The Golden Globes

I don't pay much attention to the Golden Globes or other film awards. While I love movies, my interests tend to be a bit esoteric: French, Spanish and Italian films; some Latin American films; and U.S. classics from the '30s and '40s. (So yes, I did take note of the foreign-language entries.) I admit, however, that some commercial films do make their way to my Netflix queue, albeit slowly; Julie & Julia, for example, is waiting for me at home right now. The draw there is three-fold: Julia Child, Meryl Streep and, naturellement, France.

When I did, finally, scan the complete list of Globe nominees and winners, I was surprised by the number of films that were based on books:

• The Lovely Bones (by Alice Sebold)
• Invictus (by John Carlin)
• An Education (by Nick Hornsby)
• A Single Man (by Christopher Isherwood)
• Precious, based on the novel Push (by Sapphire)
• The Informant! (by Kurt Eichenwald)

Then there's Sherlock Holmes, based on the Arthur Conan Doyle stories; two children's classics, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (by Judi and Ron Barrett) and Where the Wild Things Are (by Maurice Sendak); and Julie and Julia, based on both My Life in France by Julia Child and Julie and Julia: My Life of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell.

Have I missed anything?

This afternoon we learned of two deaths in the writing world: mystery author Robert B. Parker, 77, who passed away Monday in Cambridge, Mass., and Love Story author Erich Segal, 72, who died Sunday in London.

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