Changing Face of The Sea
Some of the bigger books we discussed last year have made their way from hardback to paperback recently, asking a few questions of the book buying public.
Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down has changed its cover from red to blue but remains the same disappointing story of four failed suicidal jumpers who band together to try and stay alive. Full of stock characters and half-hearted comic scenes, it still comes to you with glowing reviews and will probably find a welcome summer audience despite the subject matter. The ridiculously named John Twelve Hawks is creeping into the Top 10 with his Matrix-like sci-fi thriller The Traveller which made headlines last year when its author, writing under a pseudonym, refused to publicise the book, garnering it publicity in the course of his refusal. Finally in smaller format is the Irish book of the year, John Banville's The Sea. The book now arrives with "Man Booker winner" draped across its cover and is a far more serious prospect for bookstores and publishers alike. It has been discounted by up to 50 per cent to drive it to No1 and more curiously has undergone a make-over worthy of Changing Rooms. Not the cheeriest of novels, the hardback edition featured a bedroom window overlooking a grey bleak seascape. The new edition has two modern looking children playing ball on the coast beneath a glowing red and orange dusk. The original seems to fit the tone of the book but the new cover might just pull in the bookclub readers.
An Imperfect Crime
A George Clooney movie of The Perfect Storm dwarfed the book of the same name with its Hollywood glamour, making it easy to forget the visceral thrills of Sebastian Junger's original non-fiction masterpiece. The book is a vivid gripping retelling of the storm that rose from nowhere off Nova Scotia in 1991, swelling to 100 foot waves in moments and taking the crew of the Andrea Gail to their deaths. Maybe now is the time to remind ourselves of Junger's skills as he returns to our shelves with his new book, A Death in Belmont which brings Junger back to his hometown Boston of 1961 where a local woman is raped and murdered in her home. A black man is arrested and convicted for the crime despite the similarities in detail to the contemporary murders by the infamous Boston Strangler. Junger looks at the trial, the jury and associated issues of race and truth. He also has a startling personal connection for the man eventually convicted as the Boston Strangler was working construction on Junger's house on the day of the murder, just blocks from the scene of the crime. A forensic examination of the case that is earning obvious comparisons to Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, the book is a fascinating meditation on justice. Interested readers can read the victim's daughter disparage Junger's version of events on Amazon.com.
Adapting a Classic
It is doubtless a measure of Book Notes' innate cynicism that a conversation on books adapted for film makes this writer think of the stinkers rather than the winners; most of John Irving, Demi Moore in The Scarlet Letter, Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars. Positivity would be more appropriate and we should concentrate on those books like Great Expectations or The Accidental Tourist which made seamless transitions to the cinema. The Guardian has joined forces with Waterstones on just this subject to allow you select the 50 Greatest Adaptations. The list has been chosen and now they are expecting you to vote to choose the order of merit. The list is, as expected, contentious; Book Notes is saddened not to see Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys, Irving's The Cider House Rules or Michael Cunningham's The Hours. No room either for Tolkein or JK Rowling, and a nod for The Shawshank Redemption over Misery or Stand by Me. On the plus side, the list is recent enough to include Brokeback Mountain, promotes controversy over quality works like Fight Club and American Psycho and contains the usual classics which will doubtless rise to the top –To Kill A Mockingbird, Breakfast at Tiffanys and Heart of Darkness. Book Notes' favourite film is there so our vote goes to Goodfellas. You can cast your votes (and obviously, buy the books) from 5 May.