Books in Cinema
Travellers who meet have two questions — where are you coming from? And where are you going? Similarly with books, people ask us where they come from (see the specialist areas page) and as shopkeepers we are fascinated by their destinations, the variety of our customers, who head off with books in hand. Mostly these are bought, but for stage and screen we also hire, two films in which our books have supporting roles are coming out this month.
If you go to see The Rum Diary, you will see Johnny Depp and some key volumes. The film is itself based on an early Hunter S Thomson book that apparently he had in drawer, until persuaded of its merits by Depp, who was a friend. Thomson died in 2005. For many years his most famous work, Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, which has remained ever popular, was the recipient, perhaps appropriately, of considerable amounts of glue. The binding of the British copies always fell apart. As time has gone on, this and much else has been republished with happier results, we have a good stock of gonzo.
Also coming soon, Hugo, based on The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick and directed by Martin Scorcese. For us, this was a more substantial request; we were asked to provide literally thousands, a truckload of French books of the period. There was much digging down through pallets of boxes, booksellers as human squirrels. Our proprietor has seen the film and recommends it, apparently the books look splendid too.
