Fellow children of the ‘90s will remember how much that decade was a kind of Golden Age for disaster movies. Then as now, explosive blockbusters like Independence Day, Twister and Dante’s Peak satisfied a collective appetite for wide-scale destruction and mayhem. At The Morning News, Ethan Gilsdorf considers what the genre’s evolution has to say about us.
Boom Boom Boom
Recommended Reading: Sunday Special
Recommended Reading: “Harley” by Lightning Rods author Helen DeWitt.
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Where to Begin
“I saw a novel with a mysterious-looking black woman on the cover. That was why I picked it up – because of the African woman on the cover of a book in the Science Fiction and Fantasy section. I read the first page and my eyes nearly popped out.” Book Riot has a killer roundup of posts in honor of Octavia Butler‘s birthday today, including five other sci-fi authors on being inspired by her writing (that’s Nnedi Okorafor above). Pair with our own Edan Lepucki‘s consideration of Butler’s novel Kindred.
“Tough, Funny, and Sophisticated”
Sam Sacks of Open Letters Monthly offers an encomium to Pauline Kael, “one of the best movie critics – or critics of any kind – of the past century.”
Product Placement in 19th Century British Novels
A recent survey of 19th century British literature uncovered advertising subtly placed within classic texts by authors like Dickens, Austen, and Thackeray. From Vanity Fair, for example: “‘My sisters say she has diamonds as big as pigeons’ eggs,’ George said, laughing. ‘How they must set off her complexion! Surely she avails herself of Madame A.T. Rowley’s Toilet Mask (or Face Gloves)…’” (via Book Bench)
Caw, Says the Crow
Max Porter’s Grief Is the Thing with Feathers is “the book of the moment,” according to the staff of Houston-based Brazos Bookstore. For other recommended reading, don’t miss our Great Second-Half Book Preview.
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