Grammarians have been twisting themselves up in recent days, due to a report that the Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma, is being scrapped. Seems it was a mistake, an error, and a miscommunication. The distinctive comma, which precedes the word "and," is sometimes used to help clarify the meaning of a sentence. At The Baltimore Sun, which uses AP style, the serial comma is not favored. But having an Oxford pedigree has helped the special comma endure.

As Linda Holmes of NPR noted about the controversy, the folks at the University of Oxford "haven't changed their authoritative style guide, but they've changed their internal PR department procedures that they use for press releases. The PR department and the editorial department are two different things, so this doesn't necessarily mean much of anything, except that it's maybe a little embarrassing to have your own PR department abandoning your style guide."

I'm not one to get excited over punctuation, though it is often the topic of dinner conversation with my wife, a Strict Constructionist Grammarian who often spots tyops and other problems on Read Street. (That one's for you.) I did invent a significant punctuation mark -- the Fini -- but it has not caught on. Neither has Patrick's Tentative Hyphen. So relax, folks. The Oxford comma endures -- and probably will as long as there is an England.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

If Tina Brown knows one thing, it's how to generate buzz, so no one should be surprised that she brought Princess Diana back from the dead. Newsweek's cover imagines Di as she would be at age 50. And the story, richly imagined by Brown herself, carries a sense of the inner circle (not to mention breathless modifiers like uber- and schadenfreude).

A sampling: "Gliding sleekly into her 40s, her romantic taste would have moved to men of power over boys of play. She’d have tired of the hedge-fund guy and drifted into undercover trysts with someone more exciting—a high-mindedly horny late-night talk-show host, or a globe-trotting French finance wizard destined for the Élysée Palace. I suspect she would have retained a weakness for men in uniform, and a yen for dashing Muslim men. (A two-year fling with a Pakistani general, rumored to have links to the ISI, would have been a particular headache to the Foreign Office and the State Department.)"

Some see the story -- and the digitally enhanced photo of Di with Kate -- as a brazen attempt to cash in on Brtitish royalty. To others, the reimit will be fun to read. (And not so far from the theme of Monica Ali's new novel, "Untold Story," which imagines Di faking her death and moving to America's midwest.) You make the call: crass or a blast?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Here are a couple of titles for the summer reading list of GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, who managed to confuse serial killer John Wayne Gacy with movie hero John Wayne. In announcing her candidacy Monday, she claimed Wayne was from her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, but it was really the notorious criminal -- who killed more than 30 young men -- who lived in the town.

"John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster," by attorneys Sam L. Amirante and Danny Broderick, describes the legal defense of Gacy, who was executed for the series of murders.

 "John Wayne: American," by Randy Roberts and James S. Olson, is a bio of one of the most popular actors in American history, the epitomoe of the tough, but fair, fighter.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Sad to hear about the death of Peter Falk, a raspy voiced actor whose most famous role was that of a rumpled detective named Lt. Columbo. His shtick of asking that last, telling question -- "just one more thing," he'd say -- became a part of popular culture while the show ran.

As this story notes, Falk's right eye had been surgically removed at age 3 due to a malignant tumor, and it was replaced with a glass eye. That handicap became a physical trademark of Columbo because it enhanced the detective's image as a disheveled and oddball sleuth.

If you want to read about Falk in his own words, check out his memoir "Just One More Thing." It describes his shift from working as an analyst for the Connecticut State Budget Bureau to acting on Broadway, in movies and on television.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

J.K Rowling unveiled her website Pottermore today, as a new way for fans of the Harry Potter series to interact. She promised new material that she has squirreled away all these years. And she showed why she's one of ths savviest people in the book business: The site will offer HP e-books for the first time, which is akin to finding a modern day vein of gold.

According to the Guardian, Rowling said at a morning new conference: "I had more than half of the new material already written or in note form. I literally dug some out of boxes .I generated more material than ever appeared in the books. I thought 'who would ever want to know the significance of all the difference wand woods?' ... Now you can go and see."

