Kurt Cobain
Daily Variety reports that Riverhead, a division of Penguin Putnam, has bought the rights to publish the notebooks of the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain for close to $4 million. Publishers got a sneak peak at the journals last week, and insiders who have read excerpts from Cobains 23 notebooks (about 800 pages written over several years), tell TIME the early buzz is warranted.
The diaries include a handwritten draft of lyrics to Cobains generation-defining single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," with verses crossed out and circled. Cobain obsessively lists his 50 favorite CDs during various periods, often naming albums by fellow Seattle band the Melvins. There are also letters — to bandmates, to lovers, even a note firing the bands first drummer. Publishing sources describe the diaries as an intimate look at an artist who cherished his privacy. Says one, "I got a sense of him as a businessman, as a writer. His personality came through powerfully." Several passages reflect Cobains well-documented heroin addiction and bouts of depression (he committed suicide in 1994). Others — like a huffy list of band rules — reveal the surprising ambition of an artist who popularized a genre — grunge — that scorned popular success.
ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR:
PW and Kirkus both give starred reviews to "The Letters of Arturo
Toscanini," edited by Harvey Sachs (Knopf; April 28). Says Kirkus, "A
rich and vivid collection of the great conductors correspondence. Music
historian Sachs (no relation) learned of these letters after publishing
his definitive biography (Toscanini, 1978), and while they contain no
startling revelations, they give us a much better understanding of a man
who famously refused all interviews and wrote no memoirs. In his
introduction, Sachs predicts that Toscaninis numerous affairs will
garner the most attention, and there are indeed many, many pages of
'erotic, pornographic ravings. After a while, this seemingly ageless
adolescents ardor grows wearisome, and we are grateful that he also
wrote copiously about more interesting matters like music...Music,
history, and gossip from a master musician and letter." PW agrees. "This
will be catnip to music lovers. FORECAST: Toscanini has never lost his
hold on the public imagination. Wide review attention, as well as the
sensational nature of some of the material here, should ensure sales
above what such a volume might normally inspire."
LANTANA LIT:
Sneer at tabloid journalism if you will, but the National Enquirer sold
6.5 million newsstand copies of its issue with Elvis peacefully at rest
in his open casket. In September, Iain Calder, the Enquirers
editor-in-chief for 30 years, will detail such feats of tabloidism in an
as-yet untitled memoir for Talk Miramax. This is the guy who knows where
all the bodies are buried, even before theyre buried.
BELTWAY BOOKS:
On May 13, Simon & Schuster will publish "Citizen McCain" by Elizabeth
Drew. Kirkus gives the book a thumbs up. "Washington insider and
accomplished journalist Drew provides a fly-on-the-wall portrait of the
congressional maverick and his struggle to reform campaign-finance
laws...Drew clearly approves of McCain, though never so much as to allow
partisanship to get in the way of her usual careful reporting. A useful
expos of how things get done — and buried — in Washington."
ST. PETERS PRIMER:
Who will succeed John Paul II as Pope? "Conclave: The Politics,
Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election" (Image/Doubleday;
paperback; June 18) by John Allen Jr. explores that question. Says
Kirkus, "An oddity, an instant book dedicated to an event that has yet
to happen...Allens roster of candidates and their qualifications will
be the strong selling point of Conclave. Breathless though the prose
is, it conveys much that is of use including, for instance, a thorough
discussion of just what the job of pope entails (settling squabbles and
travelling a lot) and how popes get elected in the first place. For
Vatican watchers, a good reference to have on hand when the smoke next
rises over St. Peters Square."
WE DIDNT START THE FIRE:
On May 29, Hyperion will publish "Firehouse" by Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist and author David Halberstam. The book will be a portrait of
Engine 40 Ladder 35 on W. 66th Street, which lost 12 men in the WTC
attack. According to the publisher, "In the tradition of John Herseys
Hiroshima, Halberstam tells the story of the community within this
firehouse, before, during and after the cataclysmic events of September
11th." The book grew out of an article commissioned by Vanity Fair,
where Halberstam is a contributing editor.
CAMELOT CORNER:
Caroline Kennedy, editor of the best-selling "The Best-Loved Poems of
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis," is at it again. "Profiles in Courage For Our
Time," edited by Caroline Kennedy, will be published by Hyperion on May 1.
Kirkus approves. "Character sketches of 14 men and women who have won the Profiles in Courage Award, which recognizes elected officials who stood fast
for the ideals of America...By and large, a refreshing sampling of political
legacies cleaving to the notion of equality and justice on behalf of the weak
and exploited." In October, Hyperion will publish "Patriotic Poems,"
Kennedys collection of patriotic poems, song lyrics, historical documents
and speeches. These non-newsy collections are a boon for journalists, who get
access to the normally inaccessible Kennedy. Her last book, "The Best-Loved
Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis" spent many weeks near the top of the NYT
fiction list.