Mental Floss

BOOKS

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When a book’s sole purpose is to help the reader change their life, it is only a matter of time before someone finds problems or inaccuracies within the text. And where there are problems, there is comedy. Here are 11 parodies of self-help books that (sho

Shanna Yehlen




Focus Features

While the current box office is positively glutted with remakes, reboots, re-imaginings, and a healthy dose of adapted material, not every book is rushed to the silver screen.

Kate Erbland




Getty Images

Bibliophiles know there's no wrong time to fete your favorite book or author. But if you want company—at least among a certain subset of the population—in your celebration, plan a party for one of these delightful literary holidays.

Hannah Keyser








Reading Rainbow

For the past few years, LeVar Burton has been hard at work developing and promoting a Reading Rainbow app. But don't take our word for it: Read our interview with the host!

Erin McCarthy


Library of Congress/Getty Images

Given some of his outlandish characters, you might not peg Dr. Seuss as the quiet type. But by most accounts, the beloved author was a shy, soft-spoken person who hated addressing large groups. Who gets the blame for his stage fright? Theodore Roosevelt a

Mark Mancini




Today marks the release of Doctor Sleep, a new Stephen King novel that checks in with The Shining’s Danny Torrance several decades after his stay at the Overlook Hotel. It’s been 36 years since the original book was released in 1977, but such a time lapse

Stacy Conradt


Mitzi Trumbo/Samuel Goldwyn Films/AMC

Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston has signed on to play blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. That might not be familiar to everyone, but if you like classic movies, you probably know his work.

Ethan Trex
These insults left a mark.

"Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig Jane Austen up and hit her over the skull with her own shin-bone.”

Will McGough
Literature's greatest minds loved a good fart joke.

Throughout history, the chance to make an occasional fart joke has often proven irresistible, even to such influential authors as Aristophanes, Shakespeare, and Mark Twain.

Mark Mancini