We'll have to wait a few more months for the site to launch. But in the meantime, the video is worth watching, even if you're not an HP fanatic, for the very clever animation of book art.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

There have been other high-profile book/movie sites up for sale in recent years. Last spring, I noted that the Iowa owners of the “Field of Dreams” movie site -- and the iconic diamond -- had put the property up for sale. Don and Becky Lansing say they love the land, but think its time to give it up. That movie was based on the novel “Shoeless Joe” by W.P. Kinsella, in which a farm family makes a mythic connection to the baseball gods.

As for me, I'll take a Paris apartment just like the one that Owen Wilson time-traveled to in "Midnight in Paris."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Bruce Springsteen's legendary sax player, Clarence Clemons, died yesterday from complications of a stroke that he suffered earlier this month. He gave the E Street Band a powerful, soulful sound, and his work in the "Born to Run" album is classic. If you're a fan of The Boss, as I am, you're undoubtedly saddened by the Big Man's passing.

Clemons also had a Baltimore connection, as an actor in some episodes of the HBO series "The Wire," by David Simon. For more on his life, you can read "Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales," which was ghosted by Don Reo.

Better yet, listen to "Rosalita."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

The Guardian aired speculation that the site was "the long-promised Potter encyclopedia, with other suggestions ranging from a "giant theme park" to a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (Pottermore standing for Potter Multiplayer Online Role-playing Experience) and a fansite.

I think Rowling is making a nod to our fair city, Bmore.

Stay tuned for more details as the site gets launched.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

This is a big weekend for book adaptations, and the biggest buzz is not for a movie but for the new trailer for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2." It's a chilling preview, and shows that the series -- once more whimsical and fantastic -- has become darker and darker.

Other adptations premiering this week include "Green Lantern," taken from the DC Comics character, and "Mr. Popper's Penguins," a big screen version of the charming book by Richard and Florence Atwater.

But I think my weekend treat will be "Midnight in Paris" by Woody Allen -- which comes highly recommended by my daughter and is sure to bring out the Francophile in me. Have a great weekend and report back with your movie reviews.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Books to Movies
        

A new edition of the Little Patuxent Review is headed our way, and Ilse Munro was kind enough to give Read Street a preview. Without further ado, here's Ilse:

This coming Saturday, June 18, we will celebrate the launch of the Little Patuxent Review’s tenth consecutive issue — Make Believe — with a reading and reception at Oliver’s Carriage House in Columbia, MD from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Our new editor, Laura Shovan, notes in introducing the theme, “Make believe is at the heart of LPR’s life and success as a journal. A group of people believed they could revive a defunct art and literary publication.” That and hard work made it so.

In the issue, many forms of make believe are variously shown through prose, poetry and visual art. Lillian Bayley Hoover’s “Suleymaniye” graces the cover. It is part of a series of oils inspired by a trip to the Miniatürk park in Istanbul, where 105 architectural structures are reproduced at 1/25th scale.

The prose includes “Homebodies,” Ann A. Philips’ microfiction piece, where a man adopts a Houdini of an octopus when he is not quite ready for human companionship and Jenny Keith’s “Smell,” where a dead mouse’s odor slips between a couple and elicits a poisonous deception.

The poetry includes pieces like “White Noise,” where Clarinda Harriss invokes make believe “to fool our scared, scarred brains” and “The Eighth Annual Wright Brothers Martini Award,” where Bruce Sager has the Wright Brothers drinking in a bar and marveling at modern life.

These few examples do not do justice to the 27 contributors represented in the issue. You’ll just have to come hear 16 of them for yourself at the reading. And, of course, purchase the issue there or at one of the many sites where it’s sold. Or obtain an annual subscription.p>

Now, to get in the mood, read Susan Thornton Hobby’s “A Cool, Dark Make Believe World Under Our Grandmothers’ Tables,” posted on our website.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

When I was in Connecticut over the weekend, my niece Katie was surprised that I had never heard of the website Sporcle. It offers trivia quizzes and games on a wide range of topics: Famous Faces Upside Down and First and Last Letters: Movies were a couple featured today. For high schoolers, it's a way to kill some time -- while a teacher or parent is haranguing you, I imagine.

