Shorts (part 2)

The legendary director Preston Sturgess. See, even busy people find time to read.

More news from the book world!

Dan Brown fans, it's time to parteeee! Dan Brown has just finished writing his latest book, The Solomon Key. The novel, which is about the Freemasons and set in Washington, still features Robert Langdon. Time to reserve those copies! Me, I'll just wait for the paperback. No, strike that. I'll just wait for the book to appear in bargain bins.

Hurrah for the book section of The New York Times. The section now includes a graphic novel bestseller list. Before, we were accustomed to seeing the tag "New York Times Bestseller" only on our paperbacks. Now we get to see that on our graphic novels too. Finally, we get to find the answer to one of life's mysteries: which is more popular -- DC or Marvel?

The British Psychological society reports that reading to children 2 years old and younger has a positive effect on their vocabulary and comprehension. (Do we really need a formal study on this?) Unfortunately, more and more parents are finding it difficult to squeeze in reading time for their children. The future's not looking so bright, isn't it?

This year, The Times UK has decided to come out not just with a list of most borrowed books but also books that are most frequently stolen. Check it here. Interestingly, the top 2 most stolen books are travel guides. I wonder if our local bookstores have the same trend. In moving about the crazy metropolis that is Manila, one really needs those travel guides.

Hitler owned 16,000 books. Apparently, he was a bookworm. If you're expecting to find that Hitler owned copies of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, you'll be sorely disappointed. Among Hitler's books are Wild West adventure stories by Karl May, all the detective fiction of Edgar Wallace, and love stories by Hedwig Courths-Mahler (a German Barbara Cartland). Thank you, Hitler. You're the perfect argument on why censorship is stupid. Reading pornographic stuff will not turn you into a rapist. Just look at Hitler; he read romance novels.

When the British are asked which book they've lied about reading, the top answer is Orwell's 1984. Also, many of them would claim that they've read Joyce's Ulysses, Tolstoy's War and Peace, and the bible, when they really have not. Tsk tsk. They would, however, prefer to read Rowling and Grisham. No surprise there. Who would ever want to read Ulysses? I've read it several years ago, and until now, I could make neither heads nor tails of it. I'm not planning on reading 1984 too. It's so, like, 1984.

If you were to write a book, how would you make the sales pitch to a potential publisher? A group of agents and editors logged at the popular social networking site Twitter to "tweet" about what makes them reject submissions. Most of the tweets are hilarious! Here are some of them:

• This is my first attempt at writing a fictional novel
• This book is The Notebook meets The Lord of the Rings
• My book is about a friendship based upon mutual vomiting practices in high school
• My book is differentiated from Twilight because the vampires have wings, and are half-breed angels
• My credentials for writing this book include: A divine mandate to speak the word of God