The Internet giveth, and the Internet taketh away: Neil Gaiman is going on a Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook break for the first six months of 2014 so he can get some work done. No seriously! He told the Guardian he would be taking the sabbatical so he could "concentrate on my day job: making things up."  At least he'll still be blogging.

Best Books of 2013, Part 2

Saddest Ending: Herman Wouk, MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR. The dangers of Shirley-ing are not to be understated.

Most Depressing Nonfiction

Personal: THE JOURNALS OF JOHN CHEEVER. You know how some people joke about a certain pop star who writes songs about all of her exes, and how maybe she's the problem? John was the problem. He was also so talented, and it's such a shame.

Political: Helaine Olen, POUND FOOLISH. One in a series of books this year to convince readers that they will never be able to retire, because either they or the system are flawed. (Or both, I suppose.)

 

Scariest Book: Chad Kultgen, THE AVERAGE AMERICAN MALE

Best Books With The Worst Endings

Kate Atkinson, LIFE AFTER LIFE

Marisha Pessl, NIGHT FILM

 

Least Necessary Comeback

Helen Fielding, BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY. I really liked and will gladly defend BRIDGET JONES' DIARY as an artful piece of work, imitated to inferiority. I didn't mind BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON. But even Fielding's surprises on re-encountering the character who made her famous couldn't save this book from being a slog. Bridget's lucky cluelessness just doesn't wear well any more.

Worst Nonfiction: Drew Manning, FIT 2 FAT 2 FIT. A moratorium please on all of the "I did X with my health, which means it's easy and anyone can do it" books.

Best Books of 2013, Part 1

Best Book I Should Have Read A Long Time Ago: Margaret Atwood, THE EDIBLE WOMAN

Best Page-Turners, The  Stieg Larsson "Failed To Finish GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST" Memorial Category

Laura Lippman, AND WHEN SHE WAS GOOD

Simon Van Booy, THE ILLUSION OF SEPARATENESS

Jordan Belfort, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Modern Library of Awesome

Graham Greene, THE END OF THE AFFAIR  

Dashiell Hammett, THE MALTESE FALCON  

Carson McCullers, THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER

Evelyn Waugh, A HANDFUL OF DUST

John Steinbeck, THE GRAPES OF WRATH

Samuel Butler, THE WAY OF ALL FLESH

Henry James, THE WINGS OF THE DOVE

Best Villain, Maniacal Laugh, Maniacal Laugh!!! The food in Frank Bruni's BORN ROUND. (Sincerely, this is an excellent memoir from two underexplored sides of eating disorders: binge eating/ overeating, and EDs among men. And part of what makes it great is how frank Frank is [sorry] about his struggles and how present the threat.)

Most Surprising

For achievements in relying on narrative ignorance to spring a late plot twist, Beatriz Williams, A HUNDRED SUMMERS

For redemption from previous disappointments, Dave Eggers, THE CIRCLE

Hidden Gems of 2013

Fiction: Andre Aciman, HARVARD SQUARE - a NETHERLAND-style tale of friendship and culture clash, disguised as a Bildungsroman

Nonfiction: Daniel James Brown, THE BOYS IN THE BOAT - a touching and shocking personal history of the Great Depression, disguised as a sports book

Best Book Endings

Barbara Kingsolver, FLIGHT BEHAVIOR

Ayelet Waldman, RED HOOK ROAD

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is all Chong's fault

"It was in prison that Belfort discovered his talents were transferable. His cube mate, or 'cubie' (at his facility, there were no cells), was Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong fame. Chong laughed so hard at Belfort’s stories he pushed Belfort to write them down and get them published." -- Geoffrey Grey, "Meet Jordan Belfort"

Top 12 posts of 2013

It's that wonderful time of year, the time when slothful bloggers go on vacation and just throw a bunch of links at their faithful public -- and when the analytics obsessed really go bananas. Judging by the performance of this blog, next year will entirely consist of conference recaps, defending female characters and books by comedians. I'm kidding... 
 
Six great reasons to participate in Buy Nothing Day (November) In which I tell you not to go to the bookstore, perhaps uncharacteristically.

