Three Entertaining Autobiographies

Carole King is A Natural Woman


From Kirkus Reviews

Bitten by the music bug at an early age and subsequently converted to rock ’n’ roll in the ’50s, she began writing her own songs, landing a record deal at the age of 15. She would experience far greater success, however, when she and co-songwriter Gerry Goffin turned out hit after hit for such artists as Aretha Franklin, the Shirelles and the Monkees. . . . when her marriage deteriorated, she set off for Los Angeles to seek her own voice. That voice comes through strongly on every page of this memoir, an engaging assortment of recollections comprising a journey that started in her working-class Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, took her to Manhattan and Laurel Canyon and saw her escape what Joni Mitchell called "the star maker machinery" to settle in rural Idaho. In one of the book's best sections, King explains her decision to retreat from fame in the mid ’70s, chronicling the joys and sorrows of going “back to the land.”

Anchorman Dan Rants in Rather Outspoken



From the Daily Beast

Nearly eight years after his fabled career at CBS News imploded like a death star over the notorious George W. Bush/Texas Air National Guard segment on 60 Minutes Wednesday, he can’t stop combing the debris for shards of vindication.
“I have a story to tell from my point of view,” he says about his new book, Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News, which roasts network management for its “spineless” behavior during the Bush episode; takes potshots at his successor in the CBS Evening News anchor chair, Katie Couric, as a purveyor of “News Lite”; and settles scores with former colleagues who, as he writes, “after pretending to be friends for all those years, stealthily snuck around giving anonymous newspaper quotes and otherwise scheming to put the dirk in deep when I was down and hurting.”
Rather explains: “I wanted to tell it as honestly and as candidly as I could with—as Lyndon Johnson used to say—the bark off.”

Sunday, Monday, Happy Days in Hollywoodwith Garry Marshall


From NPR

He calls his mother the primary influence behind his show business career and those of his sisters: Ronny, who's worked primarily behind the camera, and Penny, who is now a director but also starred in one of his most popular sitcoms, Laverne And Shirley.
. . . Happy Days suddenly acquired a new star in Henry Winkler's Arthur Fonzarelli. Marshall says the character grew with Winkler's development of his peculiarities. Some of those "aaaay" and "whoa" sounds that made Fonzie so famous, it turns out, were additions from the actor. "And then slowly, he became Richie's best friend, and the character developed, and it went on."
His daughters loved Happy Days, he explains, but his young son wasn't interested. Why? "There are no space people," Marshall remembers his son complaining. The show being set on ... well, Earth, and in the '50s, it wasn't immediately obvious how to make it happen. So Mork's appearance was a dream sequence at first. And then came the show Mork And Mindy, which made Mork — played by a very young Robin Williams — real. "The dream was so funny, it suddenly wasn't a dream anymore," Marshall says.  Chalk another one up for something Garry Marshall believes is often a smart place to start in entertainment: "Please the people in your house."

True Crime ~ The Susan Cox Powell Story

For truth is always strange; stranger than fiction. ~ Lord Byron


Susan Powell is a woman who disappeared into the Utah desert in 2009, and her husband, Josh Powell, had no explanation, nor was she ever found. Later her father-in-law was found to have been obsessed with her and even filmed her with hidden cameras, and her husband committed suicide and killed their two children by blowing up their house.
From the Salt Lake Tribune: Susan Cox Powell's Fearful Emails

The Powell family appeared to be a happy one on picnics, bike rides and get-togethers with friends, but those closest to Susan were learning a darker truth about the life of the energetic woman who seemed like the girl next door.
Susan told her friends in dozens of emails the fun-loving, affectionate man she married in her home state of Washington in 2001 had changed into a surly, moody, controlling person she feared could harm her.
"I want him in counseling, on meds, I want my husband, friend, lover BACK no more crazy, outrageous, outlandish beliefs/opinions," she wrote in an email to friends dated July 11, 2008, as she described stress and depression related to her crumbling marriage.

Now her sister-in-law, with the unintentionally macabre name of Jennifer Graves, is penning her story, but without sympathy for her brother, the man who might have taken Susan's life. Graves says that Susan confided in her about her estranged marriage, and Graves knows firsthand the toll of living with Josh as well as her rather twisted father, Steve Powell, now locked up in a Washington state prison for voyeurism and child pornography charges.
From: Fox 13 Salt Lake City

Graves and Susan Cox Powell were close. In search warrant affidavits, police revealed that Susan had penned a “Last Will & Testament,” expressing fear for her life. It said that if anything were to happen to her, it likely wasn’t an accident and to contact Jennifer Graves.
“I’m really grateful that she trusted me that much,” Graves said. “I wish there was more that I could have done.”
Susan has not been found. Her husband, Josh Powell, killed himself and their children in an explosion and fire in February.
In her forthcoming book, Graves said she shares her perspective of the high-profile missing persons case. She said she writes about growing up with Josh Powell, her father, Steven, her friendship with Susan and the deaths of her nephews, Charlie and Braden.
“We discuss the issues of forgiveness and finding peace in horrible circumstances, no matter what they may be,” said her co-author, Emily Gray Clawson.

