Literary Question of the Month - May

After taking a brief hiatus from Literary Questions of the Month, Rob comes back with this extremely fun but daunting question:

"you're a film producer, and wery hot property right now since your last film made a billion-zillion dollars and broke all sorts of box-office records, and won 20 Oscars...as a reward, you're told that you can make a film from any book your heart desires, be it your favorite, or one you can strongly visualize, or one you'd like to see remade in your own vision...you have a blank check, you can cast whatever actors you like, hire whatever director you wish...so, my multiple question is: what would that book be? who would you cast? and who would you pick to direct? (grins) you can even name your cinematographer if you're feeling frisky.."

(I had to quote, as a simple paraphrase wouldn't capture Rob's evil and sly, yet hilarious, persona.)

Is anybody up to the (fun) task of answering this question? Drop on by the BBD and weigh in on this if you think you have the perfect arthaus hit!

BBD World Lit for May: Russia (the Motherland!)

Okay, "the Motherland" is a joke that nobody but I and.. well, I will get. But crack open the vodka because we're going to Russia this month! Rob welcomes her fellow comrades to Russia with a great post about 20th century Russian writers. The real buzz this month, though, is the Pevear translation of War and Peace, which is what we're tackling for this month's read.

I, personally, got off to a late start with the book because someone in my household was already reading my shiny new copy. Other BBDers have already started to brave the doorstop tome and are finding it brilliant, if unwieldy. Rob posted up some lovely starter info in the discussion thread over at BBD; if you're joining us late for the read, have no fear--some of us read at a snail's pace, so we will be chiming into the discussions for months, I bet!

Next month is China! See you then!