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Buying a rare book doesn’t mean you own the copyright (This week in books)

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This week! Books!

Some eclectic links for you this chilly week.

A group of misguided “Dune-loving cryptocurrency enthusiasts” banded together to pay €2.9 million for a rare copy of filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s plans to adapt Dune for film, thinking that then meant they could release it to the public, produce an animated series, and/or produce derivative works. This, to say the least, is not how these things work. Heck, even if they had contracted with Frank Herbert and/or Alejandro Jodorowsky themselves they still (probably) wouldn’t own the copyright. Agent Kate McKean explains how these things do work.

Quite a few on the old Internet have decided that 2000s and 2010s fare like Hamilton, Parks & Rec, and Harry Potter are now cringe (and yes, quite few people already thought this when they came out). Ben Dreyfuss retorts, they’re not cringe, you’re cringe. Well, more specifically, these works didn’t change, the times (and you) have changed. (Laver’s Law of fashion applies here too.)

Many of us were traumatized by the Disney movie Bambi as a child. So how weird and dark could the original book and its author be? Like, nearly-impossible-to-imagine-levels-of bleak coming and going, as Kathryn Schulz discovers.

My Monday post about Don’t Look Up provoked some great responses, including a lot of appreciations for the running snacks joke. (Yes, I agree!). I also came across Andrew DeYoung’s interesting take (he appreciated the movie more than I did).

Agent Angie Hodapp takes a look at one of the storytelling styles that departs from the Hero’s Journey and three/seven act structures, and the notion that conflict needs to be on every page: Kishōtenketsu, a four act structure that originated in China.

The Cloud Atlas-esque genre and time sprawling epic seems to be newly en vogue, and Lincoln Michel coins a new term for it: the speculative epic.

And Bethanne Patrick takes a look at 15 books that reward a re-read.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

  1. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
  2. Something to Hide by Elizabeth George
  3. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  4. Verity by Colleen Hoover
  5. The Maid by Nita Prose

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

  1. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
  2. Unthinkable by Jamie Raskin
  3. The 1619 Project edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman and Jake Silverstein
  4. How Civil Wars Start by Barbara F. Walter
  5. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

Young adult hardcover:

  1. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
  2. Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds
  3. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  4. You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao
  5. Here’s to Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

Middle grade hardcover:

  1. Refugee by Alan Gratz
  2. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
  3. Northwind by Gary Paulsen
  4. Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan
  5. Out of My Heart by Sharon M. Draper

This week on the blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

Don’t forget that you can nominate your first page and query for a free critique on the blog:

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

And finally, the winners of the 2021 Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest are totally stunning.

Have a great weekend!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. abc says

    I wanna feel for those guys who thought they were buying a whole future, but it’s just too funny.

    I loved your piece on Don’t Look Up (and feel much the same although I didn’t know how to put it into words until you did), but I do have to say that I did laugh out loud when the Peter Isherwell character was telling President Orlean how she was going to die. I can’t remember the exact wording, but Mark Rylance’s line reading was so good.

  3. Neil Larkins says

    Those dudes who paid the 2.9 euros for the book… Where’s the LMAO button when you need it?