Books: The Movie

I love books and I love movies, so I'm always interested when the former become the latter. I know plenty of people who moan over it, but I don't.

For one thing it often brings people to books they may have otherwise forgotten or overlooked. The Coolidge Corner Theater recently played the new adaptation of Brideshead Revisited and we've sold more copies of that title in six weeks than we did all of last year.

I also think you can like the book better (you'll always like the book better!) but still find a lot of value in the film. I remember getting into a pretty fierce argument with a friend over an adaptation of Mansfield Park. She argued that the director had totally misunderstood and abused Austen's characters and as a result she absolutely hated the film. In some ways she was right--the Fanny Price of the movie was a very different heroine than she was in the book. But I still loved it. I enjoyed what it was for what it was and I appreciated that it made me reexamine the book, what I liked about it and how I understood it.

I got to thinking about all this as Wednesday's Publishers Lunch posted an item from The Hollywood Reporter about a kerfuffle regarding the series of movies in the works based on Tintin. I hadn't even realized movies were being made! And the kerfuffle is over whether Steven Spielberg or Peter Jackson is directing? I'm smiling either way.

What do you think about movie adaptations? Do you have any favorite (or hated!) book-to-movie translations?

Books for Babies

I was looking at the new deals on Publishers Marketplace and saw that Leslie Patricelli and Candlewick have signed a deal for them to publish more of her board books. Yay!

I love to recommend Leslie Patricelli's colorful and funny books about opposites (such as Quiet Loud, Big Little, and Yummy Yucky) when people are looking for baby shower gifts. They make a great counterpoint to classics such as Pat the Bunny and Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar that every other guest is bringing. Why not something different?

Past into Present

I had a really great conversation with a customer recently--we were talking about The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff, which contains two parallel stories, one set in the past and one in the present. The 19th century storyline revolves around the true (but fictionalized ) story of Anne Eliza Young, one of Brigham Young's many wives and a crusader for the abolition of Mormon polygamy. In the present day Jordan Scott, the son of the 19th wife of a current polygamist must try to exonerate his mother, who is accused of murdering her spouse.

I really enjoyed the book but mentioned that I much preferred the historical storyline to the contemporary and we were talking about how novels that attempt to carry on two storylines often have a hard time balancing both--one tends to come out much stronger. However, I have to propose one book that strikes a perfect balance: Possession by A.S. Byatt. One of my all-time favorite novels, Possession alternates between a pair of Victorian poets and the present-day scholars who research them.

What are your favorite novels that successfully bridge the divide between parallel storylines?

Little House on the Prarie--The Musical!

Growing up I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder and all her Little House books (I still dress up as Laura for Halloween). My friend Elly loved L.M. Montgomery and all her Anne books. I remember our arguments over which books were better, which while not quite of the my-dad-can-beat-up-your-dad variety were pretty close.

Anne of Green Gables turns 100 this year and has been getting a lot of media attention as a result. Much to my immature delight, however, there was an article in yesterday's New York Times about a new musical version of Little House on the Prairie opening at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Ha! Take that Anne!

One More Thing...

I didn't get to go to BEA this year (Book Expo, the book world's huge trade show/carnival) as it was in California which was a bit of a bummer. I'm pretty much over it at this point but there is one thing I am still regretting...I missed out on a private party/concert by Prince. AT HIS HOUSE!!!

I saved my invitation just the same.

Shop Talk

For the back page of the upcoming New York Times Book Review Leanne Shapton (former bookseller and author of Was She Pretty) drew sketches of booksellers at independent bookstores around New York City and asked them the following questions: "Have you ever kicked anyone out? Do you correct customers' pronunciation? What's the strangest thing anyone has left behind?"

In the hopes of having Ms. Shapton come to Brookline to sketch me I have taken it upon myself to answer her questions in advance.

Have you ever kicked anyone out? No. But my fear of doing so is exactly why I never wanted to become a manager. I have asked people who use their outside-voices while on their cell phones to please keep it quiet. The nasty-look versus embarrassed-grimace response is about 1:1.

Do you correct customers' pronunciation? No, but I put try to put them out of their misery as soon as I realize they're looking for books by J.M. Coetzee (by the way, it's kind of like this: cut-TSEE-uh). I do always smile bigger when I'm at the register and ask someone how they are and they reply with "well" rather than "good."

What's the strangest thing anyone has left behind? I can't think of anything really good at the moment but I can say that I haven't had to purchase an umbrella since I started working in a bookstore. Helpful hint if you get caught in the rain: ask at a bookstore if there are any spare umbrellas in the lost and found--it's a good bet you'll get lucky.

And to make this more interesting, my most awkward customer interaction (of late): I recently had a very odd exchange with a customer when I was at the register. She came up to me and gushed, "Has anyone ever told you you look just like Anne Frank? You look just like Anne Frank!" Er, no. But thank you?

On a pretty unrelated note:
This week's NYTBR reviews The Drunkard's Walk by George Johnson. Cool. Extra-cool? The illustrations for the review are by Jessica Hagy!

The Year is Half Over...How Did That Happen?

So I could share with you (and remind myself!) of what I've been reading I started a couple lists...now I just have to make sure I keep them updated!

I've been so busy with rep appointments and I want to share all the awesome books coming soon, but it might have to wait for a bit...which will be good as it will give me a chance to go through the catalogs again to remind me of what's coming!

A fall book from Simon and Schuster that I already finished and loved is French Milk by Lucy Knisley. It's a graphic novel travelogue of a month in Paris with her mother. Honestly, I'll be upfront about the fact that there's no real storyline or character development, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and when I was done reading I felt that:

A. I want to go to Paris with my mom
B. I want to go to Paris with Lucy Knisley
C. I want to go to Paris with Lucy Knisley's mom
D. Actually, I'll take any of the above.

I'm not quite sure why I liked this book so much since, with few exceptions, I'm not a big fan of graphic novels (I know, I'm a traitor to my generation). Jessica over at The Written Nerd is a graphic novel whiz/aficionado and has offered me suggestions in the past, but they never took. Maybe it's because this is so simple--a journal of daily visits to the museums, restaurants, and shops. Maybe it's because my favorite things in the world are museums, restaurants, and shops. Or maybe it's just that the snoop in me really appreciated that I got to read someone's diary.

Related Notes:

The only other graphic novels I've really gotten into are by Jeffrey Brown (his most recent is Little Things). Apparently I really like my graphic novels as autobiographical petit fours.

Perhaps it is not surprising that I enjoyed the book Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You by Sam Gosling.


Unrelated Note:

Apparently The Book Bench, the New Yorker's book blog has linked to me. First thought: Wow! Second thought: Why? I'm not very good at articulating why I like the books I do, I'm a horrible writer, and I ignore this thing for stretches of inimitable length. Perhaps this means I need to step up my game. Or this means I will not long be linked with such estimable company. Time will tell.