Book News

Often seen as a feminine (and feminist) counterpart to Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes,” Ms. O’Faolain’s “Are You Somebody?,” (1996) created a sensation.

In a novel set in World War II, a sergeant commits murder in front of his unit.

Ms. Knudson wrote more than 40 books, including the “Zan” novels, which were published in the years after the passage of Title IX and starred a young female athlete.

In her memoir, Bob Dylan’s former girlfriend looks back at their time in Greenwich Village in the 1960s with affection.

Ms. Dundy was the author of “The Dud Avocado,” which was published in 1958 and whose heroine, a free-spirited American girl, was a forerunner to Isadora Wing and Carrie Bradshaw.

Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter is suing book publisher Airleaf, formerly known as Bookman Marketing, for accepting payment from authors and not following through on its promises to provide book publishing, royalty reimbursement and promotional services.

The vast majority of publishers believe experimentation and innovation are crucial to the success of their company moving forward, a survey conducted by the BISG and the Idea Logical Company found. The results of the survey were presented at Friday's Making Information Pay seminar, along with first-hand accounts from industry members who have already taken the plunge in new areas.

Longtime New England sales representatives Ann Kingman and Michael, who between them split the Random House adult trade list, launched a book blog and podcasts in April at Booksonthenightstand.com.

Today's round-up of the latest publishing news: Does the truth matter in memoir?, Turin Book Fair causes stir, Susan Cheever tells steamy tales, McCain says Huffington just wants to promote her book, what's behind Olson's exit? 

The group is a subsidiary of Hachette Livre UK, based in New Delhi and led by managing director Thomas Abraham.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is the latest film adaptation of C.S. Lewis' fantasy series. Director Andrew Adamson talks with host Andrea Seabrook about the challenges of translating the beloved Narnia series onto the screen.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Conservation scientist Gary Nabhan says the best way to recover some of America's at-risk species is to eat them. He documents lost and threatened foods in his new book, Renewing America's Food Traditions.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Kate Christensen won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her novel, The Great Man, a story about three charismatic older women left behind when a larger-than-life artist dies. Christensen is only the fifth woman to receive the award.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Simone de Beauvoir is one of the towering figures of 20th century France. While she has perhaps slipped into the shadows of American memory, her pioneering work, The Second Sex, is still regarded as one of the cornerstones of modern feminist thinking.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Stephenie Meyer, author of the best-selling young adult series Twilight, has written her first adult book. The Host is a science fiction romance about two woman — one an alien from outer space — who inhabit the same body and are in love with the same man.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

By Robert Barnett The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama by Pico Iyer Every so often, between the time a book leaves its publisher and the time it reaches its readers, events occur that change the ways it can be read. Such is the case with Pico Iyer's account of the fourteenth Dalai Lama, the exiled leader of Tibet. The eruption of major protests in March in the former mountain kingdom has rendered Iyer's gentle study of spirituality in the global age one that is less likely now to be seen as an inquiring portrait of a major thinker of our times than to be scanned for…

By Geoffrey Wheatcroft Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: The Dire Warning by John Lukacs Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England by Lynne Olson Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization by Nicholson Baker Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War": How Britain Lost the Empire and the West Lost the World by Patrick J. Buchanan. At the end of 1936, Winston Churchill's fortunes had sunk as low as he would ever know. His career had long resembled Snakes and Ladders, the nursery board game where a shake of the dice leads to…

By Frank Rich When, in the summer of 1968, Norman Mailer covered the Republican and Democratic conventions on assignment for Harper's magazine, he was forty-five, an aging rebel looking for a new cause. He had started to drift restlessly from his single-minded pursuit of the Great American Novel into filmmaking and journalism, two callings that were also in the throes of seismic generational change.

By Nicolaas H. Biegman

By Thomas Powers The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict by Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War by Ali Ahmad Jalali and Lester W. Grau Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America by Kenneth M. Pollack The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran by Yossi Melman and Meir Javedanfar The Fateful Pebble: Afghanistan's Role…

Rob Neyer's latest "Big Book" debunks some baseball legends and confirms a few, all without spoiling the fun.

A graphic novel celebrates a lost Algerian-Jewish way of life and wonders what it means to live as a person of faith in a world that doesn't share it.

A new book argues that Colbert, Jon Stewart and Bill Maher are good for democracy. But is it taking late-night comedy too seriously?

This fascinating portrait of a Brooklyn, N.Y., hospital is about much more than white coats and beeping consoles -- it's 21st-century America in a microcosm.

Richard Florida has made a career out of explaining the economic importance of the creative class. His latest book is a field guide to their moving and mating habits.

Crown © 2008, 286 pages Author Scott Huler found himself in his forties becoming obsessed with Homer's Odyssey, the epic that takes up where the Iliad leaves off, tracking Odysseus' adventures en route back home at the end of the Trojan War. Taking his inspiration from the Joyceans--fans of James Joyce's Ulysses who celebrate Bloomsday every June 16th by following the fictional Leopold Bloom's route through Dublin--Huler decided to travel the Mediterranean following the similarly unreal footsteps of the hero Odysseus. Huler left his pregnant wife behind and took off for, among other…

Perennial © 2007, 353 pages In his memoir Dishwasher Pete Jordan writes about the twelve years he spent pursuing his unusual goal, to wash dishes professionally in all fifty U.S. states. Pete's quest landed him in plenty of run-of-the-mill diners and restaurants, but he also sought out unusual gigs whenever possible. He writes about dishing on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, for example, and at a commune in the Ozarks. He washed dishes for snobs at a ski resort in the Rockies, and he worked salmon season at an Alaskan cannery. He "dished kosher" at a Jewish retirement home. [INSET TEXT:…

