The single-biggest winner at the Oscars last night was No Country for Old Men, based on the Cormac McCarthy book, which won best picture, best director (Ethan and Joel Coen), best supporting actor (Javier Bardem) and best adapted screenplay (the Coen brothers again).
The other big book-to-movie winner was The Bourne Ultimatum, based on the Robert Ludlum book. The thriller starring Matt Damon won best sound editing, best sound mixing and best film editing.
Among other films based on books, There Will Be Blood, which pumped Upton Sinclair's novel Oil! for ideas, won best actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) and best cinematography. Atonement, based on Ian McEwan's novel, won for best original score.
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A historic hotel in Boonsboro, Md., being renovated by author Nora Roberts and her husband, Bruce Wilder, who runs the nearby Turn the Page Bookstore Cafe, burned to the ground on Friday morning, according to the Herald-Mail. The fire severely damaged three other buildings and was so hot it caused exterior paint to peel on buildings across the street. Turn the Page was not affected by the fire, which started when construction workers in the hotel accidentally knocked over a 100-gallon liquid propane tank.
Wilder told the paper that renovations were "pretty far along" and that they had planned to open the hotel as a B&B in June. The inn was to have rooms with themes from books.
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In October, Barnes & Noble will open a new store in North Tampa, Fla., in the Shops at Wiregrass at the intersection of Bruce B Downs Boulevard and SR-56.
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"With so many bookstores having closed their doors on Main Streets in
Westchester, the passing of Good Yarns means the western side of the
county will have no independently owned comprehensive village bookstore
between Bronxville and Chappaqua," the New York Times reported in a eulogy for Good Yarns Bookshop, Hasting on Hudson, N.Y., which is holding a going-out-of-business sale.
The
closure is inevitable unless someone emerges willing to rescue the
bookshop; or, as store manager William Tester put it, "some maniac who
is not interested in making a living." The Times noted that,
according to Tester, "a half-dozen people have been intrigued by the
idea of taking over the bookstore. But there has been no firm offer,
and the landlord can't leave the space empty very long."
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Rebirth of a bookstore. The Wichita Eagle
reported that Roy "Bam" Gilmore and Gibran Rounds, "grandsons of the
late community activist and black elder Jihad Muqtasid are hoping to
continue his legacy by reopening his bookstore." Their grandfather's
shop, Iqraa International African American Books and Gifts, operated
from 1989-1998.
Before his death in 2006, Jihad Muqtasid "came
to me about putting the bookstore back in there," Gilmore said. "We had
everything that had to do with us as a people. . . . There's a lot of
people who've been wanting this store back open. I'm letting them know
I'm in the process of getting this going." Gilmore and Rounds plan to
call the bookshop Jihad Muqtasid African American Bookstore and
Cultural Center.
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Shades of Larry Portzline's Bookstore Tourism:
"Today, Greenwich Village is a gift from God for BookLovers," writes columnist Lauren Daley in a recent piece for the Standard-Times.
Westport, Mass., bibilophiles Alan and Helene Korolenko "have organized
a one-day bus trip to Greenwich Village on April 26 and are inviting
all BookLovers reading this column to come along."
"There are
over 20 independent book stores in a one-mile area," said Alan. "The
variety of book stores is remarkable--stores that carry new books, used
books, cookbooks, children's books. The Strand claims 18 miles of
books. Books of Wonder is the best children's bookstore I've ever been
to."
The trip will be
sponsored by Baker Books, Dartmouth, Mass. According to Korolenko,
"Essentially it's a bookstore taking people to other bookstores. But
(owner) Deb Baker said it's a benefit to Baker's, as well, because
people will be introduced to her store through this."
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Forget the Oscars. We now have the
much-anticipated shortlist for this year's Diagram Prize for Oddest
Book Title of the Year. In announcing this year's list, the Bookseller magazine noted that "Horace Bent, the Bookseller
diarist and custodian of the Diagram Prize, said: 'I confess: I have
been anxious that as publishing becomes ever more corporate, the
trade's quirky charms are being squeezed out. Lists are pruned, targets
are set, authors are culled. But happily my fears have been proved
unfounded: oddity lives on.'"
And now, the list:
- I Was Tortured by the Pygmy Love Queen
- How to Write a How to Write Book
- Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues
- Cheese Problems Solved
- If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs
- People who Mattered in Southend and Beyond: From King Canute to Dr Feelgood
The winner will be announced March 28.