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 first book in the 'Encyclopedia Brown' series, by Donald J. Sobol, was published in 1963.
Will there be an Encyclopedia Brown movie?
One of literature’s most famous kid detectives may be coming to the big screen.
Warner Bros. Studios are currently in negotiations to create a movie version of the popular children’s books starring Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown. The film would be produced by Howard David Deutsch, who holds the rights to any possible movie or TV adaptation, and Roy Lee.
The series, which was written by Donald J. Sobol, first appeared on the scene in 1963 with the publication of “Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective.” The books were divided into stories in which Encyclopedia hears of a mystery and then announces, by the end of the narrative, that he has arrived at a solution. Readers who haven’t figured out the answer for themselves can flip to the end of the book, where the detail that tipped off Encylopedia is explained.
Encyclopedia, so nicknamed because of his vast knowledge, is also the son of the town’s chief of police and is friends with Sally Kimball, who serves as his bodyguard.
The books were previously adapted into a 1989 HBO series produced by Deutsch which starred Scott Bremner as Encyclopedia.
'Under the Dome' stars Britt Robertson. (Michael Tackett/CBS Entertainment/AP)
Literary adaptation 'Under the Dome' brings summer TV back to the networks
This season, a Stephen King novel is getting credit for helping to woo summer viewers back to network television.
The TV show “Under the Dome,” based on the 2009 novel of the same name by King, debuted on CBS June 24 with ratings that The New York Times called “spectacular,” drawing in more than 13.5 million viewers (the largest audience a drama airing in the summer months has received in more than 20 years). The show is scheduled to run for only 13 episodes, but producers have mentioned the possibility that the show could extend beyond that if it’s successful. In an interview with Collider, producer Brian K. Vaughan said he and fellow producer Neal Baer had pitched King a story idea to be used “if we’re lucky enough to go several years" and CBS president Nina Tassler mentioned the possibility of a "winter cycle" in an interview with the Associated Press.
Over the past few years, cable shows like HBO’s “True Blood” and its first season of "Girls" have dominated both summer ratings and watercooler talk, so CBS's ability to take back some of the summertime buzz should be encouraging to the networks.
The show stars Alexander Koch, Jolene Purdy, Nicholas Strong, and tells the story of what happens when the residents of a small town are suddenly sealed in by a mysterious barrier that prevents anyone from entering or leaving the area.
Some King fans cried foul over changes made in the transition from page to screen, including characters which were combined with others. King penned a letter to these fans directly, which he posted on his website.
“If you loved the book when you first read it, it’s still there for your perusal,” the author wrote. “But that doesn’t mean the TV series is bad, because it’s not. In fact, it’s very good…. Many of the changes wrought by Brian K. Vaughan and his team of writers have been of necessity, and I approved of them wholeheartedly.”
And surprises may be in store even if you’ve read the book. King noted in his letter that the writers for the TV show have “completely re-imagined” where the Dome is coming from.
In addition to good ratings, the show has received mostly positive reviews so far. New York Times critic Neil Genzlinger called the first episode "addictive" and told readers that they can "say goodbye to your next two Monday nights, and possibly ... the whole summer’s worth."
“It was fun last night seeing [the characters] tangle themselves up in each other's problems,” Richard Lawson of The Atlantic wrote. “Last night's special effects were just slightly cheesier than the dialogue – but that networks are willing to tell ambitious stories in a relatively compact and blessedly finite manner is nothing if not a refreshing change of pace.” He did, however, express worry about sustaining the show’s quality if it were to be extended beyond 13 episodes.
Entertainment Weekly writer Jeff Jensen was also mostly won over, calling the pilot “captivating.”
“If Vaughan can complexify the people and keep the show thematically incisive without becoming too pretentious, I'll stand with the catastrophe-rocked residents of Chester's Mill for seasons to come,” he wrote.