Bantam Books © 2007, 338 pages Cynthia Bigge woke up one day when she was fourteen years old to find her mother, father, and brother gone. No note. No sign of struggle. No explanation. The police investigation into their disappearance was inconclusive. Cynthia wound up living with an aunt, her mother's sister, and managed somehow to get on with her life. Twenty-five years later, Cynthia is still haunted by what happened, and when a crime-stopper program runs a segment on the cold case, she finds herself thinking about her family's disappearance more than ever. Were they in fact all killed…

Another successful BAFAB Week is coming to a close. Lots of book giveaways around the web this time around. I myself was happy to give away a copy of Dick York's The Seesaw Girl and Me to fellow blogger Clare Dudman. And I'll be happy to give away a copy of XXXXXXXXXXXXX if anyone ever figures out what book I'm thinking of! (Please click that thar link to enter the contest.) Meanwhile, a poll. Since I created Buy a Friend a Book Week back in mid-2005, I've featured book recommendations at BAFAB's associated web site. Every quarter a different guest reviewer has contributed three mini-reviews,…

Scribner © 2007, 207 pages In his autobiography Born Standing Up, Steve Martin sets out to explain, as he puts it, "why I did stand-up and why I walked away." The result is a history of his career, from selling guidebooks at Disneyland when he was ten through his decade and a half as a struggling magician turned comic to, finally, the years of meteoric success on which he abruptly turned his back in 1981. Martin explains his philosophy of comedy and describes the development of his act, profiling the various colleagues and acquaintances who influenced him along the way. In one…

Out of the ash I rise with my red hair And I eat men like air. - Lady Lazarus, 1962 Every woman adores a Fascist, The boot in the face, the brute Brute heart of a brute like you. -...

Working my way through Stefan Collini’s complex account of British intellectuals, Absent Minds, I was struck by a comment about how much George Orwell re-used passages from his own reviews and articles in later works. Well, if it was good...

marcus leonard s minders of make-believe

gross sam i am blind

roberts michele delusion

Welcome to Katherine Evelyn Holland, born May 7 (6 pounds 11 ounces, 18.5 inches*), to LibraryThing developer Chris (ConceptDawg) and his wife Ashley. Mother and daughter are doing great. Chris has a "permanent smile" on.More photos on Flickr *That's 3033 grams, 46.9 centimeters. Who says we don't do metric?

We just added over six-hundred and fifty events to LibraryThing Local, LibraryThing's portal for local bookstores, libraries and events.The events come direct from our friends at BookSense, the nationwide organization of over 1,200 independent bookstores. They made their complete events calendar available to us, and we were only to happy to add all the events we didn't already know about.BookSense is the best; if you have a favorite local bookstore, chances are they're a BookSense store.* BookSense also gets the best authors. Upcoming events include David Sedaris at Vroman's in Pasadena and…

May's batch of Early Reviewer books is up! We've got 51 books this month, and a grand total 1,115 copies to give out. Some of the big highlights include the new Neal Stephenson (Anathem) and The Given Day by Dennis Lehane! Or would you rather read The Inverted World by Christopher Priest? The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen? Is historical fiction more your thing? Try Hallam's War by Elisabeth Payne Rosen". In the mood for some Norman Mailer? Request a copy of Miami and the Siege of Chicago. On the nonfiction side, how about a little bit of everything, with The Best Creative Nonfiction,…

I made some changes to the look and functionality of the "top bar" in Your Library. They include new "pads," new icons, yellow and baby-blue colors and new tag functionality. Non-English users will also notice the labels can nw be translated--no more untranslateable "text as image."List:Covers:Tags:The tag bar includes a new new features. "Down" and "Across" control whether the tags are sorted "down" (like an index) or "across" (like some other things). You can also control the size of the text and the space between tags, and the number of columns to show.Come talk about the change and…

Part IA long-time LibraryThing member, davidabrams, just wrote a love story of sorts about LibraryThing on The Readerville Journal.He writes, Not a day goes by when I don't log on and gaze with pride, love and reverence at my online catalog of books. ...In short, it is the answer to the prayer I wasn't even aware I was praying. If LibraryThing is cocaine, then I am a crack whore.How can you argue with that? The Readerville Forum have been having some problems lately (see the discussion on LibraryThing here), and we wish them good luck!Part IIWe've been meaning to blog this for a while, so…

The Lolita Effect: Why the Media Sexualize Young Girls and What You Can Do about It by Ph.d. Durham M. Gigi, a review from Ms. Magazine by Brenda R. Weber.

Chester by Ayano Imai Reviewed by Kathleen from Buffalo, NY.

Physics for Entertainment by Yakov Perelman, a review from Powells.com by Doug Brown.

Maps and Legends by Michael Chabon Reviewed by Chris from Evergreen, Colorado.

The Outlander by Gil Adamson, a review from Washington Post Book World by Ron Charles.

