The Guardian has a literary snow quiz in honour of Britain being 10 inches deep in the white stuff. I did very badly.
Posts Tagged ‘literature’
Snow quiz
Monday, February 2nd, 2009Lost the TV Series – ABC Promotes the Show and Reading
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009Fans of the TV series Lost are eagerly anticipating tonight’s 2-hour season premiere. I, on the other hand, am disgracefully behind (although frantically trying to catch up) so am avoiding anything to do with the premiere including closing my eyes, plugging my ears and chanting “La-la-la-la-la-la” any time advertisements come on. With the popularity of the show, it’s a tough job avoiding anything that could be a Lost spoiler.
Lost is a TV show that is full of literary references. In fact, within the first 4 seasons there are more than 40 books weaved throughout the episodes. The incorporation of the books is done in several ways; 1) Books read by the characters, 2) Books on shelves seen in the show, and 3) Connection to themes of the series.
If you’d like to catch up on some Lost reading, I’ll get you started with a slightly shorter “to read” pile than the 40 books and list only those connected with the island’s most avid reader, Sawyer. (It still offers an incredible variety!)
James ‘Sawyer’ Ford’s Books
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Bad Twin by Gary Troup
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Lancelot by Walker Percy
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Watership Down by Richard Adams
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
Penguin’s Retro Covers and Deluxe Editions
Thursday, January 8th, 2009Further proof that our friends at Penguin are marketing geniuses.
Penguin’s director of sales in Australia, Peter Blake, came up with the idea for ‘Popular Penguins’ 10 years ago, but higher-ups were skeptical whether the idea would be a success. Blake’s plan entailed re-releasing 50 titles (25 fiction, 25 non) in the original, now retro, orange & cream coloured covers. As a result, the idea was only approved last year, and so far only in Australia, New Zealand and India.
The books are only $10 each, and given the average cost of books in Australia, that’s a bargain. Also, in a time of some global economic worry, uncertainty and the like, appealing to people’s sense of nostalgia is a winning move.
“They are instantly recognisable and have an emotional pull,” Mr Blake said. “Most people or their parents have got second-hand or old Penguins at home that have the same livery.
But it’s not only pulling on that nostalgic lever, it’s also got that retro coolness. We’ve found that younger readers have been really drawn to them.”
I really like so much of what Penguin does. Their Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions that they’ve been putting out over the past few years are fantastic, and make me want to own them all. Check out some of these covers:
Any time I see one of those in a bookshop it makes me salivate. One day I want to own them all. But really, what a brilliant idea – releasing a bunch of classics, that people have probably been “meaning to read” anyway, but putting them in such irresistable covers. Of the above selections, I only own One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and my copy is falling to bits. The others are all books I’ve been wanting to read for ages (with the exception of New York Trilogy, which is new to me), and now, finally, I have the motivation to own them and get on it. My bookshelf will be so beautiful.
Halloween quiz
Thursday, October 30th, 2008The Guardian has a Halloween quiz. It’s all about witches.
