soulpopped's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of the coolest books I own. Anyone who loves pop culture or classic literature (or longs for a combination between the two) should buy this book and enjoy flipping through it forever and ever.
pagesofpins's review
5.0
I picked this book up for some relaxing, no-more-effort-than-flipping-through-a-magazine reading, and was surprised by how whip smart the pairings of pop culture photos and quotes from literature were. Whether it's Dan Chaon's musings about how a person's most vulnerable failings can eclipse their greatest accomplishments paired with Lindsay Lohan passed out in the back of a car, or Wodehouse's quote about how girls develop a poise at about 11 that most men never equal at 70 next to a photo of young Hermione and Ron, each page brings new meanings to the works represented, and made me long for my days of writing papers as I watched television in my dorm room.
tlvz721's review
4.0
If you love pop culture and literary quotes, look no further. In the lovingly assembled compilation, Maris Kreizman matches snapshots from popular stars, shows, and events with their utterly appropriate pairs of quotations from literary masterpieces. The perfect conversation piece of a coffee table book!
cynthiabemisabrams's review
5.0
This beautiful, accessible book is the perfect intersection of great literature and our vast vault of TV and film knowledge. For those who can't quite connect the dots between the quote from a famous novel or thinker and an image from modern memory, like Bruce Springsteen or Claire Danes from "My So-Called Life." the Appendix offers pithy insights.
robinsbooks's review
5.0
"The perfect book for anyone with a Netflix account and a library card."
How can you resist a book description like that? As a fan of pop culture and books, I am totally in awe of how this author matched popular TV shows, movies, sports and political icons, and celebrities who have no talent other than being famous (y'all know who I'm talking about, right?) with passages from both literary classics and contemporary fiction that really hit the mark.
The title comes from the first plate which has a photo of the Beverly Hills 90210 gang with the caption from Kurt Vonnegut's SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE: "Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt."
And then there's this quote from Charles Baxter's THE FEAST OF LOVE: "In truth, there are only two realities: The one for people who are in love or love each other, and the one for people who are standing outside all that." This is below a photo of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
I would post the captions for Donald Trump and the Kardashians, which are spot-on perfection, but they are rather lengthy. Trust me, get this book and read them for yourselves.
Thanks to Flatiron Books for the copy of this fabulous book. Recommended as a gift to anyone who loves books and might know the photo references.
How can you resist a book description like that? As a fan of pop culture and books, I am totally in awe of how this author matched popular TV shows, movies, sports and political icons, and celebrities who have no talent other than being famous (y'all know who I'm talking about, right?) with passages from both literary classics and contemporary fiction that really hit the mark.
The title comes from the first plate which has a photo of the Beverly Hills 90210 gang with the caption from Kurt Vonnegut's SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE: "Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt."
And then there's this quote from Charles Baxter's THE FEAST OF LOVE: "In truth, there are only two realities: The one for people who are in love or love each other, and the one for people who are standing outside all that." This is below a photo of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
I would post the captions for Donald Trump and the Kardashians, which are spot-on perfection, but they are rather lengthy. Trust me, get this book and read them for yourselves.
Thanks to Flatiron Books for the copy of this fabulous book. Recommended as a gift to anyone who loves books and might know the photo references.
mckenzierichardson's review
2.0
So I went into this book without realizing that it started out as a blog. But after figuring that out, I still don't really understand the point of making a book out of it. The format itself was a bit annoying, because you flip back and forth from the picture/quote page to the background/connection page in the back, which made actually reading the book kind of a pain.
Also, while the quotes fit the context of the media reference, some of the connections seemed pretty shallow and there wasn't really any analysis included. It was a good starting point to get people thinking, but I think you'd have to be pretty obtuse to not think about some of these things in the first place. Taylor Swift is paired with, "Above all, she was the girl who 'feels' things." Enough jokes have already been made about that on the Internet, I don't think this one really added anything to the discussion.
So while it was a unique idea, I think the execution was a little dull. If you subscribe to Thomas C. Foster's idea that "there's only one story", these connections are really not that big of a leap. Teenagers from Pretty in Pink (1986) and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) feel the same? What are the odds?
Also, while the quotes fit the context of the media reference, some of the connections seemed pretty shallow and there wasn't really any analysis included. It was a good starting point to get people thinking, but I think you'd have to be pretty obtuse to not think about some of these things in the first place. Taylor Swift is paired with, "Above all, she was the girl who 'feels' things." Enough jokes have already been made about that on the Internet, I don't think this one really added anything to the discussion.
So while it was a unique idea, I think the execution was a little dull. If you subscribe to Thomas C. Foster's idea that "there's only one story", these connections are really not that big of a leap. Teenagers from Pretty in Pink (1986) and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) feel the same? What are the odds?