Why do so many people still love Friends? | Zoe Williams

The 90s were a decade of carefree optimism and comically low stakes. Matthew Perry’s death brings us crashing back into the now In 2004, the author Damian Barr published Get It Together: Surviving Your Quartlerlife Crisis. Barr would go on to write poignant and beautiful books (including the memoir Maggie and Me) but this wasn’t either of those things. It was more of a fun, generational howl: how’s this stuff supposed to work? How are you supposed to become an adult in these conditions? The dream of life in your 20s – flailing around not sure what to do, mooching from one dead-end job to another but still managing to afford a gigantic, lovely flat in the centre of everything, failing romantically, hilariously, while it all turns out for the best, never feeling anxious for no reason or as if you’re slipping through the sieve of polite society, too small and weightless to remain in the in-crowd – well, that dream was cracking a little. As Barr put it in a radio interview, the question, essentially, was this: what if Friends, which by then was in its 10th and final season, wasn’t very true to life?Definitely, the economic winds were changing: wages in the UK started to stagnate in 2003; in the US, graduate wages had been falling since 2000, and health cover cut for young employees, both graduate and not, since 2002. All of this, plus climbing student debt, was dwarfed by the 2007-2008 financial crash, after which everyone got much poorer, much faster. But the casual 90s... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-10-30 18:37:24 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Why do so many people still love Friends? | Zoe Williams"


Lit Hub Weekly: March 18 – March 22, 2024

“The routine was not all that remarkable for her, but from the outside looking in, it felt momentous.” Mia Manzulli considers proximity, distance, and living next to Joyce Carol Oates. | Lit Hub Memoir “Octopuses had been known to demonstrate rudimentary intelligence, but Mather recognized this... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-03-23 10:30:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Review: ‘Rabbit Heart,’ by Kristine S. Ervin

In the memoir “Rabbit Heart,” Kristine S. Ervin explores the human being behind sensational headlines, and our culture’s insatiable thirst for other people’s tragedy. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-03-23 09:00:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: March 20, 2024

Howard Norman talks to Michael Ondaatje about his first collection of poetry in twenty-five years. | Lit Hub In Conversation “If the infant is primitive so is its earliest vice, jealousy—probably the most innate vice of all.” The late Elspeth Barker on the most human of experiences. | Lit Hub... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-03-20 10:30:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Breaking Silence: PW Talks with Catherine Coldstream

Former nun Catherine Coldstream shares the story of her 12 years at a Carmelite monastery in a debut memoir out this month, 'Cloistered' (St. Martins), which earned a starred review from PW. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Flat Place

‘If all things were equal, what were we even doing here? Why weren’t we lying on our living-room floors, watching the dance of the dust, today and every day?’ Memoir by Noreen Masud. The post A Flat Place appeared first on Granta. Continue reading at Granta

[ Granta | 2024-03-18 17:23:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: March 15, 2024

“Interior design’s aim is to make reading easy. It creates order out of chaos and bestows authority (warranted or not) on an author’s words.” On book design beyond the cover. | Lit Hub Art The accidental icon Lyn Slater on style, rebellion, and aging with attitude. | Lit Hub Memoir What do Leo... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-03-15 10:30:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Eating in the Club- Cookbooks and Foodie Memoirs for Your Book Club

Which cookbook or foodie memoir would you like your book club to discuss and make the food from? Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-03-13 17:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Leslie Jamison Writes A Different Kind of Love Story In “Splinters”

Leslie Jamison’s new memoir Splinters follows the aftermath of divorce and the awakening of motherhood, but it explores desire more than it does any kind of death. Jamison wants to make meaning, to connect, to love, to feel, to mother, to write, and to revise her life endlessly. There are losses... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-08 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: March 8, 2024

“I am fascinated by the mismatch of these two systems, the fact that we can occupy two temporal spaces simultaneously…” Grace Loh Prasad on finding meaning in the space between Chinese and Western astrology, and what it means to remember her translator father. |  Lit Hub Memoir Jennifer Croft on... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-03-08 11:30:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this


What’s Going On with Kara Swisher’s Book Tour?

The veteran tech journalist is promoting her memoir with tech bros like Sam Altman. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2024-03-06 10:50:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Best New Book Releases Out March 5, 2024

A new mystery from the Queen of Irish detective fiction, a memoir by RuPaul, and a trippy, shifting narrative set in Prague all round out today's new releases. Which ones are you thinking of picking up? Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-03-05 12:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Review: ‘The House of Hidden Meanings,’ by RuPaul

Chronicling the high-heeled path to drag-queen superstardom, the new memoir also reveals a celebrity infatuated with his sense of a special destiny. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-03-05 10:00:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Memoir Shouldn’t Boss You Around

Lily Meyer recommends books that recollect personal experience without being prescriptive. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2024-03-01 17:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: February 28, 2024

 “These girls thought themselves saints of something, and I nodded and kneeled.” Emmeline Cline on eating disorder memoirs and the contagion of identification. | Lit Hub Memoir Steven W. Thrasher on the murder of journalists in Gaza and the loss of critical American voices in journalism: “What... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-28 11:30:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Best New Book Releases Out February 27, 2024

Today's new releases include a follow up to Tommy Orange's THERE THERE, a memoir of grief, a secret, anti-Confederacy spy society, and more. Which ones will you TBR? Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-02-27 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: February 27, 2024

“I was still reporting to my father, the things I had read and all that I had remembered.” Amitava Kumar on family, loss, and resonating with the words of other writers. | Lit Hub Memoir “Even in the worst of times, humans have a way of coming together to lighten the load and provide hope […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-27 11:30:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: February 22, 2024

What’s Aisha Sabatini Sloan reading? Diana Arterian on the author’s nightstand. | Lit Hub Criticism “The intimacy I feel with what my home once was cannot be reconciled with what downtown has become.” Emma Dries reflects on her childhood home and how 9/11 changed downtown Manhattan forever. |... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-22 11:30:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Interview: Brontez Purnell

“I’ve been prank-calling Justin Torres for like two decades,” says the poet and performer, whose new book is called “Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt: A Memoir in Verse.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-02-22 10:00:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Best New Book Releases Out February 20, 2024

In today's new releases, there's an epic story of a conjuror-made safe haven in 1830s St. Louis, a feminist retelling of Zorro, a Cambodian food-based memoir of survival, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-02-20 13:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Leslie Jamison! Michiko Kakutani! The wildness of Old English! 23 new books out today.

It’s another Tuesday, and that means that a bevy of beautiful new books are out. And it’s a brilliant bevy indeed: below, you’ll find twenty-three new titles to consider that span an incredible range, including a raw new memoir from Leslie Jamison on motherhood and the self; the esteemed... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-20 09:46:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this