The PWxyz blog from Publishers Weekly noted that Sporcle has a number of quizzes on Literature, including one on classic opening lines.

So when you get some time, have at it. (Once you click "start," you don't have to answer the questions in order. Just type a title into the colored box, and Sporcle will automatically place it in the correct spot.) I've provided a visual hint to get you started.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

On Flag Day, which commemorates the adoption of the U.S. flag, it's great to be in Baltimore, where there are plenty of places to celebrate. You can visit the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, once the home of Mary Pickersgill. She made the flag that was the inspiration for our national anthem.

From her house, it's not far to Fort McHenry, where her flag flew following a British bombardment in the war of 1812. Francis Scott Key wrote a poem, "The Defence of Fort McHenry," that later became our anthem.

For more flag-related fun, you can also see Key's original, hand-written poem at the Maryland Historical Society.

So get out there an enjoy Flag Day, hon!

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I'm always astounded that an author has time to write books -- what with all time needed to market their earlier works. So I asked local author Eric D. Goodman for a guest post on the topic, and he kindly agreed. Here's Eric, discussing the marketing efforts surrounding his latest book, "Tracks":

To e- or not to e-. There’s really no question. These days, new books can’t survive without going electronic.

This isn’t another argument in the “print versus eBook” debate that is sure to be with us for years to come as more and more people leave paper on the shelf and opt for the Kindle and Nook. Even printed books from old-style independent presses depend on e-marketing to get noticed.

Take my own novel in stories, Tracks, which is being released both in print and electronically on June 30 from Atticus Books. As much as I’d prefer to be working on another novel right now, I’m finding myself consumed by the digital machine. I do get marketing support from Atticus—they have a publicist on staff—but as most authors will tell you, whether you’re with a huge house or a small indie press, an author has to do a lot of the promoting.

That’s easier than ever in today’s electronic universe. But sometimes making things easier makes them harder.

There was a time (or so I’m told) when the key to selling books was getting good reviews in important periodicals. That’s still true, but when only a dozen or so books are chosen for review out of truckloads of new releases, getting a book reviewed is sort of like winning the literary lotto. So writers and publishers depend on the Internet.

Tracks has a website. A Facebook page. Even the fictional conductor has a Facebook page! Then there’s Twitter. The Tracks Blog. And guest blogging on other blogs. Radio podcasts. YouTube Video. And it may be that these days half a dozen good reviews on Amazon’s website could sell as many books as a printed review in the paper.

I’m doing readings and signings the old-fashioned way. But I’m told to expect the “blog tour” to be more successful than any events in the physical world.

The way to sell books these days is to go viral. The problem is, with everyone out there tweeting and posting, how do you get noticed? When a hundred thousand trees fall at once and as many people are commenting on them, does your one little tree make a sound?

One thing my publisher is trying is a contest that encourages readers to post or tweet about Tracks.

Each time a reader shares the Tracks website, they’re entered to win a free copy of the book. Can a contest help a book go viral when there’s so much online content out there that’s already free? Like being reviewed by a major publication, it’s probably akin to winning the literary lotto.

Yes, in the days of typewriters and whistle-stop book tours it may have been more difficult to engage the world than it is in the computer age. But I can’t help but think that this is a case where doing things the hard way may have been easier.

Enter to win your free copy of Tracks. But I still hope to see you at a bookstore.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

This weekend the Bilderberg Group is meeting at Suvretta House, a luxurious hotel in the chic Swiss resort of St. Moritz, and the invitation-only gathering of corporate execs and government officials always sparks conspiracy claims. The group got a lot of attention last fall, when Fidel Castro published an article in a Communist Party newspaper and quoted from "The Secrets of the Bilderburg Club" by Daniel Estulin.

