With the possible exceptions of Tipper Gore, cops and Scott Stapp, there’s no greater enemy to rock ’n’ roll than corporate suits: faceless, fun-hating squares who refer to bands as products and albums as units. Yet, according to Dan Kennedy in his new book, “Rock On: An Office Power Ballad,” these are the people who [...]
A major part of college is partying and having the time of your life. When you hit senior year and realize you’ll soon be entering the dreaded “real world,” the partying usually gets stepped up a notch in a desperate attempt to ignore the inevitable. Author David J. Rosen understands the panic and outlines some [...]
For everyone who thinks Columbia is for cocaine, Belgium is for chocolate, Norway is for Vikings and has never even heard of Kyrgyzstan (let alone can pronounce it), there is finally a book that gloriously reaffirms all your favorite global stereotypes and misconceptions. “Our Dumb World” ($27.99) is a fictional atlas about real countries. Equal [...]
You know a person is planning to run for president when he releases a book. John F. Kennedy released “Profiles in Courage” in 1956. It won the Pulitzer Prize, and he was commander in chief a few years later. Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has already released two books. Now add Stephen Colbert to this list [...]
Any discussion of what women “should” do is fraught with sexism, classism, ageism and even “parent-ism.” It is impossible to examine women’s lives without wading through a complex web of judgments and opinion-riddled research. In “The Feminine Mistake,” Leslie Bennetts, a contributing editor for Vanity Fair, attempts to educate (and terrify) women about the dangers [...]
Had Groucho Marx been commissioned to write “The Idiot’s Guide to Hollywood,” his efforts might have turned out something like “Bambi vs. Godzilla,” David Mamet’s informative though absurd take on the movie business. Mamet, for lack of a less irritating phrase, is a literary triple threat. Author of 50 or more plays, screenplays and books, [...]
There really is no better way to make money than by taking advantage of unsuspecting house guests. This seems to be Amy Sedaris’ mantra in her book, “I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence” ($27.99). As the title suggests, Sedaris dedicates the better portion of her words to drug and alcohol references, but also informs [...]