Scott Berkun's latest book is out: Making Things Happen, it's an updated edition of his bestseller, The Art of Project Management. Scott was a manager at Microsoft from 1994 - 2003. Back when Microsoft was working on developing Windows, Internet Explorer and MSN. His inspiration behind the book: "I'd yet to find a book on leading project teams that didn't bore me to tears," said Berkun when asked about his motivation for writing the book. "Every great engineered thing ever made, from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Eiffel Tower to the Internet was made by teams of people, and I thought it was a…

Yes! Another CornerStone book has made it on my desk!! This one, entitled Gullible's Travels, is a leadership book that has about 100 tips/lessons for all kinds of leaders. Whether you are in a new leadership position or have been at the helm awhile, this book gives new insight to not just work but life as well. How to deal and cope in todays fast changing world. One thing that stood out for me was when the author, Topper Long, addressed the need to find balance. He suggested using "The Four Ps". Pulling Together ("teamwork, open communication, sharing ideas, and working together") Perfection…

Powerhouse Principles>>The Wall Street Journal | Rags, Riches and Real Estate Despite such nuggets, "Powerhouse Principles" has the slightly moribund feel of a 2002 guide to picking tech stocks. Not so long ago Americans were eager to jump into the real-estate market in the hope of making a killing – and they needed plenty of adv (tags: realestate biography businessbooks entrepreneurship)

We have a new excerpt up on the Excerpts blog, from chapters 2 and 9 in The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better by Al Weatherhead with Fred Feldman. Weatherhead says adversity is not a curse but a gift and that when we embrace our problems we temper and empower ourselves to achieve unimagined success. Problem Solving Is One of the Great Joys in Life (from Chapter Nine) Harnessing with relentless passion the infinite power of adversity has led me to stunning revelations. Before adversity struck, I was preoccupied with false impressions of personal…

The latest issue of ChangeThis has been posted. In it, the "human CliffsNotes" John Spence condenses his years of consulting and research into six strategies that all great companies focus on. "Performance Architect" Carlos Salum teaches us how to reach our peak performance, sharing his own incredible journey along the way. PR 2.0 author, Deirdre Breakenridge, discusses the new opportunities Web 2.0 provides to PR people, and the authors of Finding Keepers discuss hiring during an economic downturn. Concluding the issue, Marc Michaelson and John Anderson share their L3 Leadership model, and…

The ideal length of a song is 3 minutes. The ideal length of a movie is 2 hours. The ideal length of a book is 300 pages. Of course, these "ideals" are really more like averages, and much leeway is allowed. There is nothing wrong at all with the lengths of "Der Abschied," Lawrence of Arabia, or Clarissa. But under the "life is too short" principle, we are usually inclined to favor movies and books of modest duration. We need more persuasion or confidence to begin tackling a work that's much longer than these ideals. Whenever Deirdre and I are browsing the New Nonfiction section of a…

Wiley — my publisher for The Annotated Turing — will this morning ship the book's files to the printer. Sometime after that, printed books will emerge. The official publication date seems to be June 16. It's been my last chance to fix things. For the past several days I've been scouring PDF files of the front matter (copyright page, epigraph, table of contents, and introduction), the 18 chapters, and the bibliography, hoping to find and correct a few final errors, and to persuade the production editor that movie titles should be italicized rather than appear in quotation marks.

My apartment overlooks Broadway, the longest street in Manhattan, and if I move to one side of my window — and particularly if I hang my head out — I can see Grace Church, on the east side of Broadway between 10th and 11th Streets, right where Broadway curves for its long straight plunge downtown. Grace Church was built in the 1840s based on a design by James Renwick (1818–1895). Renwick was educated as a structural engineer rather than an architect. A competition was held in 1843 to design a new church; Renwick studied European gothic churches, submitted a design, and…

Here's the Roman philosopher and politician Cicero on intelligent design, c. 44 BC: Consider again the harmony, unanimity, and unbroken affinity in nature; this will surely compel one and all to express agreement with my case? How could the earth at one time blossom, but then in turn become rigidly barren? How could the approach and departure of the sun at the summer and winter solstices be signalled by a spontaneous transformation in so much of nature? How could the sea-tides and the confined waters in the straits be affected by the rising and setting of the moon? Or the diverse courses of…

A recent MSDN WPF Forum posting inquired about drawing triangles with rounded corners. I responded with some code but thought it might be good to repeat it here with some visuals. I originally used the Path element for drawing the triangles; for some variety — and also to re-use a Pen object in my code — here I'll render the figure with an Image displaying a DrawingImage based on a GeometryDrawing. WPF supports rounded corners with the LineJoin property of the Pen class. The only catch is that your stroke thickness must be appreciable before this LineJoin property becomes…

Chip Kidd wonders aloud, and humorously, if the hand of God (and not just the hand of the paperboy) touched his New York Times. Read about it here.

Illustrations by Michael GilletteWow. Just one of the 14 new Ian Fleming hardcovers from Penguin. And as usual, Penguin Senior Copywriter Colin Brush does a great job with the backstory. Check all of them out at the Penguin Blog. Fun use of the logo!

