Literary losses

February was a month of loss with the death of Cuban novelist C Gabriel Infante, the violent suicide of Hunter S Thompson and the well-eulogised passing of legendary American playwright Arthur Miller. Still alive but apparently as lost to the world of writing is British playwright Harold Pinter, who retired last week to concentrate on his political interests.

The 75-year-old author of The Homecoming and One for The Road has previously spoken against international interference in Nicaragua and raised eyebrows in 2001 when he came out in protest at the treatment by the UN of Slobodan Milosevich. He then rallied for the concurrent trial of Clinton and Blair and is now foregoing theatre to concentrate on protesting against the war on Iraq and railing against the leaders of the first world.  

Unavoidable on television at the moment, The OC may not be popular fare for the over 18s, but its main character got one thing right recently when he said he wasn't sure he could love someone who did not love The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Michael Chabon's book is a captivating tale which deservedly won the highest US accolade, the Pulitzer Prize, in 2002. It evoked the wonderful adventure of a childhood story, encompassing two cousins' escape from Nazi Europe, while along the way dealing with immigration, identity and the American Dream. His latest book, The Final Solution is more novella than novel, a short, stylised detective story in homage to Sherlock Holmes, a stop-gap publication in advance of Chabon's next novel, The Yiddish Policeman's Union. That has now being occupying Chabon for three years, although he has been distracted by writing a screenplay for Snow White and watching the adaptation of Kavalier & Clay develop. Current casting rumours involve Natalie Portman (Star Wars), Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) and Tobey Maguire, who starred in a wonderful screen adaptation of Chabon's own Wonder Boys.

Previous Book Notes columns have referred to the unusual circumstances which returned Anna Karenina and 100 Years of Solitude to the upper reaches of the US book charts last year. Even celebrity endorsement doesn't explain the current state of affairs in publishing in Turkey. Many Europeans have expressed unease at the proposed accession of Turkey to the EU, with particular reference to their record of human rights abuses. This disquiet will be unallayed by the movement of Hitler's Mein Kampf to the top of the Turkish list of bestselling books. Some 70 years after its publication, Mein Kampf has been released at a reduced price of almost €4 and has reputedly sold almost 100,000 copies this year alone. What raises one of the most infamous diaries, an Aryan primer written by Hitler in jail before his release in 1933, to such heights? Turkish commentators suggest a rise in anti-Semitism and increased politicism in young Turkish males. Are there many other books in this world more unacceptable to read?

Music producer, multi-millionare, rapper, ex-fiancé of J-Lo, clothes designer, marathon runner and author – as the cliché goes, something had to give. Random House publishers have initiated proceedings against Sean Combs, also known as Puff Daddy or P Diddy. Mr Combs was paid a $400,000 advance for his memoirs in 1998 but has yet to deliver on his end of the contract with a book that should certainly be incident-packed – if it ever appears. Combs had passed on some of his advance to a ghost writer who followed his master's example by also reneging on the deal – and then filing for bankruptcy without returning the cash. Combs has been in court before, following an incident with a firearm in a New York night club a few years ago – charges that were successfully defended. Combs will this time have to face Random House without his celebrity lawyer, Johnny Cochran, who helped him avoid the gun charges. Cochran, who also counted OJ Simpson and Michael Jackson among his clients, died last month from a brain tumour.

Last Friday night RTÉ2 seemed to react quite quickly to world events and in particular the Pope's illness. While running an extended Nine O'Clock News and following this with a hastily rearranged Late Late Show, the scheduled Friday night movie The Virgin Suicides was replaced at the last moment. Granted, the story of five sisters killing themselves isn't the cheeriest of movies, but surely anyone interested in episcopal issues would have tuned elsewhere? Could this not have been an interesting contribution to issues raised in the Dignitas and Schiavo cases? Running some old and hackneyed Eddie Murphy movie was probably just as irritating to some of us. The film The Virgin Suicides is an adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides book of the early 1990s, a wistful, charming – and yes, sad – childhood reminiscence. Eugenides won the Pulitzer Prize for his second book Middlesex in 2003 and if you can't watch his film, at least treat yourself to a copy of the novel.