Joanna Poncavage

New “Pet Sematary” Film Version Is Scariest Yet

Nothing’s scarier than a book that opens with “Death is a mystery and burial is a secret.” Or a movie with the tagline, “They don’t come back the same.” “Pet Sematary,” the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s book of the same name, arrived in theaters April 5. A 1983 bestseller…

Joanna PoncavageFebruary 21, 2019

Miscellany Nonfiction Pop Culture

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Black Genius(es)

Two of the most vibrant voices of the literary Harlem Renaissance were best, if unlikely, friends. Why and how they loved each other, and how they fell apart, famously and publicly, is the story at the center of the new biography, Zora and Langston: A Story of Friendship and Betrayal…

Joanna PoncavageFebruary 20, 2019

BooksToScreen Fiction Miscellany Pop Culture

“Transit:” Classic 1940s Refugee Novel Now a Film

What can a novel written in the early 1940s teach us today about national identity? Plenty, especially when a German director like Christian Petzold portrays it as a kaleidoscope of time, place, person and politics. “Transit,” his adaptation of Anna Seghers' novel (New York Review Books Classics) of the same…

Joanna PoncavageFebruary 14, 2019

BooksToScreen Miscellany Pop Culture

Richard Wright’s “Native Son,” Born Again on the Screen

Since its publication in 1940, Richard Wright’s controversial novel Native Son (HarperCollins) has been adapted for the stage or screen six times. This latest adaptation of the classic seeks to bring a unique projection of the protagonist "Big" (short for Bigger), while maintaining the famed themes of the novel. In…

Joanna PoncavageJanuary 30, 2019

Miscellany Pop Culture

Henry James Hits the Screen with “The Aspern Papers”

In “The Aspern Papers,” the new movie based on the book of the same name, the beauty of Henry James' words is matched by the movie’s Venetian white marble and black canals. But it is the faded beauty of a great poet’s muse that gives depth to both. The plot…

Joanna PoncavageJanuary 21, 2019

BooksToScreen Fiction Miscellany Pop Culture

“If Beale Street Could Talk” Still Delivers On Screen

James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk (Vintage) was published in 1974, but its themes are just as fresh, and as tragic, today. And the new movie that’s been made from it, if anything, shows that our issues with race haven’t progressed very far at all. Image courtesy of amazon…

Joanna PoncavageJanuary 17, 2019

Fiction

“An Anonymous Girl” is Gripping, Can’t-Put-Down Suspense

An Anonymous Girl (St. Martin's Press), the second suspense novel from the writing team of Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks, is the story of a young New York make-up artist who lies her way into a psychological study on ethics and morality. What could go wrong? Jessica Farris needs money…

Joanna PoncavageJanuary 14, 2019

Miscellany Pop Culture

The Opioid Crisis and Its Literary Legacy

The Centers for Disease Control says about 130 people now die every day in the United States as a result of the misuse of opioids – drug overdoses that often begin with an addiction to prescribed painkillers and lead to more easily obtained illegal drugs like heroin and synthetic opioids…

Joanna PoncavageJanuary 7, 2019

Fiction

Her Body and Other Parties: The New “Handmaid’s Tale?”

Watch out world. Carmen Maria Macho’s award-winning collection, Her Body and Other Parties (Graywolf Press) will become a television series. Her phantasmagoric short stories, all about sex and shifting genders, are coming to a small screen near you. In development for FX, the series will be written by Gina Welch, known…

Joanna PoncavageDecember 28, 2018

BooksToScreen Miscellany Pop Culture

Rural Noir at Its Best: “Back Roads” Now a Movie

When the crime novel Back Roads (Berkley) was published in 2000, author Tawni O’Dell had five other unpublished works and a collection of 300 rejection slips. Funny how life works: Back Roads became a New York Times bestseller and an Oprah’s Book Club selection. Set in Western Pennsylvania coal country,…

Joanna PoncavageDecember 13, 2018

Miscellany Pop Culture

One of These Self-Published Books Will Win $5,000

For the past three years, Publishers Weekly and its website for self-published books, BookLife, have awarded the BookLife Prize to a book that has been completed without the help of a traditional publishing house — authors have edited, printed and promoted their book independently. Since establishing its BookLife site, Publishers…

Joanna PoncavageDecember 11, 2018

Fiction

The Handmaid’s Tale: To Be Continued in “The Testaments”

Good news, Handmaid fans! Margaret Atwood just announced she will deliver a sequel to her dystopian classic, The Handmaid’s Tale, next year. To be titled The Testaments (Random House), Atwood promises readers, “Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost…

Joanna PoncavageNovember 29, 2018

Miscellany Pop Culture

“Beautiful Boy,” From Book(s) to Movie

Rarely do two books equal one movie, but such is the math of “Beautiful Boy” starring Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet. It’s the story of one family’s battle with addiction, based on Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), the memoir by journalist David Sheff, and…

Joanna PoncavageNovember 20, 2018

Miscellany Pop Culture

Cue the Laughter: Thurber Award Highlights Humor

We could all use a good laugh, so why wait until Dec. 5 for Thurber House to announce the winner of its 2018 Thurber Prize for American Humor? More is funnier, so here are the three finalists for this honor, the highest recognition of humor writing in the U.S. Would…

Joanna PoncavageNovember 13, 2018

Thrillers

Tana French’s “The Witch Elm” Delivers Spooky Suspense

I confess, starting to read Tana French’s new novel, The Witch Elm (Viking), I missed the Dublin Murder Squad, a revolving cast of investigating detectives featured in her previous books. It was a fine ensemble to fall into: Rob Ryan, the tormented policeman who flared and crashed in In the Woods;…

Joanna PoncavageOctober 30, 2018

Nonfiction

“American Like Me” Captures Immigrant Experience

America Ferrera, award-winning actress for ABC’s hit comedy, “Ugly Betty,” turned activist in 2016 as co-founder of HARNESS, a human rights organization that connects various communities with pop culture leaders. Focusing on the immigrant experience, Ferrera produced a new book, American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures (Gallery Books),…

Joanna PoncavageOctober 16, 2018

Joanna Poncavage

New “Pet Sematary” Film Version Is Scariest Yet

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Black Genius(es)

“Transit:” Classic 1940s Refugee Novel Now a Film

Richard Wright’s “Native Son,” Born Again on the Screen

Henry James Hits the Screen with “The Aspern Papers”

“If Beale Street Could Talk” Still Delivers On Screen

“An Anonymous Girl” is Gripping, Can’t-Put-Down Suspense

The Opioid Crisis and Its Literary Legacy

Her Body and Other Parties: The New “Handmaid’s Tale?”

Rural Noir at Its Best: “Back Roads” Now a Movie

One of These Self-Published Books Will Win $5,000

The Handmaid’s Tale: To Be Continued in “The Testaments”

“Beautiful Boy,” From Book(s) to Movie

Cue the Laughter: Thurber Award Highlights Humor

Tana French’s “The Witch Elm” Delivers Spooky Suspense

“American Like Me” Captures Immigrant Experience

BookTrib Newsletter

About Us

Book Promotion

Discover Books

My Nightstand

Fill Out The Form and Receive A Free Book Marketing Consultation