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gawker book club
gawker book club
"If You Don't Know Any Wealthy People, However, Don't Despair. They're Easy To Meet."
It was April of 1983, and Mary Kirby was an azure-eyed up-and-coming author. She was single, but on purpose, and men would trail her everywhere. She was so good at meeting men that she wrote a book about it! She called it "Mary Kirby's Guide to Meeting Men." Twenty-five years later, the text is still amazingly instructive. Today's homily comes from "Chapter Seven: Zeroing In On Particular Men" Particular in this instance means rich and Christian. More »
gawker book club
"Sometimes A Little Braid At The Side Of Your Face Can Be More Intriguing Than A Whole Head Of Braids"
It was April of 1983, and Mary Kirby was an azure-eyed up-and-coming author. She was single, but on purpose and men would trail her everywhere. She was so good at meeting men that she wrote a book about it! She called it Mary Kirby's Guide to Meeting Men. Twenty-five years later, the text is still amazingly instructive. More »
Today In Drizzt Do'Urden: "Hakuun's Spell Exploded Around The Dodging Elf And Pegasus"
'The Orc King' is a New York Times bestseller. Maybe because it has scenes where ogres battle elves and pegasi! Top that, Junot Diaz!
'The Orc King' is a New York Times bestseller. Maybe because it has scenes where ogres battle elves and pegasi! Top that, Junot Diaz!
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Exactly What Makes James Lipton So Irritating
Our Intern Mary has applied her sharp analytical mind and excellent Excel skill to Inside Inside, the wretched memoir by Inside the Actor's Studio host James Lipton. We've already examined the man's choice in epigraphs (pretentious), his favorite holiday (ridiculous) and his taste in women (whorish). But now the hard data is in. More »
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Today In Drizzt Do'Urden: "I Loved You And Lost You Because I Was A Fool"
Dungeons and Dragons-themed fantasy tome 'The Orc King' is a New York Times bestseller, which means some people at some stores bought many copies. Why'd they do that? Maybe it's because orcs fall in love just like Patrick Moberg and the rest of us. In today's book club selection, orc king Drizzt Do'Urden's lady, the human fighter from the Icewind Dale Catti-Brie, reconciles with her once-paramour, the barbarian Wulfgar. Cue mood music! More »
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Today In Drizzt Do'Urden: "Are You So Sure That Ogre-Spawn Can Be Bent To Your Will?"
'The Orc King,' a Dungeons and Dragons-themed tome, is currently on the Times bestseller list, which may or may not be meaningless. We're venturing into this enchanted realm to find out why. More »
Today In Drizzt Do'Urden
Dungeons and Dragons-themed fantasy tome 'The Orc King' is slipping down the Times bestseller list. Why? We went and bought a copy to find out.
Dungeons and Dragons-themed fantasy tome 'The Orc King' is slipping down the Times bestseller list. Why? We went and bought a copy to find out.
gawker book club
Bill Cosby: It Takes A Village Of Overextended Metaphors
Bill Cosby's new book, "Come On, People: On the Path from Victims to Victors," (written with Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint, 243 pages) is a big ball of crazy, kind of like the yearly harangue you get from your grandfather: "Why don't you have a real job yet? Why can't you hang on to a significant other?" Except it's completely directed at black folks! Like W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington before him, Cosby gamely suggests that black people pull themselves up by the bootstraps. From chapters ranging from "What's Going On With Black Men?" to "We All Start Out As Children," Cosby overshares his kooky ideas about the world, pissing and moaning that black Americans need to "tone down the culture" and "get smart about sex." Of course "When we were kids" is used more than once, and, did you know? In those days, kids knew their place (and knew how to act!) To underscore this point, he helpfully puts in quotations any word that seems "hip," "cool," or "new." Let's start with chapter 1, in which Bill Cosby casually enforces racial stereotypes. More »
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James Lipton's 'Inside Inside': A Reconsideration
We're halfway through our journey into "Inside the Actor's Studio" host James Lipton's new book, Inside Inside. Mostly so far we found ourselves cringing at the beginning of each chapter. Each started with an epigraph of such epic pretension! We could write a poem about it:
First was Chaucer, then Shakespeare. What would come after?
Ah, old Kierkegaard, of course. We'll wait for "Aye, there's the rub."
We're on chapter four. Could it get any dafter?
