Results tagged “books”

Phillyist alumni Jim took his brain where few brains had gone before, guiding his gray matter through a tour of the vicious William Shatners in Shatnerquake. Now you too can fend off evil Kirk, because author Jeff Burk is making the entire novel freely available today on his website (http://www.jeffburk.wordpress.com/) as a download. Why should you download this novel, you ask? Because it is awesome. Bizarre art made freely available is worth it, books about William F'ing Shatner are of course worth supporting, and obviously books featuring societies of Bruce Campbells are everything you need to make your day better. And it's free!

Author Ali Eteraz will read from his memoir Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan tonight at the Brandywine Workshop. Lehigh University Professor Amardeep Singh will be moderating the event. Admission is free.

In an effort to draw attention to the fact that nearly 22% of Philadelphians read below a basic level, the Center for Literacy plans to hold a flash mob at an undisclosed location in the city. Readers will "freeze" in position at the same time in the latest form of performance art, probably made most famous thanks to Oprah's giant mob in Chicago. If you would like to participate, sign up at the Center for Literacy's site to find out more details and to learn the location of the mob! If you participate, check in with the Phillyist and let us know how it went. We love to hear about what you are doing out there.

Author Jonathan Safran Foer is probably best known for his works of fiction, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Everything Is Illuminated. Foer's latest effort, Eating Animals, is a new and, some say, risky non-fiction look at our food industry.

Love him or hate him (we love him), Bill Simmons is one of the most popular, if not the most popular, sports columnists on the Internets. Simmons has penned a new book, The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy, to be released tomorrow. You can get the book via Amazon for less than 20 bones (or clams or whatever you call them). The book weighs in at right around 700 pages, but don't let that dissuade you from buying it, as Simmons himself said in an interview with the Huffington Post: "If you like my columns, you're going to enjoy the book. At the very least, it's a book that you can stick next to your toilet, read 5 pages at a time and finish five months from now. It will be the best five months of dumping you've ever had. Your colon is going to love this book."

Last Wednesday night, the Free Library held its first major event since the resolution of the budget crisis. When Mayor Nutter arrived to introduce Marjane Satrapi, the author of 2010's One Book, One Philadelphia choice The Complete Persepolis, he was met with loud applause. He opened with a joking commentary of the fickle nature of politics: "What a difference a year makes." In her introduction to Satrapi and the citywide book group, the chair of the literacy program, Marie Field, asserted the importance of the board's unanimous choice of text, The Complete Persepolis. She hoped the book would not simply give Philadelphians a knowledge of the Persian culture, but that such knowledge would break down "barriers" in a diverse city. This idea of breaking down barriers was a recurring theme in all of the talking coming from the podium that night, and in light of last week's events in Iran, perhaps a study of life in Iran could not come at a better time.

At Phillyist, we love anything that gets people reading books, the real kind that you hold in your hands. There's nothing like the heft of a book with an actual cover to make you feel like part of something larger. In fact, we may have looked like a stalker on occasion when really all we wanted to see was what book you were reading. We love that books open up the possibility to make a connection with a complete stranger. So when the Free Library announced that The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is the 2010 One Book, One Philadelphia selection, we were ecstatic. A "graphic novel," this text will invite voracious and hesitant readers alike. The story is captivating and thought-provoking, of course, but it is also beautiful. Satrapi is giving a free reading at the Free Library on Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. That seems to be her only public reading in the area, so miss the one-time opportunity to see her. (And if you unfortunately do, check back later in the week for our recap of the reading.)

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you.

Note: Hey, Phillyist readers! Whiz was out of commission for a bit there, and actually we can't promise we'll be back again anytime soon, but at least for today, let's enjoy some crazy links together, eh?

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment.

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets.

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you.

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you.

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment.

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you.

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you.

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets.

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you.

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.

It's generally true that each film in the Harry Potter series has been better than the last—and also darker than the last. And as the series has gone on, we've not only gotten a chance to see Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley grow up before our eyes, we've also gotten a chance to see Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint grow up before our eyes—not to mention the rest of the young cast. With each film, these actors get a bit older and a bit more talented. It's especially astonishing to see how much improved Radcliffe is. Take a look back at his awkward, wooden, wince-inducing performance in The Sorcerer's Stone, and then watch how comfortable and funny and real he is in this film.

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you.

Acclaimed author and Philly denizen Jennifer Weiner (pronounced "Winer," not "Weener"!), author of Good in Bed and In Her Shoes has a new novel, Best Friends Forever, coming out tomorrow (July 14).

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you.

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you.

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets.

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you.

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.