Baz Luhrmann is one of my favourite directors, so I meet any news about his directorial projects with glee. Combine that with a book adaptation plus F. Scott Fitzgerald and I’m there.
The cast is interesting, with Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, Isla Fisher as Myrtle and Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway.
It’s in pre-production with a 2012 release date: will you head to the cinema?
Posted in Adaptations, Fiction
“From where you are, you can hear their dreams.”
Give your ears a treat by listening to Richard Burton narrate Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood.
This “play for voices” makes me delight in language, and the 1963 reading is superb. Ideal for bedtime (or any time).
Posted in Drama, Sensory Experience
The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum
907 Whitehead Street, Key West, Florida
Open 9am-5pm daily
A wonderful place to visit not least because of the resident six-toed cats! From the beautiful house, where you can view his studio, to the tropical gardens where you can feed the cats (there’s more than 60 of them), if the sun is shining you won’t get a much more relaxing, enjoyable experience.
What captured my imagination most when I visited in 2005 were the polydactyl felines.
A ship’s captain gave Hemingway a six-toed cat and there are descendants of that original puss living in the grounds. Magical.
If you see Archibald MacLeish (you’ll no doubt find him drinking from the water feature, like in the picture here) tell him I said hi.
Posted in Literary Tour
Richard & Judy announced their Summer Book Club 2011 reads this week: eight books from mysteries and thrillers to period dramas. They’ve also revealed a five-year deal with WH Smith, taking their book club up to 2015.
The writers can expect big sales, as it’s also been revealed this week that the couple’s Spring 2011 list totalled sales of £4.6million. Wowzers. There were 853,000 copies sold, almost twice as many as the TV Book Club list achieved.
The figures alone indicate the huge influence these kinds of lists exert, but do they affect your reading (and buying) habits?
Me Cheeta by James Lever
This ‘autobiography’ from Tarzan’s BFF is laugh out loud hilarious.
Warning: people may stare at you across the sun-loungers as you snort.
Second warning: the opening and ending are surprisingly moving.
Starter For Ten by David Nicholls
This is filed under the squirm-inducing brand of funny. Brian Jackson negotiates the pitfalls of University Challenge and trying to impress the opposite sex.
Posted in Biography, Fiction, Holiday Reads
Welcome to the Bookshelf Blog
All about biographies, children’s, poetry, drama, fiction and non-fiction
I’ll be updating with book news, reviews, insider info, holiday reads, literary tours, adaptations, spotlights and sensory experiences
Thanks for visiting!
Eleanor Cains 