SECTION INSIDE: People Malibu Seen B Classified The Malibu Times February 3, 2005 L ife & Arts Feature Editor: Laura Tate Malibu’s Top Ten Books Will locals fare well in Oscar race? e now return to the “normal” with purchases mostly for personal reading, less of the gift-giving books of the holi- Tune in and take your Wdays. pick. Due to word-of-mouth bookseller recommendations, new media attention and book clubs, many books continue their long By Andrew Lyons runs on Diesel’s bestseller lists: “Kite Runner,” “Devil in the White Special to The Malibu Times City” and “Dylan’s Chronicles.” For children, a bestseller of recent years has catapulted back to ominations for the 77th the No. 1 spot due to the new movie version of it—”Because of Annual Academy Awards Winn-Dixie.” “Egyptology,” the hot book for the holidays, contin- Nwere announced last ues its strong sales, a wonderful book for children of all ages. And month and with only a few weeks “Fever, 1793” is a strong historical novel, recommended by teachers until the Feb. 27 telecast, it’s time and read by at least one mother-daughter book club in Malibu. to get down to business. We’re For adults, Malcolm Gladwell, author of “Tipping Point,” is here to help you get a jump on the making the media rounds and, coupled with excellent pre-publica- office pool fun with our predictions tion reviews, is blasting out the door with his new book, “Blink.” of who will win and more impor- Also, in nonfiction the new one by the author of “Guns, Germs tantly, who should win. and Steel,” Jared Diamond’s “Collapse” is strong at No. 2. In fic- Last year, Malibu was well rep- tion, yesteryear’s hot hardback titles are arriving in paperback and resented by winners Sean Penn filling up the list, along with the new John Grisham “The Broker.” (Best Actor) and Charlize Theron Another new book of local interest is the biography of Sean Penn (Best Actress). This year, four peo- by Richard Kelly. ple with Malibu connections are up for major awards. In fact, two of Fiction them worked on the same film. 1. “The Broker,” John Grisham, cloth, Doubleday, $27.95 Leonardo DiCaprio is nomi- 2. “Kite Runner,” Khaled Hosseini, paper, Penguin, $14 nated for his portrayal of Howard 3. “Yiddish With Dick and Jane,” Ellis Weiner, cloth, Little, Hughes in “The Aviator.” The Brown & Co., $14.95 movie’s screenwriter, John Logan, 4. “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency,” Alexander McCall Smith, is up for Best Original Screenplay. paper, Knopf Publishing, $11.95 Former Malibu resident (and wife 5. “Little Children,” Tom Perrotta, paper, St. Martin’s Press, of Warren Beatty) Annette Bening $13.95 was nominated for Best Actress 6. “Elizabeth Costello,” J.M. Coetzee, paper, Penguin, $14 for her role in “Julia.” The con- 7. “The Book of Salt,” Monique Truong, paper, Houghton nection for her competitor, Hilary Mifflin, $13 Swank (Million Dollar Baby), is 8. “Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress: Tales of Growing Up a little more tenuous. Her hus- Groovy and Clueless,” Susan Gilman, paper, Warner Books, band, actor Chad Lowe, grew up $12.95 in Malibu. 9. “Out,” Natsuo Kirino, paper, Vintage, $12.95 Logan is likely to lose out in 10. “The Good Wife Strikes Back,” Elizabeth Buchan, paper, the screenplay scramble to Charlie Penguin, $14 Kaufman (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”). So that leaves Nonfiction us to ponder how the other locals 1. “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking,” Malcolm will fare in the major categories Malibuite Leonardo DiCaprio is up for a Best Actor award for his role in “The Aviator” in which Gladwell, cloth, Little, Brown & Co., $25.95 this year. Let’s take out that crys- he portrays Howard Hughes. 2. “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,” Jared tal ball and peek. Diamond, cloth, Viking, $29.95 performance. is the dark horse, but likely won’t Don’t Cry”) beat out Bening 3. “Chronicles Volume 1,” Bob Dylan, cloth, Simon & Schuster, Best Supporting Actress Will Win: Tough call but Blanchett see the light. This is Morgan (“American Beauty”). It likely will $24 Cate Blanchett—“The Aviator” may ride the “Aviator” wave. Freeman’s award. It’s his fourth come down to those two again, 4. “Devil in the White City,” Erik Larson, paper, Random House, Laura Linney—“Kinsey” Should Win: Madsen—who nomination and a win would vali- but that’s no sure thing. Moreno $14.95 Virginia Madsen— “Sideways” doesn’t love a Cinderella story? date not only his work here but will probably have to settle for 5. “Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family and Fighting to Sophie Okonedo—“Hotel his many years of stellar perfor- the invite and Winslet’s