Bookish Pics ~ Books in Movies

Some of my favorite book scenes in movies! Above is Severus Snape's (Alan Rickman) Beautiful Library at Spinner's End. From the movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


Meg Ryan as Children's Bookstore Proprietress Kathleen Kelly
in You've Got Mail (with Parker Posey)




The hidden tower library in Name of the Rose


Chatsworth House Library Used as Set
For Mr. Darcy's Pemberly in Pride and Prejudice (1995)
(from sammel on Flickr)

Marian the Librarian (Shirley Jones)
Dancing in the River City Library
In The Music Man


Gandalf Researching the Ring of Power
at the Minas Tirith Library
In The Fellowship of the Ring

Love that Old Book Smell!

Now we know there's a scientific basis for it:

Dr. Seuss Too Political?

A school in Canada has banned Yertle the Turtle for being "too political." What is the world coming to? Dr. Seuss is probably rolling over in his grave!
From Huffington Post:

According to the Globe and Mail, an elementary school teacher in Prince Rupert was told she could not display the quote, "I know up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here on the bottom, we too should have rights” from the book in her classroom.
Dave Stigant, acting director of instruction for the Prince Rupert School District, stated the decision was based on the November, 2011 ban by an arbitrator on political messages in schools in the province, though the ongoing labour dispute between the teacher's union and the province played a role as well.

Whenever I read a story like this, I shake my head. Schools don't just exist to turn people into conformists, but to teach children to think about ideas. The flag that hangs in every classroom is just as political as Yertle the Turtle. Values such as equality are simple human rights and should be taught that way, and silencing a teacher sends a message to children that is just plain wrong. I think some of these school administrators need to read the book again. Are they going to ban Horton Hears a Who next? "A person's a person no matter how small."

However, there's no doubt that Theodore Geisel, alias Dr. Seuss, created stories as cautionary tales about political realities of the 20th century. Back in 2000 an exhibit of Dr. Seuss's World War II cartoons toured parts of the country. The Springfield Massachusetts Library Association website has a great essay called "The Political Dr. Seuss, which quotes Richard H. Minear, an expert on the worldly and satirical side of Seuss:

Minear said that there is "a disconnect between what we usually think of as Dr. Seuss and the content of the cartoons." However, many Dr. Seuss's whimsical children's books also contain serious themes. Yertle the Turtle, for example, is a cautionary tale against dictators. The Lorax contains a strong environmental message. The Sneetches is a plea for racial tolerance. Horton Hears a Who is a parable about the American Occupation of Japan. And The Butter Battle Book pillories the Cold War and nuclear deterrence. Even the Cat in the Hat's famous red-and-white-striped hat has a political predecessor in the top hat Uncle Sam wears in Dr. Seuss's wartime cartoons.

Some of these characters, such as a Sneetch-type creature and a prototype of Yertle the Turtle, made their first appearance not in Dr. Seuss's children's books, but in the some 400 political cartoons he drew for PM, a left-wing daily newspaper published in New York from 1940 to 1948. Dr. Seuss worked as an editorial cartoonist for the paper from 1941 to 1943, drawing cartoons that lambasted isolationism, racism, anti-Semitism, Hitler, Mussolini, the Japanese, and the conservative forces in American politics.

Take a look at this early version of Yertle the Turtle forming a "V" for victory during WWII which was included in Minear's book:


From Wikipedia

Stephen King Releases Book Number 62

The word "prolific" surely describes Mr. Stephen King, who released his latest novel The Wind Through Keyhole on Thursday. While the Dark Tower series was supposedly completed, the author decided to write a prequel of sorts. This book falls chronologically between books Four and Five.

...Stephen King returns to the rich landscape of Mid-World, the spectacular territory of the Dark Tower fantasy saga that stands as his most beguiling achievement.
Roland Deschain and his ka-tet—Jake, Susannah, Eddie, and Oy, the billy-bumbler—encounter a ferocious storm just after crossing the River Whye on their way to the Outer Baronies. As they shelter from the howling gale, Roland tells his friends not just one strange story but two . . . and in so doing, casts new light on his own troubled past.

In celebration Vulture.com has a slideshow ranking all 62 of King's books, which include his many collections of short stories, as well as collaborations with other writers.

No Pulitzer Prize Given for Novels in 2012

It's a puzzle why the Pulitzer Prize Committee failed to choose a winner in books this year for the first time since 1977. While people often expect snubs in the world of entertainment such as the recent Academy Awards, they didn't see this coming in the world of books. The three finalists were Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Swamplandia! by Karen Russell, and The Pale King by the late David Foster Wallace. Unfortunately, a consensus could not be reached by those who had the last word.


ROBERT BOYERS, a professor of English at Skidmore College, wrote in an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times

...The year 2011 was rich in fiction, a year when major books were brought out by writers not included on the list of finalists. I can only wonder why the jurors were not asked to submit to the Pulitzer board a second list of three plausible candidates for the prize, given the importance of these prizes to the industry. No one will suppose that, of all 300 titles considered by the jurors, only the three named as finalists would have seemed worthy to the larger community of readers and writers.