The 2006 book posits that a secret group of politicians and business leaders runs the world, advancing its agenda at an annual conference. Castro said the book described "sinister cliques and the Bilderberg lobbyists" manipulating the public "to install a world government that knows no borders and is not accountable to anyone but its own self."

I suppose the Bilderberg Group, which was founded in 1954 at the Hotel Bilderberg in Holland, can supply us with a few thrills while we wait for Dan Brown to knock out another book. But a hotel in St. Moritz -- especially one that features Teddy's World for kids -- doesn't seem like the place to plot world domination. Shouldn't they be meeting in a secret underground lair?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (39)
        

As this week's featured adaptation, we bring you reviews of "Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer." The movie is based on the Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald and Peter H. Reynolds, which details the adventures of the little girl from Virginia Dare Elementary School. Despite the co-starring role of Heather Graham, the movie appears to be aimed arrow-straight at elementary schoolers.

Definitely not suitable for date night, but perfect for an afternoon of baby-sitting. Here are excerpts from reviews:

-- Roger Ebert: It's "a film that little kids might find perfectly acceptable. Little, little, little kids. My best guess is, above fourth-grade level, you'd be pushing it."

-- Dallas Morning News: "For those sighing about why they don't make more movies like last year's Ramona and Beezus, based on the book series by Beverly Cleary, they just did."

-- Boston Globe: "Some movies make you remember being a child. Some movies treat you like one. “Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer’’ does both. This is good news for the 8-year-olds who’ve read Megan McDonald’s books, which began to arrive in 2000. They might not mind the movie’s relentless determination to be both an arts-and-crafts project and dessert."

-- New York Daily News: "Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer" isn't just "Rare!," as its title heroine would say - it's a seriously perfect vacation destination.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Books to Movies
        

The memoir of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard was released this week, and it's drawing a lot of attention because of the depiction of his alcohol and drug problems, infidelity, and an incident of sexual abuse at the hands of a coach.

The New York Times highlighted the abuse issue in a May story about his book, "The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring," which was ghosted by Michael Arkush. Leonard, an Olympic and world champion who grew up near Landover, Md., wrote that he had long been reluctant to tell the story about the abuse, which happened when he was a teen. “But last year, after watching the actor Todd Bridges bare his soul on Oprah’s show about how he was sexually abused as a kid, I realized I would never be free unless I revealed the whole truth, no matter how much it hurt.”

This week, in a web chat via ESPN, he outlined the reasons he told his life story, though his comments were pretty succinct: "It's been something that I've wanted to get rid of or release for many years. ... I was tired of the inner pain."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Today['s Google Doodle, which honors legendary guitarist Les Paul, is the best yet. It's a digital guitar that you can pay with your keyboard, and even record your music. Genius.

The artistic Doodles are cool, but the interactive ones are even better. Among my favorites was the submarine that honored Jules Verne by taking you 20,000 leagues under the sea.

Alexander Chen, designer (and musician) of Google's Creative Lab, said in a blog post: "The electric guitar brings back memories for me of exchanging riffs with friends and wearing out cassette tapes as I meticulously learned songs. Today, we’re attempting to recreate that experience with a doodle celebrating the birthday of musician and inventor Les Paul. ... As well as his guitar work, Les Paul experimented in his garage with innovative recording techniques like multitracking and tape delay. In keeping with this spirit of tinkering, those of you in the U.S. can click the black “compose” button to record your own 30-second track. Just strum the strings or trigger notes with the letters or numbers on your keyboards. Clicking the button again will display a link to share the songs you’ve made."

To read more about Paul, who invented the solid-body electric guitar and died in 2009, try his memoir, "Les Paul: In His Own Words," co-written with Michael Cochran or the "Les Paul Legacy Complete Commemorative Edition" by Robb Lawrence. Better yet, listen to some of his music, like this video clip from the era of black-and-white TV.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

If you're a cat lover or mystery reader -- or both -- you're likely mourning Lilian Jackson Braun, the best-selling author who died at age 97.

