Kobo Pulls Self Published Books, 50 Shades Needs a New Lead Actor, And More In Book News This Week

Kobo pulls self-published books after abuse row

E-book seller Kobo has suspended the sale of all self-published books on its UK website following the discovery of abuse-themed titles.
Kobo said it would undertake a "thorough review" into its processes to make sure unsuitable titles did not make their way on to the Kobo platform, and subsequently the WH Smith website.
Last week it emerged that Amazon, WH Smith, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers were selling pornographic e-books featuring incest, rape and bestiality on their sites.
Read more about this story at BBC

Charlie Hunnam 'got cold feet' over Fifty Shades of Grey

Hunnam announced at the weekend that he was quitting the much-hyped adaptation of EL James ' bestselling erotic novel. Several other US industry sites, including Deadline and Variety, have since questioned the official line that scheduling issues with the British actor's long-running TV series, Sons of Anarchy, were responsible for his decision to leave.
Read more about this story at TheGuardian.com

Steve Jobs Girlfriend is Writing A Book

Brennan paints a picture of a driven man whose deep interest in spirituality was combined with a dismissive attitude to people and tasks he thought were beneath him. In restaurants he would order the same meal time and again and complain about the side sauces.
Brennan writes that as Apple took off, so did Jobs' ego. His "behaviors didn't improve with success: they changed from adolescent and dopey to just plain vicious," she writes.
Read more about this story at TheGuardian.com

Eleanor Catton's Gold Rush Dazzles Booker Prize Judges

Eleanor Catton has become the youngest winner of the Man Booker Prize with her "astonishing" novel The Luminaries, chalking up a second landmark as the longest book to scoop the award.
The victorious author said it was "a good thing" that the judges looked beyond her age: "I feel honoured and proud to be living in a world where someone's biography doesn't get in the way of how their work is viewed."
Read more on this at Independent.co.uk/

Who Is Alice Munro

Alice Munro is the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature winner.

The 82-year-old had been among the favourites to win the prize, along with the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami and the Belarusian journalist and author Svetlana Alexieva.
According to NobelPrize.org, her prize motivation is "master of the contemporary short story"

Earlier this year she announced her retirement from writing.

In 2005, Munro was a TIME 100 Honoree. TIME wrote , “Alice Munro is 73 now, and she deserves the Nobel Prize. Her fiction admits readers to a more intimate knowledge and respect for what they already possess.” She also won the Man Booker International prize in 2009. She is the 110th winner, the first Canadian winner and the thirteenth female winner.

sources
TheGuardian.com
Time.com
NobelPrize.org

Surprisingly, I've never heard of Alice Munro.
Now I'm very interested in her. She has written over 70 distinct works.

Have you read any of her books? Did you like them? What books would you recommend to someone who wants to start reading her.

In The News: Fifty Shades of Grey Cast

Except you live under a rock, you'll know that there's an FSOG movie in the works and everyone has been giving predictions on who would play Ana and Christian.

I personally don't believe that Fifty Shades of Grey is movie worthy but if they are going to do a movie, the should do it right.

At this point, we know that Fifty Shades Of Grey movie will be released in theaters on August 1, 2014 and will be directed by British director, Sam Taylor-Johnson.And that Dakota Johnson and Charlie Hunnam have been cast as Ana & Christian.

I was shocked about the casting to be honest. When I first heard that there was going to be a movie, the first two people who popped into my head were Henry Cavalli and Mila Kunis. Then Rachel Bilson, Emma Watson or Emma Stone for Ana Ian Somerhalder or Matt Bomer for Christian.

Trivia

Emma Watson, Lauren Watson, Shailene Woodley, Elizabeth Olsen, Imogen Poots, Alicia Vikander and Felicity Jones were considered to play Anastasia Steele before Dakota Johnson was finally cast.

Garrett Hedlund, Ryan Gosling and Chris Hemsworth turned down the role of Christian Grey, while Christian Cooke and Dominic Cooper auditioned. Charlie Hunnam was cast.

Sources

IMDB

The Wrap

In The News: New Addition To Gone Girl Movie Cast

Cast Addition
Emily Ratajkowski, model and actress, who appeared nearly nude in Robin Thicke’s controversial “Blurred Lines” music video is reportedly closing a deal to play Andie, the college-age mistress to Nick (Ben Affleck), in the movie, “Gone Girl.” Andie is a mysterious girl who is revealed to have an important role in the disappearance of Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike).

This would be the first major movie role for Ratajkowski, who has also. had parts on TV’s “New Girl” and “iCarly” and has modeled for
Nordstrom.

Location
The film's producer, Cean Chaffin, told the Southeast Missourian in Wednesday's edition that about half of the movie will be filmed in the southeast Missouri town.
Filming is scheduled to start Sunday and last about five weeks.
Chaffin said several locations inside and outside of Missouri were considered before Cape Girardeau was chosen.
"It's turned out to be exactly what we needed," Chaffin said. "We are shooting here more days than we
planned on because it's working so well."
He also said local residents will be hired as extras and some graduates of Southeast Missouri State University will work on the production.

Fun Fact
Reese Witherspoon, Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman, Emily Blunt, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Abbie Cornish and Julianne Hough were considered for the lead female role before Rosamund Pike was cast.

View the list of expected cast members at IMDB
**expected to be released in 2015

Sources
KansasCity
Variety
IMDB
MTv

In The News: J.K. Rowling To Write 'Harry Potter' Spin-off For Warner Bros

Warner Brothers and author J.K Rowling have announced a new Harry Potter spin-off movie series based on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

According to Rowling, "The new movie series is "neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world,"

Warner Brothers explained that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will focus on an original story and will be the first in a new film series. The movies will mark Rowling's first foray into screenwriting.
The series will focus on the character Newt Scamander, the fictional author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them -- which was a book referenced by characters in the Harry Potter series.

--from examiner.com

Are we excited or no. I don't know how I feel about this.
I've seen all the Harry Potter movies but I have read only one of the books and I can't remember which because it was such a long time ago.
I tried to get all the books in the series but the prices were too high.

Will there be books for the new series?

What do you think?

**image from Google search