Creator of Rumpole Sir John Mortimer Dead

John Mortimer, widely known for his Rumpole series, died last Friday at 86. Mortimer was a verstille writer, known as a playwright (part of the "new wave" with John Osborne and Harold Pinter), screenwriter, novelist, and journalist. Mortimer also was a practicing barrister and Queen's Counsel, a fierce free-speech advocate, a divorce lawyer and a criminal attorney. Like his character Horace Rumpole, Mortimer accepted only defense briefs. His Rumpole is probably best known through Leo McKern's portrayals on television. In court, Mortimer was like Rumpole. He enjoyed needling judges. And they often responded in kind. During one closing argument, Mortimer apologized to the jury because they'd had to sit "through the most boring trial ever to have been held in the criminal court." The judge began his own summation by noting, "It may surprise you to know, members of the jury, that the sole purpose of the criminal law in England is not to entertain Mr. Mortimer." In later years, Mortimer created a trilogy of blackly comedic political novels, the Rapstone Chronicles.

Borders Original Voices 2008 Awards

The winners of the 2008 Borders Original Voices Awards, which honor "fresh, compelling and ambitious written works from new and emerging talents" are :
Fiction: The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. The committee commented: "A haunting story of ordinary and not-so-ordinary people trying to find and retain their humanity in the midst of war and siege."
Nonfiction: The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner. "Part travelogue, part self-help, part anthropological study, the best part of this entertaining and informative book is Weiner's rich, clever writing." Young Adult: I Am Apache by Tanya Landman. "An engaging, well researched book that any young adult--or any adult for that matter--will find compelling, thanks to its unorthodox storyline and passionate, vengeful protagonist."
Picture book: Those Darn Squirrels! by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri. "The quirky, colorful illustrations perfectly complement the imaginative text, making this a book that kids and parents will cherish and want to read again and again." Each winner receives $5,000, and the books will be featured in Borders stores.

Mystery Author Donald E. Westlake Dead

Donald E. Westlake, the creator of over 100 books and 5 plays, died New Year's Eve of a heart attack. He was 75. Since his first book was published in 1960,Westlake had written under his own name and several pseudonyms, including Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Samuel Holt and Edwin West. Most of his books shared one feature: They were set in New York City, where he was born. Later in his career, Westlake limited himself to two pen names. He used his own name to write about a comical criminal named John Dortmunder. As Richard Stark, he wrote a series about a criminal named Parker. More than 15 of his books were made into movies. Westlake also wrote a number of screenplays, including The Grifters which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1991. His next novel, Get Real, is scheduled for release in April. He typed all his manuscripts on a portable manual typewriter. Westlake received three Edgar Awards and the title of Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America in 1993.

Nobel Prize Winning Playwright Harold Pinter Dead

An actor, essayist, screenwriter, poet and director as well as a dramatist, Harold Pinter died last Wednesday of cancer. In more than 30 plays,includingThe Birthday Party,The Caretaker,The Homecoming and Betrayal, Pinter captured the anxiety and ambiguity of life. The adjective Pinteresque has become part of the cultural vocabulary as a byword for strong and unspecified menace. Pinter was outspoken in his views on repression and censorship, at home and abroad. He used his Nobel Prize acceptance speech to critize American foreign policy, stating that the United States had not only lied to justify waging war against Iraq, but that it had also “supported and in many cases engendered every right-wing military dictatorship” in the last 50 years. He once said “The play is a comedy because the whole state of affairs is absurd and inglorious. It is, however, as you know, a very serious piece of work.”

New Movies From Books

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, opens December 25. Brad Pitt is the voice of Benjamin Button, a man who ages in reverse. Marley & Me, based on the best selling book by John Grogan, opens December 25. A couple (Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson) learn life lessons from a lovable yet rambunctious dog. The Spirit, based on the comic book series by Will Eisner, opens December 25. Frank Miller adapted and directed this tale of a cop (Gabriel Macht) who returns from the dead to fight crime. Revolutionary Road, based on the novel by Richard Yates, opens December 26. A couple (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) struggle to overcome their personal problems while raising children in a 1950s Connecticut suburb.

Poet Elizabeth Alexander to Read at Inauguration

President-elect Obama has asked Elizabeth Alexander to compose and read a poem at his inauguration next month. As the Washington Post observed, "It is the first time that 'poetry's old-fashioned praise,' as Robert Frost called it, will be featured at the ceremony since Bill Clinton's second swearing in back in 1997." Alexander, a professor at Yale University, has written several books, including four poetry collections. Her most recent, American Sublime , was a finalist for the 2005Pulitzer prize. "I'm just so honored to have been asked to present and to compose a poem for this momentous occasion," Alexander told the Guardian. "What we have seen is a man who understands that words bring power, who understands the power of language, the integrity of language, that it's not just idle. To be asked to turn my own words to this occasion and for this person is all but overwhelming."