Elizabeths I's secretary was Francis Walsingham. His responsibility was to help run the country and keep his queen safe. He was way ahead of his time in terms of gathering and using intelligence.
Spy vs. Spy: 16th-Century Style
With a name like Edward Snowden, the world's most famous fugitive sounds like he just arrived from 16th-century England. And he'd actually have fit in pretty well back then. Just like our own, the Elizabethan era bore the burden of spies and spymasters, double agents and devious plots, code-breakers and eavesdroppers.
Behind much of the skullduggery was Queen Elizabeth I's secretary, a man named Francis Walsingham. His job: Help run the country, fend off threats and protect his boss from being assassinated or overthrown. Walsingham, who went about his business with ruthless and often-deadly vigor, has been the subject of at least five major books in the last decade, including 2005's Her Majesty's Spymaster: Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham, and the Birth of Modern Espionage by Stephen Budiansky.
I asked Budiansky, a historian who's written books about topics from dogs to code-breaking, about the dark world of Elizabethan espionage and its links to today.
Q: Why did England need spies?
A: England faced a very fluid, very dangerous and incredibly complex situation with threats from France, Scotland, the pope, and possibly Spain. Here was a country that was outnumbered by its much more powerful continental European rivals. There were factions and on-and-off alliances with France, the Netherlands, and Spain. The leader, the queen, was in quite a bit of personal danger. The pope had basically issued an edict sanctioning her assassination by a Catholic because she was an apostate to the true faith as he saw it.
Walsingham was a very modern man, and strikingly ahead of his time in understanding the nature of intelligence and its great importance in protecting the nation and keeping one's rivals off balance. One of his sayings was that "knowledge is never too dear." It was a great force multiplier to be one step ahead of a potential rival or to know that a country that had been friendly was planning to shift.
In fact, Walsingham was able to successfully foil a series of coup and assassination plots.
Q: What kinds of tools did they have back then to spy on people?
A: For all of the changes in technology over 500 years, the basics of intelligence are strikingly similar between Walsingham's time and ours. You can find almost any method of intelligence being practiced by Walsingham and his agents in the Elizabethan era: Running double agents, spreading disinformation, black propaganda, code-breaking, intercepting communications.
Q: Were the spies good at the 16th-century equivalent of wiretapping?
A: I was really struck by one of the recent revelations is that the British counterpart of the NSA had set up an Internet cafe at a G8 meeting and was picking off the communications from various foreign countries.
Walsingham had done exactly the same thing in tapping into the communications of Mary Queen of Scots and her supporters. Rather than trying to figure out whom she was communicating with and how to intercept her mail and read it, he set up a communication channel that she thought was her own. But it was actually being run by one of his agents. He figured out a way to pick up communications right at their source.
Q: James Bond movies teach us that sex is a big part of espionage. How about in the 16th century?
A: Walsingham was certainly an assiduous collector of information on people. He kept huge files, and he knew all the important people down to the counties and the justices of the peace. But while Walsingham was certainly unscrupulous, willing to lie and betray confidences, he was really a religious Puritan, a zealous Protestant. I suspect he would have had religious scruples about espionage of that nature.
Q: Did he see a conflict between the strict morality of his religion and the deceit at the heart of spycraft?
A: He saw the interests of the Protestant cause as equal to that of England and Queen Elizabeth. That's how he squared his conscience on that score.
Q: How has espionage evolved the most over the past five centuries?
A: It isn't the things we might obviously think of, like communications technology. It's more the way intelligence has become a bureaucracy since World War II. The kinds of things that went on in the Elizabethan era were very much a matter of personal relationships and rivalries. There were glimmers of things beginning – the idea of the rule of law, permanent bureaucracy, and officials answerable to the law; allegiance to precedent and procedure rather than personal loyalty – but it was hardly established the way it is now. Still, it was really right on the cusp of the transition to the modern era.
Q: Is it possible that an Edward Snowden of that time would have exposed what was really going on?
