Chick Lit: Bridget Jones will be back!

The Guardian announced this week that Helen Fielding is currently working on a third novel about the world's favourite single lady, Bridget Jones, to be published next autumn. The publishers only stated that the book "explores a different phase in Bridget's life" and will be set in present-day London, i.e. roughly 13 years after the last instalment in the series. Ooooh, I'm already psyched!

The author revealed that Bridget's popular diary entries would now be focusing more on Twitter followers than on cigarettes, alcohol and weight loss or gain. "It's more like 'number of Twitter followers: 0. Still no followers. Still no followers'. But she has grownup. My life has moved on and hers will move on too," Fielding declared. "She's still trying to give up [drinking and smoking], she's still on a diet. She's trying a bit harder, and is a bit more successful, but she's never really going to change."

(c) www.desktopnexus.com

So, I'm going to pencil a big fat mark into my calendar for 2013. I know... it's comfort literature, but in my personal book that is more than enough for a cosy autumny weekend. 

Tattoos...

... are forever. Well, in most cases this holds true and, after all, this is the idea of it: that you can't just wash it off! Thus, getting one should be considered very carefully. Still, my poor little tattoo-liking and book-loving heart has just been tempted again. Want to see what did it? Really? Watch your blood pressure cause here goes:

(c) Robert Presutti, The New York Times

Tataaaaa! Isn't this lovely??? A little voice in my ear keeps yelling at me that it's just a teeny tiny one after all - psychomachia for this bibliophile! According to several articles on the internet, literary tattoos appear to be on the rise and have become a new mode of self-expression. These tattoos, in most cases, consist of short and memorable quotations or little icons like this one here.

So what about you, book lovers and loveresses? Would you wear your passion for literature on your sleeve... ahem, skin? If so, what kind of needle work would you get? Please satisfy my curiousity and post your comments below.

This morning in the office library...

... I came across these two having a secret rendez-vous in front of an ominous looking bookshelf:

(c) SC, welcometobookalley.blogspot.de

Gotcha, Bill and Queenie!! Love seems to bridge not only space but also time. ;-) Or maybe they were merely having a quiet discussion about literature: Shakespeare defending the value of his plays and Lizzie questioning the positioning of the Norton Anthology of English literature right next to the one of American literature. Who knows? They sure didn't want to tell me. But you know what they say:

(c) Men of the Stacks calendar

Pssssssst.....

(c) bookporn.tumblr.com/

Even Mr Hunka-Hunka Librarian says so and he is always right. Yes, Sir! Now shush, and go back to your reading!   

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore

Have any of you come across this wonderful short film already? It is called The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore and was directed by Brandon Oldenburg and William Joyce in 2011. The producers describe it as an "allegory about the curative powers of story" with the plot of the film revolving around book lover Lessmore and his becoming custodian of a magical library of flying books. It surely is every bibliophile's dream cast into a wonderful animation! You can watch it online at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vftMo1-cfWE

Books that make you go "Oooooh!"

The UK version of  
The Tiger's Wife  (Orion Books, 2011)

Well, I love books. Guilty! But you probably know that already, even though this blog is just kicking off. However, there are some books that I love really, really much. Those are the books I want to hug to my chest while caressing their covers. They are the books I would like to climb into or to wrap around me like a comfort blanket because they are so freakin' good - no - great!

One of these is a novel I just finished: Téa Obreht's The Tiger's Wife. I admit that I actually passed it in the bookshop several times, thinking "naah, not for me". Then a colleague gave me his copy and I was hooked from the very first page. The Tiger's Wife is the story of Natalia, a young doctor in former Yugoslavia, and the special relationship she had with her grandfather. The book is a matryoshka-like collection of stories (and fragments thereof) which Natalia's granddad told her, interspersed with her own quest of unravelling the mysteries of his death.

If you haven't read this yet, you definitely should. Both in my private life and in my job I come across a very large number of books every year, but this one definitely stood out! It is eloquent, poetic, poignant and full of clever images. Obreht won the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction with this debut - a more than well-deserved award. Personally, I can't wait for her second book, but it will definitely be hard to top this one.

Congratulations, Mr President!

Yes!! Obama has been re-elected for another four years and the whole world lets out one giant sigh of relief! In view of this fortunate event, I wanted to share this picture I recently found on punditkitchen.com. See? Books are cool! :)

Celebrity books - seriously?

So here's this: "According to the Hollywood Reporter, Spears is currently in discussion with a division of HarperCollins about writing a novel. The plan is for Spears to write a "roman à clef", similar to Lauren Conrad's 2009 book and subsequent series LA Candy." (The Guardian)

And here follows my question: Do we really need another celebrity trying her hand at writing? As if the navel-gazing of star autobiographies (hardly any of which is actually penned by the celebrity in question him/herself) isn't enough, the belief that anyone who can decently sing into a microphone or cry convincingly in front of a camera also needs to write a novel eludes me. Why, oh why would you think so? And let's face it, even though Lauren Conrad's books sold well, they are not really worth their money. Just my humble opinion but yes.... So, Britney, please don't do it! You've got enough on your hands raising your kids and producing your records. As my grandma used to stay: Cobbler, stick to thy last.