I'm so sorry I haven't mentioned April's book club pick until now. It's the Easter hols and I'm all upskittled, as my mother-in-law would say.
Anyhoo, this month's book is a modern classic: The Group by Mary McCarthy.
I don't know anything about this book, except that I've read it described as a precursor to Sex and the City and way ahead of its time (it was originally published in 1962).
I hope you'll join us in reading it. We'll discuss it at the end of the month.
At Ladybird Prints you can buy classic Ladybird covers and other images in a variety of different sizes of print and canvas and framing is also available. Living Etc magazine (one of my favourite magazines) currently has a special 25% discount offer. Just choose your print and enter the code LIVINGETC for your discount. Offer ends October 31st 2009.
I don't have strong feelings about either Anna Friel *or* Breakfast at Tiffany's (the book or the movie), so I'm probably not the right person to write this post, but I have to say that this eye-catching poster for the forthcoming stage adaptation (it begins next week at the Theatre Royal Haymarket) has intrigued me.
When I first heard that Anna Friel was playing the iconic character, my first thought was "meh" followed by something along the lines of "what's the point? Holly Golightly will only ever be Audrey Hepburn", but who knows? Maybe Friel will make the part her own. What do you think?
For no reason I can really explain, I'm always fascinated to know what books celebrities are reading and I'm also fascinated by First Lady Michelle Obama, so I was delighted to find this list of Michelle Obama's favourite children's books and the books she's reading with her daughters. It was on Oprah.com. Of course.
The list features classics like The Cat in the Hat, Where the Wild Things Are, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See by Bill Martin Jnr along with one of my own favourites, Olivia by Ian Falconer (review coming soon). But I was most intrigued to see that the First Lady is reading Yann Martel's Booker Prize-winning Life of Pi with her daughter, Malia. I read and enjoyed Life of Pi, but I'm not sure I'd consider reading it with an 11-year-old. What do you think?
I totally share Helen's excitement about the forthcoming Enid Blyton biopic.
Blyton was my favourite author as a child and is still such an inspiration and she was also such an interesting character. I read something once about her writing methods that fascinated me: she basically saw her books in her head as if they were films and simply transcribed them, typing at a ferocious rate.
I think Helena Bonham Carter will do an amazing job. I'm really looking forward to watching this autumn. [via Daily Mail]
Lovely author Alison Bond tweeted her delight to find that Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls is on the list of the Best Selling Books in the World and, since I shared her excitement, I thought I'd share it with all of you!
The list in full:
1. The Bible (6 billion)
2. Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung - Mao Tse-Tung (900 million)
3. The American Spelling Book - Noah Webster (100 million)
4. Guinness World Records (2003) (94 million)
5. The World Almanac and Book of Facts (73 million)
6. The McGuffey Readers - William Holmes McGuffey (60 million)
7. Dr Spock's Baby and Child Care - Dr. Benjamin Spock (50 million)
8. A Message to Garcia - Elbert Hubbard (40 million)
9. In His Steps What Would Jesus Do - Rev. Charles Monroe Sheldon (30 million)
10. Valley of the Dolls - Jacqueline Susann (30 million)
Anyone read any of them... *apart* from Valley of the Dolls?!
* depending, of course, on your definition of "chick lit"
We're all about the trailers this week, but this one - for Tim Burton's much-anticipated adaptation of Alice in Wonderland - actually looks good. In fact, it looks phenomenal (although I do prefer my Johnny Depp sexy and handsome rather than creepy and scary, maybe that's just me). What do you think?
Eric Carle's classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has long been one
of Harry's favourites, but now Joe loves it too (the "eating
everything" theme probably reminds him of himself - and then he tries
to eat the book). Recently Harry spotted a Hungry Caterpillar animation
on YouTube and became obsessed with it. It's very slow - I assumed it
would be too slow for a mostly-crazed 5-year-old - but I was wrong.
Watch it here.
I'm embarrassed to have to admit that I've never actually read Roald Dahl's The Fantastic Mr Fox, but I certainly will before seeing the movie, which, it has been announced, will have its world premiere at this year's London Film Festival.
The animated comedy, featuring the voices of George
Clooney and Meryl Streep, will open the event on 14 October and will be on national release from 23 October. [via BBC]
I've got hundreds of books and there are hundreds more I would have if I had the space for them. But what if I couldn't have hundreds? What if I was only allowed, say, five. What books would I pick?
I'd have to have Pride & Prejudice and I'm sure I could re-read that for the rest of my life (although if there was a version with Colin Firth on the cover that would be... useful).
I'd also take The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. It's one of my favourite novels, plus, again, it's dense enough for repeated reads.
