Tonight's Reading - 12/02/07

● Black Sunday for Maize and Blue

I'll admit it: I wore my Michigan hooded sweatshirt with some struttin' pride yesterday when ESPN reported that LSU's Les Miles was going to take over as Michigan's head football coach, and would add Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta to his staff.  The future at the corner of Stadium and Main was going to be bright.  I went out to lunch, ran some errands, caught a movie, and then came home to see Miles angrily denying the report.  Even worse, he emphatically stated that he'd be the coach at LSU.  I choose to be delusionally optimistic, trying to read between the lines of what Miles really said (and didn't say).  But right now, it appears that Michigan will have to expand its coaching search.  Plus, the basketball and hockey teams lost on Saturday, too.  Go Blurgh.

● A Sinner's Tale

In anticipation of the film adaptation of his novel Atonement hitting theaters, the New York Times has 10 questions for author Ian McEwan.  Interestingly, McEwan was an executive producer on the movie.  I guess he doesn't subscribe to Ernest Hemingway's belief that authors should drive to the border of California, throw his/her book over the fence, wait for Hollywood to throw money back over the fence, and drive away.

● The 10 Best Books of 2007

You know it's December when these sorts of lists are published.  Of the New York Times' 10 best, I have read... none of them.  As if I didn't already know that my literary consumption was vastly lacking this past year.  I don't suppose having the intent to buy at least two of these books at some point counts for anything, does it?  (By the way, since I never got around to it before, congratulations to fellow Hawkeye Denis Johnson for winning the National Book Award for Tree of Smoke.)

● Book Vs. Film: No Country For Old Men

Adapting books into movies has always intrigued me, and I'm often fascinated by the differences between the literary and filmed versions of what's presumably the same story.  Why does something work on the page, but not on the screen, or vice versa?  And after seeing No Country For Old Men, I was very curious how closely the Coen brothers had followed Cormac McCarthy's novel.  This is a fantastic analysis of the two versions, and the differences between them.  (And just in case it needs to be said, spoiler alert.  Don't read this if you still plan on seeing the movie.)

● Slaughter on Union Square

If I was in New York tomorrow night, I'd try like hell to attend Michael Ruhlman's appearance with Anthony Bourdain at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square, to promote The Elements of Cooking.  (Mis Hooz is probably wiping her brow with relief, as I would've made her accompany me.)  If you're a fan of either Ruhlman or Bourdain, you probably enjoy the feudfriendship between these two.  That should be a fun event.