A Bicentennial Resolution

OK, I will admit it. I am not a big fan of romance as a genre, either in film or literature. It's just not my thing. Some people really like it. Good for you. But it has been brought to my attention yet again, that this is the bicentennial of the publication of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Which even I know is the most famous work of the first truly great romantic novelist.

Oddly I have a site dedicated to her linked in the sidebar, mostly for it's great posts on late Georgian society and culture, but I have never read any of her books. Not one. But because of my love of period literature and fiction and in consideration of the anniversary, I am going to make a stab at it.

Any suggestions? Should I go for one of her other works or stick with Mr. Darcey and Miss Bennet?

Stephen King's next novel is about JFK assassination

Stephen King's next novel will look at the assassination of President Kennedy.

The 1000-page book, which will come out in November, will be called 11/22/63 - the title named for the day of Kennedy's murder in Dallas, Texas.

King, who has been sdescribed by Lee Child as "America's greatest living novelist", has written a fictional account of a high school teacher's desperate effort to prevent the tragedy. The book will be published on 8 November 2011 and UK rights have been bought by Hodder.

The book will focus on Jake Epping, a 35-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine. His friend Al reveals that his storeroom is a portal to 1958, and enlists Jake on a mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. Jake becomes George Amberson, and enters a world of Elvis and JFK, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and high school librarian Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake's life, "a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time".

Read the rest here.

Russia still wrestling with Tolstoy

MOSCOW — A couple of months ago one of Russia’s elder statesmen set out on a paradoxical mission: to rehabilitate one of the most beloved figures in Russian history, Tolstoy.

This would have seemed unnecessary in 2010, a century after the author’s death. But last year Russians wrestled over Tolstoy much as they did when he was alive. Intellectuals accused the Russian Orthodox Church of blacklisting a national hero. The church accused Tolstoy of helping speed the rise of the Bolsheviks. The melodrama of his last days, when he fled his family estate to take up the life of an ascetic, was revived in all its pulpy detail, like some kind of early-stage reality television.

And in a country that rarely passes up a public celebration, the anniversary of his death, on Nov. 20, 1910, was not commemorated by noisy galas or government-financed cinematic blockbusters. Officially speaking, it was barely noted at all.

With this in mind Sergei V. Stepashin, a former prime minister here, sat down to write to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has become an arbiter of politics and culture. In painstakingly diplomatic language, acknowledging “the particular sensitivity” of “this delicate theme,” Mr. Stepashin asked forgiveness on behalf of Tolstoy, who was excommunicated 110 years ago.

Read the rest here.

JK Rowling refuses to rule out another Harry Potter book

JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author, has left fans on tenterhooks by not ruling out the possibility of another book.

The author said the characters from the phenomenally successful series are "in my head still" and one day she "could definitely" write several new books about them.

In an interview with US television chat show host Oprah Winfrey, the author added: "I'm not going to say I won't. I love writing them."

While not ruling out a follow up Rowling said that for now she has moved on to a new phase of her writing.While not ruling out a follow up Rowling said that for now she has moved on to a new phase of her writing.

She said: "I have to write for my own mental health. I need to write. I love it. I need to do it." In the hour long interview conducted in Edinburgh she said finishing the final Harry Potter book had been like a "bereavement." She said: "It was huge, although I knew it was coming. Initially I was elated, but then I cried like I haven't cried since my mother died." The author also described the vagaries of fame, including her "Beatles-esque" book tour of the US.

Read the rest here.

Happy Birthday

I am reminded that on this date (Sept 22) in the year 1290 (SR) Mr. Bilbo Baggins was born. On the same date many years later his nephew Mr.Frodo Baggins was also born. And finally it was on this date that Frodo and his companions set off on their grand adventure.

It has been a long time since I last read the Lord of the Rings, probably close to fifteen years. I think it's time for a trip to the library.