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| 5 questions for Bruce McCall What to do with old-fashioned books, now that you can download them to your Kindle? Writer/illustrator Bruce McCall has some ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
TBR: Inside the List Planning on stimulating the literary economy this holiday season but at a loss for ideas? We asked a few best-selling novelists what books they’ll be giving as gifts this year. feeds.nytimes.com |
Who killed off The Golden Compass? Sam Elliot believes the Catholic church killed off any chances of a sequel to The Golden Compass, but the truth may be far simplerAfter the success of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy looked a dead cert for epic fantasy book franchise success. In 2007, when first installment The Golden Compass was released, it looked to have all the right ingredients: moppet actors, spectacular battles, a sexy baddie, Ian McKellen, snow. But no sequels were made. Why?Actor Sam Elliot thinks he knows. According to an interview in the Evening Standard, Elliot – who basically played himself in The Golden Compass – is pinning the failure of the series directly on the Pope, saying: "The Catholic church happened to The Golden Compass, as far as I'm concerned. It did incredible at the box office. Incredible. It took $85m (£52m) in the States. The Catholic church … lambasted them, and I think it scared New Line off."He could have a point. The Golden Compass was the subject of a prolonged attack from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, who proclaimed it to be "atheism for kids", and Fox News's Bill O'Reilly who, with typical restraint, apparently called the film a "war on Christmas". The attacks shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone. Pullman has always been impressively vocal in his atheism, plus writing a book about some children literally murdering God is probably as overt an anti-Catholic statement as you can get – but there's something about Elliot's argument that doesn't quite ring true.The Catholic church hates a lot of things. The Vatican called the Twilight sequel New Moon "a moral vacuum with a deviant message", and that's only the second in a series. Cardinal Francis Arinze started huffing about legal action when The Da Vinci Code was released, and that got a sequel in which loads of Catholics run around on fire. The Pope said that Harry Potter would "corrupt the Christian faith" and that got seven sequels. It's not just movies. Madonna spent much of her 2006 concerts writhing around in an age-inappropriate leotard strapped to a giant glittery crucifix, something that Cardinal Ersilio Tonini called "an act of open hostility", and that went on to become the highest-grossing female tour of all time. The Catholic church couldn't even stop a middle-aged lady in a horrible leotard singing about her holidays. So maybe, just maybe, The Golden Compass wasn't given any sequels because it didn't deserve any. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a score of 42% – ranking it alongside such masterpieces as Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle – with reviewers calling it "bland", "patchy" and "a crushing disappointment". It looks as if people were too busy despairing at the film's long, impenetrable voiceovers about dust to notice that it was apparently waging a war on Christmas.It's a little sad that Elliot has to blame a shadowy religious conspiracy for the failure of The Golden Compass, especially since he was just about the film's sole redeeming feature, but the truth is that not many of us could bear to sit through any more sequels if there was any chance they would be as ropey as the first film. Nice try, though.Philip PullmanScience fiction and fantasyHarry PotterStuart Heritageguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Is The Humbling the end for Philip Roth? | Jonathan Jones The novelist's chronicle of spent talent seems closer to truth than fiction. Is it all over for his long and courageous career?Being given the new Philip Roth novel for Christmas used to be a thrill. I remember Christmas 2004, reading his latest, The Plot Against America, as I sat by the tree. But since then, receiving the new Roth for Christmas has become – well, I'm not sure what. Novelists lose their touch with age, it is sometimes said. But with Roth, something stranger is happening. I'm still getting over the shock of Christmas 2007, when I spent part of the holiday reading Exit Ghost. In this novel, Roth's alter ego, the writer Nathan Zuckerman, disintegrates. His mind is going. His memory is failing. He is physically falling apart. Is this a self-portrait of Roth in old age? Is he dramatising a crisis of his own? And if so, how do life and art relate? If this intrigues you, he's not bothered. Part of the plot of Exit Ghost is an attack on our biographical curiosity about writers. The hard part is this: with the best will in the world, the novel shows weaknesses that are rare in Roth's magnificent oeuvre. Its faults add to the distress for a long-term fan.Still in shock, I didn't read his next novel. But this year I was given his latest by Santa. Oh, oh ... The Humbling is still closer to the bone than Exit Ghost. In its gripping first line, Roth presents the case of a lionised American creative giant – in this case, an actor – who has lost his talent. What made him special has gone, and gone for good.The plot that unfolds will not convert anyone who thinks of Roth as a misogynist. It is probably the only book he's ever written that genuinely displays the aggression to women of which he has been previously (unjustly, in my view) accused.But the intense realism of some of the scenes is shocking and unforgettable. In fact, the ultimate "humbling" is worthy of a David Lynch film. Once again, the failing, elderly, artistic central character lives in a farmhouse in the country – just like Roth. His talent has gone – just like some will say Roth's has. But there's a difference ...This novel has faint stirrings of the Roth brilliance: its ugliness is unique. He has something even when he has nothing. He is the most courageous writer alive, and this is another brave move in a career that still packs surprises, albeit nasty ones. Perhaps a new life as a horror writer beckons. Or is this the end?Philip RothJonathan Jonesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Apple Courts Publishers, While Kindle Adds Apps A tablet computer from Apple could threaten Amazon’s Kindle, but the Kindle, which now accounts for 70 percent of electronic reader sales, is getting more versatile. feeds.nytimes.com |