Director Ang Lee might still be recovering from the surprise loss of the best picture Oscar to Crash, but his triumph as the first Chinese to win a best director Oscar has turned notoriously uncultured Hongkongers into book lovers.
Book stores said the hype surrounding the Taiwanese director's gay cowboy love story, Brokeback Mountain, had boosted sales of Close Range: Wyoming Stories, a collection of short stories, including Brokeback Mountain, written by E. Annie Proulx.
Page One spokeswoman Ada Ling Siu-wing said sales had been strong since the beginning of the year, but sales improved especially after the film won the best picture and best director at the Golden Globes. The sales have doubled or even tripled.
'We are now selling three to four versions of the book. Some even use the film's poster image as the cover,' she said. 'Screenplays of the film are also available.'
Ms Ling expected the book fever would last longer than that for the Harry Potter books. '[The peak sales] for Harry Potter books lasted for one month after they came out. But Close Range became hugely popular in January. Now is only the beginning of the peak,' she said.
The film's box office also showed a significant rise after Sunday night's awards, despite the film having already become a household name. And 'brokeback' has already been integrated into Cantonese as an adjective for any homosexual-related activities.