Book Bits

(from usatoday.com
by Lindsay Deutsch)


Costa book award: "It's hard to believe this is a first novel – it's so good it will make you feel a better person." That's what the judges said about Nathan Filer's Costa book award-winning novel, The Shock of the Fall. Filer, a mental health nurse, beat out literary heavy-hitters including Kate Atkinson for the prestigious prize.

Scorsese and books: Martin Scorsese is working with David Tedeschi on an untitled documentary about The New York Review of Books, which will preview as a work in progress at the Berlin Film Festival, Variety reports. The film will compile "rare footage and photographs" and includes writers such as James Baldwin, Susan Sontag, Noam Chomsky, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, Michael Chabon and Mary Beard.

Huge book festival: Love the National Book Festival? Plan your schedule around Brooklyn's acclaimed fest? Well, India's Jaipur Literature Festival makes these look like small-time events. This year's event, which kicked off Friday, had a record-breaking 200,000 attendees. That's a whole lot of book lovers — and a brand-new travel destination for bibliophiles to swoon over!

Reit-eous adaption: Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Labor Day) has revealed that he's adapting The Possibilities by Kaui Hart Hemmings (The Descendants) — four months before the book is even released. The novel tells the story of a friendship between a mysterious girl and a Colorado woman mourning the loss of her son who died in an avalanche while skiing.

'Fault in Our Stars' trailer: Get ready to feel some emotions. All of the emotions. Check out the trailer for the movie adaptation of John Green's best-selling young-adult novel, The Fault in Our Stars. Plus, read about Esther Earl, one of Green's fans and friends who was an inspiration for the novel and whose own book, This Star Won't Go Out, was released posthumously this week. And, we beg you, please read Green's novel before you see the movie (you have until June 6). Here's the 4-star review from USA TODAY's Bob Minzesheimer.

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