wonder- Get Back on the Board,” Bethany Hamilton, cloth, Pocket Rwanda” Best Supporting Actor mances. fully quirky performance may get Books, $18 Natalie Portman—“Closer” Alan Alda—“The Aviator” Will Win: Freeman overlooked. But if Swank and 6. “When Will Jesus Bring the Pork,” George Carlin, cloth, As usual, Supporting Actress Thomas Haden Church - Should Win: Why not Freeman? Bening split the vote, Staunton, as Hyperion, $23.95 is a much stronger category “Sideways” an unassuming 1950s abortionist, 7. “Sean Penn: His Life and Times,” Richard Kelly, cloth, than Best Actress. The only real Jamie Foxx—“Collateral” Best Actress might sneak in. Canongate, $24 long shot is Okonedo, a relative Morgan Freeman—“Million Annette Bening—“Being Julia” Will Win: Bening 8. “Don’t Think of an Elephant,” paper, George Lakoff, Chelsea unknown in a very small movie. Dollar Baby” Catalina Sandino Moreno— Should Win: Moreno never makes Green, $10 Portman was solid but her youth Clive Owen—“Closer” “Maria Full of Grace” a false step as a drug mule 9. “Midnight Disease,” paper, Alice Flaherty, Houghton Mifflin, may hurt her. Linney is highly Each of these guys is nomina- Imelda Staunton—“Vera Drake” dreaming of a better life. $13 respected but “Kinsey” didn’t tion-worthy, but four of them Hilary Swank—“Million Dollar 10. “A Senior Moment,” Bernie Safire, Safire Books, $15.95 make much of a splash. Blanchett need not write speeches. Alda is Baby” Best Actor delicately handled the tricky real- good but not what makes “The Kate Winslet—“Eternal Sunshine Don Cheadle—“Hotel Rwanda” Children’s Books life role of Katharine Hepburn Aviator” fly. Haden Church (for- of the Spotless Mind” Johnny Depp—“Finding 1. “Because of Winn Dixie,” Kate Dicamillo, paper, Candlewick but has drawn some criticism for merly Lowell on “Wings”) is fun This is always a hard category Neverland” Press, $5.99 mimicry. Madsen, who had been but shouldn’t clear off his mantle. to peg. Much has been made of Leonardo DiCaprio—“The See Top Ten Books, page B6 off the acting radar, comes out of Foxx probably has a better chance how this is a rematch of the 1999 Aviator” nowhere with a career-redefining in the Best Actor category. Owen battle in which Swank (“Boys See Oscars, page B12 The reality of imagination, art for our sake Malibu Garden Column INSIDE By Peggy Harris The artwork of Rita Milch to be showcased at Diesel, A Bookstore Saturday. Camellias blush By Susan Bunn openly in February Special to The Malibu Times hile camellia shrubs the show in February. The per- n a world that has a large sit like wallflowers fectly shaped Japonica variet- appetite for spinning the illu- Win sun-filtered, shad- ies usually bloom later in the Ision of special effect, multi- ed areas during the summer camellia season, which can start media, cross-platformed products, Sexy Sela Ward doing honors months, the subtle to brilliant as early as October and reaches it might take more than a minute at 2004 Rising Stars Gala. See white, pink and red color tones its peak in February. By mix- to consider the value of something Malibu SEEN, B2 of camellia flowers will steal See Garden, page B12 real. The presentation of art where content is everything. It’s essential. Bookstores come close, though many have been malled and chained, and companioned with coffee bars that infer community Artist Rita Milch and John Evans, co-owner of Diesel, A more than awaken it. An excep- Bookstore, install one of Milch’s works for Saturday’s showing tion to this is Diesel, A Bookstore at the store. in Malibu. Diesel’s owners, John Evans along the walls of Diesel. She too story. She is an Emmy-award win- and Alison Reid, don’t serve cof- mixes her media. ning documentary producer/edi- fee with their books. They serve “I love the idea of being tor who has always been attracted The sweetest (and hottest) art, featuring a rotating show around books, of having the to both the collage in paintings Romeo and Juliet. Opera review every couple of months. They work in that kind of atmo- and the montage in life. “You B3 don’t promote multimedia. They sphere,” said Milch, whose paint- want the work to be true to itself, by Juliet Schoen, don’t spin a story. They mix their ings have been shown at galleries to stand up to its own necessities media of the printed word that from Los Angeles to Martha’s and imperatives,” she said. Competition fuels creativity, spurs interests. Pam Linn, B3 tells a story and the painted pic- Vineyard and soon Palm Beach, Her documentary, a PBS Peggy Harris / TMT ture that reveals one. Florida. “Especially the pieces in Frontline special on the wrench- White edges on pink petals of “Jordan’s Pride” make this This Saturday, Malibuites are this show.