"Quentin Tarantino is interested in watching someone's ear getting cut off; David Lynch is interested in the ear . . ."A DAY AT THE MATINEE
--David Foster Wallace
Let's talk about movies. It seems like every decent book, or not so decent book, is being made into a movie these days. And the popularity of the movie is somehow reflected in the sales of the accompanying book. I'm sure somebody somewhere has created a formula to illustrate this point, but we'll save that for later. Suffice it to say: Dollars and cents, this is how we measure success in America.
For me, I tend to watch movies when I don't want to think and I read books when I do. With the sales of movie tie-ins lately, it would seem the American public does want to think (a bit) and explore the backstories to their favourite movies. And verily, I did try to warn you about Kathryn Stockett's The Help (9780425245132) 16.00 in last week's missive. You would have thought that anybody who could possibly want to read this book must have read it by now, but one thing I have learned in this business is that is never true. We are sold out. It should be back in stock in a day or two. A close second in the movie tie-in sweepstakes would be Tatiana de Rosnay's Sarah's Key (9781250004345) 13.99, which stars a bunch of French actors that I 've never heard of. And finally, to complete the trifecta, we have Mr. Nicholls' One Day (9780307946713) 14.95, which features Anne Hathaway on the cover. Mmmmm, Anne Hathaway.
I have a couple of suggestions in the realm of film that I would like to share with you. Julie from Green Bay recommended the BBC-TV show Black Books. Mr. Black owns a bookstore in London and not only is he cynical and cantankerous, but a horrible, horrible drunkard to boot. So basically, he's your garden variety bookstore owner. He says and does what you've only dreamed of doing to your intellectually-challenged customers. Also, Nikki from The Spirit Keepers suggested I watch Black Robes, which follows a Jesuit priest and a band of Indians in the Great Lakes region during the 17th century. I will warn you that there is some graphic violence and a bit of NSFW sex in it. So in other words, for me, it was just another typical Tuesday. But seriously, it blew Dances with Wolves away.
Finally, I don't know about you, but I am getting sick to death of hearing about J.K. Rowling's new website MoneymoreTM. The latest article said, "Something something e-books something something Sony's footing the bill something something." Well, good for her. Thank God, those ridiculous movies are finally done. Speaking of fantasy, George Arr Arr Martin's signed scripts of the last two episodes of A Game Of Thrones (9780553593716) 8.99, which were enroute from Ireland to Worldcon, have been swiped in transit. "It's as if thousands of nerds suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced . . ." Mr. Martin was going to auction them off and donate the proceeds to charity, so it was going for a good cause. Give him a jingle if you see them on eBay . . .
Odds & Sods
Thomas W. Young popped in here to sign copies of his latest title, Silent Enemy (9780399157790) 25.95. He told me that the plot centered around a military plane leaving Afghanistan that has a bomb on it. The twist is that the bomb will only be triggered if they get below a certain altitude. So I said, "I guess the tagline for the movie will be 'Speed meets Air Force One.'" Well, I thought it was pretty clever . . .
Speaking of success and great literature, James Patterson, author of Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (9780316101875) 15.99 topped Forbes' list as the highest paid writer for the past year. Congrats!
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