From book to film

Lots of literature on the silver screen this year—here are some of the latest book-to-film tidbits:

• Julia Child’s famous cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, has shot back to the bestseller list some 50 years after first being published. The film “Julie & Julia” reached #2 at the weekend box office.

• For all the romance lovers out there, “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” based on the bestselling novel by Audrey Niffenegger, hits box offices this weekend. (This means you male moviegoers who dragged your significant other to “G.I. Joe” last week have some payback coming. And his name is Eric Bana.)

• A new trailer has been released for director Spike Jonze’s interpretation of Where the Wild Things Are. Personally, can’t wait to see this one! Less CGI, more monster suits, I say.

• Have you seen the new trailer for the adaptation of The Lovely Bones? It’s directed by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings notoriety, who introduces the trailer. If you ask me, any work of literature is safe in his hands.
  

• Speaking of Peter Jackson, he updated fans on the status of The Hobbit film at this year’s Comic Con. (It’s not quite green-lit, but the book will be translated into two films.)

• And the folks at GalleyCat report that Julia Roberts was seen at a Brooklyn bookstore yesterday filming scenes for the upcoming adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir, Eat, Pray, Love.

Good reads

This afternoon, a change of pace: a few of our recommended reads this Summer.

Tolly: In Defense of Food! I was inspired to read it after seeing "Food, Inc.," which released a few weeks ago. Michael Pollan does such a great job of restoring the relationship between food and people: I can't stop thinking about this one line where he's talking about a berry ("so this berry walks into a bar"....heh), saying it tells us when it wants us to eat it. When it gets a bright, deep hue, it's saying: "I'm ready for you to spread my genes now." I love that. I love it when berries talk to me. I'm still not an angel when it comes to food, but I'm 50x more conscious about what I buy, and am determined to plant a garden when Texas returns to sub-surface-of-the-sun temperatures. Thanks Michael.

Rusty: Reminisces of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre, originally published in 1923. I like it because it's more about the market's mentality than gimmicks, stock picks or trends (which are often outdated or played out before the book is published). It's timeless for that reason and most brokers will tell you it's still their favorite book on investing.

Merritt: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenberger. I am both fascinated and dumbfounded by the concept of time travel, but Clare and Henry's love story is intoxicating (I might have a literary crush on Henry DeTamble). Next up, The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. I am excited to get the full scoop on the founding of Facebook. Why it is a good summer read? The front cover has a picture of a red bra and a lipstick-stained martini glass. Enough said.

Stephanie: My bookshelf skews toward stories that are introspective and ones that take me to another place, hence my obession with travel memoirs, foodie books, and other firsthand accounts that show us the limitlessness of possibility. My latest read happens to also be a shameless plug for a book we're working on, Halfway to Each Other by Susan Pohlman. Unfortunately, the masses won't find it in stores until September, but pre-order on Amazon now. The book is the true story of how Susan and her husband rescusitated their marriage by moving the whole family to Italy for a year. Cozy up with some vino as you are whisked to the dolce vita and soon you'll be unplugging your TV, putting down your iPhone and booking the next flight to the Italian Riviera.

Kelly: The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer. It's the fictional story of a family that's torn apart when the father is accused of being a spy during the Iranian Revolution. The story is told from each family member's perspective: the father, the mother, the daughter and the son in America. The book is loosely based on the author's own life- she fled Iran when she was ten. In the biography section of the book, she talks about what it was like as a little girl to leave her house. For the longest time she wondered if anyone moved the toys in her room. When writing this story, Sofer paid the same amount of attention to details. It's beautifully written. Also Patrick Rosal's My American Kundiman. He's a former bboy turned poet who understands sounds so well that his poetry flows off the page like a hip-hop track. Seriously. Poems range in this book from subdued and wistful to in-your-face-confident.

Now go read a book.

Get the stars to shine for your book; hats off to Madeleine L'Engle

Get the stars to shine for your book
There’s been some rumbling in the news this week about Oprah’s not-so-clandestine endorsement of Democratic candidate Barack Obama for president in ’08. This endorsement has made headlines because a) Oprah’s never endorsed a political candidate before and b) everything Oprah touches turns to gold. Pundits and political talking heads are speculating how this endorsement is going to enhance Obama’s campaign. In the past, political endorsements from Hollywood have failed to make any measurable impact at the polls. However, Oprah typically is not seen by the public as a member of the ultra-liberal Hollywood set. She’s less radical than Sean Penn or Susan Sarandon, and therefore connects with a broader range of people.