New fiction from James Frey. Yes, that James Frey. Insert your own joke. But on to the design: It seems almost axiomatic that a novel described as a "tour de force" sports a cover that is often well-crafted, but ultimately signifies very little. Indeed, what's a designer supposed to do with the story of:"...a bright, ambitious young Mexican-American woman who allows her future to be undone by a moment of searing humiliation; a supremely narcissistic action-movie star whose passion for the unattainable object of his affection nearly destroys him; a couple, both nineteen years old, who flee…

Kraft Foods really needs to talk to parents before they do something like this >>

Design by Paul SahreFrom the jacket: "Our country has become so polarized, so ideologically inbred, that people don't know and can't understand those who live just a few miles away."Not sure if it comes across here, but there is a distinct Sims-like video game feel to this cover that suggests how easy it is for us to literally click-and-drag ourselves off to a comfortable oblivion of sameness and familiarity.Read more about the book in a Texas Monthly interview with the author.Buy this book from Amazon.com

Author Elaine Dundy died last week. Terry Teachout excerpted his introduction to her book, The Dud Avocado. Edan mentioned the book not long ago in a "staff picks" post."The One-Room M.F.A. Program"For John O'Brien, "Three" is not the magic number.Car names deemed "too academic:" Dodge Dissertation Defense V8, Chrysler Course Calendar Convertible, etc.AbeBooks' online symposium on book burning.

As I watch a crowd build for readings at the public library, it is always with some anxiety that I survey my strange companions - chess geeks there for Gary Kasparov, decomposing leftists to hear Lawrence Wright on Iraq - and worry about my place among them.Last Thursday, when Michael Ondaatje came to the Philadelphia public library to read from Divisadero, there was no such trepidation however. It may set me on edge to share politics with a room of people, but it is intimate to share a story. While we waited for Ondaatje to appear, a library staffer poured water into a glass beside the…

Join us in welcoming our newest regular contributor at The Millions:Kevin Hartnett lives in Philadelphia with his fiance Caroline. He works as a community organizer for public education reform and enjoys his days most when they are full of people. He spends his off hours running along the Delaware River, and wafting from cannisters of loose tea at a store that recently opened near his apartment.You may remember the two reviews Kevin penned for us earlier this year. His next offering will be up shortly.

Yesterday in a crowded elevator, I watched a man punch furiously at the door-close button, trying to guard his territory from further invasion. And I thought back to the April 21 New Yorker, in which Nick Paumgarten dropped this bombshell:In most elevators, at least in any built or installed since the early nineties, the door-close button doesn't work. It is there mainly to make you think it works. (It does work if, say, a fireman needs to take control. But you need a key, and a fire, to do that.) Once you know this, it can be illuminating to watch people compulsively press the door-close…

Reuters' "Oddly Enough" column ventures this week into the realm of literary history and intrigue: The mystery of Schiller's skull. When he died of tuberculosis in his forties, Friedrich Schiller, the eighteenth-century German Romantic poet, playwright, and philosopher, was buried in a mass grave. Several decades later, the mass grave was dug up and Schiller’s skull identified by comparison with his death mask and its size, and placed in a more distinguished tomb in the city of Weimar. In 1911, the mass grave was turned up again and another skull found that was claimed to be the real…

Recently, some of you have been receiving emails on Friday from Nick Owchar at the Los Angeles Times about books they will be reviewing that weekend.  Holly from Viking Penguin checked in with them and confirms that in lieu of us asking them if a book will be reviewed, they would like us to simply add our names to Nick’s distro.  A little tough for us since the email goes out only a couple days before the reviews are posted, but better than nothing …

Tiffany from Krupp mentioned that WNBC will be launching a 24-hour news channel, similar to NY1.  It’ll air on cable and is scheduled to debut in November.

Anyone who emails me the imprints of all the books listed (or houses if no imprint is available) will win the NPR Books Grid for the prior week that includes, in addition to the information below, interviewer, pub date, imprint, post-interview Amazon ranking, pre-interview ranking (if the book was mentioned on Shelf Awareness and I was able to look up the number before the interview), subject category and interview hyperlink. TOTAL books stories this week: 25 All Things Considered: 2 (Alan Cheuse reviewed three books in his segment.) BookTour: 1 Bryant Park Project: 3 Day to Day: 1 Fresh Air:…

Mashable reports that FORA.tv (sort of C-SPAN online) has managed to secure a few mil in funding.  What this means for us is that FORA is likely to stick around — and cover our authors — for a while yet (at least until they burn through this latest pile of cash). Since we’re all now staking our claim online — whether individually or corporately — it probably behooves us to give a little thought to what we post online and how it appears.  ReadWriteWeb talks about how we read online.  Apparently, research shows that online reading habits are similar to how I…

If you’re like me, you have a few airline miles in a lot of frequent flyer programs — most of the time, not enough to get a free flight or even an upgrade.  Some FF programs — Delta definitely and maybe some others — allow you to redeem these miles for magazine subscriptions.  For the sake of variety, I pick magazines my publicity department doesn’t get.  Unless I fall in love with a magazine, I usually won’t renew my subscription after a year, but that still gives me plenty of time to familiarize myself with the publication (and at least I don’t…

Some people might find this a little morbid but I practice dying while I'm still alive. I'm not alone in this practice. Buddhists including many people living out their passions practice this mental exercise. Question your life, question what you're doing and ask yourself this question today... if I had 1 day, 1 week, 1 month to live, "what would I do?"  Would I be watching TV, reading magazines, reading the paper, gossiping? Get clear and be honest with yourself. It's one of my secrets to designing my life with intention and clarity and I do have to re-visit those questions…

It's graduation time so BLC 's focus is on career design. Designing your career and path in life takes a lot of listening to yourself and what I call your heart brain. We all have this internal compass called intuition and to be on the path of how YOU define success... listen to it. Just like your dog, your intuition doesn't lie. Sometimes though we need help along the way with a little knowledge from people who've been there and want to see you succeed. Here's a few books I came across worth noting: The Authentic Career: Following the Path of Self-Discovery to Professional Fulfillment…

