An English Major's Guilty Pleasure

Question: What type of person will enjoy David Nicholl's "A Question of Attraction"?

a) Trivia junkies
b) Kate Bush fans
c) Former English Lit majors
d) All of the above

Answer: d.

This book made me heartily guffaw at times with a writing style reminiscent of Nick Hornby. I especially appreciated the '80s references to Brideshead Revisited and phrases like, "she crept up on me like Birnam Wood." It's a quick, cute, intelligent read that might remind you of Bridget Jones, as a guy, circa 1985. It's both heartbreaking and hilarious. --Amy

Casting Couch

Vanessa at Entre Nous has a fun post about the upcoming Devil Wears Prada adaptation, which stars Meryl Streep and the Princess Diaries' Anne Hathaway. Anne will also star in Becoming Jane, next year's biopic about the one and only Jane Austen. --Kim

Before "C.S.I."...

...there was Sherlock Holmes. Funny how so many of television's modern crime dramas draw upon devices from the mysteries of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Last night I watched Rupert Everett take on the title role in "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking." I thought his performance was great and can only hope he'll agree to do future installments as the cynical sleuth. (No, he didn't wear that trademark tweed cap; yes he did repeatedly say, "Elementary my dear Watson.") Though the movie was a bit heavy-handed with the fog machine, I thought the costumes, set design and performances were wonderful. As for the story, it was downright scandalous, complete with foot fetishes and depictions of Holmes as an illicit drug user.

Next Sunday, get ready for Part One of a two-part adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Kidnapped," which promises to be a swashbuckling adventure. -- Amy

All I Want for Christmas

Get your lace-trimmed hankies ready.The NY Daily News reports that several fantastic DVD collections will be released just in time for the holidays. The long list includes some excellent literary adaptations:
Horatio Hornblower Collector's Edition
The Woman in White
The Charles Dickens Collection, which includes Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and David Copperfield
The Masterpiece Collection with Anna Karenina, Wuthering Heights, and Reckless.
The Romance Classics Collection: Volume 2 is a 14-disk set with one Hornblower film as well as Vanity Fair, Nicholas Nickleby, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Catherine the Great (starring Catherine Zeta-Jones), and Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
If you've never seen all 68 episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs, you'll have your chance with The Collector's Edition Megaset. --Kim

Sing Along

Woke up early today and was trying to think (with not much success) of songs with literary allusions. Decided to quit racking my brain and resort to Google. Here's a pretty thorough list I found. -- Amy

Those Were The Days...

For anyone who recently caught re-runs of PBS's Manor House, there's an interesting book you might want to check out to supplement your viewing. Judith Flanders's Inside The Victorian Home is a page-turning nonfiction account of what the daily life of a typical middle-class British citizen might have been like in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Flanders starts with childbirth, ends with funeral rituals and covers almost any imaginable topic in between, from likely contents of a kitchen cupboard to the endless (sometimes pointless) chores of a maid-of-all-work. On just about every page of this book are strange and fascinating tidbits that will likely make you feel quite relieved that you live in the 21st century. (Despite the awesome dresses, it wasn't as glamorous as movie versions of that era depict.) -- Amy

Test your knowledge of life in the Manor House here.

Brokeback Mountain

Lauren at Lux Lotus links to a great post at Greg.org about the Annie Proulx short story on which the film adaptation of Brokeback Mountain is based. The positive buzz on this film is deafening. I simply cannot wait to see it. Read more here. Watch the trailer here.--Kim