All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Michele Filgate is a Production Associate for the CBS Evening News.

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I have no shame. I’m not about to walk around in a wizard costume, but I’m in a magical mood today. I’ll openly admit that this morning, on my train ride into work, I was the obnoxious passenger on the cell phone, sharing last minute theories with friends about the ultimate fate of Harry and the most anticipated book the publishing world has ever seen.

At least I’m not quite as obsessed that I’m willing to nearly drown for my book.

Tonight bookstores around the world will be busier than the week before Christmas, as hundreds of fans line up to get their hands on “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. As a lifelong bookworm, and someone who has worked at several bookstores, I can attest that the bookselling world has never seen anything like this. Sure, the last several Harry Potter books have had their share of hype. Tonight, though, will be a historical moment. I’m betting a record will be set for the most books ever sold in a few hours. That doesn’t mean the sales will be the most beneficial for bookstores, due to selling the book at a big discount. The books won’t be snatched up as quick as a snitch flies in Quidditch just because everyone prefers a good epic story. It’s also thanks to a marketing strategy keeping people transfixed under the Scholastic spell.

Despite a ton of money being spent on security, details on the book seeped out to the public faster than a very leaky cauldron. Both The New York Times and The Baltimore Sun published reviews, and pictures of the book appeared on the internet, much to the annoyance of many fans and publishers themselves.

Will the cantankerous and aloof Snape turn out to be good or evil? Will Harry die? Will Dumbledore pull a Gandalf and come back as an even more powerful wizard? Questions fans have been waiting to find out for years will be answered in less than twelve tantalizing hours. The speculation will dissipate and we readers can focus on what really matters…losing yourself in a spellbinding book.

Michele Filgate is a Production Associate for the CBS Evening News.

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It’s a sad day for many readers and writers with the death of Kurt Vonnegut. The prolific and important cultural writer leaves behind his indelible ink and celebrated reputation. I read him for the first time in high school, when “Slaughterhouse-Five” was required reading for my English class. It was one of the first books I enjoyed critically analyzing. I still have my notes somewhere at my Mom’s house, consisting of scribblings and diagrams outlining my theories around the political undertones of the novel. Those undertones were as far reaching and eclectic as the writer.

Charles J. Shields, who wrote the well-received biography of another beloved writer , “Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee”, announced a little while back that he’s working on a biography of Vonnegut. It’s interesting he’s going from writing about a reclusive writer to a publicly colorful one.

Not everyone appreciates or agrees with Vonnegut’s distinct writing style, but those who do cherish him. His voice was one of ultimate dissent and amused ruefulness. During the two years I worked for an independent bookstore, Vonnegut’s books were always a popular selection. A few friends I went to college with even named their band after one of his books.

It’s appropriate that Vonnegut published “A Man Without A Country” as his last book; in it, he offers reflective essays and drawings on being an artist, his leftist view on politics, and life in general.

I think it’s his candidness that is most respected. In a politically volatile time in our country, his was a critical voice and a surprisingly sentimental one, too...

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It’s no secret that we live in a fast paced culture these days. Our reading habits are just one inclination of this. Just look around you on your commute to work. During my daily train ride to NYC, I watch other commuters and observe their routine. Most people flick their eyes over the newspaper headlines, digesting the first paragraph of an article before moving on to the next one. Those with a book in hand often are devouring a mass market genre book. It’s rare you see someone reading Tolstoy or Dickens or even Thomas Pynchon—unless you’re like me and are either a former English major or a committed bookworm.

So when I stumbled across Esquire’s latest online project -—where they sent 250 napkins out to writers across the country and asked them to write a short story on it-—I thought this was nothing but brilliant. Perhaps now I, an (admittedly) enthusiastic literary snob, can offer something to those who don’t take the time to pay attention to stories that are more developed than your typical genre. I realize what I’m saying here, but bear with me. We now live in a society where convenience is pivotal and time is precious.

There’s also a romantic notion involved here. Think of the napkin for a moment; an item we usually use to clean our mouths and then crumple up in the garbage.

What’s more metaphorical than writing on an item we use for a mere moment in our lives? Stories can offer just such a temporal satisfaction, or they can stick to us long after our first fleeting encounter.

I find these napkin nuggets appetizing. You can find remarkably fleshed out scenes, like in Daniel Alarcon’s “Alameda County”:

“The young man awaited trial playing a video game on his cell phone, concentrating intently on the tiny screen, wearing a necktie and a suit and sneakers of an almost virginal white, and did not notice the paintings on the walls, art whose blandness could only be described as extreme, as if the artists, upon receiving their commissions, were instructed to depict only clouds, or the facades of well-kept buildings, or street scenes carefully excised of people.”

There’s brevity, as evidenced by Aimee Bender’s aloof scribbled note:

“To J. Smith,
Please accept my resignation. The printer is broken. The stationery is gone. Malty is angry, angry, angry.

I tried.

Sincerely, Janet”

In this day and age, a short story can go a long way. Perhaps this project can get those who have a spare minute to pay attention to the small details.