With all the heavy reading I've been into lately that require laser focus attention, I've been craving just looking at pretty images, like a toddler enjoying a picture book. It's one of life's simple pleasures to flip the pages of design magazines and be inspired. I love how creative people can get with their book collection. Here's a photo of how room design integrates beautifully with shelved books arranged by spine color. It creates a beautiful rainbow effect and quickly livens up a room. Maybe one day I'll loosen up to try this but right now my books sit neatly by category for ease of…

Here's a practical book to getting IN to college called The Little College Handbook: A First Generation's Guide to Getting In and Staying In by Melissa Mellott. Melissa herself is a first generation college student who authored this essential resource book for parents and students with practical help choosing a major to figuring out financial aid. Checkout her education blog, Education Defined.

Here's another great books for new grads as you go on the  graduate program of life.  The book is called "Just Who Will You Be?: Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within." written by Maria Shriver. She reminds us to seek meaning through the joy of following your heart. 

Warner Bros. has confirmed a release date for the feature film of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I. The first instalment of the series finale will open on November 19, 2010, with the second released the following summer. Earlier reports indicated that Part II would premiere in May 2011. The studio announced the decision to split J.K. Rowling's final book in the popular wizard series into two films last month. David Yates will return to direct the Deathly Hallows films, making him the series's most prolific helmer, steering four of the eight Potter movies. The sixth Potter film,…

Publisher's Weekly reports that as part of its current restructuring Starbucks is firing the head of its entertainment division, but will keep selling books. Starbucks is restructuring its entertainment operation with Ken Lombard leaving as head of the group and being replaced by Chris Bruzzo, chief technology officer. It was under Lombard's direction that the giant coffee chain began selling selected books, and Starbucks said it will "continue its relationship with the William Morris Agency to identify book projects that it can offer in its stores." The most recent Starbuck book selection,…

Publisher's Weekly reports that Rosetta Solutions has formally announced its new product and service, NetGalley. The online initiative will launch at BEA, with the mission of connecting publishers and "professional readers," and streamlining the galley distribution process. NetGalley will enable book publishers, reviewers, media, librarians, booksellers, bloggers, educators and others to access and share content and information about new titles. Publishers that have already signed on to a pilot program include St. Martin's, Hachette Book Group, Bloomsbury USA and Sourcebooks. Those houses…

The Google bookscanning project hasn't been in the news much lately (there are still lawsuits going on), but the scanning of millions of books continues. Google, the Internet's leader in search and advertising, says the process it developed and is using for scanning the majority of the books in Book Search is proprietary. Employees will not discuss it except to say it is much faster than what Mitchel is doing and it's not destructive. "It took us quite a while to develop it so we do keep that confidential," said a library manager for Book Search, Ben Bunnell, who declined even to say where…

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is writing a book about his run for the Republican presidential nomination. The book will be released in November, 2008 and will discuss his failed bid for the presidency and his ideas for the future of the conservative movement. Sentinel, an imprint of Penguin Group will publish the former governor's book. "There's going to be a lot of untold stories and untold anecdotes," said Will Weisser, Sentinel's associate publisher. "But the other part is the governor's vision for the future of American politics and society and what should we be working towards?

Blogging Heroes: Interviews With 30 of the World's Top Bloggers Edited by Michael A. Banks Wiley, 298 pp., illustrated, $24.99

It wasn't too long ago that Burina Vann hated school. The Lawrence seventh-grader hated homework, hated sitting in the classroom, hated listening to teachers drone on and on.

Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China By Fuchsia Dunlop Norton, 320 pp., illustrated, $24.95 The Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and '70s wiped out inventive cooking in China. But by the '90s, the boring, sexless uniformity of Chinese communism was over, and China's extraordinary and ancient cuisine was allowed to flourish.

TODAY: Henry Winkler discusses "The Life of Me," at 5:30 p.m., at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Cambridge. . . . Chris Bohjalian reads from "Skeletons at the Feast," at 2 p.m., at Newtonville Books, 296 Walnut St., Newtonville. . . . Mameve Medwed reads from "Of Men and Their Mothers," at 3 p.m., at the Concord Bookshop, 65 ...

Working Relationships Using Emotional Intelligence to Enhance Your Effectiveness with Others, By Bob Wall Davies Black 2008, 208 pp Being able to work with people is one of the most important factors in determining success on the job. The things we need to improve our jobs are only a conversation away.

Manchester United retained their Premier League title this afternoon with a tense win away to Wigan. Away to Wigan meant that most of the ground was filled with United supporters some of whom were paying $1000 a ticket to get into the ground. We are now one win away from an impressive double. The Champions league final against Chelsea is a week on Wednesday. The season didn't start so hot and the team went from this one off the bottom:to the top having pushed aside the hated Arse but almost letting in Chelsea by the back door. You may wonder why I have this screen shot from the start of the…

When I first became involved with ISBN's I heard and received a lot of grief about ISBN's applied to non-book items like rulers and teddy bears and so involved did I become with the ISBN agency that I sometimes joked that I would apply for my own number and have it tatooed on the back of my neck. Happily, that never happened. Tagging a bridge with an ISBN is something that few of us would have anticipated. This is doubly concerning because this is a clear re-use of an existing number which is a big no-no in ISBN land. From the Torontoist:It seems that some Toronto taggers are no longer…