SWEET TOOTH: Sometimes I swear these men are out to get me (September) In which I defend Serena Frome, who had a tough go of it. Did any of you read this book in the last 4 months so we can discuss? Because that would be delightful.

Spill some ink with Rob Delaney (November) In which I indulge in life beyond 140 characters.

Don't be Grumpy, go on a LAME ADVENTURE today! (June) In which I met Grumpy Cat at BEA and a very non-grumpy author. 

Boy Meets World Meets Ears - Podcasting for Rider Strong and Others (May) - In which my ears are sweetened.

Filmbook: "Austenland" (August) - In which Keri Russell proclaims that it's getting hot in here.

How Jonathan Lethem Writes (And Wrote) (May) - In which a New Yorker returns from L.A. 

"Originally known as 'The Mistake'" (February) In which I attend a Granta launch party and am bowled over by Lauren Wilkinson.

Twitter for Readers of Things Longer than 140 Characters (May)

When you make a billion dollars, you too can do whatever you want (July) In which I defend J.K. Rowling and THE CUCKOO'S CALLING -- sort of.

Dad is glad: My wholly unnecessary complaints about DAD IS FAT (November)

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, Tournament of Books 2013 (January) In which I cry on the subway. Thanks, John Green! (I bet he gets that a lot, and it must be emotionally exhausting.)

Books I gave this year

For my smartass sister who could yet use a little picking up from time to time: Samantha Irby, MEATY. I hope Irby's 2014 is twice as good as her 2013, because her book of essays (springing forth from her excellent blog Bitches Gotta Eat) warmed my heart and made me realize how cold and coal-like it was.
For my other sister, the dreamer with the ridiculous MCAT score: Brandon Stanton's HUMANS OF NEW YORK coffee-table book, to reassure her that fascination can be found in the most mundane of places.
For my brother, who lurks on Twitter but doth not tweet: Rob Delaney's MOTHER. WIFE. SISTER. HUMAN. WARRIOR. FALCON. YARDSTICK. TURBAN. CABBAGE. Even with Twitter's popularity, fandom of its darlings can still feel like an insiders' club, and so it is with Delaney. I could never actually see him with my brother because we would both die of WASPy shame, but at least this way we can share in it together. (Only 7 more gifting opportunities before I'll be able to type that whole title without looking it up!)
For my dad, who gave me my love of movies for better or worse: Budd Schulberg's MOVING PICTURES and Debra Ann Pawlak's BRINGING UP OSCAR, two true stories about Old Hollywood. And the James Ellroy-edited BEST AMERICAN NOIR OF THE CENTURY, to spot the next big thing.
For my boyfriend who bears the 'nerd' label with pride: Tim Leong's SUPER GRAPHIC, a collection of charts and infographics related to superheroes. Then I can secretly study it to make sure I fully understand what he's talking about (Hi! Also, sorry!)

Very sad news out of Brooklyn: IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY author Ned Vizzini committed suicide yesterday. Vizzini was working on Chris Columbus' HOUSE OF SECRETS series as well as writing for a J.J. Abrams NBC series.

How Adelle Waldman Became A Novelist

One of the truest, winciest books I read this year about being a young person in New York was the debut novel THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF NATHANIEL P. It had been a while since I read a book that wasn't merely emotionally true or factually true, but which had practically taken place in front of me, and I give Adelle Waldman all credit for that. 

How did Waldman spy on all my friends' dinners and parties all those years, and then get it all on paper? Was she, like the titular character of her novel, an overnight success after years of scraping by? As Waldman recently revealed in a Buzzfeed round-up of author advice, she left the city and moved back in with her parents, documenting the decision in a regular Wall Street Journal column she wrote at the time called Act One: 

"[W]riting a column about twentysomething issues... made it hard for me to ignore the impending 3-0: After all, what happens to a twentysomething columnist when she turns 30? It seems the standard retirement age of 65 wouldn't apply."With that birthday in mind, in the last year I've thought about what my long-term goals are and what kinds of risks I'm willing to take -- the kinds of issues I've written about in this column. Eventually I made a difficult and scary decision: to take time off from journalism to work on writing fiction."That's right. Instead of getting older and becoming more sensible as we often imagine we are supposed to, it appears I'm becoming less pragmatic, if also more anxiety-ridden.... Six months from now, I hope either to have finished the novel or gotten the dream out of my system. Then, I'll be willing to give a regular full-time job the focus of my attention."

