The theatrical trailer for the movie adaptation of Michael Bond’s beloved children’s classic, Paddington, was released this week. The film will star the likes of Sally Hawkins, Colin Firth, and Nicole Kidman, and it will be released in theaters later this year.
Paddington Gets a Trailer
Reading Rooster
There are plenty of reading apps out there, but a company called Rooster has released another, this one designed to "allow users to consume bite-sized pieces of highly curated fiction" whenever they have a few spare moments. In an interview with BookBusiness, Yael Goldstein Love, the editorial director of the project, described Rooster as aiming "to bring immersive reading, particularly fiction reading, back into busy peoples' lives." It's difficult to know how to feel about this. Of course we think busy people should read good fiction, but is this just a precursor to the inevitable change of literature in the face of growing technology and shortened attention spans?
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Finish that book. Finish that burrito.
Our own Mark O'Connell has an excellent piece over on The New Yorker's books blog detailing his propensity to abandon burritos books, even good ones, halfway through.
Elena Ferrante Writing for Kids
Elena Ferrante will be publishing a children’s book, The Beach at Night, this December. Revisit our own Jacob Lambert’s series on whether or not picture books are leading our children astray to prepare for the release.
Book Trailer Standout?
The question is... would this spark your interest in reading (wife of former AOL Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin) Dr. Laurie Ann Levin's God, The Universe, and Where I Fit In? Publishers Weekly deems it "standing out from the pack of more traditional book trailers."
Slantwise
There's been a lot of talk recently about the possibilities for contemporary war literature, especially in light of the success of Phil Klay's Redeployment. Now Flavorwire considers "a crop of fiction that approaches the question of American intelligence, torture, and military intervention slantwise," particularly Mark Doten’s The Infernal, which was included in our 2015 Book Preview.
Things Look Up
Recommended Reading: Oliver Burkeman on a new group of optimistic thinkers.