Sylvia Plath Totally Ruins Father Knows Best: 50 Poems About TV, TV-Watching and the Existential Sadness of Conan O’Brien (Inverted Pyramid)
Fifty-plus poems about growing up and growing older, looking back and looking ahead—and doing it all while the TV plays in the background.
30 Rock, Netflix, the A.V. Club, Gary Coleman, Star Trek lunchboxes, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Lucy Ricardo’s mother and more are duly noted.
The collection’s title poem was featured in the indie book-review magazine, Shelf Unbound.
Official site: TV Poems
Backstory: “So, I Wrote a Book of TV Poetry Called TV Poetry”
Former Child Stars: The Story of America’s Least Wanted (ECW Press)
Former Child Stars is “a commendably original investigation” (UK’s Uncut), tracing how the TV kid went from object of adulation to target of derision. In short: How the TV child star became “America’s Least Wanted.”
“You did a whale of a job…and from a new perspective. You did solid work on this book, Joal. Congratulations. You should be very proud of the effort. I am.”—Paul Petersen, A Minor Consideration
Puffy, Xena, Quentin, Uma: And 10,000 Other Names for Your New Millennium Baby (Plume)
At the end of the millennium, a generation of plain-old Scotts, Kens and Jennifers was faced with the task of finding just the right name for its whiz-bang, 21st-century offspring.
The well-honed trend radar of Puffy, Xena, Quentin, Uma helped get the job done. (It said so right on the back of the book.)
Katharine Hepburn: A Stylish Life (St. Martin’s)
A biographical portrait of the screen great, featuring dozens and dozens of black-and-white images.
Praised People: “Ryan makes a convincing case that Hepburn…will continue to serve as an icon and inspiration for future generations.”