Random House corporate parent Bertelsmann reported improved quarterly operating profit performance and remains optimistic about the remainder of the year. From their press release:Bertelsmann, the international media company, today reported strong first quarter fiscal 2008 results. First-quarter operating profits (Operating EBIT) were up by 9.6 percent compared with the previous year. Operating EBIT for the period under review amounted to €217 million (Q1/2007: €198 million). These developments were driven by the continuing positive performance of the major core businesses. Group net…

Harpercollins produced revenues of $302mm in their 3rd quarter ended March 31st which compared favorably with the same period last year ($291mm). For the nine months, revenues continue to lag the performance in 2007. 2008 YTD revenues of $1,038mm are marginally lower by $14mm.Operating income as described in NewsCorp's press release was as follows:HarperCollins reported third quarter operating income of $29 million, in-line with the same period a year ago. The current quarter included strong sales of Naughty Neighbor by Janet Evanovich, Stop Whining, Start Living by Dr. Laura Schlessinger,…

An article in Information Week (I'm more likely to read Cosmo) bubbled up in my alerts this week about Amazon working with Sony BMG and EMI to bring 'out of print' recordings back into circulation. From the article,Amazon, Sony BMG, and EMI Music said that they will make hundreds of out-of-print albums available on Amazon's Web site through CreateSpace's Disc on demand service. Some of the titles that have been restored to availability include Hatari Soundtrack by Henry Mancini, Earthquake Weather by Joe Strummer, Motorcade of Generosity by Cake, Telepathy by Bill Stewart, Foreign Intrigue by…

Nightmare Academyby Dean Lorey © 2007, 310 pages Level 5 (all about levels)Amazon Reviews "The monsters under your bed are real!" Nightmare Academy is the first book in a series about the Nightmare Dimension. After some nightmares, kids encounter real monsters. When Charlie  Benjamin dreams, monsters leave the Nightmare Dimension and enter his world through a portal. After a particularly dangerous dream, Charlie is whisked off to the Nightmare Academy, a school that teaches kids to control their nightmares. Just after he arrives, Charlie unfortunately meets one of the four…

There's a reason Starbucks feels like more than just a place you buy coffee—it's the environment they create. The drink becomes elevated beyond beverage status to a pursuit, a passion, a way of life. So wouldn't it be cool to do the same thing with books for our kids? What if we showed how special reading is by creating areas solely dedicated to the pursuit of books? Kids can be pretty good at getting the ball rolling. I remember trying to find all sorts of places to read, like under my bed or in a tree. Your role can be as simple as providing a bookshelf, good light, comfy seating, and, of…

The Strictest School in the World by Howard Whitehouse © 2006, 252 pages Level 4 (all about levels)Learn More on Amazon   It's 1894 and a pioneering young scientist named Emmaline is working on creating a flying machine. The only problem is...she's intensely afraid of being in the air. She needs an assistant, and that's where Robert "Rubberbones" Burns comes in. So begins The Strictest School in the World: Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken. Set in an English village, the story follows the efforts of Emmaline and…

Space Station Mars by Daniel San Souci © 2005, 40 pages Level 2 (all about levels) Learn More on Amazon Reviewed by Gina Clifford   Meteors, secret codes, and space aliens all in one book! Space Station Mars recounts one memorable summer when a group of young neighborhood boys track aliens from outer space. After watching 'Invaders from Mars' at the movie theater, the boys decide that there must be life on Mars. Just then, a meteor streaks across the sky and the boys hatch a plan to find it!  Hmmm. Believing that the rock in Ms. Gray's back yard is a meteor, the boys make some…

There's nothing quite like a great series to get readers eagerly gulping down book after book. It's also an easy street to book selection, something we'll appreciate as summer approaches. Though the Harry Potter Books have renewed publishers' enthusiasm for fiction series as they search for the next big hit, serial fiction for children has been around for a long time. We're guessing you're familiar enough with classics like Little House on the Prairie and Chronicles of Narnia as well as the most popular picks like Magic Tree House, Junie B. Jones, Series of Unfortunate Events, etc. We've also…

The idea that science and poetry are mutually exclusive realms is a widespread misconception. Please prove it wrong here

Some writers are too unlike their peers to win wide recognition. But the mainstream is missing out on some rare delights

The common perception of Ian Fleming's blessed, martini-drinking writing life misses the reality by some distance, as modern spy novelists will testify

Literature provides some of the most compelling explanations of why people are driven to kill themselves

Cliff Richard has chosen his top 50 Bible stories. Which are yours?

The latest book review here on ReadySteadyBook, by RSB debutante Sarah Hesketh (welcome Sarah!), is of The Blue Fox by Sjón: Rarely does an author come loaded with such impressive indie and establishment credentials. As Björk’s long time collaborator, Sjón was nominated for an Oscar for his lyrics for the film Dancer in the Dark. Renowned throughout Iceland for his numerous plays and poetry collections (the first of which was published when he was just sixteen) in 2005, Skugga-Baldur (The Blue Fox) was awarded the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize – the Nordic equivalent of the…

Nicholas Murray gets involved in the debate about literary biography that continues to rumble 'round the 'sphere: The always stimulating blog of Stephen Mitchelmore, This Space, is currently growling [correction: see Stephen's post below, he was not 'growling' merely demurring] at a recent defence of literary biography, citing Proust, who in his essay Contre Sainte-Beuve, attacked the famous French critic for his belief that the biographical method was the only one for critics. Proust disagreed, arguing memorably that his work proceeded not from the bundle of accidents that sat down for…

I should have mentioned this earlier, of course ... between April 29th and May 4th PEN World Voices has been going on -- if you want to catch up with all that's gone on during the extended event MetaxuCafé is your best bet for lots of reports and impressions (and yet more links can be found via Golden Rule Jones). Also see Leora Skolkin-Smith's article here on ReadySteadyBook about A.B. Yehoshua.