Best Business Books 208

Business Week has named its best business books of 2008:
The Trillion Dollar Meltdown by Charles R. Morris;
The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder;
The Partnership: The Making of Goldman Sachs by Charles D. Ellis;
Hell's Cartel: I.G. Farben and the Making of Hitler's War Machine by Diarmuid Jeffreys;
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely.

New York Times 10 Best Books of 2008

The editors of the New York Times Book Review have selected the following titles:
Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories by Steven Millhauser
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
Netherland by Joseph O'Neill
2666 by Roberto Bolano
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Dark Side by Jane Meyer
The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
Nothing to be Frightened of by Julian Barnes
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust
The World is What It is: Authorized Biography of V.S.Naipaul by Patrick French

2008 World Fantasy Awards

Life Achievement to: Leo & Diane Dillon, Patricia McKillip.
Novel to: Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay;
Novella to: Illyria by Elizabeth Hand;
Short Story: "Singing of Mount Abora" by Theodora Goss; Anthology to: Inferno: New Tales of Terror and the Supernatural by Ellen Datlow, Editor;
Collection to :Tiny Deaths by Robert Shearman.

Studs Terkel, Voice of Chicago, Dies

The author-radio host-actor-activist and Chicago symbol died last Friday. He was 96 years young. "My epitaph? My epitaph will be 'Curiosity did not kill this cat,'" he once said. "Studs Terkel was part of a great Chicago literary tradition that stretched from Theodore Dreiser to Richard Wright to Nelson Algren to Mike Royko," Mayor Richard M. Daley said Friday. "In his many books, Studs captured the eloquence of the common men and women whose hard work and strong values built the America we enjoy today. He was also an excellent interviewer, and his WFMT radio show was an important part of Chicago's cultural landscape for more than 40 years."

Author Michael Crichton Dead at 66

Michael Crichton, the visionary physician author, died Tuesday. He wrote numerous books, including, The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Airframe, and Sphere. He started writing as a means to pay his way through medical school, but he switched to writing full time because "the writing was more interesting than the medicine." He also created the popular TV series ER. In the New York Times, Charles McGrath described Crichton as "a kind of cyborg, tirelessly turning out novels that were intricately engineered entertainment systems. No one--except possibly Mr. Crichton himself--ever confused them with great literature, but very few readers who started a Crichton novel ever put it down."

In Memoriam: Tony Hillerman

Tony Hillerman died this past weekend. I feel as if I have lost a friend. His stories celebrated the Navajo culture and the beauty of the Southwest. He wrote a series of mysteries featuring Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. These characters grew with each novel. He also wrote a haunting stand-alone: Finding Moon.
I wanted to share this tribute to Hillerman from Craig Johnson, author of Another Man's Moccasins and Kindness Goes Unpunished because I think that it is most apt: "Perhaps the best words to describe his legacy are those of his protagonist Jim Chee, 'Everything is connected. The wing of the corn beetle effects the direction of the wind, the way the sand drifts, the way the light reflects into the eye of man beholding his reality. All is part of totality, and in this totality man finds his horzo, his way of walking in harmony, with beauty all around him.'"

Chicago Author Chercover at Warren Newport Public Library

Bestselling crime fiction author Sean Chercover will be at the Warren-Newport Public Library in Gurnee, Illinois on Mon., Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. The former Chicago private investigator will discuss Trigger City, just released Oct. 14. Publishers Weekly raves, "Chercover brings a crackling authenticity to Dudgeon, paying homage to the noir masters while creating a doggedly stubborn new hero all his own." Books will be available for purchase and signing at the free event. Reserve a place: www.wpln.info.

Forbes' World's Best Paid Authors

Forbes magazine recently announced its annual "The World's Best Paid Authors" list of 10 bestselling writers who "pulled in a combined $563 million between June 1, 2007, and June 1, 2008, thanks to hefty advances, impressive sales and silver screen adaptations." This year's Forbes list includes:
J.K. Rowling ($300 million)
James Patterson ($50 million)
Stephen King ($45 million)
Tom Clancy ($35 million)
Danielle Steel ($30 million)
John Grisham (tied at $25 million)
Dean Koontz (tied at $25 million)
Ken Follett ($20 million)
Janet Evanovich ($17 million)
Nicholas Sparks ($16 million)

National Book Award Finalists Announced

The National Book Foundation has named the 2008 National Book Award finalists.can Winners in each of these categories will be announced at a ceremony on November 19 in New York City. The NBA finalists are:
Fiction:The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon ; Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushnerem;Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen; Home by Marilynne Robinson; The End by Salvatore Scibona.
Nonfiction: This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust ; The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed;The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer; Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives by Jim Sheeler; The Suicide Index: Putting My Father’s Death in Order by Joan Wickersham.
PoetryWatching the Spring Festival by Frank Bidart;Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems by Mark Doty; Creatures of a Day by Reginald Gibbons; Without Saying by Richard Howard; Blood Dazzler by Patricia Smith.
Young People's Literature:Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson; The Underneath by Kathi Appelt (Atheneum);What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell;The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart; The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp .

