Reading on the Road

Top 5 bookstores to visit in New York City this weekend
Greenlight in Fort Greene
The Strand
McNally Jackson
Book Court
The souvenir stand at "Matilda: The Musical" to verify that they have a copy of Roald Dahl's classic on sale, and if not, tear the whole thing down

Vanity Fair: Who is your favorite hero of fiction?

Tina Fey: Veruca Salt, Francie Nolan, Miss Havisham. That’s me in a nutshell, actually.

Self-portrait, age 4

Except for the lack of psychic powers, the supportive parents and the not reading Dickens in preschool, it's pretty much all there. Here's to more Miss Honeys and fewer Miss Trunchbulls. What children's book character do you identify with the most?

Filmbook: "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (2009)

This has been the season of fiction authors I love writing nonfiction books and directors I really like making children's movies. While I want to reward both for stretching outside their comfort zones, there's a greater potential for disappointment in each.

"Fantastic Mr. Fox" is definitely a Wes Anderson movie first and a children's movie second, and I think I liked it better that way. For me, this movie was a great escape: I went in fretting about whatever it is I normally fret about and walked out 90 minutes later with a smile on my face. Beautifully composed with dollhouse-level details, witty without resorting to topical jokes (that's for you, "The Squeakuel" trailer we had to sit through first), stacked with solid voice work -- it was strong on all fronts, even if I don't think I'll be watching it over and over like Anderson's others.

Anderson and co-screenwriter Noah "Minor Dickens" Baumbach did a fair amount of re-arranging on the original Roald Dahl book; Mr. Fox gets an opossum sidekick I didn't remember from the book (seen above), and his four children are condensed into one, Ash, a neurotic teenager voiced by Jason Schwartzman in the Schwartzmanest role he has ever Schwartzmanned. Mr. Fox's theft gets a backstory as well as a B-plot in the form of Ash feeling deprived of his dad's attention when cousin Kristofferson comes to stay with the Foxes. The screenwriters also add to the ending substantially, but I won't spoil that for you here.

I wouldn't call it inappropriate for children (except for the peril of having to explain to your kid what the rat calling Mrs. Fox "the town tart" means), but I can see how they would get bored, and maybe even a little scared once the Foxes go toe to toe with Boggis, Bunce and Bean. As for the Wes Anderson humor, some of it will go over their heads, but then again some people in my (kid-free) audience weren't laughing either.

I was surprised that Anderson managed to keep "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" mostly within his comfort zone; Dana Stevens wrote about the movie in Slate that "the Anderson tics that threaten to get in the way of his storytelling in live-action films serve as assets here," and while I like the director more than she does, I do think this one plays to his strengths in a kind of unique way. It may yet sneak onto my top 10 of the year, although I have a lot of movies to catch up on before making that call.

FTC cover-assery: I paid for this ticket myself, but because I signed up for MovieWatcher 800 years ago, I now have a free ticket to burn off in the next three weeks. If I'm going to use it on a literary depress-o-fest this weekend, should I go for "The Road" or "The Lovely Bones"? I like the former book better, if that helps.

Still: ign.com

Opening this weekend: "The Fantastic Mr. Fox"

I haven't seen this yet, but I'm going to go ahead and recommend it because I like Wes Anderson that much. In fact, this would be a great place to report on the free talk Anderson gave earlier this week in New York, but I didn't get to it early enough and was turned away (and went home to flavor my can of Sparks with tears). Meryl Streep was there too! Oh well.

I might be more hesitant if this were one of my favorite Roald Dahl books, but it's not. I think we're all more susceptible to bad movie adaptations of our childhood favorites; I had to change the channel on "Matilda" after about 20 minutes.

“That was my BELL JAR, my TO THE LIGHTHOUSE. I thought that if it had been real they would just give me the factory — they wouldn’t even bother with a contest and those other kids.”

--Author and candy connoisseur Paul Rudnick on a significant book from his childhood, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.

Fall 2009 Book Adaptation Calendar

Because hope springs eternal in the human breast. These release dates are correct as of today but always changing.

9/18: "The Informant," based on the Kurt Eichenwald nonfiction book of the same name about an corporate informer who tried to take down Archer Daniels Midland. Why you should care: It's Soderbergh! And fat Matt Damon.

10/16: "Where the Wild Things Are," based on the Maurice Sendak children's book. Why you should care: Adapted by Dave Eggers!

10/16 also: "The Road," based on the Cormac McCarthy novel and starring Viggo Mortensen. Why you should care: It was supposed to come out last year! Either it's been fixed in the meantime or, direly, it hasn't.

11/13: "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," based on the Roald Dahl children's book with George Clooney voicing the fox. Why you should care: In this house we take all the Wes Anderson we can get. At least the late-night screenings should be empty.

11/20: "The Blind Side," based on the Michael Lewis nonfiction book. Why you should care: Amid all the non-news about the forthcoming MONEYBALL adaptation, this one kind of snuck past us -- which is not to say it will be great, but it could be good.

12/11: "The Lovely Bones," based on the Alice Sebold novel about a dead girl. Why you should care: It's Peter Jackson's first movie since the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy; further trivia, the lead is Saoirse Ronan, who you would know as young Briony in "Atonement."

12/25: "Sherlock Holmes," based (loosely?) on the Arthur Conan Doyle stories. Why you should care: Love for Robert Downey Jr. might overcome what looks like a ridiculous sub-"Prestige"; family needs something to rally around come Christmas.

Ineligible but still of note: Winsome coming-of-age tale "An Education" (10/9) is Nick Hornby's second produced screenplay; Pedro Almodóvar's "Broken Embraces" (11/20) follows a blind writer re-examining his life.

A lost chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

The sixth Golden Ticket winner, Miranda Piker, as the new second gunman? Merriam-Webster offers this definition of the word "piker": "one who does things in a small way." But I much prefer Urban Dictionary's "when someone fails to meet the expectations," because what fails more than a kid who actually wants to go to school?

Seriously, if you like Roald Dahl, read Jennet Conant's book THE IRREGULARS about Dahl in Washington D.C. during World War II schmoozing with diplomats. It's a really neat untold history that, so far as I have seen, is not getting much attention in year-end wrap-ups, but is much cheerier than the new Bob Woodward or THIS REPUBLIC OF SUFFERING.

What's your favorite Roald Dahl book? Much as I love CHARLIE... I have to go with MATILDA.

Hat tip: Fabulously Broke in the City, a personal finance blog.