A: In terms of a high-minded, public-spirited person saying "This is terrible, and I will expose it": Not a chance. It was a world ruled much more by personal power and allegiances, which people didn't question.
Q: If a citizen was up to something, would it be more likely that the government would know about it in the Elizabethan era or in modern times?
A: The natural reaction would be to say that it's now with the capabilities of an intelligence organization like the NSA, which has tens of thousands of employees and electronic means. But I'm not so sure that's the case.
Communication was much more difficult in Elizabethan England, travel was much more difficult, and publishing anything was more difficult. I think it was much easier for the government then to keep track of you if you were doing something the government wanted to know about.
Q: What do you think we can learn from the espionage of 500 years ago?
A: For all the technology, gizmos and gadgets, the basic principles of how to exploit human nature haven't changed. People have an urge to have somebody to confine in and the urge to boast. There's corruptibility of humans for money and prestige.
You see Walsingham exploit these things quite brilliantly. He knew that, fundamentally, intelligence is about playing on people's trust and weakness, their hopes and desires and insecurities. They're elemental to us all, and they're the essence of spycraft.
Anne Tyler will adapt 'The Taming of the Shrew,' while writer Jeanette Winterson will take on 'The Winter's Tale.'
Spinning Shakespeare into modern prose: Will it work?
Shakespeare’s getting a makeover – again.
Random House publishing imprint Hogarth has started the Hogarth Shakespeare, which will bring in current authors to adapt the Bard’s plays for a current audience. So far, “Breathing Lessons” writer Anne Tyler and “Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?” author Jeanette Winterson have signed on, Tyler to adapt “The Taming of the Shrew” and Winterson to restyle “The Winter’s Tale.” Writers from all over the world will be brought in to adapt the stories, and the fruits of their labor are planned for a 2016 release date to go with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. The stories will be released in print, e-book, and audio form.
The new versions will be “prose retellings,” according to Publishers Weekly. It has not been mentioned whether all of Shakespeare’s works will be adapted.
The new versions will “be true to the spirit of the original dramas and their popular appeal, while giving authors an exciting opportunity to reinvent these seminal works of English literature,” according to a statement from Hogarth.
“I don't know which I'm looking forward to more,” Tyler told the BBC. “Delving into the mysteries of shrewish Kate or finding out what all the other writers do with their Shakespeare characters.”
How will the public receive rewritten Shakespeare? Some have their doubts – the Los Angeles Times article on the project carried the headline “Enlisting novelists to rewrite Shakespeare: A losing proposition?”
“It asks famous writers to essentially best the greatest of their forefathers – by grappling with his own oeuvre,” LA Times writer Alexander Nazaryan wrote.
But Guardian writer Bidisha is looking forward to the reimaginings.
“I'm intrigued,” she wrote. “To appoint acclaimed, fully established writers like Winterson and Tyler is hardly some facetious gimmick. It's an opportunity to discover what the timeless geniuses of now make of a timeless genius of then.”
Indigo Books and Music was founded in Canada in 1996. (Shaun Best/Reuters)
Will Indigo Books and Music expand outside Canada?
Is Canada’s Indigo bookstore chain crossing the border?
Indigo CEO and founder Heather Reisman stated that “our intention is that the new Indigo will be a global company” during the annual meeting of the company, according to the Globe and Mail. She declined to elaborate on where new stores might open.
She predicted that the expansion wouldn’t be happening for two years or so.
Indigo Books and Music (also known as “!ndigo”), is often described as the country’s leading bookseller and has gone through other changes recently, with stores selling items such as toys and home goods in an effort to appeal to more consumers. Their lines include Indigo Home, Indigo Tech, and Indigo Kids. The company will also increase sales of Apple products such as the iPad in its stores next year. (Currently only the company's Toronto store has an Apple section.) Reisman called the revamping of the stores “a fundamental transformation.”
“The new physical format store will feel like you can meander through a series of shops, each one anchored by books,” Reisman said of the stores’ multiple product lines.
