Making her directorial debut last year with The Women, Murphy Brown creator Diane English didn't exactly stun the world. So perhaps it makes sense that she's leaving chick flicks behind for her next project, and will adapt Paul Auster's novel Timbuktu for Lakeshore Entertainment.

According to Variety English will write and direct the film, about a homeless man who sets out with his dog, Mr. Bones, to find his high school English teacher. Published in 1999, the book was called "cloying" in an Entertainment Weekly review, while according to Amazon, Kirkus Reviews called it "shockingly bad, especially for someone of Auster's stature." Not great news for English, who really ought to make a hit to prove that she deservse to handle features. But maybe she's got a trick up her sleeve we're just not seeing. Maybe?