So we've got not one but two first-rate titles that we're going to offer to some lucky TEV reader just because, well, basically, it's one way to get people to come back here on Fridays. (We keed ... we do it to express our appreciation for your support. Well, that and to clear out some of the piles that accumulate aroud this place. Like other Angelenos, we've thought about the whole buried-by-books-in-an-earthquake thing, and though it would be an apropos way to go, we're sort of opposed to ways to go in general just now.)
We know, we know - shut up already and talk about the books. OK.
First up, we're offering a copy of Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead. It's just come out in paperback, courtesy of the fine folks at Picador who do seem to round up the best titles when they hit the paperback rack, so check out their other titles as well as a thank you.
We're also offering the genuinely interesting Conversations with John Schlesinger. This is a terrific Q&A conducted by his nephew Ian Buruma (who knew?) and ranges over loads of fascinating subjects from growing up Jewish during World War II to his sexual coming of age as a gay man in the 1950s to his arrival on the scene in the 1960s. And they talk a whole lot about the movies, too - movies which include Midnight Cowboy, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Marathon Man and The Day of the Locust. A terrific historical document which comes to us courtesy of Random House.
So the first email containing the words "Gimme the books" in the subject line will get both. And do us a favor, chill a bit - remember, we're on west coast time and we're late risers, so we'll post the winner as soon as we stumble out of bed.
UPDATE: We're awake and we have a winner. Congratulations to Ryan Learmouth!
And, Darling, don't forget Darling--the movie that burned a Julie Christie-shaped hole in all our lives.
Posted by: John Shannon | February 06, 2006 at 03:21 PM