Books

News Briefs TV, movie and music news

Category: Books (11-20 of 21)

Dec 7 2010 05:15 PM ET

Elizabeth Edwards, author and estranged wife of John Edwards, dies

Elizabeth-Edwards Image Credit: Frederick M. Brown/Getty ImagesJust one day after announcing that she would not be continuing with additional treatment for cancer, Elizabeth Edwards has passed away, CNN reports. Edwards, wife of beleaguered former vice presidential candidate John Edwards, died in her North Carolina home after a six-year battle with breast cancer. She was 61. “Today we have lost the comfort of Elizabeth’s presence, but she remains the heart of this family,” her family said in a statement. “We love her and will never know anyone more inspiring or full of life.”

Being a politician’s wife almost always means the public will define you by what your husband does. Unless, that is, he becomes embroiled in a scandal, at which point you are defined by what he does to you. But Edwards, even as scandal was thrust at her, refused to accept the limiting mantle of “victim.” READ FULL STORY »

Oct 21 2010 09:08 AM ET

Dakota Fanning in talks for supernatural project 'If I Stay'

by Keith Staskiewicz

Tags: Movie, Books

Summit Entertainment has approached Dakota Fanning to star in If I Stay, their upcoming supernatural film, Variety reports. The project is based on the young adult novel of the same name by Gayle Forman, about a girl who is forced to choose between life and death after a car accident leaves her comatose. Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke was originally attached to the project before dropping out to helm Red Riding Hood. Forman’s sequel to her YA hit, titled Where She Went, is set to hit stores in April 2011.

Oct 12 2010 08:23 PM ET

Howard Jacobson wins Booker Prize for 'The Finkler Question'

by John Young

Tags: Book, Books

British author Howard Jacobson won the 2010 Man Booker Prize on Tuesday for his philosophical comedy The Finkler Question, the AP reports. The $80,000 prize is given annually to a British or Irish writer for a novel released that year. Jacobson won over Peter Carey’s Parrot and Olivier in America, Emma Donoghue’s Room, Damon Galgut’s In a Strange Room, Andrea Levy’s The Long Song, and Tom McCarthy’s C. Last year’s recipient was Hilary Mantel for Wolf Hall.

Sep 16 2010 01:39 PM ET

'The Real Housewives of New York City' star Alex McCord to write second book

by Emily Exton

Tags: Book, Books, TV

The Real Housewives of New York City star Alex McCord will write a second book with her husband Simon van Kempen, her rep confirmed to EW. The couple’s first book, Little Kids, Big City, was published in April 2010 by Sterling & Ross Publishers. Of the subject matter of the second book, McCord has said: “It will be about what goes on in relationships, particularly our relationship. We talk in a very snarky, irreverent way about the things that have happened to Simon and I over the last 11 years.”

Sep 14 2010 09:46 AM ET

Report: Gary Ross in talks to direct 'The Hunger Games'

by Karen Valby

Tags: Book, Movie Biz, Books, Movies

Deadline New York reports that Lionsgate has met with directors for the first installment to Suzanne Collins’ mega-blockbuster Hunger Games trilogy, including Sam Mendes, David Slade, and Susanna White. But the early lead is said to belong to director Gary Ross (Seabiscuit). Filming is looking for a 2011 start, from a script adapted by Billy Ray (State of Play). The futuristic story describes 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a superb hunter and archer, and her entanglement in a brutal televised competition.

Sep 13 2010 12:28 PM ET

EW Exclusive: 'Paranormal State' star Ryan Buell comes out in new book

by EW staff

Tags: Book, Television, Books, TV

Image Credit: Charles Norfleet/PR PhotosRyan Buell, star of A&E’s docuseries Paranormal State, comes out as bisexual in his new book, Paranormal State: My Journey Into the Unknown. Buell, who identifies as a Roman Catholic, writes, “I’ve decided to share my sexuality and struggle over faith in hopes that others will no longer feel as though they are alone or that they can’t be religious.” His show returns for a fifth season later this year.

Jul 22 2010 09:17 AM ET

Brad Pitt attached to zombie pic 'World War Z'

by Adam Markovitz

Tags: Book, Movie, Movie Biz, Books, Movies

Brad Pitt is attached to star in the big-screen adaptation of Max Brooks’ novel World War Z, according to MTV News. The zombie apocalypse film, slated for a summer 2012 release, will be directed by Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) from a script by J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5) and Matthew Michael Carnahan (Lions for Lambs). Paramount has also optioned Brooks’ The Zombie Survival Guide and The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks.

Jul 12 2010 02:19 PM ET

Harvey Pekar: Friends remember the 'American Splendor' author

by Kate Ward

Tags: Book, In Memoriam, Legacy, Books

Following the sad passing of famed writer Harvey Pekar, friends have begun issuing statements mourning the beloved author of the American Splendor series, who passed away at age 70.

Paul Giamatti, who played Pekar in 2003′s American Splendor: “Harvey was one of the most compassionate and empathetic human beings I’ve ever met. He had a huge brain and an even bigger soul. And he was hilarious. He was a great artist, a true American poet, and there is no one to replace him.”

Jonathan Vankin, an editor at Vertigo who oversaw American Splendor and The Quitter: “I am terribly sad today. Working with Harvey Pekar was one of my first experiences at Vertigo and it’s still one of my best, not only in comics but in my life. Underneath the well-known gruff exterior, Harvey was a deeply compassionate person and of course, a brilliant mind. He created, almost single-handedly, an entirely new kind of comics and his commitment to what he did was absolute and uncompromising. We’ve all suffered a huge loss today, in comics of course, but also in American culture.”

Robert Pulcini, co-director of American Splendor: “Harvey Pekar was one of the few originals I’ve met in my life. He deserves to be remembered as the patron saint of Cleveland.”

Shari Springer Berman, co-director of American Splendor: “I am so sad. There will never be another Harvey Pekar. I hope he is in a place where there is a great jazz soundtrack, lots of good books, and he can make plenty of money.”

Jul 12 2010 11:46 AM ET

Harvey Pekar dies at 70

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Tags: Book, Legacy, Movie, Books, Movies

Beloved comic-book author Harvey Pekar has died at age 70, the Associated Press reports. Police found Pekar dead after being called by his wife to their Cleveland home. Details on the cause of death have not been announced pending an autopsy. He was reportedly ailing, with conditions including prostate cancer, asthma, high blood pressure, and depression.

Beginning in the 1970s, Pekar’s autobiographical American Splendor series attracted a growing cult following, ultimately helping change the way comic books were perceived. They were adapted into the 2003 film American Splendor, starring Paul Giamatti as Pekar.

Jun 22 2010 09:05 PM ET

Director Mark Waters in early talks for 'Mr. Popper Penguins'

by John Young

Tags: Book, Movie, Movie Biz, Books, Movies

Mark Waters (Mean Girls, Freaky Friday) is in early talks to direct a movie adaptation of Mr. Popper’s Penguins for 20th Century Fox, Variety reports. Director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) and actor Ben Stiller were previously tied to the movie, but are reportedly no longer involved. Instead, Jack Black, Jim Carrey, and Owen Wilson are rumored to be in the running for the lead role of Mr. Popper, a house painter who winds up with a stage act featuring a dozen penguins. Mr. Popper’s Penguins was a 1938 children’s book written by Richard and Florence Atwater.