Courtesy of UCBT
Bobby Moynihan Named New SNL Cast Member [HuffPo]
Khaled Hosseini's 'The Kite Runner' has been voted the Reading Group Book Of The Year for the third base year running in a poll of web voters and volume clubs.
Hosseini's indorsement novel, 'One Thousand Splendid Suns', took second in the vote. It is the third year in a run-in that 'The Kite Runner' has topped this poll, which was done through the Penguin and Orange websites and with readers groups in the UK.
The author aforesaid: "What a thrill it is for me, and indeed what a cracking honor, that The Kite Runner has been selected again as the Penguin/Orange Broadband Reading Group Book of the Year. The writing of this book was a labor of love for me.
"I grew quite attached to the characters and came to care for them in a most personal way."
Top 10 front-runner reading radical books, according to the Penguin/Orange poll:
1. 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini
2. 'One Thousand Splendid Suns' by Khaled Hosseini
3. 'Old Filth' by Jane Gardam
3. 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop
3. 'The Poisonwood Bible' by Barbara Kingsolver
3. 'Small Island' by Andrea Levy (all joint)
7. 'Suite Francaise' by Irene Nemirovsky
8. 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' by Lionel Shriver
8. 'Salmon Fishing In The Yemen' by Paul Torday
8. 'The Inheritance Of Loss' by Kiran Desai (all joint)
Links:
www.readersgroupprize.com
www.penguin.co.uk/readers
CNN congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin appeared to be backing away from her
comments Wednesday night that in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq, reporters,
herself included, were "under enormous pressure from corporate executives, frankly, to
make sure that this was a war that was presented in a way that was consistent with
the patriotic fever in the nation and the president's high approval ratings." Her
remarks came during a discussion on Anderson Cooper's CNN show concerning former
White House press secretary Scott McClellan's new book, What Happened? On a
CNN blog today, Yellin conceded that in early 2003, while then working for ABC, she
was never asked to change a line in her scripts. "I did not mean to leave the impression
that corporate executives were interfering in my daily work," Yellin said, "My interaction
was with senior producers. What was clear to me is that many people running the broadcasts
wanted coverage that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the country at the time.
It was clear to me they wanted their coverage to reflect the mood of the country."
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that McClellan received an advance of only
$75,000 from the little-known publisher PublicAffairs after leading publishing houses
turned the book down. Almost overnight it has topped Amazon's best-seller list, and
the publisher has doubled its printing from 65,000 to 130,000.
30/05/2008
HARRISON FORD became a top Hollywood actor by accident - after taking up drama class by mistake.
The Indiana Jones star only took the subject to raise his grades, but admits he had no idea what acting actually entailed.
He says, "I did it because my grade averages in philosophy were precarious because of my in attendance and poor attitude to scholarship. I only took drama because I didn't fully read the description of the class.
"I thought, 'Drama, how hard could that be?' If I knew you had to get up and act and be in plays I wouldn't have done it. When I found out what it involved it scared the bejesus out of me."
But Ford soon realised acting was for him: "Before drama I never could figure out what I might be useful at. Then I thought about making a living as an actor. You get to travel and live different lives and study different kinds of lives."
