From Harry Potter-style mega-hits to controversy over banned books to hot competition for literary prizes, there is never a dull moment in the book world. Chapter & Verse keeps readers up-to-date on the latest in literary headlines. Check in with us daily to learn about books and their people - those who write them and those who love them.
The book world scrambles to capitalize on Palin's buzz
Sarah Palin has certainly managed to jazz the news cycle. So it's not surprising that publishers are now hoping that she'll do as much for book sales.
In addition to the bestselling biography already out there ("Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down" by Kaylene Johnson) and the one scheduled for release in two weeks (“Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader” by Joe Hilley), booksellers are scrambling to get more books related to the Republican vice-presidential candidate out on store shelves.
The New York Post today reported that as a result of Palin's buzz, anything by Palin's "doppelganger," Tina Fey, is red-hot right now.
So hot, in fact, that the Post says a bidding war has broken out. Agent Richard Abate is said to be talking to publishers about a book by Fey. (This is not Palin, now, mind you – this is simply her double, Tina Fey.)
Although there's long been interest in a Tina Fey book project, the Post says, Fey's recent appearances as the faux Palin on Saturday Night Live have turned Fey into such a star that anything connected to her is ultra-valuable property.
That's why one publisher is said to have offered $5-million for a book by Fey while another is rumored to have responded with a $6-million bid.
It's not clear whether such a book would be a memoir or a Nora Ephron-style piece of humorous writing. Perhaps it doesn't matter.
Meanwhile, yesterday, Adams Media rushed out "101 Things You Didn't Know About Sarah Palin" by comedian Greg Bergman, a book being pitched as "a hilarious and irreverent look at America's favorite 'Caribou Barbie,' " and "the only humor book on Palin currently available."
They call it the silly season – now soon to hit a bookstore near you.
Are US writers unworthy of the Nobel Prize?
Ouch! You could almost feel the hurt. An American writer is unlikely to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel judge and permanent secretary Horace Engdahl told the Associated Press in an interview.
"The US is too isolated, too insular," the Swedish historian and critic said. "They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is restraining.
"You can't get away from the fact that Europe still is the centre of the literary world, not the United States," he added.
It didn't take long for America's book world to spring to the defense. "You would think that the permanent secretary of an academy that pretends to wisdom but has historically overlooked Proust, Joyce, and Nabokov, to name just a few non-Nobelists, would spare us the categorical lectures," said David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker magazine.
Remnick cited Roth, Updike, and DeLillo, along with "many younger writers, some of them sons and daughters of immigrants writing in their adopted English." Not one of "these poor souls, old or young," Remnick said, "seem ravaged by the horrors of Coca-Cola."
"Such a comment makes me think that Mr. Engdahl has read little of American literature outside the mainstream and has a very narrow view of what constitutes literature in this age," said Harold Augenbraum, executive director of US National Book Foundation.
Even an unnamed "senior French publishing executive" came to the defense of the US in an interview with the Independent – although rather less vigorously. Engdahl was "partly right but also fundamentally wrong," he said, adding that "not all American contemporary literature is parochial or ignorant.... there are also excellent modern American authors."
"Put [Engdahl] in touch with me, and I'll send him a reading list," suggested Augenbraum. Of course, there have been a number of US writers who have been awarded the prize over the years, although some argue that that number is much smaller than it should be.
One-hundred-and-four writers have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature was first awarded in 1901. Of those 104, there have been 10 US winners, starting with Sinclair Lewis in 1930. Most recently, Toni Morrison received the prize in 1993.
This year, Nobel Prizes for physiology, physics, chemistry, peace, and economics will all be announced in October. According to tradition, however, the Swedish Academy will set the date for its announcement of the Nobel Prize in literature later.
Each Nobel Prize includes a $1.3 million purse, a gold medal and a diploma. The awards are handed out Dec. 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.
Salman Rushdie: no regrets
Talk about Banned Books Week. Just at the moment, it's hard to imagine a title more uncomfortable or more controversial than "The Jewel of Medina," the story of A'isha, child bride of the prophet Mohammed, by American author Sherry Jones.
In August, Random House, the book's original US publisher, decided not to publish out of fear of reprisals from Muslim extremists. But controversial Dutch publisher, Martin Rynja of Gibson Square Books (publisher of such books as "House of Bush, House of Saud," O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It," and "Blowing Up Russia by Alexander Litvinenko) said that he would go forward with a release of "The Jewel of Medina" in the UK.
Then, this weekend there was a firebomb attack on Rynja's North London home. According to thebookseller.com, the book's publication in the UK is now in "suspended animation" following the weekend attack.
In the US, Beaufort Books, the publisher that picked up "The Jewel of Medina" after Random House dropped it, closed its offices on Monday as a "precautionary action."
Into the fray steps Salman Rushdie. In an interview with Australian broadcaster Clive James, he is reported to have said that he has no regrets about having written "The Satanic Verses," despite the 10 years he spent living in hiding after having done so.
