Every loser wins

Conventional wisdom and daytime television would have it that there is never a winner in court battles. Like closing-down sales and companies that insist that “your call is important to us”, this is patently untrue.

Take a visit to High Court 61 in London as a case in point. There, Dan Brown is defending The Da Vinci Code against allegations that he plagiarised the idea for the plot from Baigent and Leigh's The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. No verdict from the court yet – Judge Smith took a week off to read the two contentious books as well as other source material including a 1971 article from the Observer that predates the complainants' book. Brown himself has yet to appear but it doesn't really matter what contribution he makes. Baigent and Leigh can only gain; worldwide attention, further book sales and the ability to claim responsibility for the world's most popular conspiracy theory this century. Even if Brown gave back all the money he has made from The Da Vinci Code, the sales of his other three books would have made him the book world's greatest earner over the last two years. The publicity can only help the movie and the buzz already building over Brown's new book, The Solomon Key. Could they possibly halt the release of the movie as hinted at in various papers? No chance. Market forces demand it premieres as Cannes' closing film on 16 May. And as for his publishers, Random House? They publish all of Brown's books as well as the allegedly plagiarised work. No complaints from their corner. So, unless you count the religiously fervent, who are upset about the theories popularised in both books, this is a victimless crime. Except for maybe the ten of you who have yet to read the book and may finally be beginning to falter under the onslaught of publicity. One other little The Da Vinci Code point occurs – is the book now so passé that those who have read it feel they only keep their credibility intact by pretending that they never bothered? The Guardian's legal correspondent who discussed the case on Morning Ireland was decidedly sniffy about the book, as if it existed on a plane beneath her. Perhaps Judge Smith is sleeping in his chambers like a Dickens character, having actually read the book last summer? Book Notes calls on your scepticism the next time you hear the book denied in highbrow conversation. They've read it but are ashamed to say.

What the world wants
Despite lacklustre planning, World Book Day was a godsend for daytime radio last week. Noone could have coped with the cold and the usual Lenten features and post-pancake batter blues. Every channel took part; a Maeve Binchy interview on Today FM, Ryan Tubridy and his best book picks, a Newstalk poll of the top children's books. These polls always fascinate Book Notes, and leave him shouting at the radio, “Why did Nancy Drew make it but not the Hardy Boys? Which Famous Five book? You can't just pick the series!”
Librarians were polled in the UK on which book they felt all people should read before they die. To Kill a Mockingbird won out, followed by the Bible, Lord of the Rings, 1984 and A Christmas Carol. For those who care, Jane Eyre (6) beat Pride and Prejudice (7); Great Expectations (19) bested David Copperfield (23) and The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-time (13) The Lovely Bones (21) and The Life of Pi (26) were the recent releases chosen. Another poll – for the day that was in it – showed respondents preferred happy endings to sad ones (one hopes they weren't paid too much for that research). Happy endings chosen as the best were Pride and Prejudice, Mockingbird and Jane Eyre.

Cruising for a bruising
Even those of you not mired in popular culture will have done well to avoid Pete Doherty, former singer with The Libertines, squire of wonder-model Kate Moss and sole supporter of many narcotics officers and tabloid journalists. Book Notes' favourite Doherty rumour of the week was that Pete doesn't actually exist but is a fabulous construct from the imagination of pop music charlatans the KLF, the duo who once burned £1m on a Scottish island after earning it from their terrible No 1 single ‘Doctorin' The Tardis'. Now NME journalist Andrew Thornton is set to add some fact to all the hoopla with his new book The Libertines – Bound Together. The book features many revealing photos including one of Doherty smoking crack, which will no doubt delight the moral majority. Those who like their biographies just as contentious but a little more mainstream may be interested in Andrew Motion's forthcoming biography of Tom Cruise. The man who broke Book Notes' heart by getting engaged to Katie Holmes is to be exposed by Motion who made his name and his fortune with his book on Princess Diana. Rumours in pre-production of the book include allegations last week that the relationship that so upset us is effectively over and that the Cruise camp is most annoyed at Motion's hiring of a former gay porn star to investigate the Cruise machine, star of upcoming Mission Impossible 3.