Talking Books at the Bar

This photo – by John Stephen Dwyer – is licensed under the Creative Commons on Flickr and can be found here.

Books in a Bar? Yes, even there. At least, talk of books and literary successes was a topic of conversation this weekend at the bar.

Over the weekend, I went out with some friends to Sagebrush in Oxford, MI and decided to interview random bar patrons to learn about their literary preferences. Why not, right? It proved interesting to mingle two worlds that often seem diametrically opposed. I picked random people at the bar and asked them which book was their favorite book of all time. As they shouted their answers over the pulse of the music, I was surprised by the enthusiasm of those polled. Perhaps due to their inebriated state, few patrons declined to comment. Not only were subjects willing and ready to interview, but they also provided a diverse montage of reading selections. This list is not meant to represent all of the bar patrons, nor the population in general, but serves as an interesting example of the ubiquitous presence of literature in all walks of life.

Below are the top ten books named as the favorites of randomly picked attendees:
1. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
2. Autobiography of Jemma Jameson (I took issue with this choice, but the woman was adamant about voicing her literary preference.)
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
4. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (I was very excited to hear this choice, as it is one of my personal favorites as well.)
5. The Green Mile by Stephen King
6. It by Stephen King
7. Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
8. The End of the Dream: The Golden Boy Who Never Grew Up by Ann Rule
9. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
10. Child Called It by Dave Pelzer

Harry Potter Takes Viewers and Box Office by Storm

As mentioned previously, Friday was an epic date for Harry Potter fans across the United States with the release of the first installment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Unfortunately, I have postponed my visit to the cinema until Thanksgiving break, but I have a few private eyes who attended the midnight showing and have shared their thoughts with us today.

Elizabeth Houbeck, a student at the University of Michigan - Flint,attended the 7th movie at midnight at NCG Trillium Theatre in Grand Blanc. Every theater at Trillium was devoted to showing the Harry Potter premier, and according to Houbeck, nearly two thousand people were in attendance.

"It was very close to the book," Houbeck said. "I would go see it again!"

On the other side of the United States, Heather Bruschwein, a doctorate student in Oregon, attended the Harry Potter Premier.

"It follows Rowling's plot very closely with attention to detail," Bruschwein said. "And the script writers did a very good job in taking half of the 7th book and giving it a beginning, middle, and end in itself."

Chloe Ackerman also attended the premier with Brushwein.

"I liked it much better than the 6th movie because it sticks to the plot," Ackerman said. "I was frustrated with the liberties taken by the director in the 6th movie."

Ackerman's concerns are not unfounded. Many Potter fans desire loyalty to the original manuscript but are at a loss as to how to provide that much material in a few short cinematic hours. Nonetheless, these concerns were not too great to keep Potter fans away from the cinema this weekend. Harry Potter fansite, Mugglenet.com, reports that Deathly Hallows brought in $61 million in the opening day at the box office. Which puts the 7th installment on track to break a franchise record.

Stay tuned Potter fans for the next and final installment of JK Rowling's masterpiece, due out in July 2011.

Harry Potter Inspires Box Office Sales and College Intramurals

Obviously this blog would be extremely remiss if we did not mention that today at midnight was the long awaited United States premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. The first of two final installments in the Harry Potter epic, the new release lived up to the media hype surrounding it. According to Mugglenet.com, a wellknown Harry Potter fansite, the film pulled in $24 million in its opening night and is expected to take a modest $100 million by the end of the weekend.

Right now, I am still waiting to hear from some expert sources who went to the premier last night. Their comments will concern the veracity and loyalty of the movie to the original book. However, while we wait out their Harry Potter Hangover, I have a little story to wet your whistle from Moviefone.

The Moviephone blog featured a timely story today about a team from Emerson College who have recently partaken in some layman's Quidditch. Quidditch, which is featured through all of JK Rowling's books, is a sport that Harry and his wizarding pals play at on their school team. It involves flying around on broomsticks and hitting balls through three metal hoops, while escaping all kinds of dangerous air traffic. According to Moviefone's article the team from Emerson College, who obviously keeps to the ground, are otherwise loyal to rules laid down by JK Rowling. Below is a video of said event provided by Moviefone. To see the complete story, click here.

Catch-22 Goes Digital

Joseph Heller’s epic military novel, Catch-22, is now an e-book. Simon & Schuster, the original publishers of the first edition of Catch-22 , confirmed today that the contract for a Catch-22 e-book is signed and complete. In fact, Simon & Schuster also plans on publishing a paperback and hardcover republication of the book for Catch-22’s 50th anniversary.

Catch-22, which is largely about the military and war times, was first published in 1961 and has sold over one million copies. The late Joseph Heller won’t be able to see his bestseller enter the digital world, but his work endures as a classic through changing media and eras. For more information about this development in the publishing world, please click on the original article here.



This photo – by goXunuReviews – is licensed under the Creative Commons on Flickr and can be found here.

The New Social Website for Bookworms

There are few people who have not heard of, let alone make use of, the popular social website Facebook. Now a type of obsession, Facebook allows us to constantly be updated on the state of our friends and the state of our individual interests or groups.

Now, with the emergence of Goodreads we witness the birth of the Facebook of the literary and publishing world. Goodreads is a social networking site that focuses on readers, writers, and different publications. According to their website, “Goodreads is the largest social network for readers in the world.” Founded in December 2006 by Otis Chandler, the Goodreads monthly newsletter now reaches over 3.485 million online readers. To cement Goodreads place in the literary and contemporary world, Apple began offering Goodreads as a free web app in June of 2009.

Members of this free site share their reading recommendations, reviews, and thoughts on the literary world in general. Authors also partake in the exchange by posting thoughts about their latest releases and teasing audiences with hints about upcoming publications. Goodreads also features trivia, quizzes, author interviews, prelease book giveaways, video blogs, favorite literary quotes, and even book swaps among readers.

I have a couple of favorite aspects about the site. First of all, where on the internet can you enter a giveaway contest that is actually legit? On Goodreads, apparently. Authors feature prerelease copies of their books for the giveaways. In return, the winners are asked to read the book and post a review to contribute to the book’s burgeoning publicity. And the big news is…you can actually win! And for those of us too cowardly to join a book club and irreversibly confirm ourselves as shameless bookworms, Goodreads offers an awesome forum for exchange and opinion. There aren’t that many book clubs where the author partakes in the discussion.

PW Announces Top 100 Books of 2010

Publisher’s Weekly recently announced their picks for Best Books of 2010. With an average of 7,000 book reviews each year, editors found it tough to pick worthy candidates for this year’s prestigious list. While the full 100 were published in the print edition yesterday, PW allowed a sneak peek at the top 10 on their website in an article published on Nov. 8. Editors agree that female authors had a strong presence in this year’s publishing market, and, consequently in their top 100 list.

Without further ado, the top ten include:

1. A Visit from the Good Squad by Jennifer Egan
2. Freedom by Jonathon Franzen
3. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
4. The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee
5. The Big Short by Michael Lewis
6. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
7. Just Kids by Patti Smith
8. Man in the Woods by Scott Spencer
9. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udal
10. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Also, worth the read to learn what’s worth reading is PW's Best Children's Books 2010. For more details on PW’s top ten please click here.