Braun, whose feline protagonists Koko and Yum Yum were off-beat detectives, was a former editor at the Detroit Free Press. She wrote three novels in the 1960s, took a hiatus for 18 years, and then hit the gas pedal. Her series now totals 29 books.

According to publisher Penguin, she said she developed her writing style because “people are simply tired of all the blood. I write what is called the classic mystery.” She added that while “not all mystery fans like cats, all cat-fanciers seem to like mysteries. That makes for a large audience, since 26% of all American households own 53.9 million cats between them.” Pretty solid logic.

R.I.P. Lilian.

Photo courtesy of G.P. Putnam

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

I've always been leery of best-selling diet books, but the DASH diet is a little different.

Instead of being touted by a B-list celebrity or late-night TV huckster, it was developed by a federal agency, the National Institutes of Health. DASH, which stands for Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension, is designed to lower blood pressure without medication, and today it was named the best overall diet by U.S. News & World Report.

The DASH diet is based on common-sense eating: lots of fruits and vegetables, and low- or non-fat dairy products. Eat whole grains, lean meats, fish and poultry; nuts and beans. (I hope there's room fo chocolate -- at least dark chocolate, which I consider a vegetable.)

You don't have to buy the book to get your diet on track -- here are the basics of the DASH diet, courtesy of taxpayer-supported NIH. Your tax dollars at work -- in the best sense of the words.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

On my recent trip to New York, I had a chance to walk the High Line, a linear park created from an abandoned elevated train line. It was a beautiful setting: a 10-block sanctuary (expanded by another 10 blocks this month), with lush plantings and views of the Hudson. there are places to sit,  read, schmooze and get some sun. It just may be the best urban planning idea since the festival marketplace frenzy that brought us Harborplace, the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, etc.

We got on the High Line at the southern terminus -- the former meat-packing district, now filled with boutiques and bistros (our choice was Pastis). Seemed like we were on the set for "Sex in the City," which has featured the area. In honor of that vibe -- and the summer reading season -- we're giving away a copy of Candace Bushnell's "Summer in the City." The teen prequel seems made for the beach -- or the High Line -- and even at 409 pages, you can probably finish it before you start to burn. (If you want something meatier, we'll also give away a copy of "Dreams of Joy" by Lisa See, the accalimed author of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" and "Shanghai Girls."

For a chance to win, just leave a comment with the name of a book or author on your summer reading list. (And let me know which book you want.)

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Freebie Friday
        

Official Trailer

With the temperature in the mid-90s here in Baltimore, it's time to start thinking about summer movies (and air-conditioned theaters), and one of the first big-budget offerings is "X-Men: First Class," which has been getting good reviews. The prequel examines how the mutants come to grips with their powers. Here are some early reviews for the movie, which is based on the Marvel comics series and hits theaters Friday:

-- Orlando Sentinel: “X-Men: First Class” still sings the praises of Marvel Studios’ marvelous quality control of comic book movies. It’s good, clean summer movie fun where the money they spend is up on the screen — with actors and effects — so that we won’t mind spending our money on it.

-- Variety: Despite a somewhat hefty 130-minute running time, "First Class" feels swift, sleek and remarkably coherent; an even longer, more fully fleshed-out version would not have been unwelcome. Visual effects designed by John Dykstra are smoothly and imaginatively integrated, and Henry Jackman's score provides fantastic forward momentum.

-- The Hollywood Reporter: Much as Casino Royale rebooted the James Bond franchise in a fresh and dynamic way, X-Men: First Class injects new blood into a franchise that, for all its profitability, had become blandly anemic. In fact, roughly the first half of this massive and very well cast origins extravaganza is arguably the best hour of Marvel Comics-derived filmmaking among the torrent of it that's cascaded across screens in recent years.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)