"The question of do we have agency in our lives or whether we are just passive victims of events is, I think, a great question and one that I have always tried to ask," said Rushdie in comments published on James's website. "In that sense I wouldn't not have wanted to be the writer that asked it."
"The Jewel of Medina" is still scheduled for release in the US by Beaufort on October 15.
Jonathan Kozol addresses children of privilege
On his first visit back to his alma mater in more than 50 years, author and activist Jonathan Kozol told the assembled student body that he knew that reading his books (which include "Death at an Early Age," "Rachel and Her Children," "Savage Inequalities," and "Shame of the Nation") sometimes made students like them feel guilty.
It did seem a bit jarring to see Kozol – who has made a career of studying and writing about the very poorest schools in the United States and the children who attend them – standing in the posh auditorium of Noble and Greenough School, one of Boston's most prestigious private institutions, a school with a 9-to-1 student-faculty ratio, an average class size of only 13, and a 187-acre campus which includes a castle built by famed architect H.H. Richardson.
But Kozol spoke of his own education at Nobles (as the school is known) with nothing but affection. "Nobles prepared me for the work of the world," he told his young audience. "It gave me the courage" to "turn my back on privilege."
From Nobles, Kozol went on to Harvard, studied in Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, went to Paris to write a novel ("The Fume of Poppies," published by Houghton Mifflin in 1958), and then returned to Boston to become a substitute teacher in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods. His experiences there (before he was fired for stepping outside the curriculum to teach his students a poem by Langston Hughes) became the basis for "Death at an Early Age," which went on to sell more than 2 million copies and win a 1968 National Book Award.
Kozol spoke with passion to the Nobles student body about the concern that has driven his career and his books: his outrage over the inequities of US public schools – a situation that he believes has only gotten worse in the 40-plus years that he has been working in the field.
He railed against standardized tests (which he said were devised by "people who are not very happy"), charter schools (which he believes weaken other public schools), and political conservatives like Pat Buchanan. He made the students laugh by assuring those who might be Republicans that, "it's not your fault, you'll recover."
Kozol finished his remarks to the students by urging them to make good use of their time. He praised the school's service programs, but added that "service is charity and charity is not a substitute for systematic justice." Public service, he said, should not be "an end but a starting point."
They don't like 'Hari Puttar' in India
No, not Harry Potter – he's still a star. But in India it's been thumbs down everywhere for Hari Puttar, according to a piece in Sunday's Guardian.
Bollywood blockbuster "Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors" opened in 200 cinemas across India on Friday, despite an attempt by Warner Brothers' legal team to persuade Indian courts to block it, claiming that it infringed intellectual property rights and "unfairly sought to confuse consumers and benefit from the well-known and well-loved Harry Potter brand" created by British author J.K. Rowling.
But Judge Reva Khetrapal of the High Court in Delhi disagreed. The kind of educated person at whom the Harry Potter novels and films were aimed, she said, "must be taken to be astute enough to know the difference between a Harry Potter film and another titled Hari Puttar."'
Apparently the Judge was right, as the Guardian reported that Indian audiences and critics alike were unhappy with the film, whose plot appeared to be closer to that of "Home Alone."
"Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors" is scheduled for release in the UK within the next few weeks.
The Buddhist nun and the cellphone novel
It sounds like the start of a bad joke but instead it's the truth: An 86-year-old Buddhist nun is the author of Japan's latest cellphone novel.
What makes it even more interesting is that Jakucko Setouchi is not just any 86-year-old Buddhist nun. Also known as Harumi Setouchi (her name before taking vows as a nun in 1973), Setouchi is an esteemed writer famed for her translation of 11th-century epic romance "The Tale of the Genji."
Her new cellphone novel (just released last week) is entitled "Tomorrow's Rainbow" and tells the story of a teenage girl deeply hurt by her parents' divorce.
The cellphone novel is a hugely popular phenomenon in Japan where, last year, five of the 10 bestselling novels in the country were originally cellphone novels. Most of the country's cellphone novelists, however, are young women, often with little writing experience.
"Love Sky," a cellphone novel sometimes described as a tear-jerker and authored by a young woman named Mika, has been read by 20 million readers. "Love Sky" is now being made into a movie.
The cellphone novel genre is said to be surging in popularity in China as well. In the US, however, some experts predict it will find little foothold. Americans use their cellphones for text messaging and movie viewing far less often than do Japanese. The Japanese also typically commute longer distances on public transportation than do Americans, making the cellphone a more useful tool for entertainment.
In addition, the Roman alphabet is less adapted to the form than the more compact Japanese characters.
As for Setouchi, she is reported to have said that while she wanted to try the genre, she does not expect to write any further cellphone novels.
Can e-books win global appeal?
