• PW reports that booksellers are “hot for Gore.” It’s quite a phenomenon, really, Gore’s post-2000 election life. At every book signing, booksellers are throwing their bras and panties at Al Gore’s feet (but only when Tipper isn’t around). Al Gore has been asked to sign breasts and pierce pudenda. And the general feeling in the air is that Al Gore is the former presidential candidate to schtupp, if at all possible. Al Gore is the Neil Diamond of the book world. And remember, folks, you heard it from PW first. It’s up in the air whether or not costermongers and accountants will follow suit or, indeed, take off their respective uniforms.
• Dan Wickett has the skinny on the Ann Arbor Book Festival Writers’ Conference.
• The creation of a bookstore window display. (via Levi)
• Interesting submission stats from Miss Snark. I remember reading an interview long ago (we’re talking pre-Internet) with Richard Ford in which he spent an entire day perfecting his query letter for A Piece of My Heart. Some things really never change. (via The Publishing Spot)
• Tangerine Houdini!
• Part three to come. It’s one of those days.

• Variety reports that the film adaptation of Revolutionary Road is all systems go. But it comes with a price. Sam Mendes’ nepotism aside, Kate Winslet makes sense as April, but Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Wheeler? Good Christ, Richard Yates must be spinning in his grave. Yates’ fiction was written with great subtlety and, while Leo is perfectly acceptable in melodramatic roles, even accounting for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, I simply can’t see him conveying the careful behavioral nuances of being stalled at thirty.
• Even if an author is Jane Austen has been deemed “too unattractive.” (via Books, Inq.)
• Kurt Vonnegut’s eight rules for writing fiction.
• Bruce Lee’s one inch punch explained.
• “An idle man is a dangerous man.” (via Happy Antipodean)
• For copyright and intellectual property fiends, the UK’s Court of Appeals has offered an interesting ruling in relation to video games. General ideas and structures behind games and programs can be absconded, so long as the source code and graphics are not.
• Another roundup later.

• Ian McEwan may be taking a page out of Margaret Atwood’s playbook. McEwan has decided to forego touring for On Chesil Beach, replacing his bookstore appearances with a 23 minute film. But here’s the question: do people really want to go to a bookstore to see a film of an author? Particularly if they can download the film off the Internet? I agree that the current idea of an author reading is flawed and that some authors simply lack the pizazz to work a room. But if bookstores want to keep on thriving and have their customers return, there’s no substitute for live author appearances, where readers can ask questions and authors can personally inscribe their books, as odious as the task might be for the author. (via Bookdwarf)
• I agree with Bill Peschel. Lynne Scanlon is really missing the point about the Vagina Monologues debacle. Besides, what were these girls supposed to do? Tell the principal that they would, in fact, say the word “vagina” and then have the show canceled?
• It’s a sad world indeed when The Secret Life of Bees replaces The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
• Maud Newton chooses between Kate Atkinson and Richard Ford. All I have to say is: Ouch.
• Forget the Tournament of Books. How about the Tournament of Reading Reports? Who will be the first to report of John Banville’s Los Angeles appearance? Mark Sarvas or Callie Miller? There’s no rooster here to be had, but certainly there’s a booster.
• The Independent‘s Susi Feay investigates Muriel Gray’s recent claim that today’s female writers lack imagination.
• The CliffsNotes dilemma spelled out in comic strip allegory. Years ago, I had something close to this happen to me, although I was the one to walk out. (via The Millions)
• The Raw Shark Texts author Steven Hall muses on the number 31.
• Terry McMillan has filed a $40 million lawsuit against her former husband, “now a hair stylist in a Danville salon.” Who knew that hair stylists had publicists?
• Fugitive novelist Cesare Battisti has been arrested in Italy.
• New York Magazine interviews LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy.
• I didn’t realize this, but Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio has been revived, with Liev Schreiber taking on Bogosian’s role.
• Salman Rushdie: “not afraid to laugh.” Well, good for him. I didn’t realize there were authors out there who were cowering in fear from humor and I’m glad Rushdie has sought the appropriate therapy to learn how to laugh again. (via Orthofer)
• Russell Crowe is making his directorial debut with a surf film. The story involves a bunch of needlessly angry surfers who scream at hotel clerks and beat the shit out of any detractors, when they aren’t busy throwing telephones into the ocean.
• I find it amazing that there is only one gay and lesbian-based bookstore in the whole UK. But authors are now rallying to save it.
• It appears that the folks at Gawker have now seen fit to emerge from their collective anonymity and sign their posts. Whether this is a testament to future accountability or an effort by Denton to keep track of his writing slaves extended family is anyone’s guess.

