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Search String: is the movie Shopgirl Steve Martin's autobiography

No. The movie Shopgirl is based on a novella (i.e. short novel) of the same name and is Steve Martin's first published work of fiction. It is about a lonely young woman who sells gloves in Neiman's. Unless Martin was once a girl behind a counter in a department store, odds are it isn't his autobiography.

Search String: what are the points of view in reading

There are many. A story can be told from the point of view of the main character, an objective observer, an unreliable narrator, multiple narrators, a third-person omniscient, etc. The best way to figure out point of view for a particular book is to read it. Your job, as a reader, is to understand and interpret what you read, which includes identifying point of view. For example, this paragraph is written from the point of view of the Book Mistress. Now, don't you feel smart?

Search String: how to read "house of leaves"

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski may seem like a daunting read but can be easily conquered by following these steps. Begin at the beginning. Follow the pages sequentially. When you come to a footnote, read the footnote then return to where you left off in the text. If you are directed to an appendix, read the appendix then return to where you left off in the text. You are finished when you reach the end.

Search String: running with scissors fact or fiction

Augusten Burroughs's Running with Scissors is a memoir, a genre that is not held to the same rigorous factual standards as a biography or autobiography. Some of it may be true, some of it may be based on what the author remembers as being true. Often, memoirists use will impression, interpretation, and fictionalization to tell their stories, so memoirs should be read with the foreknowledge that not everything may be completely accurate. Burroughs has asserted that his memoir is factual, but the Turcottes (portrayed in the book as the Finches) disagree. They have filed a lawsuit.

Search String: my name is oliver. i m a 33 year-old living in toronto canada. i have many interests but i ll list a few; i love to read watch movies listen to music and write. i m an author with a passion for writing so i spend much of my time doing that. i m a huge tennis fan...so i usually spend much of my time watching the grand slams.i m interesed in communicating with guys from all over the world. i consider myself to be a friendly honest guy and look for the the same. i am single and i live alone but much of my time is spent around family and friends

Dude, the Book Mistress can't help you.

I had some extra time on my hands today, so I thought I'd do a little bit of poking around to find out if past BookBlog authors have been up to anything interesting recently. They're quite a busy bunch.

Steve Martin [Shopgirl] - The March 8th issue of The New Yorker includes script notes on Mel Gibson's The Passion from funnyman Steve Martin. LawGeek was kind enough to share some of it with all of us ("Possible title change: 'Lethal Passion.' Kinda works. The more I say it outloud, the more I like it.") since The New Yorker is kind of stingy with its online content. (link)

Gregory Maguire [Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister] - Damn, I missed it. This past Friday, Maguire was at the Columbus Circle Borders in New York City to sign copies of Wicked. However, the musical version continues to do well on Broadway, and you can buy $100 a pop tickets through its official web site. (link)

Chuck Palahniuk [Invisible Monsters] - On Tuesday, March 16th, Palahniuk will be live online with The Guardian. The author chat starts at 4:00 p.m. GMT, which is 11:00 a.m. EST. Questions posted include "[I]s it really a good way of meeting hot chicks?" and "There was a bit of graffiti on one of the bridges crossing over the 405 from 13th to 14th street. It read: Be boring. Be deathlike. Be Eva Lake. There was some other good graffiti around town, but I don't want to repeat it here. Have you any favorites?" If you, too, have an inane question for Chuck, get it in now. (link)

Jose Saramago [Blindness] - University of California television will be celebrating National Poetry Month by showing poetry-related programs Thursday and Friday nights throughout the month of April. On April 2nd, they will air From Memory to Fiction through History with Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago, a taping of a talk the author gave at UCLA. According to the UCTV site, you should be able to watch it on demand using RealPlayer, but I couldn't get it to work. Maybe you'll have more luck. (link)

J.K. Rowling [Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone] - Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has been shortlisted for The Butler & Tanner Book of the Year by the British Book Awards. Will she Bend It Like Beckham (Anyone else seen this flick?) and beat out the footballer's autobiography to the top prize? The winners are to be announced on April 7th. (link)

Haruki Murakami [Norwegian Wood] - This summer's Lincoln Center Festival is to include The Elephant Vanishes, a multimedia retelling of three stories by Murakami in Japanese with English supertitles. The performances by Tokyo's Setagaya Public Theatre will be shown from July 21st through July 25th, and tickets for multiple events go on sale beginning April 6th. (link)

Scott Heim [Mysterious Skin] - According to Heim's rarely updated blog, the movie version of Mysterious Skin, which stars the kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun, is nearly complete. Andy, who moderated the book and also runs realityblurred.com, should be pleased to know that Heim reports being "utterly consumed by reality TV again." Suggestion for Heim: permalinks. xxmarydell. (link)

John Kennedy Toole [A Confederacy of Dunces] - The movie version of our August 2002 selection continues to have trouble getting off the ground, but still stars Will Ferrell as Ignatius J. Reilly. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about Elf, but IMDB message board posters have come up with some interesting alternatives: Oliver Platt, John Goodman, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. (link)

Although Kate knew choosing Shopgirl would not generate much controversy among our members, I felt the discussion disintegrated into an appalling display of mutual respect and affection between Rich and Andy. (Stop it. Now. Please.) Despite my chagrin at the lack of tension in March's discussion, I'd like to send a hearty thank you to Kate for moderating and exposing us a title that was able to, ahem, unite us as a group. (Oh, I'm kidding. I'm glad we can agree on some things.)

That being said, we've got some interesting books coming up in the future. I've already finished Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and am almost ready to get started on A Canticle for Leibowitz. Of course, I've read Blindness, which is one of my favorite books, since I'll be moderating June.

Who's ready to step up to the plate and take on July?

I was able to relate to Mirabelle's job in Shopgirl, of all things. I used to work (and later manage) the Womens Accessories department. I remember arranging evening gloves in one of the display cases. But, I never found it boring. It was never the busiest department, but I always managed to get through the night.

Have any of you had mind-numbing positions like Mirabelle?

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed this month's selection of Shopgirl. Originally, I read this book two years ago. It was given to me as a gift and I really enjoyed the story. I was (and still am) amazed that Steve Martin was able to capture my attention and interest with this novella.

What did you think of the story? Was there anything you liked or disliked about it?

Wow. I'm sure I'm not the only one whose head was reeling during that great discussion of Revenge. Thanks to Kara for choosing such a meaty book. Thanks also go out to our newest member and Revenge expert Alex, a.k.a. Dark Past.

Moving on to future months, you can see by the tote board on the left that the upcoming moderators have chosen their books:

Andy has chosen Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim for this month. It's an emotional story of a young man's struggle to learn what happened to him during several hours of "lost" time from his childhood.

Kate's title for March is Shopgirl, Steve Martin's look at the life of a lonely woman who works behind the glove counter at Neiman Marcus.

Next, Mary Carmen's April selection is Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire and illustrated by Bill Sanderson. This retelling of the Cinderella story is set in 17th-century Holland.

I hope everyone is looking forward to the upcoming discussions.

Anyone ready to take on May? (You knew I was going to ask!)