However, the CEO said books will remain Indigo’s priority.
“Books will remain at the heart and soul of this company, and as long as there are people on the planet who want to buy physical books, we are deeply committed to physical books, both in store and online,” Reisman said.
She stated that sales of merchandise that isn’t books increased during 2013 from 12 percent of the company’s sales to 22 percent.
Indigo had a loss of $8.2 million for the past quarter. For the same period, American bookstore chain Barnes & Noble reported a $118.6 loss.
Indigo was founded in 1996 and acquired the bookstore chain Chapters in 2001. Kobo Inc., the company which creates e-readers that are sold by many indie bookstores, was a division of Indigo Books until the subsidiary was sold to the Japanese company Rakuten in 2011.
E.L. James came in at number 42 on Forbes' Celebrity 100 list. (Denis Poroy/Invision/AP)
E.L. James is highest-ranked author on the Forbes Celebrity 100
A writer who was unknown as little as three years ago is now the highest-ranked author on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list.
“Fifty Shades of Grey” writer E.L. James came in at the 42nd spot on the Forbes list, the highest of any author. James, whose real name is Erika Leonard, released her first book in the trilogy in 2011. James was also named to Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list in 2012. The selection of the writer as the Publishing Person of the Year in 2012 by Publishers Weekly – the first author ever to receive that honor – caused a bit of an outcry. (The New York Daily News headline on the story: “Civilization ends.”)
While James comes in at 42 on the Forbes list, other writers made the cut as well. James Patterson, author of “Second Honeymoon” among many other titles, came in at number 49, while list mainstays Stephen King and J.K. Rowling occupied the 75th and 82nd spots, respectively, and “The Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins ranked at number 87.
Overall, media titan Oprah Winfrey was number one on the list, while singer Lady Gaga took the second spot, and director Steven Spielberg came in at number three. Singer Beyonce was the fourth on the list, while Madonna came in at number five.
Singer Justin Bieber was the youngest person to make the cut at number nine. The only athlete to make the top 10 was tennis star Roger Federer.
Check out the full list here.
Tim Burton will reportedly direct the film adaptation of 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.' (R: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children' will be directed by Tim Burton
Spooky movie master Tim Burton will take on a film adaptation of Ransom Riggs’ young adult novel “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” Word and Film reported.
The 2011 novel follows teenager Jacob, who begins to explore the ruins of the titular home, located on an island near Wales, and learns more about the children who lived there and why they were separated from society. Eerie photographs are interspersed with the text.
Burton is known for strange and scary stories, having directed films such as the animated 2012 film “Frankenweenie,” 2012’s “Dark Shadows,” and 2007’s “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” among others. The movie is being released by 20th Century Fox and the studio is aiming for a July 2015 opening.
The script is being adapted by writer Jane Goldman, who recently penned the screenplays for the 2012 film “The Woman in Black.” She’s also behind the scripts for “X-Men: First Class” and its upcoming sequel, films which “Peregrine” fans know share similarities with the story of Riggs’ novel.
No word on whether Burton’s frequent stars Johnny Depp or partner Helena Bonham-Carter will be appearing in the film.
One British journalist opposes the idea of putting Jane Austen's face on the 10 pound note, saying that the author of 'Pride and Prejudice' 'wrote perfectly good books ... but she didn’t change the world.'
Will Jane Austen grace the UK's 10 pound note?
Will the British be asking their friends to lend them a Jane Austen?
According to Sir Mervyn King, who is retiring as governor of the Bank of England, the famous author is merely “waiting in the wings” to appear on the country’s currency and could be the new face to grace the 10 pound note.
However, King’s replacement Mark Carney will have the final word on the decision. Carney takes up the post July 1.