The Literary Saloon tells me that they've announced the shortlist for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize "for translations into English from any living European language which have been published, are book-length, and are distributed in the UK." Always good to see translated books getting some love but, as The Literary Saloon point out, "every title on this list [below] save the Mayröcker poetry collection is a new translation of a previously-available-in-English title. (Yes, even the Hermans, though that Roy Edwards translation from nearly half a century ago pretty much disappeared…

A Common Reader takes a look at Wilhelm Genazino's The Shoe Tester of Frankfurt: I read The Shoe Tester of Frankfurt while relaxing in a snow-bound hotel in Northern France... I like books that create previously unheard of occupations for their main characters (Anne Tyler is also adept at this) and the concept of a shoe-tester is up there with the best - being paid to walk all day around the city of Frankfurt testing up-market shoes and writing reports for the manufacturers. Of course, the job is a pretext for a meandering dissertation on life and its unliveability - for the narrator is a…

Tonight on LITOPIA AFTER DARK we're delighted to have as our special guest an acclaimed author who could be considered a signpost to the future. In the words of publishing maven Martyn Daniels (who was our guest on "The Money Issue - How will Authors Survive in the Digital Future?" April 5th) Kate is one of the few authors who "gets it" about the new digital media age, and who is already using it in highly creative ways. Reader in Creative Writing and New Media at De Montfort University, Kate currently teaches the online MA in Creative Writing and New Media. She could well be considered the…

Your book is written, re-written, checked and double checked and you’re ready to find it a home. But in this ultra-competitive publishing climate how do you ensure your novel escapes from the slush pile? On Litopia After Dark this week our very special guest is Simon Flynn, Publishing Director of Icon Books and we ask him how to sex up our submissions to get them noticed and how publishers themselves package their books to entice the reader. Libraries are branching out: As Swansea Library declares Friday nights, singles night and Swiss Cottage Library, London introduces a "borrow a person"…

Dinner parties! Soul food for the chattering classes (if you’re a writer that means you). Don't you just love them? If you’re a man, the answer is likely to be "No!". If female, probably the opposite. An intriguing item in Slate explains why eligible men are so difficult to find forthese quintessentially middle-class eating events (apart from the fact that they simply don’t like them). Our soigné panellists then examine a new book published this week that re-evaluates the 1960’s - what lasting impressions has this decade left on our lives today? Singer and troubled celebrity Amy…

The dynamically changing nature of the publishing business is creating new opportunities for writers to eliminate the publisher and go straight to the reader directly. This week, Litopia After Dark considers just how easy - or otherwise - an option it is to make a living by doing it all yourself. As the Harry Potter trial wraps up in New York, we spend some time thinking through the arguments and implications of what might be termed a literary weep-off. We also ponder some new opportunities for authors’ revenge against reviewers. And - do you really need to go to the expense of travelling…

This week, following news of the death of several prominent internet writers, Litopia After Dark considers the exhausting, stressful pressure professional writers increasingly have to cope with. Are we taking on too much - and what can be done about it? We also discuss V.S. Naipaul (whose reputation is demolished in a new biography out this week) and ask: can we overlook the imperfections of an author when they produce work of great literary merit? Also, erotic fiction - the unseen way to bestsellerdom - and are the days of the history book now in the past? Finally, we return to book jackets:…

One of my favorite graphic novel publishers, First Second, has declared May "Vampire Month" in one of those audacious out-of-season moves that means October/Halloween is now officially "Island Vacation Month". So far, the extraordinarily cool First Second blog has brought readers a downloadable vampire kit, and links to features at Comics Worth Reading, Colleen Mondor's blog, and Interactive Reader. In heavily related news, First Second is promoting Little Vampires by Joann Sfar this month. The book collects a previously published story about a vampire going to school…

Time Magazine just posted a review of my new book, Bright Shiny Morning. Check it out if you can, here's the link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1738502,00.html In the print version they call me "The Most Notorious Author in America", which I actually think is pretty funny and pretty cool. Have a great weekend - James Frey

Welcome once again to Friday Night Videos, where we aim to give you the kind of match-ups you deserve for hanging out here on the weekend. Tonight, in honor of his guest posting right here at Omnivoracious, it's James Frey talking about his new book Bright Shiny Morning (May 13) versus Chelsea Handler talking about Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, which just hit the NYT bestseller list. Frey you already know about from his posts. Handler, who has a show on E! every weeknight at 11:30, is a little newer to the spotlight, but very talented. She's got incredible comic…

Every Friday, Omnivoracious will turn the spotlight on one or more graphic novels, with future installments also including news, relevant links, and interviews. You can let me know who or what you'd like to see featured by commenting on this post. Three Shadows by Cyril Pedrosa (First Second) - A rich allegory in which a man and his son embark on a journey to save their family, while haunted by three shadows. Their trip takes them to many strange places, and although the underlying symbolism is at times obscure, the emotional pay-off is definitely worth the experience. The Manga Bible: From…

Niche mysteries are very popular these days, and the New American Library Obsidian series has just released a bevy of them out into the wild this month. From haunted bookshop mysteries like The Ghost and the Femme Fatale by Alice Kimberly (aka Cleo Coyle) to garden mysteries complete with gardening tips like Perfect Poison by Joyce and Jim Lavene (authors of Poisoned Petals), no matter what your interests in life, you can find a novel you'll enjoy. Dance enthusiasts may want to pick up Natalie M. Roberts' Pointe and Shoot, a Jenny Patridge dance mystery, while clay crafters and…

When likeable, good-guy Eddie McCall discovers porn sites, he can't resist them. . .and this lands him in all kinds of trouble, in the enjoyable Double-Click for Trouble.