[UPDATE: Mark and Callie‘s respective accounts of the Los Angeles Banville reading are now up. Mark wins out for timeliness, beating Callie’s post by a mere eleven minutes. But eleven minutes! That’s what I call a close race. I certainly hope that Mark and Callie meet at some point. I can dutifully attest that Mark Sarvas does not bite people, although there are unconfirmed reports of Mark noshing on gourmet roadkill.]

[UPDATE 2: And it turns out that John Fox was at the Banville reading too! None of these three have met each other. This is criminal! All this makes me want to fly down to Los Angeles, get these three together in the same room, and not allow anyone to leave until at least twenty minutes of friendly conversation has gone down!]

• It’s been widely linked elsewhere, but it’s certainly worth your time: Chris Ware animates a segment for the forthcoming televisual version of This American Life.
• Mark Sarvas rather predictably dismisses Firmin, because “in the final analysis, he’s a rat and his plight never feels real because rats don’t think, talk, or write books!” (Emphasis in original.) Mark is, of course, entitled to his opinion, but as I argued back in October, who says that Firmin is a rat? Even if we accept Firmin’s rodent form as literal, I must ask: Do we discount Maus because it involves rats? Do we discount Orwell’s Animal Farm because the animals talk? Do we discount Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy because all the humans are accompanied by talking animals? If one can willingly accept magical realism (and I fully confess my prejudicial stance against magical realism), then certainly one can accept talking animals and other fantastical elements, without outright dismissing a book because of these elements. Also, as Jessica Stockton observes, Firmin doesn’t talk.
• I have repeatedly suggested here, contrary to my previous declarations, that one should not underestimate the cultural developments in Ohio. Case in point: a brouhaha between low culture and high culture involving The Dukes of Hazzard, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and blacklisting. Apparently, Dukes of Hazzard stars John Schneider and Tom Wopat had planned a musical program. The program was then canceled, ostensibly because some people complained that the trashy television show was “racist and offensive.” This lead Ben Jones, who played Cooter on Dukes and later became a Georgia Congressman (with details like these, one expects an elaborate parlor drama adaptation), to declare that Wopat and Schneider were “blacklisted.” I think if you’re going to complain about Schneider and Wopat, you should probably point out that they aren’t exactly today’s answer to Enrico Caruso and Mario Lanza. But to consider previous work not as singers, but as actors, strikes me as unreasonable. It’s not as if Wopat and Schneider planned a Dukes of Hazzard revival here. (via Ron Silliman)
• It is with great regret, through no fault of anyone, that East Coast weather caused John Banville’s flight to be delayed and, thus, an in-depth Segundo interview to be canceled, but thankfully, the AP’s Regis Behe fared better, talking with him about Christine Falls. Fortunately, Banville made it out to Los Angeles and, if you’re in town (Callie?), you can catch him tonight at the Central Library Mark Taper Auditorium. I found Christine Falls to be an interesting experiment, a case of a talented writer attempting to tackle mystery with mixed results, but I was particularly taken with the structure and the imagery of The Sea. In fact, The Sea actually helped me to solve a problem in my novel. So while I quibble with Mr. Sarvas over Firmin, I can certainly share, in part, his appreciation for John Banville.
• The evolution of male body posture. (via Kenyon Review)
• The ever-thoughtful Justine Larbalestier, whose Magic and Madness trilogy beckons my reading involvement, asks whether authors prefer great editing or great publicity.
• Dan Wickett has revealed the first Dzanc Books cover.
• Should one discuss books one hasn’t read? (via Scott)
• RIP Rita Joe. (via Bookninja)
• Brian Sawyer has some exceedingly helpful bookbinding links.
• It seems that publishers are now optimizing their content for browsers.
• Does the online universe imperil the tool of narrative? (via Big Bad Book Blog)
• Some Francis Bacon paintings that were set to be thrown away have been salvaged and are now going up for auction.
• And maybe this will help the folks in Cincinnati settle the Wopat and Schneider question: perhaps the real concern is hurled underwear.

