TV novel" to describe series such as Potter's The Singing Detective and Bochco's LA Law and NYPD Blue. Both screenwriters also published novels, and this switchover tradition continues with JJ Abrams, the power behind Alias and Lost.Perhaps surprisingly, writers who rethought the structures of television often became reverentially conventional on the page: Potter's Ticket to Ride and Bochco's Death by Hollywood had impressive plot and dialogue, as you might expect, but an Edwardian reader would be at ease with the novels' approach to narrative and chapters.Abrams, though, has come up with a novel of such structural daring that the first task of the audience is to work out a way of reading it. And I say "come up with", rather than "written", because one of the conventions challenged is that of authorship. On programmes such as Lost and Alias, Abrams operated as what American TV calls a "showrunner", overseeing every decision and episode but not writing every episode himself. With S., Abrams is a sort of "novelrunner", having conceived the project but left the prose to someone else: Doug Dorst, a US novelist and creative writing tutor.You suspect that this collaboration with Abrams must have taught Dorst a few things about the nature and creation of... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2013-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Under the Wire review – fearsome account of war reporting in Syria

War photographer Paul Conroy is magnetic as he untangles the nuances of his profession in this screen version of his memoirChristopher Martin’s film is an urgent documentary version of Under the Fire, the memoir published by war photographer Paul Conroy about his friendship and professional... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Attorney general announces review of social media platforms following Capitol Hill hearing

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill questioned top executives at Facebook and Twitter on Wednesday about their companies’ ability to thwart foreign interference, and hinted that industry regulations may be coming. The “size and reach of your platforms demand that we, as policy-makers, do our job, to ensure... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-09-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Breaking News by Alan Rusbridger review – the remaking of journalism and why it matters now

The former Guardian editor details a revolution in journalism. Can it still perform its vital, truth-telling role?Truth is a small word liable to sanctimonious overuse and philosophical dispute, but in its humblest sense of accurate and verifiable information we like to think we know it when we... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Omarosa Manigault Newman's book meets harsh reviews

Reality television star and former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman’s "Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House" finally hit bookstore shelves on Tuesday, and judging by critics’ reactions, they’re not here to make friends. In the book, Manigault Newman claims that she... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Actor Thomas Lennon pens fantasy series for Abrams

Abrams Children’s Books has acquired a middle grade fantasy series by Hollywood actor Thomas Lennon. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Review: Joe Cole excels in brutal prison fight drama ‘A Prayer Before Dawn’

In “A Prayer Before Dawn,” director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire and screenwriters Jonathan Hirschbein and Nick Saltrese (adapting the memoir by Billy Moore) effectively eschew narrative convention to tell this harrowing story of a meth-addicted Brit scraping by in Bangkok as an underground boxer who’s... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books: Theodore Sturgeon's overlooked centenary plus reviews and book news

Hello I’m books editor Carolyn Kellogg with our Books newsletter this week. THE BIG STORY This year is Theodore Sturgeon’s centenary, and if you’re wondering “who?,” you’re not alone. Once widely read (and still beloved in some science fiction communities, as a few on Twitter pointed out to me)... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Review: Lovers on the run in dull, campy crime thriller ‘Devil's Cove’

It’s “Thelma and Louise” on meth in the soapy, low-budget B-movie “Devil’s Cove,” directed by Erik Lundmark and written by Chloe Traicos, who stars as black widow murderess Jackie McGann. The story opens with the murder of Rick Duval (Cameron Barnes), and then winds its way backward and forward... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Review: Amandla Stenberg leads the charge in the been-there, done-that dystopia of ‘The Darkest Minds’

You’ve seen this future before. “The Darkest Minds” is the latest YA dystopian book series to get the Hollywood treatment, and it’s reached the point where there’s barely any effort to hide or tweak the commonalities: teens led by a charismatic unsung hero, superpowers, holding facilities, hunts,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Murdoch Method by Irwin Stelzer review – has Rupert Murdoch lost his touch?

A finely balanced assessment of the media mogul’s sprawling empire – written by his right-hand manLike him or loathe him, Rupert Murdoch remains one of the world’s most fascinating characters. He is the subject of more than a dozen biographies and is the central figure in at least a score of... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Abrams Acquires Peter Mayer's the Overlook Press

The Overlook Press, cofounded by Peter Mayer, the former chair and CEO of the Penguin Group, in 1971, has been acquired by illustrated book publisher Abrams. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ctrl Alt Delete: How Politics and the Media Crashed Our Democracy – review

Tom Baldwin’s account of the abusive relationship with the truth in media and politics is lucid, punchy and often funnyLet’s begin with the parable of the triple-breasted woman. A couple of years in advance of Donald Trump’s arrival at the White House and before the term “fake news” had caught... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-07-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book Review: Behold, America: A History of America First and the American Dream, by Sarah Churchwell

In the late summer of 1941, as millions of Americans were debating whether to become involved in the war against Hitler, the journalist Dorothy Thompson wrote a celebrated essay for Harper's magazine. The title was Who Goes Nazi?, and Thompson explained that she had devised "a somewhat macabre... Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2018-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books: A teen reviews '#Neveragain,' a World War II tragedy comes to life and more book news

Welcome to the Books newsletter! I’m books editor Carolyn Kellogg, writing my last newsletter from our Spring Street address — next Friday we’ll be packing up for our new digs in El Segundo. THE BIG STORY When I saw that Parkland, Fla., shooting survivors David Hogg and his sister Lauren Hogg had... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Review: Boots Riley's 'Sorry to Bother You' is an arrestingly surreal satire on class rage and cultural identity

The title treatment for “Sorry to Bother You,” Boots Riley’s joyous dystopian cackle of a directing debut, has more personality than most movies. Designed by the children’s book illustrator J. Otto Seibold in a blocky original font — let’s call it “Dinosaur Tetris” — it conquers the screen in big... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Face Up Mid-Year Review: Our Favorite Magazine Covers of 2018 (So Far)

As the Fourth of July arrives each year, it brings with it many traditions—cheap beer, grilled hot dogs, and quasi-illegal fireworks, to name a few—but it also provides an opportunity at the year's half-way point to reflect on just what's gone on over the last six months. And there is perhaps no... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2018-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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MIT Technology Review Redesigns for the Greater Good

One of many memorable covers in the long history of MIT Technology Review's various iterations arrived in October of 2012 in the form of a close-up portrait of Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin above the tagline, "You promised me Mars colonies. Instead, I got Facebook." Six years later, we still... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2018-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'NYRB' Plummets, 'Paris Review' Creeps Upward On 2017 VIDA Count

According to the annual VIDA Count, which analyzes gender parity at literary magazines, only 23.3% of pieces published in the 'New York Review of Books' last year were written by women, while representation at the 'Paris Review' crept up by 8 percentage points in the year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: Finding by David Hill

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[ Stuff | 2018-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon comes under fire for removal of book reviews

Amazon has come under fire for removing reviews from its online book listings, with some customers having had all their reviews removed or being blocked from posting further reviews. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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