Having Oprah in his corner just might be exactly what Obama needs to court at least some of the women’s vote from Hilary Clinton. In an interview with CNN, USC communications professor Marty Kaplan stated, “People buy books when she tells them to. They will watch her shows, and buy her magazines when she asks them to. So the question is: are enough of them willing to follow her lead not with a consumer good, but with a ballot cast?”

Obama hit a homerun with this endorsement because it boosted his credibility with a segment of the market that trusts Oprah’s insight. The same principle applies when searching for endorsements for your book. As you think about potential endorsements for your book, think about the demographic and market segments to which you want to appeal. This is especially true for first-time or unknown authors.

As an example, NavPress just released Ian Cron’s debut novel, Chasing Francis. The book has already generated much discussion and buzz in the emergent community. Author and postmodern leader Brian McLaren called Chasing Francis “a unique and meaningful contribution to the emerging conversation about faith and life in today's world.” Makoto Fujimura, world renowned contemporary artist and founder of the International Arts Movement, says he now finds himself “chasing Francis” in his life and art. Other well-known authors endorsing the book include Brennan Manning, Dr. Tony Campolo and Father Richard Rohr—all leaders in the emerging church community, a market where Chasing Francis is sure to have the most resonance.

Not every author or politician will be lucky enough to get backing from Oprah’s empire or a praise-worthy quote from a well-established author. But remember, the media take quality endorsements very seriously (as does the buying public), so it’s well worth it to spend the time seeking endorsements before your book hits the market.

Hats off to Madeleine L’Engle
I’m a day or two late in mentioning this, but novelist Madeleine L’Engle passed away this weekend at the age of 88. She was best known for her novel for young adults, A Wrinkle in Time, which was first published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 1962 after being rejected, in the words of L’Engle, “at least 26 times.” The novel subsequently became a Newberry Medal winner and a source of entertainment for generations. A Wrinkle in Time was one of the first “big kid” books I ever read. My mom bought it for me for Christmas one year, as it was one of her personal favorites growing up. The book’s beloved protagonist, Meg Murry, instantly became one of my heroes (possibly because we both wore dorky glasses), and the novel remains one of my all-time favorites. L’Engle’s work paved the way for many sci-fi and fantasy authors, including J.K. Rowling and Katherine Patterson – whose careers in young adult literature wouldn’t be what it is today without A Wrinkle in Time.

The New York Times sums it up best here. (Registration may be required.)

Oprah Winfrey & Barack Obama photo courtesy National Ledger

Is getting banned good for your book? It could be.

One of my favorite books of all time is J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, which also happens to rank high up on the American Library Association’s list of 100 Most Challenged Books from 1990 to 2000. Although the somewhat-controversial book wasn’t included in the curriculum of my high school’s English department in Middle Of Nowhere, Texas, that didn’t stop me from reading it.

With the ALA’s 26th Annual Banned Books Week next month, the organization has started building buzz again for its list of most challenged books of 2006. At the top of the list is And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. The children’s book covers the true story of two male penguins living in the New York Zoo who partnered up to raise a baby penguin after the egg was abandoned by its original parents. The book received a total of 546 written challenges last year. According to the ALA, a challenge is “an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials.” Other books on the 2006 list include Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Beloved, Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War. The ALA carefully noted that The Catcher in the Rye, which annually holds a top spot on the list, didn’t make the cut this year. I guess people aren’t so offended by Holden Caulfield anymore.

It bodes well for the PR industry that, excuse the cliché, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Challenged and banned books are way more interesting to the media and the public than the books that are easily accepted into schools and libraries without a second thought.

Controversy, when packaged correctly, can be a very good thing for book sales and a great thing for your publicist.

Do you have a favorite banned book? Are there any books you’d like to see banned from libraries, Amazon and any other retail outlets, just because? Apparently B&N has reneged on its plan to ban O.J.’s book (so much for the moral stance).

I’ll go first. I'd like to ban Paris Hilton’s Confessions of an Heiress, just because it’s Paris Hilton.