From Reuters: Book Lovers React Bitterly

Chairwoman of the Pulitzer fiction panel Susan Larson told National Public Radio that the jurors had read some 300 books and were "shocked ... angry ... and very disappointed" that the Pulitzer board couldn't pick a winner. "I think we all would have been happy if any of books had been selected," she said. ...Ann Patchett, author of "Bel Canto" and a founder of Parnassus Books, criticized the effect on the industry, coupled with a Justice Department lawsuit against Apple and five major publishers that will likely to lead to cheaper e-books and a dent in publishers' profits. "I can't imagine there was ever a year we were so in need of the excitement it creates in readers," Patchett wrote in an op-ed piece for Tuesday's New York Times.

Reading is Fun and Fundamental

 

There's a brilliant new ad for the children's book intitiative Reading is Fundamental (RIF) a charity founded in 1966 to give books to children who otherwise wouldn't have any of their own. For more information on the program go to Book People Unite
and sign up for their mailing list. And yes, that voice you hear in the video is the great Levar Burton of Reading Rainbow!



Starring: Pinocchio, Madeline, Greg (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), Rip Van Winkle, LeVar Burton, Three Blind Mice, Humpty Dumpty, Curious George, Big Bad Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Goldilocks and the three bears, Captain Ahab, Three Pigs, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Babar the Elephant, Mr Men, Little Miss, Mr Tickle, Little Miss Chatterbox, Mr Tall, Peter (The Snowy Day), The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Black Beauty. Music produced by: The Roots with vocal support from Jack Black, Chris Martin, John Legend, Regina Spektor, Jim James, Nate Ruess, Jason Schwartzman, Melanie Fiona, Levar Burton, Carrie Brownstein & Consequence

Bookish Pics

Each week I will try to post several pictures that display books in an unusually pleasing way.


Kansas City, Missouri, Library Parking Garage
By Jonathan Moreau on Flickr

Another view by David King on Flickr

The mysterious hidden door in the bookshelf
from Tumblr



Ahhhhhhh: from Tumblr

Tolkien and Dickens ~ Fantasy Meets Reality?

The BBC reports:

Poet Michael Tolkien, the eldest grandson of the The Hobbit author, will write two novels based on stories his grandfather read to him as a child.

Gerald Dickens, the great-great grandson of Charles, will narrate the audiobook versions. Both works are due to be released later this year.

Publisher Thames River Press said the first book, Wish, was inspired by Florence Bone's 1923 story, The Rose-Coloured Wish....The second book, Rainbow, is based on Bone's 1910 novel, The Other Side of the Rainbow.

J. K. Rowling and the Casual Vacancy

J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults will be called The Casual Vacancy and will be released by Little, Brown, and Company on September 27, 2012. It can be pre-ordered as an ebook or hardcover.

This is quite a week for Rowling because her website Pottermore is also finally open to the public, along with her Pottermore Shop for ebooks and audio books.

The author had been saying for several years that she was working something quite different for adults, and a fellow Edinburgh writer, Ian Rankin had hinted that the book might be a mystery set in Edinburgh. But it appears that Rowling has not written an urban mystery, but something more conventionally British - think Agatha Christie - and set in a small country village.
From the blurb on Amazon:

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…. Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the town’s council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations? Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.

I was instantly reminded of the book Paradise, Postponed by John Mortimer, which also included local political intrigue around the character of the unforgettable Leslie Titmuss ("through the chair").

On my Harry Potter blog The Illuminated Dungeon I wrote that the choice of the name "Pagford" was possibly a corruption of "Pigford" and another Rowlingesque boar-related name like Hogwarts or Hogsmeade. But then a friend on Facebook pointed out to me that in the Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane novel Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers, the house where the Wimsey's are living is in Paggleham, and the story goes that Harriet Vane grew up in the nearby town of Great Pagford. The "borrowing" so to speak of the place name is not too surprising because on Rowling's official site for years she had a picture of a bookshelf with several Sayers novels. She also has a character called "Romilda Vane" who has a bad crush on Harry in Half-Blood Prince. For that matter, you can make the case that the last name of Harry Potter's mother - Evans - is an anagram for Vane. And Agatha Christie wrote a novel called Why Didn't They Ask Evans, and that takes me back to the fact that JKR is on familiar territory in the British novel pantheon and I suspect her offering will be just as witty and insightful as the many writers of that pastoral genre who have come before her.

My Inspiration for this Book Blog

From To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee:

I found myself in the middle of the Idlers' Club and made myself as unobtrusive as possible. This was a group of white-shirted, khaki-trousered, suspendered old men who had spent their lives doing nothing and passed their twilight days doing same on pine benches under the live oaks on the square. Attentive critics of courthouse business, Atticus said they knew as much law as the Chief Justice, from long years of observation. Normally, they were the court's only spectators, and today they seemed resentful of the interruption of their comfortable routine. When they spoke, their voices sounded casually important. The conversation was about my father.

". . . thinks he knows what he's doing," one said.

"Oh-h now, I wouldn't say that," said another. "Atticus Finch's a deep reader, a mighty deep reader."

"He reads all right, that's all he does." The club snickered.