This book took me back to a pivotal time in my life: being a kid and staying up late to watch Siskel & Ebert. I loved movies from a young age and devoured every review, Entertainment Weekly and book on film criticism I could find. Siskel & Ebert were a godsend.
These two Chicago-based film critics taught me so much about filmmaking and film criticism and introduced me to a plethora of movies and talent in front and behind the camera that still influence me and my career to this day. Every page made me nostalgic for those nights when I'd stay up late to watch them argue, sometimes harshly, over the latest movie releases. Siskel was particularly mean but I love the guy.
Matt Singer captured the experience of watching Siskel & Ebert; their wit, passion and rivalry and conveyed their importance to film, which sadly has been minimized. As this book proves, many movies were made or broken by whatever direction their thumbs were pointed.
Once upon a time, if you wanted to know if a movie was worth seeing, you didn’t check out Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB.
You asked whether Siskel & Ebert had given it “two thumbs up.”
On a cold Saturday afternoon in 1975, two men (who had known each other for eight years before they’d ever exchanged a word) met for lunch in a Chicago pub. Gene Siskel was the film critic for the Chicago Tribune. Roger Ebert had recently won the Pulitzer Prize—the first ever awarded to a film critic—for his work at the Chicago Sun-Times. To say they despised…
Ashley Audrain is a talent. I loved The Push and couldn't wait to read her latest.
The Whispers doesn't break new storytelling ground. A domestic drama that lifts the veil on an idyllic wealthy suburb that's thrown into turmoil when a young boy falls out of a window, threatening not only his life but the secrets of the adults around him. We've seen it before but Audrain infuses the characters with depth, feeling and relatability and the pace never lets up.
It's an easy read, sure, but it's gripping and some moments riddled me with anxiety. But, hey, marriage and parenting are tough so it's all on brand.
“Expertly, subtly and powerfully rendered….[The Whispers] delivers a sucker-punch ending you’ll have to read twice to believe.”—The New York Times Book Review
“[An] electrifying…razor-sharp page-turner.” —Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After
Featured in summer reading recommendations by Good Morning America, TIME, ELLE, The Washington Post & more
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Push, a propulsive page-turner about four families whose lives are changed when the unthinkable happens—and what is lost when we give in to our own worst impulses
On Harlow Street, the well-to-do neighborhood couples and their children gather…
Self Care is a timely novel with interesting ideas and characters. I devoured it during a few trips to the beach while on vacation, so needless to say, it's a great beach read. This novel really moves and is written with a light touch, ensuring it never veers into being overly serious.
Typically, I find the world of startups, social media and self-care gurus to be unbearable. Stein circumvents the minefield of potential obnoxious tendencies and tropes, revealing characters that feel real and even garner some sympathy.
"Highbrow, brilliant." --The Approval Matrix, New York magazine
One of Cosmopolitan's 12 Books You'll Be Dying to Read This Summer A Publishers Weekly Best Book of Summer 2020 A Vulture Best Book of Summer 2020 One of Refinery29's 25 Books You'll Want to Read This Summer An Esquire Must-Read Book of Summer 2020 A Book Riot Best Book of 2020 *so far
The female cofounders of a wellness start-up struggle to find balance between being good people and doing good business, while trying to stay BFFs.
Maren Gelb is on a company-imposed digital detox. She tweeted something terrible about the…
Sixteen-year-old Sam Sullinger lives in the shadow of adolescence. He's lost among his overachieving siblings, constantly knocked down by his harsh father, and bullied daily. His only solace is his best friend and crush, Harper.
In a grand plan designed to help him confess his love to Harper, Sam accidentally sets off a series of events that lead to her being kidnapped and taken to Hell. Racked with guilt, Sam makes a bold decision for the first time in his life: he’s going to rescue his only friend.
Sam is thrust into a vivid world fraught with demons, vicious beasts, and a falling city. And every leg of his journey reminds him that he isn’t some brave knight on a quest — he’s an insecure teenager yearning to make his mark on at least one world.
