How We Got Insipid

How We Got Insipid
Author: Jonathan Lethem
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2006
Genre: Harriet the Spy (Fictitious character)
ISBN: 9781596060548

A short story collection by the author of THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE and MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN. Limited to only 1500 copies.

Badvertising

Badvertising
Author: Jim Morris
Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2021-05-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1632657511

Jim Morris has been responsible for some of the most memorable ad campaigns in history. He knows best that bad ads don’t just create themselves. Part indictment on the advertising industry, part cautionary tale on what not to do with your ads, Jim pulls no punches to better ad people everywhere. “How many ads have you seen that made you question the intelligence of whomever designed it? Probably too many. If every ad person read Badvertising, the world would be a more intelligent and prosperous place.” —Jonah Berger, New York Times bestselling author of Contagious and The Catalyst “Incisive and daring, Badvertising is the only book you need to truly understand both the inner workings of America’s ad agencies, and the minds of those who never cease to astound us with both their creative genius and profound stupidity. After just one reading, you’ll never see advertising the same way again.” —Drew Eric Whitman, bestselling author of Cashvertising How can the ad industry even exist when almost all of the products that it produces fall on a continuum from flawed to failed? What is it about this industry and the process of creating, selling, and producing ads that causes so much advertising to be so bad? These are the questions answered in Badvertising. A provocative, truth-to-power exposé of ad agencies’ flaws, foibles, and failings—and why they matter to the consumer and to those in the business. Morris, an advertising legend known as “Tagline Jim,” surveys myriad advertising “agents of stupidity.” Hilarious, horrifying, and insightful, each chapter is a grenade lobbed into America’s ad bunkers. Badvertising is a candid, never-seen-before accumulation of real-world don’ts and more don’ts, providing valuable cautionary tales of advertising’s stupid side.

Understanding Jonathan Lethem

Understanding Jonathan Lethem
Author: Matthew Luter
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2015-07-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1611175135

Understanding Jonathan Lethem is a study of the novels, short fiction, and nonfiction on a wide range of subjects in the arts by American novelist Jonathan Lethem, who is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction for Motherless Brooklyn, a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, and the Locus Award for Best First Novel for Gun, with Occasional Music. Matthew Luter explores the key contemporaries of and influences on Lethem, who is the Roy Edward Disney Professor of Creative Writing at Pomona College. Luter begins this volume by explaining how Lethem's innovative and provocative essay on creative appropriation, "The Ecstasy of Influence," differs from other writing about influence, suggesting an artistic mode that celebrates thoughtful borrowing. Readings of Lethem's three major novels follow: taken together, Motherless Brooklyn, The Fortress of Solitude, and Chronic City present a novelist coming to terms with the joys and downsides of artistic influence. Luter concludes the edition with an examination of Lethem's third collection, Lucky Alan: And Other Stories. Borrowing openly and promiscuously from earlier traditions both high and low (experimental fiction, comic books, art film, detective novels), Lethem displays a career-long interest in questioning what literary originality might mean in a postmodern age. Some suggest that such borrowings indicate a literary well that has run dry, making writers such as Lethem mere patchwork artists. Luter argues instead that Lethem's propensity for wearing his influences and obsessions on his sleeve encourages new thought about originality itself. Out with "it's all been done" and in with "look at all that's been done, and all that we can still do with it!"

The Wall Of The Sky, The Wall Of The Eye

The Wall Of The Sky, The Wall Of The Eye
Author: Jonathan Lethem
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2014-04-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0544346211

A dead man is brought back to life so he can support his family in "The Happy Man"; occasionally he slips into a zombielike state while his soul is tortured in Hell. In "Vanilla Dunk," future basketball players are given the skills of old-time stars like Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. And in "Forever, Said the Duck," stored computer personalities scheme to break free of their owners. In these and other stories in this striking collection, Jonathan Lethem, author of The Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn, draws the reader ever more deeply into his strange, unforgettable world—a trip from which there may be no easy return.