Some commentators suggest that the idea of featuring Austen on bank notes is being floated in an attempt to placate Brits unhappy with the decision to take Elizabeth Fry, a prison reformer, off the five pound note and replace her with Winston Churchill in 2015. Apart from Queen Elizabeth II, Fry is the only woman currently appearing on the country’s money. (Fry was one of two women who had ever appeared on currency apart from the Queen, the other being Florence Nightingale).
Almost 30,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org asking that a woman besides the Queen appear on bank notes and feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez has threatened to sue the Bank for not upholding the country’s 2010 Equality Act.
Famous British citizens appear for 10 to 20 years on money before being cycled out in favor of another historical figure.
The possibility of Austen appearing on money (if she appeared on the 10 pound note, she would edge out current face Charles Darwin) has been received mostly positively.
“It is not the question of whether she is a woman or not, but she seems to me the greatest English writer apart from Shakespeare,” John Mullan, an English professor at University College London, told the Guardian.
However, Daily Mirror writer Susie Boniface was not impressed by the idea.
“If ever there were a reason to abandon money altogether it is [this],” she wrote. “There’s nothing wrong with Austen – she wrote perfectly good books, was a woman trapped by her class and found a voice that still resonates. Good on her, but she didn’t change the world.” Boniface suggested scientist Rosalind Franklin, writer Mary Wollstonecraft, or mathematician Ada Lovelace as possible substitutes.
But Victoria McNally, a writer for the website Geekosystem, was so won over by the Austen money idea that she asked when “the U.S. [is] gonna step up its game?”
“Between this and Canada’s dinosaur coins, why is everybody else’s money so much cooler than ours?” she asked. “Come on, USA, get with the times!”
'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day' is a children's book by Judith Viorst.
'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day' goes to the big screen via Disney
Disney has found the child who will be having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
The studio is producing a film adaptation of Judith Viorst’s children’s book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," which follows Alexander as he makes his way through a truly unfortunate series of events – everything from getting gum in his hair to finding nothing but people kissing on TV.
Actor Ed Oxenbould, who stars on the Australian TV series “Puberty Blues,” was recently cast as Alexander. Steve Carell of “The Office” and “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” actress Jennifer Garner had already come on board to play Alexander’s parents.
The film is being directed by Miguel Arteta, who also helmed the 2011 movie “Youth in Revolt” and has directed various episodes of TV shows such as the NBC program “The New Normal.”
Disney is aiming for an October 2014 release date.
Barnes & Noble will partner with another company to manufacture its Nook tablet devices. Will it be Microsoft? (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
Nook: Barnes & Noble will hand off tablet manufacturing to a third party
If you buy a Nook tablet in the future, another company name may be appearing alongside the Barnes & Noble logo on your device.
Following disappointing fourth-quarter numbers, Barnes & Noble is making yet another change and is looking to partner with another manufacturer to create its Nook tablets.
Barnes & Noble announced today that the company itself would no longer produce Nook tablet devices. It also announced that the net loss for the company, $118.6 million, was more than double the net loss for the same quarter in 2012, which came to $56.9 million. B&N in part blamed the numbers on “Nook inventory charges,” according to independent bookstore newsletter Shelf Awareness.
So Barnes & Noble will be working with another company to release the tablets, and you’ll still be able to find them in stores. Barnes & Noble will continue to produce the black-and-white e-readers such as the Nook Simple Touch.
“We are a hundred percent not exiting the device business,” Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch said during a conference call, according to Fortune.
According to the company’s newest numbers, sales for Nook devices fell 34 percent during the quarter.
Barnes & Noble called the as-yet-unannounced Nook tablet partner “third party manufacturers of consumer electronics products.” Will it be Microsoft? Rumors that the company was looking to buy Nook Media were quashed in May, but the company did recently invest $300 million in the Nook and college bookstore division of the company.
B&N’s sales of digital content dropped almost 9 percent during the quarter. In a statement B&N blamed the drop on “the device sales shortfall as well as the comparison to the The Hunger Games and Fifty Shades of Grey trilogies a year ago.”
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