Sure enough, the Wall Street Journal found another columnist for what we would now call millennials' issues, and Waldman wrote her first book while subletting her apartment and living with her parents in Baltimore (also Nathaniel P's home city, if I recall correctly). Looking through her old columns (alas, all behind the paywall), it's clear that Waldman was listening and paying attention all the time to the way her subjects talked among each other -- insight she was able to use in her first book. (That wasn't NATHANIEL P, by the way -- but I'm sure some publishers would like to know if they can publish it anyway!)

Clearly also the separation from the city helped Waldman, even if her move back wasn't completely smooth. "I thought that book would sell right away and everything would be great and I’d never need to have a regular job again. Then that novel didn’t get published and I wound up tutoring for six years," she told Buzzfeed. Still, she says that finished project gave her the confidence to eventually write and publish NATHANIEL P. As Ernest Hemingway wrote in A MOVEABLE FEAST, "Maybe away from Paris I could write about Paris as in Paris I could write about Michigan. I did not know it was too early for that because I did not know Paris well enough."

Find your Oxford English Dictionary "birthday word"

How about a word that originated in the year of your birth? Let Oxford Dictionaries, using the OED, help you out with that!

fhwoosh of disappointment

How to make Google Zeitgeist's top authors list

Tom Clancy topped the list of Google's most searched-for authors of the year. Here's what you should do to make next year's list:

• Have a movie in production (John Green, Veronica Roth, Orson Scott Card, Clancy) or a TV show (Stephen King, Ree Drummond)
• Put out a new book (Clancy, Roth, King, Drummond, Neil Gaiman)
• Pass away (Clancy, Vince Flynn) 
• Write romance (Sylvia Day, Maya Banks)

The top three books of the year according to Google Trends? LEAN IN, THE GREAT GATSBY and DIVERGENT.

Filmbook: "Kill Your Darlings" (2013)

I say, why shouldn't the Beats get their own "Heathers"?

When little Allen Ginsberg goes off to college at the beginning of "Kill Your Darlings," it's clear he's not going to settle in with the football jocks like his study-disdaining number-sweater-wearing roommate. ("Central Casting, get me the blondest dope you can find.") Instead, an older, more streetwise student named Lucien Carr takes him under his wing, giving him books to read and taking him to exotic downtown (and uptown) parties. Through him Ginsberg meets other people whose names you recognize by now like football hero Jack Kerouac and rich junkie William S. Burroughs. But Lucien also has a friend no one seems to like, named David Kammerer, who is always hanging around, helping him with his homework. What's his game, anyway? Is he in love with Lucien? Is it mutual? Wouldn't they all be better if they just dropped him for good?
 
I've been bending the rules again: Technically, this isn't a book adaptation, although it covers the same events at the same time as a novel Kerouac and Burroughs wrote together. This novel, called AND THE HIPPOS WERE BOILED IN THEIR TANKS, then sat on Burroughs' shelf until he died, at which point his literary executor decided to wait until Carr's death to publish it. How close does it ring to the true events? Hard to say, but it's more of an artifact than a great book, as I described when I reviewed it on its final publication in 2008.

Even if they didn't talk about it much, that fall would mark all of the men through their friendships and sometimes more -- and I give this movie credit for not straightwashing* the Beats' circle, as some may be tempted to do. However, for at least its first half "Kill Your Darlings" is exquisitely art-directed and completely boring. I was suffering and digging for a pen, though not a light because I am not a monster. The most entertaining thing about those 45-50 minutes was David Cross as Ginsberg's father (yes, really, Tobias Funke!) If you can make it to the library sequence, you're home free.

