So what happened? Where have our eccentric writers gone?

Eccentric authors didn’t just write books. They sold them. When readers purchased a copy of “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” they were never just buying a book. They were buying Hemingway.

If you ever get a chance, watch the hour-long, BBC 1978 documentary on Thompson that appears on the second disc of the Criterion Collection version of the film, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” It follows Thompson as he displays his now-famous brand of eccentric and sometimes dangerous behavior patterns. Not behavior to be endorsed by any means, but it shows how Thompson’s personality gave his work an added dimension. That added dimension is what makes many great works timeless.

Now, don’t take this as a call for today’s major authors to start firing handguns off rooftops while stone drunk. It’s more of a musing as to when the publishing industry decided to replace “personality” with “celebrity.”

Go into a Barnes & Noble nowadays, and there’s an entire section devoted to fictional works written by “celebrity authors” such as actors Steve Martin and Ethan Hawke.

But at least these books are original works.

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens (a character in his own right) already has released two autobiographies (“Catch This: Going Deep with the NFL’s Sharpest Weapon” and “T.O.”), a children’s book (“Little T Learns to Share”) and a fitness book (“T.O.’s Finding Fitness: Making the Mind, Body, and Spirit Connection for Total Health”). He is 35 years old. He released his first autobiography in 2004 and his second in 2006.

Former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin called herself a “lame duck” when stepping down from office – in the middle of her first term. Upon her resignation, the 2008 vice presidential candidate signed a book deal with Harper Collins, who will co-release her memoirs with its subsidiary, Christian publishing house Zondervan. Palin’s rumored asking price for a book she will co-pen? $11 million. She may not get that much, but many analysts expect her to get more than former President George W. Bush received for his memoirs.

“Celebrity” over “personality.” “Style” over “substance.” Call me crazy, but I just don’t see these titles stacking up against “The Catcher in the Rye” or “The Great Gatsby” in the long run.

A side note: If you have a Facebook account, try taking the “Which Crazy Writer Are You” quiz. Post your result on your homepage and here on Delmio.

The beauty of Hollywood is that it’s just that. Hollywood. With full license to create, embellish and pull rank, even great authors find their stories changed when books morph into film scripts.

Milan Kundera had the right idea. He didn’t like the movie adaptation of his “Unbearable Lightness of Being,” so has never allowed another adaptation of his work. His choice.

The running debate, over when Hollywood’s creative liberties go too far, surfaced again over some current films. In one case, “My Sister’s Keeper” author Jodi Picoult indicated that she enjoyed the recent film adaptation of her book while many of her fans did not.

Writing on her Web site, www.jodipicoult.com, Picoult says, “Yes, I know the ending is different. Yes, I know some of you are very upset. I didn’t change it… Please don’t e-mail me asking me why I changed the ending, or ‘let’ Hollywood do that – it wasn’t something I had any control over.”

Her message makes the point: We’re talking two different mediums, producing two different sets of experiences. That’s why, in the credit lines, you see that certain films are “based on” a particular book or real-life experience. It’s as good as saying ideas were borrowed – with creative license.

This is art. It’s not history, biography or documentary. And the art of film, with its immediate and visual impact, creates a separate experience from that of a novel, with a more complex and fully developed storyline. Plus, the bottom line is business, and what sells in books may not sell at the box office.

Still, these artistic debates are refreshing, if only because true artists care about such things. An example is “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder, who after a rough first cut of the film, was told by studio executives to cut two scenes: the Comedian’s funeral, which establishes tone and introduces key characters, and Dr. Manhattan’s reverie on Mars, where he narrates his origin story and muses on the nature of time.

Both were crucial scenes in the graphic novel, so Snyder fought to keep them in the movie. He prevailed, even through he still had to cut 30 minutes from the film.

