AUGUST 1997

Great galloping Redford

Dear Burning Questions:
I really loved Nicholas Evans' "The Horse Whisperer" and understand it is being made into a movie. Are there any other novels in the works for this author?
Peg Plumley
via the Internet

BQ:
We loved "The Horse Whisperer" too. (Any rumors you've heard that the book is a sappy love story are absolutely correct -- we cried lak ze baby through most of this one and relished every moment.) The film version starring Robert Redford and Kristin Scott Thomas of "English Patient" fame will surely get us out with our office mates for another Good & Plenty/hanky-intensive film fest. The film opens in December.

Nicholas Evans is defintely at work on a new book for Delacorte, but no publication date has been set.

If the equestrian aspects of Evans' book appealed to you, a new memoir by a true-life horse whisperer has just come out. In "The Man Who Listens to Horses" (Random House), Monty Roberts explains how exactly he can calm the wildest beast in 30 minutes, without any violence. It turns out that most of the time, the wild beast isn't the problem; it's often a beastly owner who's causing the trauma. One horse owner in our office tells us the book is really, really special -- for those hoping to tame wild creatures of any sort.

Tastiest book club idea yet

Dear Burning Questions:
For a book club that's starting up -- any recommendations of food/cuisine/gastronomy fiction, beyond the obvious "Like Water for Chocolate"? We're planning to read and have a pot luck based on the local cuisine where the book is set.
Eyal Shemesh
via the Internet

BQ:
What a great idea for a book club! This may be more than you're looking for, but here is fiction with food running through it:

• All-time great food story: "Babette's Feast" by Isak Dinesen, written in 1950, which is contained in the collection "Anecdotes of Destiny" (Vintage). You'll be cooking all month long if you want to match the incredible feast in this tale.
  
• Nora Ephron's 1983 novel "Heartburn" (Vintage), set in New York City and Washington, is the hilarious, fictionalized story of her terrible marriage to journalist/Watergate discoverer Carl Bernstein. Ephron includes recipes throughout the story. (This was the first book we read that included such. We still make Potatoes Anna because of it.) A classic.
  
• Anything by Peter Mayle: his nonfiction accounts of expatriate life in Provence -- "A Year in Provence" and "Toujours Provence" -- are great fun. His novels "Hotel Pastis" and "Anything Considered" (all Vintage) are often silly but ever charming.
  
• And then there's Jacqueline Deval's recent culinary novel "Reckless Appetites" (Ecco): part fiction, part cookbook, filled with literary romance, revenge, and love.
  
• Diane Mott Davidson has made a career of writing "culinary mysteries." "Dying for Chocolate," "Killer Pancake," "The Main Corpse," "The Last Suppers," "Catering to Nobody," (Bantam) -- these feature Goldy Bear, a woman who solves crimes when she's not catering lavish events. Very light and fluffy, with recipes included.

If readers have other suggestions, send them in.

Jan Karon, Rosamunde Pilcher: Where all the children are above average

Dear Burning Questions:
Would love to know when Rosamunde Pilcher's next book is due AND would like to know how to subscribe to Jan Karon's newsletter. Have fallen in love with Mitford and characters!
Nancy Wyckoff
Columbus, Mississippi

BQ:
Ros has just started work on a new novel entitled "Twelve Days." St. Martin's Press/A Thomas Dunne Book plans to publish in late 1998 or early 1999.

More news for Pilcher fans: SMP/A Thomas Dunne Book has just signed her son, Robin, to write his first novel. According to our St. Martin's source, early drafts of the book indicate that Pilcher fans will be enthusiastically adding this to their bookshelves. Publication will be sometime in '98.

Elsewhere in the world of heart-warming fiction, you and everybody else have fallen in love with Jan Karon's fictional town. To receive a newsletter featuring news from Jan Karon, recipes from Mitford, and more, send your mailing address to:

Penguin Marketing, Dept. CC, "More from Mitford," 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014. Or email your mailing address to reading@penguin.com.

Pat Conroy, on hiatus

Dear Burning Questions:
Pat Conroy is my favorite writer. I have all his novels. I've read "Beach Music" tons of times and find each reading more wonderful. I want him to write another story. Is he?
Regis Leonard
via the Internet

BQ:
"Beach Music" wasn't exactly a pop-n-bake kind of book -- Conroy worked for years on it. Word has it that his next book is a long way off. So keep re-reading "Beach Music"; it may get so wonderful that you won't need any more Conroy novels.

Making the world safe for ISBNs

Dear Burning Questions:
Last month you asked (perhaps tongue in cheek) for help answering a request for books with information on the International Standard Book Number (ISBN).

Well, I just so happened toohave a copy of "Smart Self-Publishing: An Author's Guide to Producing a Marketable Book" (Linda and Jim Salisbury, 1995, Tabby House), which contains info about ISBNs, including the following listed in the appendix under "ISBN": R.R. Bowker/ISBN/Advanced Books Information, Diana Fumando, manager, 121 Chanlon Road, New Providence, NJ 07974, (800) 345-8110-8810; (908) 665-6770; fax (908) 665-2895. Hope this helps.

By the way, I enjoy BookPage and your insouciant column.
Peggy Elam
Nashville, Tennessee

So much for insouciance

Boy, do we feel like crumb bums. If you have a hankering to read Allan Folsom's recent bestseller, "The Day After Tomorrow," do not read last month's Burning Questions column. In an insouciant moment we let slip the ending to the book, and did we ever hear it from one of our readers. Rightfully so -- it's Rule No. 1 around here not to spill the beans in our reviews.

We were just so proud to have actually finished a book that we had to show off. See where that got us?

How to be published and not published at the same time

HarperCollins recently announced that it has cut its forthcoming books under contract by around 100 titles. Writers all signed up and ready to go were paid their full advances but politely shown the door.

Shrewd cost-cutting move for the publisher? Or cold-hearted corporate ax-wielding? Time will tell. We couldn't help but notice one new Harper title which escaped the melee: Brooke A. Wharton's "The Writer Got Screwed (but didn't have to): A Guide to the Legal and Business Practices of Writing for the Entertainment Industry."

Wondering why your favorite writer doesn't call, doesn't write anymore? Want to send us e-mail no. 9,001 about Jean Auel? Inquire with us, and we'll try to find out what's up: Burning Questions, 2501 21st Ave. South, Suite 5, Nashville, TN 37212. Or better yet, e-mail us at Burning_Questions@bookpage.com.

Alas, we regret that personal replies are not possible.

©1997, ProMotion, inc.

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