A couple of years ago I blogged about my obsession with writer couples: Zadie Smith and Nick Laird, Vendela Vida and Dave Eggers, Nicole Krauss and Jonathan Safran Foer. Click here for a refresher. Jonathan Safran Foer you know, likely from Everything Is Illuminated. Have you read Krauss’s The History Of Love? It’s a book I read once a year. I last wrote about it here in a post about Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen. Who are still together. But Krauss and Safran Foer are not. They are literary elite and they lived in Brooklyn and sold their townhouse for almost $15 million and they broke up last year. And at the time, Duana and I sent emails back and forth to each other like they were Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner and nobody else cared.
You might care now because according to US Weekly – on a roll this week, clearly – Jonathan Safran Foer is now dating Michelle Williams.
___
Have you read Emma Donoghue’s Room? I reviewed the book a few years ago – click here to read that post. I met Emma Donoghue. Heard her speak at an event at my alma mater, Western University. She was asked to talk for 7 minutes about creativity. She ended up talking about 7 ways writing is like sex. Delightful. Funny. So smart, so charming, really, really nice. And as a reader I kept thinking to myself, oh my God, you’re the one who came up with that story that f-cked me up for weeks afterwards, still f-cks me up now, when I think about it.
If you haven’t read Room, you should. But also be warned that it’s not easy. It’s not enjoyable. But a book’s value isn’t necessarily attached to enjoyment, is it? When you read it, have a light book – or a horny book – on standby. Because you’re going to need it afterwards. Maybe even during.
To me, Room is about love and children and choices. Especially choices. I write about those choices in my review. The choice that Ma made for Jack. The choices that Ma has to continue to make because she chose Jack. You can do that in a book. Can you do that in a movie?
____
I saw these new shots of Charlize Theron out in LA yesterday wearing a really, really great top, I want it really, really bad, and realised we haven’t talked yet about the news that she’s adopted a daughter. TMZ had the exclusive a few days ago. The baby girl is African-American and is called August. I’ll play Duana here and analyse the name. Most people are familiar with August as a boy’s name. Unless, of course, you’ve read The Secret Life Of Bees. August Boatright, right?
In the story, August Boatright is a black woman living in the South. She started as a housekeeper, went to school, became a high school teacher, and then a businesswoman. She did not want to get married so as not to lose her independence. She’s respected in her community. She’s a role model. So if this was the character who inspired Charlize for her daughter, boy or girl, what does it matter? In the movie, August Boatright is played by Queen Latifah.
____
Nicole Kidman’s The Family Fang is coming to TIFF. And since it doesn’t yet have distribution, it’s very likely that we’ll see her here on the Monday. Doesn’t look like there’s a Photograph 51 performance scheduled that day either so the schedule seems open for a quick trip to Toronto to promote the film with Jason Bateman. Have you read the book? It’s a really interesting story, especially in light of what we’re seeing in pop culture, with parents creating entertainment narratives out of their kids, blurring art and exploitation, and the consequences that can have on the family dynamic.
____
Have you read the new Harry Potter family history on Pottermore yet? JK Rowling included the fresh piece along with a site update. We find out that “Potter” is shortened from “Potterer”, why Harry’s family was so rich, that the Potter men have always had unruly hair, and why the Invisibility Cloak was passed down to him. Harry comes from an impressive lineage. But we now find out why the Potters did not make it on the Sacred Twenty-Eight, the list of high classy pure-blood wizarding families. Harry comes from a long line of Muggle love.
In real life, does Prince William count as a Muggle lover?
Speaking of stories, I have a flight this afternoon and I can’t wait to get on it so I can be with Mindy Kaling for the second time. Have you started Why Not Me? yet? It’s good. It’s SO good. She’s SO good. Hurry up and finish so that we can talk about the time she met Bradley Cooper and… who’s the pop star who won’t vaccinate her children?