We'll find out in this installment of the Gawker Book Club.
gawker book club
James Lipton's Memoir May Be The Worst Thing Ever
James Lipton, host of Bravo's Inside The Actor's Studio, has a book! It's called Inside Inside and we got our copy today. It's 492 pages long and costs $27.95. If the first two pages are any indication, it might be the most gloriously horrendous book ever written. You have to love a man who starts the memoir of his middle-brow career with an epigraph by Chaucer, from 'The Canterbury Tales': "And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche." Nearly as trenchant as Dostoevsky's "Raskolnikov seemed offended." (Crime and Punishment, pg 144.) Or Faulkner's immortal words, "'Such good beer,' she said." (Sanctuary, pg 140.) Except with the added benefit that Chaucer is a) in Middle English and b) in the prologue. Let's face it, Lipton only has time for prologues. He's a busy guy and can barely read. But can he write? You decide. More »
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Steve Almond To Oprah: "I Don't Give A Shit How Many Books You Sell"
Former journalist and current fiction writer Steve Almond writes a letter to Oprah in his new book, (Not that You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions, which was published this week. It's called "How This Book Became an Official Oprah Book Club™ Pick," and it's one of those "Kidding! Haha. Ok, not kidding! Okay, kidding!" type of jokes. It is pretty bonkers. More »
Dana Thomas' Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster hit the New York Times bestseller list in its first week out (it'll show up in Sunday's print edition). Is the Gawker Book Club the new Oprah? Yes. Yes it is.
gawker book club
Which Fashion Lady Did Nina Garcia Spy Wearing Granny Underwear?
Nina Garcia, Project Runway judge and alleged 'Elle' editor, has a new book coming out after Labor Day called The Little Black Book of Style. In it, she imparts her wisdom about the world of fashion unto others for the low, low price of $17.95, or just $3.95 more than a year's subscription to 'Elle.' In our final excerpt, from chapter four—"What to Wear When..."—Nina offers insights into what to wear on various occasions. Also, what not to wear. Hint: granny underwear. More »
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Nina Garcia Understands All The Races Of The World
Each season on Project Runway, "Fashion Director for Elle Magazine" Nina Garcia gets bitcher and bitchier as she gets more famous. She's enough to remind us why we never worked for a fashion magazine. That, and we're not a size 2. Nina has a new book coming out after Labor Day called The Little Black Book of Style, where she imparts her wisdom about the world of fashion unto others for the low, low price of $17.95, or just $3.95 more than a year's subscription to Elle. Money well spent, undoubtedly. In Chapter Three—"Inspirations"—Nina teaches us about international fashion. Because she never met a stereotype she didn't like. Also, women everywhere are rich! The highlights follow. More »
gawker book club
Nina Garcia Advises Her Acolytes To "Mix It Up"
Each season on Project Runway, "Fashion Director for Elle Magazine" Nina Garcia gets bitcher and bitchier as she gets more famous. She's enough to remind us why we never worked for a fashion magazine. That, and we're not a size 2. Nina has a new book coming out after Labor Day called The Little Black Book of Style, where she imparts her wisdom about the world of fashion unto others for the low, low price of $17.95, or just $3.95 more than a year's subscription to Elle. Money well spent, undoubtedly. In Chapter Two—"The Basics"—Nina teaches us about juxtaposition. Because it's still the 80's where she is. More »
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Mara Altman Refers To Her Vagina As "Down There," Still Hasn't Orgasmed
Yesterday, we learned about former cripplesex-beat Voice reporter Mara Altman's inability to orgasm with a 31-year-old Muslim man named Rafiq. Today, we go deeper—get it? Like, deeper into her vagina?—and learn about how, in Bangkok, she "learned to pay for human contact." More »
gawker book club
Mara Altman's Book Proposal: Not An Orgasm In It
"Post-college my perspective about sex changed a lot. I traveled the world and had (sex)life changing experiences—unfortunately, none that really helped my cause. First I took off to India for six months. I started working at an English daily newspaper in Bangalore, my first newspaper job. All the other staff members were Indian. There's so much sexual repression in that society that a lot of men didn't dare check out a woman in a sari, but when it came to the 'loose western girl'—me—they appraised my ripeness as conspicuously as they would a melon's. That was intimidating, but about two months into my stay, I started seeing Rafiq, a 31-year-old Muslim man from Mysore, a town about a three-hour bus journey away (looking back, I should have realized a town with that name wouldn't encourage orgasm)." That's from former Voice reporter Mara Altman's Thanks For Coming, which has just sold to Rakesh Satyal at HarperCollins for an amount that's been described to us as "nothing anyone should be getting their panties in a wad over." Well, so that's not what's going to finally make Mara come. But what is? Let's look inside her book proposal!
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