News & Notes – 11/30/14

November 29, 2014 News & Notes 8

News & Notes

News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, and other cool stuff

Book News

 

Worth Reading/Watching

 

Literary Losses

P.D. JamesP.D. James, author of the Inspector Dalgliesh and Cordelia Grey mystery series as well as The Children of Men and Death Comes to Pemberley, died Thursday at the age of 94. Some of her Dalgliesh novels were adapted for television by ITV and later the BBC, and broadcast in the U.S. as part of the Mystery collection on PBS. Her mysteries were well written, absorbing, and intellectually satisfying; A.S. Byatt says of her work that it “was on the borderline between crime fiction and literary fiction.” Rest in peace, Ms. James, and thank you for many hours of fascinating reading. [Obituaries: BBC (quoted); The Guardian; Washington Post]

 

Book & Movie Announcements

  •  Pan has a new teaser trailer! The Warner Bros. movie comes out in July 2015, and introduces Levi Miller as Peter Pan. The film also features Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard, Amanda Seyfried as Mary, Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily, and Garrett Hedlund as Hook. This movie will hit theaters in July 2015.
  • Neil Gaiman Announces Air Dates for Good Omens Radio Adaptation (GalleyCat). Click this; you need to see Neil Gaiman holding a flaming sword!

 

Awesome Lists

 

Just for Fun

 Neil Gaiman reads from a “bad Neil Gaiman” writing contest (Wits radio show)

Bookish Quote

 

That’s it for this week!

8 Responses to “News & Notes – 11/30/14”

  1. Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library

    I hadn’t heard about PD James but am saddened. I listened to one of her books not to long ago and found I enjoy her much more in audio than in book form so I’m looking forward to try more. The folio sounds amazing and wouldn’t you have loved to be there when they discovered it! How exciting! I kind of want to take that Harry Potter class. That sounds like a lot of fun.
    Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library recently posted…My Perfect Pantry – ReviewMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      The class does sound like fun, doesn’t it? PD James is a terrific author, though sometimes a bit dark for me. I read a bunch of her books in my 20s, but I don’t think I’ve read one since; I should probably try them again. She had a good long life – 94?! Wow.

  2. R_Hunt @ View From My Home

    Thanks for the TOR list.
    Sad to see about PD James– I loved the movie version of Children of Men, but haven’t read her books (yet).
    I agreed 100% with the article about being embarrassed by our books–please, can we just get over this?! I feel this is still alive and well in small doses on certain book blogs (not any of my go-to ones, so no one try to figure out if I’m talking about you!) There’s nothing wrong with any genre if it gives someone pleasure, and I think we’ve come a long way from the days of “women’s” fiction vs literary fiction.
    R_Hunt @ View From My Home recently posted…Shadowmarch ReviewMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I agree, Rita – though maybe not quite far enough, if people still feel embarrassed about their reading choices. I have to admit that I’m not immune to a little embarrassment myself, especially when I see what some of my college friends are reading. I’ve sometimes explained my own preference for lighter fiction by pointing out that I read challenging books for my job, so of course I choose entertaining rather than heavily challenging books for my downtime. But I shouldn’t feel the need to justify it.