As consumers of art, it’s good to remind ourselves that if through art we imitate the perfection of the universe, then we need to be satisfied with different methods of imitation to suit different artistic forms. As Brian K. Vaughan, “Y: The Last Man” creator and “Lost” writer, commented in Wired Magazine, regarding the adaptation of “Watchmen” before its release: “It’s like making a stage play of ‘Citizen Kane.’ I guess it could be OK, but why? The medium is the message.”

Much like our deepest feelings, art just is. One could write a book about this. And it would be very different from the film.

As we approach the Fourth of July weekend, we prepare to celebrate our many precious freedoms – two of those essential ones being freedom of speech and expression.

Freedom, of course, requires tolerance – tolerance to those of different race, creed and belief. However, tolerance doesn’t mean we compromise our values as Americans. A governor or public official that lies and cheats, a financier or corporate executive that commits fraud; all should accountable. Public pressure should side with honesty and honor.

So why is Hyperion Books so casual about author and journalist Chris Anderson using unattributed passages — closely mirroring material from Wikipedia and other sources –in his soon-to-be-released book, “Free: The Future of a Radical Price.”

Anderson is no novice. He is editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, and his previous book, “The Long Tail,” became influential in business circles. Yet now, in a simple blog post, he has confirmed the use of unattributed material by saying it was his “screwup.” His explanation: That in the “rush” to finish the book, credits were omitted, and that passages in question “were mostly on the margins of the book’s focus, mostly on historical asides.”

For its part, Hyperion said it was satisfied with the explanation – kind of like the teacher satisfied with the lame, “dog ate my homework” excuse.

Hyperion now plans to work with Anderson to make corrections for an electronic version of the book and subsequent hard copies. The 80,000 first-print copies have already been shipped.

Interestingly, Anderson’s new book talks about the wisdom of free products on the Web. He said he depended on Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia of free user-contributed articles generally considered “questionable” as a reliable source of information, to describe meanings of phases such as “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” The Virginia Quarterly Review discovered the borrowing of text and ideas.

Ironically, the controversy has been noted on Anderson’s Wikipedia page.

At a time when book publishers have been repeatedly called into question for intellectual honesty, Hyperion and Wired, for that matter, made it easy on themselves while protecting a financial investment. In this case, tolerance short-shifted the ethics that are sacred in journalism and publishing.

Anderson now joins a long list of authors called into question for plagiarism, with lawsuits even extending to “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling.

In Anderson’s case, his acknowledgments are on the table. Sure, you can say it’s a small thing, involving information in the margins. But that’s like saying a small lie is acceptable, or perhaps a small incident of fraud.

Tolerance in such cases reduces our collective expectations, and the unwritten standard to which we hold journalists and authors. We all lose when we lower our standards.

At the very least, I would have felt better to hear a serious mea culpa from Anderson and his publisher.

Publisher Random House says, “This wide-ranging collection of never-before-published essays offers the very latest insights into the daunting scientific questions of our time. Its contributors—some of the most brilliant young scientists working today—provide not only an introduction to their cutting-edge research, but discuss the social, ethical, and philosophical ramifications of their work. With essays covering fields as diverse as astrophysics, paleoanthropology, climatology, and neuroscience, What’s Next? is a lucid and informed guide to the new frontiers of science.”

Looking for something to do this summer? Go to the library.

You might find more than you expect. And the best part is it’s free.

In addition to innovative summer reading programs and other interesting activities, libraries are also a source of free computer access.

This is a big deal for many communities. In one recent survey, more than 70 percent of libraries identified themselves as the only source of free access to computers and the Internet in their area, according to the American Library Association (ALA). And, Internet services are escalating rapidly within the nation’s libraries. The ALA also reports that more than 76 percent of all public libraries provide Wi-Fi access, up from 65.9 percent one year ago.

