Edward Champion's Return of the Reluctant

Morning Roundup

• Ian McEwan mourns Saul Bellow. In particular, he describes how placing a quote from Herzog before a novel makes it sound more important than it really is.
• If the Atlantic won't publish fiction, an author can always aim for Cosmo. That's precisely what author Mary Castillo did for her novel Hot Tamara. Of course, the excerpt in question is a "hot and heavy love scene." But it was either that or a questionnaire determining how effectively you satisfy your man.
• Phillip Seymour Hoffman will play Truman Capote in a biopic. That's fine casting. Unfortunately, in another Capote-related film, Every Word is True, Sandra Bullock will play Harper Lee. To add insult to injury, the producers plan to change the title of Lee's novel. It will now be known as To Kill the Girl Next Door Type.
• Elizabeth George fanboys are incensed with the latest novel. In George's latest, a central character in the Lynley series has been killed off, spawning resentment, multiple sessions of therapy, devious fan fiction, and a firm convinction to seek more mediocre best-selling novelists.
• And Stuart Dybek has made this year's ALA Notable Books list for I Sailed With Magellan. He hopes to make next year's list by titling his novel-in-progress I Painted With Picasso, even though it has nothing to do with the famed artist.