It's a shame, because Daniel Radcliffe is developing into a fine actor under America's nose and one day he's going to sweep up and steal that Oscar and everyone's going to be all, "But Harry Potter!" But Harry Potter nothing. There is a seriousness to his intent here that is adorable, but also very fine. In fact most of the major players here were reverent without being two-dimensional; Ben Foster as Burroughs was just weird enough and Jack Huston infused life into the second half as Jack Kerouac. And Michael C. Hall, "Dexter" himself, brought that freaky intensity right in to his role as Kammerer. (Jennifer Jason Leigh and Elisabeth Olsen were also quite good, but typically underused.) Dane DeHaan, as Lucien Carr, was more of an unknown quantity to me; it wasn't hard to see why everyone was captivated by him, but sometimes I detected a nonresponsiveness to his eyes. If anyone in this movie gets male-gazed at, it's him.

I also have to fault the film for the twist it gave the final scenes to suggest something about Ginsberg and Carr's relationship that wasn't true -- at least, not that we have documented. It seemed so cruel at the time, and the film seems to take a side just in that one sequence, when otherwise it was more evenhanded than I predicted.

Filmbook verdict: Unless you've seen all 8 HARRY POTTER movies or are a Beat completist, wait for Netflix. Late-night cable will probably chop it up too much.

*Out of curiosity, I Googled this term to see how frequently it is used and found this interesting, though oddly formatted article about biopics and straightwashing. It leads off with "J. Edgar," which I thought somewhat straightwashes Hoover but is such a soppy mess otherwise that who would be able to tell? Don't see that movie. Go read the back of a cereal box instead.

Tournament of Books X releases longlist, because you don't look busy

I'm planning to repeat last year's Tournament of Books reading experiment, so this list of possibilities was super exciting to me. Short list, coming soon?

Authors ranked by their novelty candle scents

7. Jane Austen -- "my goodness,  Kitty, do you ever throw any of your flowers out from gentlemen?" "I always save one in case I need it for my scrapbook." (Coughing)

6. Mark Twain -- I deputized the neighbor kids to make this, not knowing they were going to put in Ol' Widder Thomas' vanilla. P-U!!!

5. Edgar Allen Poe -- and as he stared into the candle flame and the curl of smoke, a terror inchoate grew within him so that he might shout, "What Hath God Put Into This Thing?"

4. Emily Dickinson --

Good night! which put the candle out?
A smelly zephyr, not a doubt.
Ah! friend, you little knew
How long at that cassis wick
Tennesseans labored diligent;
Extinguished, now, for you!

3. Charles Dickens -- Sold by a merchant inevitably named Jeremiah Dripp who doesn't approve of your purchase and will keep telling you that every 100 words or so.
2. Leo Tolstoy -- also available in the "Things Levin Never Knew Existed, And Other Things He And Kitty Can't Live Without" catalog.
1. Oscar Wilde -- cedarwood, basil and bon mots. You can't keep up with its witticisms so don't even try.

(Available at Paddywax.com or at Barnes & Noble)

David O. Russell, child of book publishing

Neal Gabler: Most filmmakers talk about how they were weaned on movies. You don’t seem to have been a movie geek from birth.

​David O. Russell: I always knew that I wanted to be a writer, because of our home, because of my dad. My dad was a C.C.N.Y. student who worked at Simon & Schuster in the stockroom and then became a salesman — his whole life was at Simon & Schuster. My mom was a Brooklyn girl from Queens College who worked as a secretary there. When we moved to the suburbs, there were books everywhere. I started a newspaper in high school, and I always wrote short stories. As a young man, I never thought I would be a filmmaker.

​-- "David O. Russell - In Conversation"

Beyoncé supports great American literature

Beyoncé's surprise album (Merry early Christmas!) features a spoken-word clip from Nigerian-American writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose novel AMERICANAH was one of the best of the year. The "Bow Down"esque track "Flawless" samples from Adichie's TEDxEuston talk "We Should All Be Feminists" from earlier in the year. Adichie probably isn't, as the NY Daily News claimed, the first author to be featured in the New Yorker and a Beyoncé track, but it's probably a small club.