And click here to watch a video about the book

]]> http://doubleday.com/2008/09/03/podcast-the-ayatollah-begs-to-differ-by-hooman-majd/feed/ http://doubleday.com/2008/08/29/itunes-meet-the-author-presents-chuck-palahniuk-author-of-choke-with-screenwriterdirector-clark-gregg/ http://doubleday.com/2008/08/29/itunes-meet-the-author-presents-chuck-palahniuk-author-of-choke-with-screenwriterdirector-clark-gregg/#comments Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:15:15 +0000 Mikey http://doubleday.com/?p=227

Today, Friday, August 29, 7:00p.m., @ Apple Soho NY (103 Prince St. @ Mercer St.) Incendiary author Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club) will discuss his best-selling novel, Choke, with Clark Gregg, the screenwriter and director of the upcoming big screen adaptation. Chuck will read from the book, show exclusive clips from the film, and answer questions from the audience. Fox Searchlight will release Choke in theaters on September 26. *This event will be recorded for the iTunes Meet the Author podcast.

The official Choke movie website (trailer, pics, & more)
The Cult - The official Chuck Palahniuk fan site

The buzz around The Gargoyle continues across the blogosphere. Recently Sci Fi Weekly posted a review, as well as Historical Tapestry and Mary’s Writing House. However, a post at Unshelved caught our attention: a comic strip synopsis of The Gargoyle. Thanks to Bill and Gene for allowing us to use the image.

From the author of the 2007 Orange Prize finalist A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers comes a wholly original and thoroughly captivating coming-of-age story that follows a bright, impassioned young woman as she rushes headlong into the maelstrom of a rapidly changing Beijing to chase her dreams.

Read rave reviews from The New York Sun, Entertainment Weekly (A-), The Washington Post, and Salon.com. Read an excerpt at WSJ.com.

1. What were your first impressions of the characters? How did your opinion of them shift throughout the novel? Which characters captured your imagination the most?
2. What are the main differences between Nigel and Blue? Why was Lucinda drawn to each of them, in different ways? How important is it for a couple to share similar economic and social backgrounds?
3. How does Flora’s personality affect her son’s marriage? Were you more sympathetic to Debbie or to Flora? What is the ideal role for in-laws and grandparents?
4. What sets Catherine apart from the other women in the book? What are her most endearing qualities? What keeps her from finding her Rochester (chapter 49) a bit sooner?
5. What do the children in An Absolute Scandallearn from their parents about weathering defeat and finding joy in life? What point of view will they bring to the twenty-first century?
6. Discuss Jamie and Annabel’s relationship. In what ways are they innocent and naïve? In what ways are they
7. What does Joel mean to Debbie, and vice versa? Why was Richard more likely to suspect her of having an affair with Simon than with Joel?
8. Discuss the 1980s as a character. What do you miss the most and the least about that decade? What makes it the perfect period for a novel about vanity and artifice? What does it mean for styles to evolve from Laura Ashley and shoulder pads to minimalist lines and shades of gray?
9. Were you familiar with the process of becoming a Name (i.e. insurance underwriter)? Would you have been swayed to become a Name? To what extent does the appearance of prestige or the hope of social status affect investors’ decisions? Are most investment decisions rational?
10. In chapter thirteen, Fiona boils the case down to two essentials: “Whether the inducement to you to become Names was reckless or not [and] whether it was fraudulent or not.” Do you believe the novel’s characters shared any responsibility for their financial demise, or does blame rest squarely on the shoulders of the fictional Lloyd’s characters invented by Penny Vincenzi?
11. Though An Absolute Scandalis entirely a work of fiction, many headlines in recent years have portrayed similar episodes of contemporary corporate corruption. Do you believe that legislation now protects investors better? What is the best way to safeguard against the Tim Allinsons of this world? How would your family be affected if your net worth suddenly plummeted far into the red? Which creature comforts would it be most difficult for you to part with?
12. What themes of attraction, power, and fate are woven into this and previous novels by Penny Vincenzi? In what ways does her storytelling turn real-life scenarios into thrilling out-of-this world escapades?

“Apparently Radiohead liked the movie [Choke] so much, they’ve written the score, most of the ambient music throughout it. So it’s ‘Choke– with the music of Radiohead’.” As for the new Radiohead track, that will play over the end credits during the movie.

Click on through to Pitchfork for clarification on the matter. [via Pitchfork via BBC 6 Music report]

The official Choke movie website (trailer, pics, & more)
The Cult - The official Chuck Palahniuk site

FROM SUVUDU: Some great new fantasy books have graced bookstore shelves in the last few years: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik are only some of the books that have raised a new bar—a new standard—in sci-fi/fantasy publishing.

And then there is David Anthony Durham, whose first fantasy novel Acacia has just been optioned by Hollywood for a live-action movie! (read more @ Suvudu)

Author Andrew Davidson will be online Tuesday, August 5 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss his debut novel, The Gargoyle, on WashingtonPost.com. You can submit your questions and comments before or during the live discussion.

For more information on Andrew, check out The Publishing Spot’s interview entitled “How Novelist Andrew Davidson Cut 40,000 Words Out of His Novel and Lived To Tell the Tale: Revision 101.”

Lastly, continue to share your own stories of passion or heartbreak at BurnedByLove.com

1. Before reading KNOW YOUR POWER, what did you know about Nancy Pelosi’s life or career? Did you discover anything that surprised you?
2. Speaker Pelosi writes in the Preface, “The skills I acquired as a homemaker and mother have been invaluable to me. These same skills are transferable to many other arenas in life, including the United States Congress.” What skills does Speaker Pelosi refer to? What kinds of “mom skills” do you think can become “job skills?”
3. Speaker Pelosi touchingly recalls the encouragement of her mentor, Sala Burton, to run for Congress. Do you have someone in your life that has encouraged you to follow your dreams?
4. What does the book’s title mean to you? As a woman, of what do you think your power is comprised? How do you wield it?
5. Speaker Pelosi discusses how she and her fellow female representatives pushed out the “old boy” attitudes that, until very recently, were pervasive among her male colleagues in Congress. In what other sectors of working life—corporate America, academia, etc.—does sexism still exist? Can it be overcome?
6. What roles do women occupy, or have they occupied, in your family? Did you have older female relatives who worked while raising a family?
7. In the book Speaker Pelosi offers much advice for women; what did you think of it? Does she write about anything with which you might disagre
8. What are some of the more memorable anecdotes Speaker Pelosi shares, whether from her Congressional career or other aspects of her life?
9. Of the ways her mother helped support the political career of Speaker Pelosi’s father, she says of her mother, “She, too, was a public servant. She was not paid, and she held no elected or appointed position, but she considered it part of her duty to contribute what she could,” [page 22]. Discuss the yin and yang of marriage, the compromise and teamwork it
   requires. How did Speaker Pelosi and her husband balance out his career with hers? Was it surprising to learn that Speaker Pelosi didn’t run for office until her five children were grown?
10. Do you have female role models? Who are they, and why are they such important women for you?