James Franco and 7 other actors turned novelists - The Week Magazine

Franco's first collection of short stories has received mixed reviews. But critics have only rarely been kind to literary thespians POSTED ON OCTOBER 25, 2010, AT 9:00 AM Critic Michael Lindgren calls Franco's first novel "amateurish" but adds the collection of stories has a "well-balanced symmetry." There is a new writer in Hollywood — actor James Franco, star of Spiderman and Pineapple Express, published his first book of short stories last week. His collection, Palo Alto, has received decidedly mixed reviews — The Washington Post's Michael Lindgren calls it "a thin, hackneyed affair" — but Franco might find comfort in knowing that critics have sharpened their knives for a long list of actors who have tried their hands at writing literary fiction. Here are seven thespian authors who got the critics talking, in ways both bad and good

Check the full list out here (includes Gene Hackman title, Marlon Brando, etc.)

Chilean miners: What happened in the first 17 days? from Most Recent Home Page Posts from THE WEEK by The Week

"Los 33" rationed off their food over the first 17 days until they were each surviving on a teaspoon of canned tuna every 72 hours. As the Chilean miners' "pact of silence" about their mysterious first 17 days trapped underground starts to unravel, a story is emerging about how "Los 33" lived before rescuers first made contact and offered the hope of escape. "There are some secrets that they should keep," says Jonathan Franklin, who is writing a book on the miners, and says he knows "things that I'm never going to publish." Still, he says, the full story of "what happened down there" will come out eventually. Here's a look at what we know already:

Check out the article. It's actually engrossing. The book's in the works, and it's practically a foregone conclusion at this point, that Tinseltown's scouting.