Archive for March, 2010
Monday, March 8th, 2010
Here’s the weekly comparison of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times Top 5 bestsellers in Fiction Hardback. WSJ has three new titles in the top five this week and NYT has four!
| Wall Street Journal Top 5 |
New York Times Top 5 |
| Fantasy in Death J.D. Robb |
Fantasy in Death J.D. Robb |
| The Help Kathryn Stockett |
The Help Kathryn Stockett |
| Big Girl Danielle Steele |
Black Magic Sanction Kim Harrison* |
| Split Image Roger B Parker |
Split Image Roger B Parker |
| The Last Olympian Rick Riordan |
Big Girl Danielle Steele |
*Black Magic Sanction (Kim Harrison) is #7 on the WSJ.
Fiction new releases on Tuesday, March 09, 2010:
- The Surrendered (Chang-Rae Lee)
- The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag: A Flavia de Luce Mystery (Alan Bradley)
- The Silent Sea (The Oregon Files) (Clive Cussler)
- Hourglass (Evernight Novels) (Claudia Gray)
- The Dead-Tossed Waves (Forest of Hands & Teeth Book 2) (Carrie Ryan)
Friday, March 5th, 2010
I’ve never read much of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work. I’m pretty sure “The Great Gatsby” was included in my high school curriculum but that was a long time ago and I don’t remember much of those classes anyway. But awhile ago my husband and I settled in to watch the movie “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. And I loved it. I loved it so much that I decided I had to read the original story.
At first I couldn’t decide if I was disappointed or not. And I couldn’t figure out, if I WAS disappointed, was it with the book or the film?
The book and the movie have exactly three things in common: the title, the name of the main character, and the fact that he grows younger as the years pass. I’ve already admitted I loved the movie. (Fans of the original short story are probably throwing rotten veggies at the screen right now.) But Eric Roth (the screen play writer) created an entirely new story. It was billed as “based on” Fitzgerald’s work. Quite frankly, that is a stretch. I can understand why his fans could be insulted by such a claim. But here’s the thing – I love the original work just as much.
The movie is a romance, a story about an enduring love that evolves & transcends age. I do so love a good love story. The book is much more tragic, full of selfishness & contempt, illustrating what difficulties would be encountered while living such a phenomenon. And I love darker considerations. So I’ve finally concluded I’m not disappointed in either. I can’t be. They’re NOT THE SAME STORY.
But I’m curious about YOUR opinion. Were you a fan of Fitzgerald’s story and disappointed with the movie? Did you fall in the love with the movie and hate the book? Something in between? Let me know!
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
On Monday Barry Hannah, southern author, died at age 67. His writing has been described as “darkly comic” and has won several awards. His first novel, Geronimo Rex, won the William Faulkner Prize and earned a National Book Award nomination. He was also awarded the Arnold Gingrich Short Fiction Award, and the Award for Literature from the American Institute of Arts and Letters for his short story collection, Airships. Another of his short story collections, High Lonesome, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
Although I consider myself a southern girl, I have never read any of Mr. Hannah’s work. Have you? What did you think?
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
On March 2, 1904, Theodor Seuss Geisel entered the world. One hundred and six years later his imaginative work still impacts our children. Here are some facts I found interesting while reading about his life:
- His dad & grandfather were brewmasters in Springfield, MA until Prohibition.
- He was editor-in-chief of Dartmouth’s humor paper (Jack-O-Lantern) until he got caught throwing a drinking party, which just happened to be against the law (Prohibition) & school policies.
- His middle name was also his mother’s maiden name. The first record of him using it as a pseudonym was on contributions to Jack-O-Lantern after he was, ahem, relieved of his duties as editor-in-chief.
- The first book that he wrote and illustrated, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was rejected 27 (or 28) times. Sadly, I don’t think I’ve ever read this one.
- He also wrote a few books under the pen name Theo. LeSieg and one under the name Rosetta Stone. He did illustrate these.
The very first book I read to my (now 12 year old) son was The Foot Book. For the first half of his life, he had quite a library of Dr. Seuss books. His favorites were Hop on Pop and There’s a Wocket in my Pocket until he discovered the fun of making me read Fox in Socks. He would bring that book to me EVERY SINGLE NIGHT while laughing manically. I related to Mr. Knox (“Please sir I don’t like this trick sir, my tongue isn’t quick or slick sir!”).
So tell me, what is YOUR favorite Dr. Seuss book?
Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.
- Dr. Seuss (One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish)
Monday, March 1st, 2010
Here’s the weekly comparison of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times Top 5 bestsellers in Fiction Hardback.
|
Wall Street Journal Top 5
|
New York Times Top 5
|
| Worst Case Patterson/Ledwidge |
The Help Kathryn Stockett |
| The Help Kathryn Stockett |
Worst Case Patterson/Ledwidge |
| The Last Olympian Rick Riordan |
The Lost Symbol Dan Brown |
| The Lost Symbol Dan Brown |
Poor Little Bitch Girl Jackie Collins* |
| Winter Garden Kristin Hannah |
Winter Garden Kristin Hannah |
*Poor Little Bitch Girl (Jackie Collins) is #7 on the WSJ, down from #6 last week.
New Releases of Note on 03/02/2010:
House Rules (Jodi Picoult)
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Seth Grahame-Smith)
Club Dead: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel (Charlaine Harris)
