Rain, rain go away. It’s a perfectly miserable weekend here in Boston (though I should at least be glad it’s not snow), which also means it’s perfectly perfect for reading. And if the Birthday Fairy would grant me one wish, it’s more books.
- Forget March Madness. This is where the real fun is. The Morning News has launched its annual Tournament of Books. Much like the basketball brackets you find in the hands of your sports-minded friends and family, the TOB offers brackets of books and has guest judges decide which book will move on to the next round. It’s a geek’s revenge. School Library Journal has it’s own version with children’s books that starts this coming week as well.
- If you ever wanted to read about books, on an e-reader that’s meant for books, look no further. The New York Times announced that it will offer an e-reader version of its Book Review, a popular section of the Sunday Times. You can already read most national newspapers on an e-reader, so this seems like the next natural step. Still, I can’t help but think that there’s something weird about reading reviews about book (you know, those things make of ink and paper) on a digital screen.
- David Foster Wallace fans should pack up and head to Texas, because the University of Texas, Austin just acquired Wallace’s private papers and letters, including notes on Infinite Jest, annotated copies of other author’s novels and much more. Wallace, who died in 2008, left a final, unfinished book upon his death. His estate allowed the book to be completed and it will be published in the fall.
- If you happen to be meandering around Oregon, you might consider checking out a new stage version of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, now shoing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Despite mixed reviews, any true Janeite will love the chance to see their beloved characters come to life right in front of their eyes. The play will run through October 31st, so you really have no excuses for missing it.
- Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall just may be unstoppable in the Tournament of Books, now that it has won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Best Fiction. The Awards were announced on March 11th, with two other U.K. authors winning in the nonfiction and autobiography categories as well. The NBCC Awards are unique in that they are open to any author who published in English in the United States, regardless of the author’s nationality.
- Speaking of Awards, maybe you heard? There was this thing called the Academy Awards and it happened in Hollywood? Last weekend, the stars came out to play and among the winners were those whose movies were originally books. The Adapted Screenplay went to Geoffrey Fletcher for his powerful adaptation of the novel Push by Sapphire, made for the silver screen as Precious. Fletcher is the first African-American to win a Screenplay award. Both Precious and The Blind Side (originally a book by Michael Lewis) won acting awards, while children’s literature favorites Coraline (Neil Gaiman) and The Fantastic Mr. Fox (Roald Dahl) lost out to Up for Best Animated Movie.
- The first trailer for the Twilight: Eclipse movie hit the Internet this week. Cue the sound of a thousand adolescent girls screaming.
Have a good week, bookworms! Stay dry.