Maybe, maybe not. "Reading devices developed especially for e-books should provide a pleasant reading experience," says Gudrun Bolduan of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association, quoted in a piece in the Bangkok Post.
Rumor has it that devices like Amazon's Kindle and Sony's digital Reader – now on sale only in the United States – will soon be available worldwide. The Bangkok Post states that, "One indicator of this was Sony's presentation of its Reader at Berlin's IFA electronics show this past August," although, "the company did not name a price or a precise release date."
But a piece in today's Toronto Star suggests that some readers remain skeptical.
The Sony Reader was on display at a book fair there yesterday. "There is something about turning the pages and the discovery," explained one reader as she turned down a chance at a free Sony Reader. "I don't know if just hitting a button compares."
'The Ambassador' on boys and books
Children's author Jon Scieszka had everyone laughing at the National Book Festival on Friday night when he told his audience that, as he was a child, he became intrigued by "strange books at school about an 'alien' family."
"There was a boy, two girls, a mom and a dad and they talked in the weirdest way," Scieszka said. "Instead of saying `Hey, look at that dog,' they would say `Look. Look. See the dog. That is a dog."
Most of us who grew up anywhere from 1950 to 1980 will have no trouble recognizing the Dick, Jane, and Sally books as the source of Scieszka's "alien family."
But Scieszka, who, in addition to being the author of such mega-hit kid's books as "The Stinky Cheese Man" and "Squids Will Be Squids," has also been named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Librarian of Congress, also had some serious words about how to get boys to read.
In the Washington Post, Scieszka is quoted as saying that our definition of reading must be expanded beyond fiction. Boys would rather read "nonfiction or humor, graphic novels, science fiction, action adventure, audio books, or online reading and magazines," Scieszka says.
He goes on to recommend Sterling Point Books' redone autobiographies for older kids and Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggy for younger ones. Other winners in his book: Tony DiTerlizzi's "Kenny and the Dragon", "Fog Mound Chronicles" by Susan Schade and Jon Buller, Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl" books; Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's "Neverland", Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" and Corey Doctorow's "Little Brother".
For more Scieszka recommendations, check out his Guys Read website at www.guysread.com.
Paul Newman and the written word
There are so many reasons to appreciate Paul Newman and here's just one more: the number of fine novels he helped to bring to life on the screen.The following is just a partial list but it's interesting to consider the number of times that Newman's life and career intersected with that of a really good writer:
– "The Long Hot Summer" (based on stories by William Faulkner, primarily "The Hamlet")
– "From the Terrace" (John O'Hara)
– "Exodus" (Leon Uris)
– "The Hustler" (from Walter Tevis's novel "The Big Hustle")
– "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge" (from a pair of novels by Evan Connell)
– "Nobody's Fool" (Richard Russo)
– "Empire Falls" (TV movie, also from a novel by Richard Russo)
As I said, it's just a partial list. Feel free to add your own.
But for most of those of us who love both books and movies, there's at least one book out there that we know learned to know differently and better thanks to the art of Paul Newman.
Candidate bios for kids: Ooops, a few errors
Even as pundits were preparing to critique the performances of John McCain and Barack Obama in last night's debate, a San Francisco librarian was offering a few thoughts of her own on the biographies written about the two candidates for children.
The San Francisco Chronicle yesterday published a review by Susan Faust, a librarian at San Francisco's Katherine Delmar Burke School, of both Meghan McCain's book "My Dad, John McCain" and poet Nikki Grimes's "Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope."
Faust ultimately concludes her review by praising both books as "well-intentioned," but she has a few faults to find on to the road to that final assessment.
Megan McCain, she notes, "amplifies familiar territory" in her father's life (his rebellious youth, naval service, five years in Hanoi as a POW, four years as a US representative from Arizona) and lists his qualifications for the presidency.
But there are "some puzzling lapses," Faust writes. For instance, the family that McCain had before he married Meghan's mom Cindy goes unmentioned. It may not be easy for a child to think about a parent's first, failed marriage but, opines Faust, Megahn McCain "is a grown-up, a professional blogger who could have found a graceful way" to do so.
"Also MIA," she writes, "is anything about McCain's storied career as a senator," an omission that Faust feels gives "an oversimplified picture of a complex man."
Faust is more enthusiastic about "Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope," but here, too, notes a few problems. For one, she doesn't feel the book's structure (a boy's mother is answering her son's questions about Obama) always works. Then she notes a factual error: Obama says that as he ponders a run for the presidency he sees "the ghosts of his parents,/of Gramps and Toot,/ of Martin Luther King Jr. and JFK."
"All well and good," Faust writes, "except that Toot, Obama's Kansas-born grandmother, is alive and living in Hawaii."
Oh well.
"One hopes," Faust adds, "that kids will get more honesty and accuracy from the candidates themselves."
Previous
Become part of the Monitor community
36K on Facebook | 12K on Twitter | 2,250 on YouTube