In the national debate over stimulus spending for broadband networks, library proponents make an effective argument that libraries can play a significant role in bridging the digital divide. In a recent conversation, Sari Feldman, president-elect of the Public Library Association (a division of ALA), pointed out that libraries not only provide public access to Internet service, but they also give people needed support – in figuring out how to fill out an online job application, for example. A majority of large retailers, Feldman noted, now require online applications.

The Cuyahoga County Public Library in Northeast Ohio, where Feldman is executive director, is an example of a library system with dozens of programs that help level the playing field for those with no Internet access in their homes. People receive help with job searches and applications, for example. In another initiative, college-bound students learn to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

These are ways libraries stand to further elevate their relevance as places where people can go to help improve themselves and seek new opportunities. They can be a place to go, especially for those otherwise shut out of opportunities that require Internet access.

No surprise libraries figure prominently in the debate over how to provide Internet access to those under-served or not served at all.

Yet even in the best-case scenario, one where all public libraries provide public accessibility to high-speed, high-capacity Internet service, that alone isn’t enough to break down economic, social and educational barriers that result from the digital divide.

The other part of the equation: People must take the personal initiative to use the services available to them in order to reap the benefits.

I’m reminded of my 83-year-old dad who not long ago went to the doctor complaining of various aches and pains. He was really complaining of being shut out – of playing golf, for example, or bocce.

“Go to the gym,’’ the doctor kept telling him.

Finally, after hearing it enough times, he went to his version of the gym – the one he set up in his basement. His health improved dramatically.

Looking for a new job? A more effective, efficient ways to learn new skills? How to do better in school? Ways to beat the summer heat?

Go to the library.

Mothers teach — sometimes without even knowing it.

Ever take a packed lunch to school as a child? Ever look inside to find a small note from mom next to your pudding snack?

In that instance, mom taught that the written word sends a message — no matter how brief.

Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday. But if your sentiment simply won’t fit on a note or greeting card, try a book.

You can pick a book to send almost any message you’d like to your mother (or to the woman in your life who most fits your ideal of a mother). Motherhood is one of those subjects that literature has conferred blanket coverage — on par with love, heartbreak, war and peace.

As children, we learn about Old Mother Hubbard, who sets the stage for the extent to which mothers fuss. Old Mother Hubbard goes everywhere — to the baker’s, the tavern, the tailor’s and so on — and that’s just to pamper the dog.

As we grow, literature breaks the news to us (in case we missed the point in real life) that a mother’s role can get a lot more complicated.

In John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, for example, Ma Joad shows how a mother’s courage and wisdom can keep a family going in the really tough times.

Or take the figure of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Karenina shows that even when a mother’s personal life goes really astray — to the point of desertion — her connection to her child can transcend even the worst behavior.

Most of us probably have mothers somewhere in the spectrum between Ma Joad and Anna Karenina. (Hopefully closer to Ma Joad.) Regardless of where a mother’s virtue lies, Mother’s Day is an occasion to put her under the spotlight.

If you are looking for a book to give your mom, to express warm feelings or to make her laugh, here are a few titles on display at the Chautauqua Book Store inside the nonprofit Chautauqua Institution in western New York: (While summer programming doesn’t open until June 27, the bookstore stays open year round.)

—Dear Mom: Thank You For Everything or The Incredible Truth About Mothers, both by Bradley Trevor Greive. Both titles feature nature photography with captions reflecting thoughts you might expect from a mother. For example, next to a sleeping polar bear cub, a caption reads, “A child’s dreams are tomorrow’s reality.”

—Thoughts with Love for Mother, by Anne Geddes. This is a little book of sayings, such as this one by Cecilia Lasbury: “There are only two lasting bequests we can give our children. One of these is roots. The other, wings.”

—Zelda’s Moments with Mom, part of the Zelda Wisdom series by Carol Gardner and Shane Young. Again, photos with captions, such as “Being a mother also means enthusiastically sharing dreams, however unrealistic as in, ‘When I grow up, I’m going to be a cowboy.’”

—Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice, by James Lileks. It’s a humorous look at parents who figure things out for themselves and do just fine.

Maybe you shared an apartment with a roomie whose laundry took on a smelly life form of its own or who never heard of washing dishes. Or perhaps you spotted the tell-tale hashmarks of a fork having scraped the contents of your peanut butter jar.

I Lick My Cheese: And Other Real Notes from the Roommate Frontlines by Oonagh O’Hagan is a compilation of real-life notes posted by roommates or “flatmates” as the original U.K. version termed them. They range from cute and fun to sarcastic to angry rants to really disgusting re-creations of certain, um, transgressions allegedly perpetrated by a room- er, flatmate.

The author’s Web site, roommatesanonymous.com, has a substantial collection of posted photos of said notes. The best of these are immortalized in hardcover in the recent U.S. book or its 2007 U.K. predecessor, I Lick My Cheese and Other Notes: From the Frontline of Flatsharing. You can log in and add your own stories from the “Frontline” at the Web site. Or just read in horror and be grateful your situation wasn’t that awful. Was it?

Fans will soon feast this year, as the film adaptation of Angels and Demons hits the big screen next week, and another book featuring the Robert Langdon character, The Lost Symbol, will be published in September.

Brown’s The Da Vinci Code was a smash hit in 2003 and the Tom Hanks/Ron Howard movie was a hit (though not necessarily with critics) in 2006.

Brown’s latest book compresses the action into 12 hours. Doubleday is excited about  the prospects of another blockbuster, and the publisher plans a first printing of 5 millions copies – the largest first print in Random House Inc. history, says www.danbrown.com.

“This novel has been a strange and wonderful journey,” said Brown at his Web site. “Weaving five years of research into the story’s twelve-hour timeframe was an exhilarating challenge. Robert Langdon’s life clearly moves a lot faster than mine.”

Need a refresher on The Da Vinci Code? Start here.

A-Rod reveals new details, including allegations that A-Rod, also dubbed A-Roid  (he has several less-flattering nicknames among fellow New York Yankees), starting dabbling with performance-enhancing drugs in high school and continued in New York after he left the Texas Rangers, contradicting his admissions of drug use to date.

In a public statement about his steroid use, Rodriguez said he felt the pressure as baseball’s highest-paid player (not to mention the pressure-packed New York media cauldron) to do anything to be the best player possible.

A flurry of accusations, denials, admissions and so on preceded and followed baseball’s Mitchell Report on steroids, and no doubt more will come.

Names that pop up in the book include Madonna, trainer Angel Presinal, former Major Leaguers Kevin Brown and Jose Canseco (himself author of controversial books) and former coaches – even high school teammates. And, to quote the New York Daily News, ”dalliances with out-of-town floozies.”

Adding insult to injury, Roberts reports he was unpopular at Hooters, where baseball’s richest player tipped the minimum 15 percent.

A-Rod is set for May 12 publication by HarperCollins.

Other DelMio posts on baseball:

Veeck as in Wreck.

Three baseball must-reads.

Yankee Doodle not always dandy.

Baby's got a gun

Tor.com, purveyor of sci-fi and fantasy lit, gives away a fair amount of its properties no doubt in hopes of luring dollars from grateful readers.

This can present some risk. What if readers don’t like it? Or worse: What if they just go on reading the freebies, sponging all these books and short stories without ever spending a dime?

Well, it must work on some level, because Tor keeps doing it. A recent endeavor is a whacky short story by Terry Bisson, TVA Baby.

TVA Baby starts out in the skies over the Tennessee Valley, or the Mississippi River, depending on who’s right, and things (literally) take a rapid descent from there. It’s a bumpy ride, narrated with a unique point of view. Some comments by readers that followed found the occasional lapses in logic and continuity annoying, which might  miss the point. See for yourself.

Or if you prefer, hear for yourself.

And if you’d like to get a virtually limitless stream of free stuff from Tor, sign up here.