Aravind Adiga Awarded Man Booker Prize

Aravind Adiga won the 40th Man Booker prize for his debut novel, The White Tiger. According to the New York Times, "Adiga, who lives in Mumbai, was born in India and brought up partly in Australia. He studied at Columbia and Oxford and is a former correspondent for Time magazine in India." At 33, he is the second youngest writer to win the award after Ben Okri, who was 32 when he won the 1991 Booker for The Famished Road. Michael Portillo, chairman of the panel of judges, said Adiga's novel won "because the judges felt that it shocked and entertained in equal measure." Adiga described The White Tiger as an "attempt to catch the voice of the men you meet as you travel through India--the voice of the colossal underclass. This voice was not captured, and I wanted to do so without sentimentality or portraying them as mirthless humorless weaklings as they are usually." This year's shortlist for the Man Booker prize included The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry, Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant, The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher and A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz. Portillo stated that the main criterion for the prize is: "Does this book knock my socks off? And this did."

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio Winner Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize was awarded to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, a French novelist, children’s author, and essayist. The announcement followed days of literary argument over remarks by the Swedish Academy’s permanent secretary, Horace Engdahl, suggesting that American writers were influenced too much by American popular culture to qualify for the prize. Engdahl had also asserted the Europe was "the center of the literary world.” The last American writer to win the prize was Toni Morrison in 1993. The Nobel Prize Committee called Le Clézio an “author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization.” Last year the prize was awarded to the British author Doris Lessing. Le Clézio's novel Désert (1980)won a prize from the French Academy and established him as one of France's leading writers. His other novels include:Le procès-verbal (1963),Fever(1966),The Flood(1967),and Terra Amata(1969). Le Clézio has published collections of essays describing his long stays in Mexico and Central America. His books for children and youth include Lullaby (1980), and Balaabilou (1985). The Nobel Prize Committee stated that "the emphasis of Le Clézio’s work has increasingly moved in the direction of an exploration of the world of childhood and of his own family history. Recent works include: L’Africain(2004)and Ballaciner(2007).

2008 Thurber Prize Announced

Larry Doyle has won the 2008 Thurber Prize for American Humor for his first novel, I Love You, Beth Cooper. One judge, Firoozeh Dumas, called the book "a hilarious yet painfully accurate account of high school in all its pimply glory." Doyle is a former writer and producer of the Simpsons, a contributor to the New Yorker and an Esquire columnist. The two runners-up for the prize were Patricia Marx for Him Her Him Again the End of Him and Simon Rich for Ant Farm.

Louis L'Amour Centennial

Louis L'Amour was born Louis Dearborn LaMoore on March 22, 1908, the last of seven children. His father, Louis Charles LaMoore, was a veterarian. For the first fifteen years of his life, he lived in the farming community of Jamestown, North Dakota. As a young man, L'Amour wandered and had many adventures. He skinned cattle in west Texas, baled hay in the Pecos valley of New Mexico, worked in the mines of Arizona, California, and Nevada, and in the saw mills and lumber yards of Oregon and Washington. He also had a sporadic career as a professional boxer. His stories and characters were created from his experiences. He had a life-long love of learning. He often bragged that from 1928 until 1942 he read more than 150 non-fiction books a year. He had intended to be a poet, but he was unsuccessful. He started writing short stories. He sold a short story called Anything for a Pal to a pulp magazine and launched his writing career. His first stories were mostly adventures. After he returned from World War II, the market was interested in mysteries and westerns. L'Lamour started writing his beloved westerns. The success of the film Hondo based on his short story Gift of Cochise gave L'Amour a standing and a fan base. L'Amour won many awards, including,the Western Writers of America's Golden Spur Award for Down the Long Hills,the North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award, and the Golden Saddleman Award from the Western Writers of America. In 1983, the U.S. Congress awarded L'Amour the National Gold Medal, and a year later, the Medal of Freedom. He died in 1988, and his books continue to be published and read widely.
In his memoir, Education of a Wandering Man, L'Amour wrote: "Our family was one in which everybody was constantly reading....All of us had library cards and they were always in use...Reading was as natural to us as breathing."

Old Mill Creek Boasts New Author of Photography Book

Michal McClure, a retired entrepreneur who lives in Old Mill Creek, wanted to introduce people to a mostly unknown part of Hawaii. He did so with the recent publication of his book Hawaiian Cowboys: A Photographic Journal. The book composed of 90 photographs documents the traditional and contemporary ways of Hawaiian cowboys. McClure first learned about the culture of Hawaiian cowboys on a business trip to Hawaii. McClure took 12 trips over the course of three years, several with his sons: "We'd go up into the mountains. We like to explore and hike, and that's what got us into those areas. We would see guys transporting these horses back and forth in their trailers. I had a friend who lived up there where the ranches are, and I asked him if he could introduce me one of the ranchers he knew. And that's what got me going." His sons,Brian and Chris McClure, are contributing photographers to Hawaiian Cowboys.