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 ]
News tagged with: #radio interview #final season #memoir

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


Love, grieving, intimacy and enduring war: what is the role now for books and writers in Ukraine? | Charlotte Higgins

The Lviv BookForum was vibrant this year, but still there is the backdrop of conflict and the need to find a place for storytellingLast year’s Lviv BookForum, a literary festival in the elegant western Ukrainian city, was mostly an online affair, held in a basement lecture theatre that might... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-10-21 05:00:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #selling books #bomb shelter #live music #literary festival


Help! Is It Okay to Ghost A Friend?

Jenée Desmond-Harris is joined by best-selling author of Bad Feminist and Opinions, Roxane Gay. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2023-10-20 09:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jene desmond-harris #bad feminist #roxane gay #best-selling author


Serena Williams Has a Two-Book Deal, Including a Memoir

Serena Williams just announced a book deal with Random House Publishing Group. Here's what we know so far. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-10-19 16:48:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #serena williams #random house #book deal


Serena Williams to publish memoir about life ‘on and off the court’

The tennis champion has signed a two-book deal with Penguin Random House, saying it will be the first time she has paused and reflected on her remarkable career Serena Williams is set to publish two books, the first of which, a memoir, will take an “intimate” look at her childhood and remarkable... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-10-18 14:56:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publish memoir #serena williams #tennis champion #memoir


Write Who You Love: J. Ryan Stradal on Memorializing His Mother Through Fiction

Since my first novel was published, at almost every interview and live event, I get asked a version of the same question. Usually people seem just curious, but occasionally there are notes of hostility or amazement. They want to know why, and often how, I write my female protagonists. The answer... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-16 08:50:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #live event #female protagonists #first novel


Michelle Williams will narrate audiobook for Britney Spears' memoir, 'The Woman in Me'

Britney Spears said that 'reliving everything' in her memoir, 'The Woman in Me,' has been 'heart-wrenching,' so she's only recording an intro for the audiobook. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-10-13 17:27:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #narrate audiobook #michelle williams #britney spears #audiobook


When Innocent Black People Die, I Mourn The Life, The Potential, And The Art

When I first encountered the work of Henry Dumas, I was very nearly finished with my undergraduate degree in English. I favored American literature in my time studying, and was lucky to have access to syllabi that spanned a more diverse array of writers. The Black writers I would come to know... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-13 11:15:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #black writers #art appeared #henry dumas #undergraduate degree #time studying #diverse array #electric literature #american literature


When Innocent Black People Die, I Mourn The Life, The Potential, And The Art

When I first encountered the work of Henry Dumas, I was very nearly finished with my undergraduate degree in English. I favored American literature in my time studying, and was lucky to have access to syllabi that spanned a more diverse array of writers. The Black writers I would come to know... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-13 11:15:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #black writers #art appeared #henry dumas #undergraduate degree #time studying #diverse array #electric literature #american literature


8 South Asian Novels About Falling in Love

My introduction to romance novels came when my high school crush handed me a book written by his mother’s friend under a pen name. It was all very hush hush, no one knew what the author’s real identity was, but he trusted me with this big secret (which might have been the first grand romantic... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-12 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #love appeared #romance novels #electric literature #book written


Finalists for 2023 NBA in Young People's Literature Announced

The National Book Foundation has revealed the five finalists for the 2023 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literature announced #national book award #national book foundation


Brooklyn Public Library’s Leigh Hurwitz on Helping Young People Resist Censorship

In anticipation of Banned Books Week, Brooklyn Public Library’s collections manager Leigh Hurwitz joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss how the recent, dramatic rise in book bans disproportionately affects young people, and why BPL has chosen to offer access to its... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-28 08:18:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #offer access #million ebooks #ebooks


Peace Is What Our Hearts Seek: Kalpna Singh-Chitnis’s Love Letters to Ukraine, by Candice Louisa Daquin

Peace Is What Our Hearts Seek: Kalpna Singh-Chitnis’s Love Letters to Ukraine, by Candice Louisa Daquin Book Reviews [email protected] Tue, 09/19/2023 - 16:07 In Love Letters to Ukraine from Uyava (River Paw Press, 2023), Kalpna Singh-Chitnis... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2023-09-19 21:07:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #human condition #anthology


‘I didn’t think it was possible to be a novelist’: Julian Barnes on literature, loss – and his late friend Martin Amis

The Booker winning author talks about how his most recent work was inspired by Hilary Mantel, and the way the books world has changed since his debut was published more than 40 years agoToo many people have been dying lately,” Julian Barnes reflects over the phone from his home in north London.... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-09-16 08:00:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #julian barnes #martin amis #recent work #hilary mantel #books world #north london #key part


Here’s the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. The ten titles were all written by newcomers to the National Book Awards, and were selected from a pool of 348 books submitted for consideration by their publishers. This... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-13 14:15:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ten titles #national book foundation #national book award


2023 NBA Longlist for Young People's Literature Announced

The National Book Foundation has revealed the 2023 National Book Award longlist for Young People's Literature. The five finalists will be named on October 3, and the winner will be announced during the awards ceremony on November 15 in New York City. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literature announced #awards ceremony #national book award #national book foundation


A Trans Woman’s Shapeshifting Love Story

Aurora Mattia’s debut novel The Fifth Wound is a fantastical journey through the formulation of one trans woman’s truth. Mattia’s own recapitulation as protagonist Aurora aka @silicone_angel bridges the gap between ancient Greece, Covid-era Brooklyn, and the rolling fields of Iowa searching to... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-09-01 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #trans woman #ancient greece #electric literature #debut novel


Clara Luper’s Diamonds and Acts of Radical Love: A Conversation with Cornel West, by Karlos K. Hill

Clara Luper’s Diamonds and Acts of Radical Love: A Conversation with Cornel West, by Karlos K. Hill Interviews [email protected] Wed, 08/30/2023 - 08:14 Dr. Cornel West / Courtesy of AAE SpeakersCornel West, who recently retired from Princeton... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2023-08-30 13:14:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #full potential #school district #young kids #central role #radio program #hotel room #memoir


Former 'Friends' writer says the stars were unhappy and purposely tanked jokes they didn't like

A former "Friends" writer's new memoir details her experience on the show at a time when the stars seemed unhappy, and the writers room wasn't so friendly. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-08-25 01:20:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #memoir details #memoir


‘A tired old show’: Friends writer claims cast deliberately ruined jokes

Patty Lin says that Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry and co forced rewrites of gags they didn’t like by performing them badlyFriends may have been a worldwide smash hit that made megastars of its cast, but – according to one of its writers – the actors weren’t always trying their... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-24 10:34:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jennifer aniston #matthew perry #memoir