Posts Tagged ‘Books’

Would-be modern day saint Greg Mortenson got hit by a devastating one-two journalistic punch courtesy of Jon Krakauer and 60 Minutes pointing out his nonexistent loose relationship with the truth as it relates to some anecdotes and details in his best-selling books.

In making the comparison between Mortenson and James Frey, Krakauer notes, “Frey, unlike Mortenson, didn’t use his phony memoir to solicit tens of millions of dollars in donations from unsuspecting readers.”

Beyond the literary embellishment or outright fabrication alleged in both reports, the charges that Mortenson has mismanaged or used CAI funds for personal use, or claimed credit for building nonexistant schools raise even more troubling questions.  The fact that President Obama gave $100,000 of his Nobel Peace Prize money to Mortenson’s charity will bring even more scrutiny to what he’s done with the millions of dollars he’s raised over the years.

Again, I quote the Beatles: “Sexy Sadie what have you done / You made a fool of everyone.”

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Fantastic news. From the LA Times:

In the hunt for a new spy series, Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to Daniel Silva’s books about Gabriel Allon, a former Israeli intelligence operative turned art restorer. Jeff Zucker, who stepped down as NBC Universal CEO in January, has come on board to produce.

Allon has appeared in ten of Silva’s books, beginning with 2001’s “The Kill Artist” and continuing through the recent “The Rembrandt Affair.” The latest installment, “Portrait of a Spy,” will be published by Harper in July.

Universal has picked up rights to all past and future books in the series, which have an estimated 25 million books in print.

The books are terrific. If you haven’t read any of them, imagine if Jack Bauer worked for the Mossad. The fact that Daniel Silva will be involved with the movie as an executive producer hopefully means that the script will stay as true to his book as possible.