We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending June 21, 2015–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.
(Debuted at #1 in Paperback Fiction) Grey by E.L. James: “Christian Grey exercises control in all things; his world is neat, disciplined, and utterly empty—until the day that Anastasia Steele falls into his office, in a tangle of shapely limbs and tumbling brown hair. He tries to forget her, but instead is swept up in a storm of emotion he cannot comprehend and cannot resist. Unlike any woman he has known before, shy, unworldly Ana seems to see right through him—past the business prodigy and the penthouse lifestyle to Christian’s cold, wounded heart.” (June 2015)
(Debuted at #4 in Hardcover Nonfiction) Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari & Eric Klinenberg: “At some point, every one of us embarks on a journey to find love. We meet people, date, get into and out of relationships, all with the hope of finding someone with whom we share a deep connection. This seems standard now, but it’s wildly different from what people did even just decades ago. Single people today have more romantic options than at any point in human history. With technology, our abilities to connect with and sort through these options are staggering. So why are so many people frustrated?” (June 2015)
(Debuted at #12 in Hardcover Fiction) The President’s Shadow by Brad Meltzer: “To most, it looks like Beecher White has an ordinary job. A young staffer with the National Archives in Washington, D.C.,, he’s responsible for safekeeping the government’s most important documents…and, sometimes, its most closely-held secrets. But there are a powerful few who know his other role. Beecher is a member of the Culper Ring, a 200-year old secret society founded by George Washington and charged with protecting the Presidency.” (June 2015)
Comedian Aziz Ansari is always a lot of fun. Here he brings his lively sense of humor to a topic with which he's well-acquainted: dating. But this isn't just some funny guy making jokes about his dating life. It's an in-depth look at the history of dating and a thoughtful examination of the pitfalls, and [...]
Comedian Aziz Ansari unveiled a book trailer for Modern Romance: An Investigation. Ansari teamed up with sociologist Eric Klinenberg to write this nonfiction title.
In the video embedded above, the Parks and Recreation actor introduces his project. The publication date had originally been scheduled for September 2015; Penguin Press has moved up the release to June 16, 2015.
Aziz Ansari revealed the cover for his forthcoming book, Modern Romance: An Investigation. We’ve embedded the full image above—what do you think?
Penguin Press will release the comedian’s nonfiction title on June 16th. Ansari became inspired to work on this project when he was drafting stand-up comedy jokes about dating.
In an interview with TIME.com, Ansari explains that this is “a sociology book that has my sense of humor, but it also has some academic heft to it. I wrote it with this sociologist, Eric Klinenberg, and he helped me design this huge research project that we did. We interviewed hundreds of people all across the world — we went to Tokyo and Paris and Wichita to really get a wide scope. We also interviewed all sorts of academics.”
Chipotle Mexican Grill has recruited ten new writers to contribute pieces for its “Cultivating Thought” line.
Jonathan Safran Foer returns to serve as both curator and editor. The participants include Neil Gaiman, Aziz Ansari, Augusten Burroughs, Walter Isaacson, Amy Tan, Paulo Coelho, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Barbara Kingsolver, Julia Alverez and Jeffrey Eugenides. The company’s cups and bags will feature short stories and illustrations.
Gaiman announced on his Facebook page that his piece focuses on “refugees and the fragility of the world.” Here’s an excerpt: “There are now fifty million refugees in the world today, more than at any time since the end of the Second World War. And at some point, for each one of those people, the world shifted. Their world, solid and predictable, erupted or dissolved into chaos or danger or pain. They realized that they had to run. You have two minutes to pack. You can only take what you can carry easily.” Follow this link to learn more. (via The Hollywood Reporter)
The next major animated release in the U.S. will be Blue Sky’s Epic, out on May 24th. Fox just released this new trailer for the Chris Wedge-directed film.
This trailer has a lot of the same shots from the original trailer, but it’s very different in tone. Also, Aziz Ansari’s slug character now says, “What’s going on, girl?” whereas in the first trailer he said, “What’s going on, babygirl?” This makes me wish so badly that I could have been a part of the meeting where they discussed the nuances of a slug saying ‘girl’ versus ‘babygirl.’
I’m always impressed with the individual elements of Blue Sky’s films, even if they never seem to amount into a satisfying film experience. This trailer has the same top-level quality we’ve come to expect from them—lush production design, appealing characters, funny bits of animation, and gorgeous lighting. I’ve got high hopes that they’ll pull it together into a solid package.
Warner Bros to launch Supergirl line (by Olympic medalist Nastia Liukin for J.C. Penney. Also now word is "Fantastic Four" star Chris Evans has been offered the role of Captain America. And music to Whedon fans' ears: Neil Patrick Harris says the... Read the rest of this post