Insipid

Insipid
Author: Christine Brae
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN: 9781311517524

Banal. Lifeless and Colorless. These are the words that describe my life. I've made the right choices, done all the right things. I'm strong, intelligent and highly successful.I've lived scrupulously, loved greatly, and shared my blessings equitably.But life hasn't been fair with me.Now I'm drowning in the middle of the ocean, desperately searching for the shore, surrendering to the fact that I will never be happy.Then he came along.Life is unpredictable. You can play it safe and resist change for fear of the unknown. Or you can close your eyes and take the leap with the knowledge that your life will change forever.Which one will I choose?My name is Jade Richmond and this is my story.

Things Hoped For

Things Hoped For
Author: Andrew Clements
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2008-04-17
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9780142410738

Seventeen-year-old Gwen is preparing to audition for New York City’s top music schools when her grandfather mysteriously disappears, leaving Gwen only a phone message telling her not to worry. But there’s nothing more stressful than practicing for her auditions, not knowing where her grandfather is, and being forced to lie about his whereabouts when her insistent great-uncle demands an audience with him. Then Gwen meets Robert, also in town for music auditions, and the two pair up to brave the city without supervision. As auditions approach and her great-uncle becomes more aggressive, Gwen and Robert make a startling discovery. Suddenly Gwen’s hopes are turned upside down, and she and Robert are united in ways neither of them could have foretold. . . .

The Year of the Dog

The Year of the Dog
Author: Grace Lin
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2008-01-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 031603097X

This funny and profound debut novel by prolific illustrator Lin tells the story of young Pacy who, as she celebrates the Chinese New Year with her family, discovers this is the year she is supposed to "find herself." Illustrations.

Sometimes You Have to Lie

Sometimes You Have to Lie
Author: Leslie Brody
Publisher: Seal Press
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2020-12-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1580057705

In this inspiring biography, discover the true story of Harriet the Spy author Louise Fitzhugh -- and learn about the woman behind one of literature's most beloved heroines. Harriet the Spy, first published in 1964, has mesmerized generations of readers and launched a million diarists. Its beloved antiheroine, Harriet, is erratic, unsentimental, and endearing -- very much like the woman who created her, Louise Fitzhugh. Born in 1928, Fitzhugh was raised in segregated Memphis, but she soon escaped her cloistered world and headed for New York, where her expanded milieu stretched from the lesbian bars of Greenwich Village to the art world of postwar Europe, and her circle of friends included members of the avant-garde like Maurice Sendak and Lorraine Hansberry. Fitzhugh's novels, written in an era of political defiance, are full of resistance: to authority, to conformity, and even -- radically, for a children's author -- to make-believe. As a children's author and a lesbian, Fitzhugh was often pressured to disguise her true nature. Sometimes You Have to Lie tells the story of her hidden life and of the creation of her masterpiece, which remains long after her death as a testament to the complicated relationship between truth, secrecy, and individualism.

Chronic City

Chronic City
Author: Jonathan Lethem
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2009-10-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0385532156

A New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year. A searing and wildly entertaining love letter to New York City from the bestselling author of Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude. Chase Insteadman, former child television star, has a new role in life—permanent guest on the Upper East Side dinner party circuit, where he is consigned to talk about his astronaut fiancée, Janice Trumbull, who is trapped on a circling Space Station. A chance encounter collides Chase with Perkus Tooth, a wily pop culture guru with a vicious conspiratorial streak and the best marijuana in town. Despite their disparate backgrounds and trajectories Chase and Perkus discover they have a lot in common, including a cast of friends from all walks of life in Manhattan. Together and separately they attempt to define the indefinable, and enter into a quest for the most elusive of things: truth and authenticity in a city where everything has a price. "Full of dark humor and dazzling writing" --Entertainment Weekly

Dangerous Games

Dangerous Games
Author: Gardner Dozois
Publisher: Baen Publishing Enterprises
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2013-06-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1625791410

In the reality shows of the future, people will literally be dying to watch. Science fiction's most expert dreamers envision the computerized, high-risk games of the future in this winning collection. Features: Robert Sheckley Cory Doctorow Kate Wilhelm Alastair Reynolds Vernor Vinge Jonathan Letham Gwyneth Jones William Browning Spencer Allen Steele Terry Dowling Jason Stoddard At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).