By Drew Grant 1/08 4:26pm

Literary comprehension

Pencil's down! (SNL)

How Well Did You Read Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Essay in New York? A Quiz

By now, none of you will have read Prozac Nation author Elizabeth Wurtzel’s 5,500-word piece in New York magazine. Sure, some of you might have read the Jezebel summary, or the Huffington Post review, or any one of the thousands of traffic-baiting posts (including this one!) claiming that they can accurately sum up this behemoth.

That is a lie. It is impossible to summarize Wurtzel’s end-of-the-year summary, since it encompasses everything: what matters in life, puppies, former employer David Boies, reality, love and a how-to guide on misunderstanding property laws.

But if you have read it and really want to prove to your friends that you have nothing to do at work, here’s a handy quiz. Pencils down, everyone! Read More

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 9/26/12 5:32pm

The Book Biz

Wonkette Ana Marie Cox

Penguin Sues Authors for Repayment

The Penguin Group is suing some pretty high profile authors  to recoup some of their advance money, The Smoking Gun reports.

Since an advance is really more of a gamble than a guarantee (authors can be hard to rely on! You can’t rush the creative process! Sometimes editors cancel books!), historically publishers have not held authors accountable. But it is a difficult time for publishing companies and they can probably use all the cash they can get. Read More

By Drew Grant 9/14/11 12:10pm

Black book

Toure holds court in Brooklyn.

Touré's Colorful Post-Black Book Party

What’s in a name? A lot, if it happens to be Touré: not only did the young Rolling Stone writer and MSNBC contributor deliver a passionate takedown of 9/11 coverage on Dylan Ratigan last week, but in the days that followed, he’s also managed to a) Start a Twitterversy about what your tipping percent says about you as a person, b) release a book about what it means to be black in today’s culture,  c) and announce that he’ll be co-authoring Nas’ memoir. Last night in Brooklyn’s Greenlight bookstore, Touré celebrated the release of his latest book Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness. Hosted by Terry McMillian, the party got hot amidst the crushing fans all trying to squeeze their way into the Forte Greene venue. Read More

By Molly Fischer 6/11/10 8:13pm

Books & Pills

Would-Be Wurtzels Having a Moment

Those following the deal announcements on Publishers Marketplace could be forgiven for thinking that publishers are in a weird headspace this week.

At Harper Perennial: Allison Lorentzen bought Coming of Age on Zoloft: Notes on My Generation on Drugs by Katherine Sharpe, billed as “a memoir-investigation of the use of antidepressants among young people” and Read More

By Irina Aleksander 10/20/09 11:20pm

The Cautionary Matrons

In March of last year, The Atlantic published an essay by Lori Gottlieb titled “Marry Him! The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough,” which Ms. Gottlieb wrote when, in her idealistic search for the One, she found herself alone in her 40s with a son she had via a sperm donor. A book based Read More

By NYO Staff 3/25/02 12:00am

Eight Day Week

Wednesday 20th

Sprrrring -a-ding-ding! Yep, ’tis the season when New Yorkers take to shivering at outdoor café tables, squeaky basketball starts to be edged out by sleepy baseball, and superannuated actors crawl out of hibernation to do charming local gigs …. Today, former Cybill Shepherd sidekick Christine Baranksi reads from two John Guare plays, Read More