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

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Love & Other Epic Adventures: Science Fiction Romance Books

Get your fill of space adventures, AI hunks, and shipworthy pairings with these science fiction romance books like The Red Scholar's Wake. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-04-28 10:36:00 UTC ]
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Dead Ink wins Republic of Consciousness prize with Missouri Williams’s ‘astonishing’ debut

The award, championing small presses with fewer than five staff, was won by The Doloriad – an audaciously original novel set in a post-apocalyptic dystopiaDead Ink Books has won the Republic of Consciousness prize for small presses for Missouri Williams’s “astonishing” debut novel The Doloriad.... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-04-26 08:35:38 UTC ]
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These are the 13 books people tried to ban the most in 2022.

Today, the American Library Association has published its annual list of the Most Challenged Books—those most often targeted for banning in schools and public libraries. As you may already know if you’ve been paying even the slightest bit of attention, book banning efforts are in high gear right... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-24 14:24:23 UTC ]
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My Close Friend Is Spiraling And I Don’t Know What to Do. Help!

Jenée Desmond-Harris is joined by bestselling author Lane Moore on this week’s episode. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2023-04-21 09:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookworm in a Chrysalis: How Language Acquisition Nourishes a Love of Literature

The publishing party for my first book was held in the bookstore I used to work at. My book was piled on the table. People with flowers, people with cups of wine, people who didn’t understand Icelandic all filled the store. I felt like it was my birthday. Ten days earlier, I’d been awarded the […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-19 08:52:49 UTC ]
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Fighting Educational Injustice: Close-Up on Bettina L. Love’s 'Punished for Dreaming'

The author, activist, and educator delivers a scathing indictment of racist school reforms and plots a course for a more just future. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-04-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Lucinda Williams Tells Her Secrets

The singer-songwriter reveals herself in a memoir that captures her adventures with charming rogues, puzzled music executives and her own demons. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-04-14 16:18:11 UTC ]
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A Summary and Analysis of Sandra Cisneros’ ‘My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn’

‘My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn’ is the opening story in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, a 1991 collection of short stories by the American writer Sandra Cisneros (born 1954). In the story, a young girl describes her friendship with a girl named Lucy, and it emerges that […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-04-13 14:00:16 UTC ]
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The Right Way to Build Brand Love by Hopping on Viral Trends

Richard Fox is not interested in contributing to the internet's abundance of "inspiration porn." As a former Paralympic athlete and a digital media coordinator at the Paralympics, Fox is playing into TikTok culture to drive a social movement forward. @paralympics Blind swimmers getting bopped. ?... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2023-04-10 20:00:00 UTC ]
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Susanna Hoffs Has a Dollar Bill Signed by William S. Burroughs

“I queued up to get his autograph with nothing but a dollar bill for him to sign,” says the pop star, whose debut novel is “This Bird Has Flown.” “He glanced up, amused, gave me a mischievous half-smile and said, ‘Ah, defacing U.S. currency,’ and proceeded to sign it.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-04-06 09:00:12 UTC ]
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Gal-Dem, magazine for women and non-binary people of colour, to fold

Staff statement blames closure after eight years on financial challenge of running independent media outletThe magazine gal-dem, an online and print publication for women and non-binary people of colour, is to fold after eight years.In a public statement shared on Friday, staff at gal-dem said:... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-03-31 12:59:18 UTC ]
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Apple Music bug on iOS is reportedly mixing up people's playlists

Apple Music users on iOS are highlighting a fairly serious bug that is causing other people's playlists and songs to appear in their libraries, according to multiple Redditors. On top of that, some users have complained that their own playlists have outright disappeared or been replaced by... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-03-23 10:30:03 UTC ]
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Publishers are cynically using ‘sensitivity readers’ to protect their bottom lines | Zoe Dubno

As books become intellectual property assets, publishers become asset managers trying to future-proof their toxic investmentsThe news that many of Roald Dahl’s books had been edited by the publisher Puffin to excise “offensive references to gender and race” has unleashed a brouhaha among the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-03-09 11:20:19 UTC ]
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Book Review: ‘We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I,’ by Raja Shehadeh

Raja Shehadeh’s highly personal memoir probes a relationship that might have been. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-03-02 10:00:15 UTC ]
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I built a $40 theremin to annoy friends and learn circuitry fundamentals

There’s nothing spookier or more haunting than the soaring sounds of a theremin, an instrument that uses electromagnetic fields to produce various pitches when you move your hands around it. You’ve probably heard one in your favorite science fiction flick. It’s one of my favorite... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2023-02-24 17:00:00 UTC ]
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Exclusive Cover Reveal: Isle McElroy’s “People Collide”

Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover for acclaimed writer Isle McElroy’s sophomore novel, People Collide, which will be published by HarperCollins this September. When Eli wakes up alone in the cramped Bulgarian apartment he shares with Elizabeth, his more organized and successful... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-02-22 15:10:28 UTC ]
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Hundreds of People Showed Up to the Grand Opening of Octavia’s Bookshelf

The Black, Indigenous, and people of color-focused bookstore in Pasadena, California opened to customers lined up around the block. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-02-20 14:38:53 UTC ]
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If You Loved Prince Harry's 'Spare,' Here Are Some Equally Juicy Celeb Memoirs

Luckily for us, the celebrity memoir genre is rife with tantalizingly tales from stars past and present. Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2023-02-09 10:45:21 UTC ]
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January Religion Bestsellers: Lysa TerKeurst Tops; ‘Redeeming Love’ Remains #1

Proverbs 31 Ministry president and bestselling author Lysa TerKeurst takes #1 in Religion Nonfiction with her latest release, ‘Good Boundaries and Goodbyes.’ Francine Rivers maintains the top perch in Religion Fiction from last month with ‘Redeeming Love.’ Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Turning Nairobi’s Public Libraries Into ‘Palaces for the People’

A Kenyan nonprofit is restoring iconic public libraries, leaving behind a segregated past and turning them into inclusive spaces. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-02-04 10:00:30 UTC ]
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