Bookmarks: Frank McCourt, Yann Martel, Tom Wolfe, Harry Potter, and more

Some book-related links:

• Frank McCourt dies at 78.
• Yann Martel’s new novel gets a U.S. deal.
• Tom Wolfe says, “To the moon, America, to the moon…”
• Harry Potter books “very Talmudic.”
• What’s wrong with the Hugo shortlist?
• Leave Hemmingway aloooooone!!!
• Five laws of the novelist.

Which is more worrisome: Jack Black as Kesey, or Angelina Jolie as Scarpetta?

In book-related film news, Quillblog is tickled pink (or kandy-kolored, as the case may be) to learn that Gus Van Sant has agreed to direct a film version of Tom Wolfe’s classic work of gonzo journalism, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Of course, one devoutly hopes that the film will be helmed by the Gus Van Sant who directed Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho, not the one who directed Finding Forrester and Psycho.) It is less encouraging to learn that one of the actors being considered for the role of Ken Kesey is former Kung Fu Panda Jack Black. Another contender is Woody Harrelson, who at least has the credentials to play the role. According to Rolling Stone:

Carolyn Garcia (a.k.a. Mountain Girl), a Prankster and former wife of Jerry Garcia, said Harrelson visited Kesey shortly before he died. “They went out into the field and had a pretty good mind meld,” Garcia says. “I just know he could play the role.”

In other news, Variety is reporting that Angelina Jolie has agreed to portray Kay Scarpetta, Patricia Cornwell’s coroner hero in a yet-to-be-titled film for Fox 2000. Billed as a psychological thriller in the tradition of Seven and The Silence of the Lambs, the casting of the central role is certain to give pause to anyone who remembers Jolie’s last, less-than-enthralling foray into literary-thriller territory, the lamentable film version of Jeffrey Deaver’s The Bone Collector.

Book burning as inventory management

Getting rid of extra stock is a perpetual headache for most booksellers (not to mention publishers). If returns aren’t an option, deep discounts aren’t working, and no one will take them as donations, what do you do?

A used bookstore owner in Kansas City, Missouri, has an idea: burn them! Publicly!

Tom Wayne has amassed thousands of books in a warehouse during the 10 years he has run his used book store, Prospero’s Books. His collection ranges from best sellers, such as Tom Clancy’s “The Hunt for Red October” and Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities,” to obscure titles, like a bound report from the Fourth Pan-American Conference held in Buenos Aires in 1910. But when he wanted to thin out the collection, he found he couldn’t even give away books to libraries or thrift shops; they said they were full.

So on Sunday, Wayne began burning his books in protest of what he sees as society’s diminishing support for the printed word.

“This is the funeral pyre for thought in America today,” Wayne told spectators outside his bookstore as he lit the first batch of books.

The fire blazed for about 50 minutes before the Kansas City Fire Department put it out because Wayne didn’t have a permit for burning.

Wayne said next time he will get a permit. He said he envisions monthly bonfires until his supply — estimated at 20,000 books — is exhausted.

Wayne admits the burning was a “knee-jerk reaction,” but also claims “it’s a good excuse for fun.”

Really, what could be more fun and uplifting than a book burning? Though if you really want to get people talking (not to mention reading), why not display some of those titles – along with some unsold paintings from your local art store – as part of a homemade Entartete Kunst exhibit? We all love forbidden fruit! Free balloons for the kids!

The amazing adventures of Bart and Lisa

Plenty of writers — most notably the reclusive Thomas Pynchon, who, according to a Los Angeles Times article, faxed in a list of possible jokes before his turn — have appeared, so to speak, on The Simpsons. But an episode of the show that will be broadcast next year will feature four very well-known American authors — Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, Jonathan Franzen, and Michael Chabon. The premise for the episode is that Moe the Bartender is a poet.

These are the two best paragraphs from Steven Barrie-Anthony’s article in the L.A. Times:

• “This is the only show of any sort that I watch on television,” Wolfe says, sitting in the greenroom after recording. The immaculately dressed author is surrounded by a group of scruffy Harvard-educated Simpsons writers, hanging on his every word. “My son, Tommy, who’s now 20, one of his first words was [Homer's trademark exclamation] ‘D’oh!’ And now any conversation he has with anybody, he’ll reference The Simpsons.“

• “My kids and my father are very excited,” Chabon says. He’s not kidding. Reached later by phone, his father, Robert Chabon, said that he always expected Michael to win a Pulitzer (which he did in 2001 for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay). “And I still think he’s going to win the National Book Award,” said the Kansas City, Kan., pediatrician. “But him being on The Simpsons is beyond my wildest dreams. You envision certain successes for your children, but this kind of success — I never envisioned.”

Related links:
Click here for the story from the Los Angeles Times