[UPDATE: Within an hour of posting this roundup, I was emailed by John Schneider’s publicist. (Christ, do they Technorati all day or something?) Since the email contained the preposterous sentence, “These are exciting days for Schneider,” I chose to disregard it. But I should note for the public record that I am neither for nor against John Schneider and that writing about John Schneider does not necessarily make me a Schneider shill.]

• Maud Newton is looking for your questions in what appears to be a very interesting conversation between Colson Whitehead and Calvin Baker on “branding & freedom in the market economy.”
• Levi Asher offers a report on the Kevin Kline production of King Lear.
• M. John Harrison: “So what is the function of the novelist ? Not to fellate the audience in the hope of delivering a more acceptable product.”
• The Independent conducts a five-minute interview with Edward Rutherfurd. Hmm, reminds me of Mr. Sarvas’ format.
• Dina Horwedel observes that despite Hispanic literature’s popularity, it’s not being incorporated very efficiently in high schools and college curriculums.
• Here’s an update on the Marshall Public Library imbroglio: Fun Home and Blankets will remain on the shelves. (via Is listening to writers discuss their works high-minded? (via Bookninja)
• Tod Goldberg unearths some misogynistic book promotion. (via Bill Peschel)
• Where is our Orwell? Where is our Dickens? Henry Porter seems to think that novelists who are indicting government and society are in short supply these days. It’s a fair enough charge, but what he doesn’t realize is that any time Harold Pinter opens his mouth, thanks to a secret and well-funded organization that I cannot name, a memo is sent to all English language novelists reminding them of the pointlessness of novelists preaching to the converted and suggesting that these sorts of predictable fulminations are best addressed through the prism of fiction.
• Those hoping to read a confessional book written by Madonna’s nanny will be disappointed by this recent news. The book’s been canceled by Crown, but whether this book has been muzzled by Madge’s litigious fervor is anyone’s guess.
• A “grown-up” music festival is being planned. We’ll have none of your drinking or your pot smoking or your Bic lighter waving, thank you very much. This is serious business. You will sit there and listen to Bjork and you shall not cheer! There shall be no audience participation, save silence! And the only food served in the booths will be saltine crackers and lima beans.
• In celebration of Free Comic Book Day, Fantagraphics will be offering a Peanuts comic book for free. There will be no football pulled on this offer, which you can take up at your local comic book store on May 5.
• Never underestimate Ohio journalists. A scab working for the Toledo Blade found his car scorched, with a cinder block thrown through the window.
• Also at Editor and Publisher, it appears that Helen Thomas has her front seat again in the White House press room. Or does she? A White House memo reveals, “The White House, however, will continue to determine seating assignments for all presidential news conferences.” I’m wondering if this is intended as a quid pro quo of sorts.
• I missed Julia Klein’s interesting take on Finn in this Sunday’s L.A. Times, but Klein’s review also offers an interesting summation of works that turn minor literary characters into starring roles. (Thanks, Quill and Quire, for the reminder!)
• Ron Silliman offers a lengthy take on the late Ed Dorn.
• Paul Collins unearths a unique comic book cover from 1944.