curated by the Atticus Books staff
Hell Yeah! Worthy is a weekly Friday feature where our staff distills the plethora of scat on the Internet into a succinct list of the best you haven’t seen, the best you ignored, and the best you should visit again.
Adaptation Cynicism, and How You’ll Still Be at the Box Office this Christmas
It’s a bittersweet moment for booklovers, watching a beloved classic come to life on the screen like you’ve never imagined it. And the inevitable conviction that, largely because it’s like you’ve never imagined it, it is totally and utterly wrong. But, even though the trailer features characters that look like recent college grads and music by Jay-Z and Kanye, I’ll likely still be headed to theaters next Christmas for this one. (Libby)
Not exactly the same Saturday morning cartoons I used to sit on the floor watching while eating a Toaster Strudel (or still do), electric literature takes submissions for animations of sentences by other authors. It makes me wonder what it is that animation is supposed to do. It’s not just the “can they?” game anymore: Can Wile E Coyote get the Road Runner? Can Sylvester get Tweety? Can Garfield get some lasagna already? Short animations like Brock David’s of Matt Sumell’s “OK” aren’t just entertaining stories–they impart a distinct feeling, even if it is an eerie one. (Abby)
Alt-Lit Reading 101
Literary Kicks Logo
If you dig the Beat Generation, postmodernists, existentialism, and transgressive fiction with or without knowing or caring what that all means…and you’re hunting for sites with content and context as it applies to the contemporary alt-literature scene, it’s hard to beat Literary Kicks, the brainchild of Levi Asher. (Dan)
Knopf Doubleday recently asked their writers to share insights into the craft and art of writing. A compilation of 28 videos all under one minute, the result is inspirational, thought-provoking, bluntly realistic, and a great way to spend your half-hour lunch break. Writers as diverse in style and genre as Alexander McCall Smith, Hari Kunzru, Isabel Wilkerson, and (my favorite) Mark Z. Danielewski are straight-forward and honest about what it takes to write. (Lacey)
Just Some Cute Kitten to Keep You Going
If you’re anything like me you love writing, but sometimes it’s surprisingly (let’s be real, it’s not that surprising) difficult to close Netflix and do what really makes you happy. Like Write or Die, Written? Kitten! aims to motivate its users. But rather than providing punishment for procrastination, the site rewards productivity by sharing pictures of adorable kittens for every 100 words typed. A bit ridiculous I’ll admit, but I mean, they’re kittens–who doesn’t love kittens? (Lindsay)