Friends with books!

It's been a great summer for being my friend and writing a book.
Three of my friends have books that have just been released!


$12 Shut Up, You're Welcome by Annie Choi
($9.75 for Kindle edition)

Annie Choi's new book, Shut Up, You're Welcome is out as of today!
You should definitely check it out. It would be a perfect hilarious and entertaining thing to read on a trip or at the beach. It is a series of personal essays in the form of angry letters to different entities that have offended her.

Here is the book trailer, which is an animated video of her reading from an angry letter to Virgin America airlines. It's awesome and will make you want to hear or read the rest.
Annie will be reading at Powerhouse Books in Dumbo next Monday, and you can see her and get your book signed there!

Here is a review from Goodreads that tells you more about it:

From the author of Happy Birthday or Whatever, an outright hilarious and heartfelt collection of personal essays about everything from underwear to musical theater. Annie Choi wants to tell you a few things: She hates musical theater. She thinks sandwiches are boring. She likes camping, except for the outdoors part. She daydreams about cannibalism. At fifteen, her father made her read the entire car manual before allowing her to sit in the driver’s seat. And she once chased down a man who stole her handbag.

All this is to say that Choi is one part badass and one part curmudgeon, with a soft spot for savage bears. But mostly she wants to ask the world: WTF?!

Written in Choi’s strikingly original and indignant voice, Shut Up, You're Welcome paints a revealing portrait of Annie and her family in all their quirky, compelling, riotous glory. Each of Choi’s personal essays begins with an open letter to someone (her naked neighbor) or something (the San Fernando Valley), that she has a beef with. From the time her family ditched her on Christmas to her father’s attachment to an ugly table, Choi weaves together deeply personal experiences with laugh-out-loud observations, all of which will charm you, entertain you, and leave you wanting more.

 Seriously, Annie is one of the funniest people I know and I can't wait to read the book, which Amazon tells me I ordered A MILLION YEARS AGO but still isn't here yet. ARRGH. Maybe I should write them a letter a la Annie.


Next up:

$9.50 William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher

As you might be able to guess from the title or the incredible cover art, this is a retelling of the Star Wars story in Shakespearean style. Including more iambic pentameter than you can shake a stick at!
Ian and Ethan were college roommates so I have the pleasure of 

More about it from Goodreads:

Inspired by one of the greatest creative minds in the English language-and William Shakespeare-here is an officially licensed retelling of George Lucas's epic Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age, Star Wars abounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. ’Tis a tale told by fretful droids, full of faithful Wookiees and fearstome Stormtroopers, signifying...pretty much everything.

Reimagined in glorious iambic pentameter—and complete with twenty gorgeous Elizabethan illustrations--William Shakespeare’s Star Wars will astound and edify Rebels and Imperials alike. Zounds! This is the book you’re looking for.

 Ian has been on a bunch of morning shows and gotten a ton of great press for his book already, but if you haven't heard of it yet, go check it out! His book is also apparently responsible for a peak in google searches for Star Wars this week, which is crazy cool.
Watch the book trailer with actors reading lines from the book in full Star Wars character costumes.

We got our copy about a week ago and the language and writing is shockingly faithful to the original stylings of Willie S.


Last but not least!

$11 New Rules for Blondes by Selena Coppock ($2 Kindle edition)

Selena is a stand up comic in NYC who I had the pleasure of working with at our day jobs (it's true, even I need to supplement my blogging career with real work).

In this book she writes about her stories living the blonde life and shares tips for getting along with other blondes and how to relate to brunettes. It's really funny and a great summer read!

Check out her luscious hair in the book trailer here.
And here's the official book description:

Writer, comedienne, and full-time Blonde, Selena Coppock offers up adventures, misadventures, and golden-hued nuggets of wisdom in a laugh-out-loud anthem for those of us who really do have more fun. . . .
The modern blonde is savvy, wise, confident, capable, and not afraid to laugh at herself when the occasion calls for it. She knows who she is and is prepared to subvert all stereotypes (although she's not above wielding her golden tresses to her advantage), and knows how to be both classy and a little brassy.
In the way only a Boston-bred New Yorker who once won "Best Hair" in her high school graduating class could, Coppock doles out tongue-in-cheek advice about avoiding hair disasters, the consequences of dating a man who cares a little too much about his own hair product, and so much more in an outrageous essay collection that will have even the staunchest of raven-haired beauties considering a trip to the nearest salon.

Selena also has a hilarious blog where she recaps the bachelorette episodes with amazing commentary.

Building Stories by Chris Ware

$28 Building Stories by Chris Ware book

I'm a huge fan of Chris Ware's graphic novels and whole style of illustration.
His earlier book, Jimmy Corrigan, is amazing in the way the story unfolds and how the images and the mood can create such a complete and realistic tone and world.

I'm sure his new book will be as well-crafted and compelling.

Building Stories is coming out Oct 2 and you can pre-order it on Amazon now.
Here's the description from Amazon:

After years of sporadic work on other books and projects and following the almost complete loss of his virility, it's here: a new graphic novel by Chris Ware.

Building Stories imagines the inhabitants of a three-story Chicago apartment building: a 30-something woman who has yet to find someone with whom to spend the rest of her life; a couple, possibly married, who wonder if they can bear each other's company another minute; and the building's landlady, an elderly woman who has lived alone for decades. Taking advantage of the absolute latest advances in wood pulp technology, Building Stories is a book with no deliberate beginning nor end, the scope, ambition, artistry and emotional prevarication beyond anything yet seen from this artist or in this medium, probably for good reason.

Images:

 

 

Free iPad app: Color Uncovered

I just got the Color Uncovered app (itunes link) on my work iPad (that I am supposed to be using for testing my own app) and it is SO COOL.

First check out this article about it and in particular what it says about Monet's ultraviolet vision capabilities post eye surgery.

Then go get the app because it is awesome.
Now I know why I shouldn't let a dog drive or why grinding up butterfly wings is pointless.
Especially helpful because I was about to open a dog driving school and I've mutilated countless butterflies. Well, not anymore!

I wish this app existed when I was a kid. It has fun activities and has all the cool parts of science and discovery but not a lot of heavy stuff.
I only wish it had links out to more information if you did want to get further into the topic. I guess I can google on my own though.