Hi everyone!In recent weeks, I've posted many reviews of teen titles, including some new releases and some old favorites:Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson - Maureen Johnson's sixth novel - and Scholastic debut - is not to be missed. Johnson's trademark wit is here as is her ability to capture simple truths. There are many truths to be told here about families, first loves, careers, living in New York City, and simply growing up. Read the entire review.Feathered by Laura Kasischke - Feathered tells the story of two best friends who travel to Cancun for Spring Break. After an auspicious start,…

Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott, the author of Bloom and the soon-to-be-released Stealing Heaven, has been reviewed by several YABC readers, all of whom have great things to say about it (including a funny observation about the book's cover in Hillary's review) . Lots of room for more reviews, though. Take a peek! Be sure to post a review if you've read the book, and pick up a copy if you haven't.

Rachel Cohn & David Levithan make up a great authorial pairing (say that 3 times fast) in Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. Told in alternating chapters, this is an unconventional romance featuring complicated, interesting teens.

Got this from HBGUSA, sounds very cool...What do YOU think people can do to help end global warming?Tell the world by creating your own Public Service Announcement! James Patterson’s # 1 bestselling book series Maximum Ride and Do Something are both all about the power of young people to change the world - so show us your ideas. Your video might be good enough for Fall Out Boy.Click HERE for the official rules.The winner with the best PSA will receive: A chance to appear in a PSA professionally produced by Do Something FEATURING Fall Out Boy A trip for 2 to NY or LA Your PSA aired…

I'm guessing they're too busy to read this but maybe you're not.

It's not just George.Opera Chic led me to Gramophone's (my second-favorite magazine in the world) plan to sell CDs and downloads on their site. Gramophone is primarily in the business of reviewing classical music CDs; if they (to employ the British usage!) are also selling them, it raises the question of editorial independence--presumably, a glowing review in the magazine could lead someone to buy the CD under review, which Gramophone will also sell to you for its own profit. See the problem?I understand the temptation, though--we could probably pick up some change if our online reviews…

The new Notes from the Horn Book should be in your inbox.And Claire's latest list--Summer Reading--is up on our site. I think I should confess that I am hooked on Beach Blondes, wherein Summer has three hot dudes vying for her attention and a possible fourth who may be her long lost big brother. For me, it's the kind of book that goes great with a sandwich but is completely stultifying if I'm not simultaneously chewing.

On my way to the subway this morning, I pass a man and a woman walking, smiling, hand in hand. Man to woman: "I just think you're playing with fire, this close to the wedding."

If you are attending the Massachusetts Library Association conference in Falmouth this Thursday, come hear Simmons College library school professor Maggie Bush and me talk about the intersection of parents, children and libraries in the question of equal access to library materials.Let's say Janie wants to read the Harry Potter books. Let's say Janie's parents think the books are Satanic how-to manuals. Whose interests should the library serve? The standard professional answer is that if Janie's parents wish to restrict her reading they should accompany her to the library and put the kibosh…

Just a reminder, today is the last day to enter AbeBooks Win a Bookseller for a Day contest. The winner will have a professional bookseller sent to their house to evaluate their book collection and will be featured in Fine Books magazine.

It's finally leaked out. The news accounts about Margaret "Peggy" Seltzer's fake memoir about growing up in foster care in South Central Los Angeles frequently mentioned the promotional video her publisher produced of Seltzer touring her old 'hood. The video has found it's way to YouTube. Without further ado, we present (via Galley Cat), Girl in the 'Hood, or Lies and Consequences. Best line, "I hope to god I'm a role model now." She even manages to dis used bookstores at the end of the clip (about minute 8) for not paying enough for used textbooks: "You only get pennies on the dollar" for…

Here's a video interview with Steven Schuyler, a bookseller who specializes in the building trades and German books. You can find him online at RareBookStore.net and at many home restoration shows. He is very familiar with that market and has many friends in the restoration trade. Over the years, he's built a large clientele on the show circuit. Steve's a good example of a bookseller who has found (or more accurately, created) a market for books outside of the traditional bookstore.

Larry McMurtry will receive the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award this week. In an interview posted online, he talks mostly about being a bookseller. "I just don’t think about my work at all. I think about being a bookseller. I don’t think about being a writer," he said.

A recent email from one of our readers who collects historic newspapers, lead me to a small cache of YouTube videos about two leading newspaper dealers, Timothy Hughes and the Mitchell Archive. Hughes is definitely the leading dealer in his field and has a great many newspapers in inventory. His business turns out to be a family affair that has taken over what used to be his father's machine shop. This video shows it to be ephemera dealing on fork-lift and heavy-lift scale. The Mitchell Archive video is a nice presentation about collecting newspapers. Mark Mitchell specializes more in…

Or so says the New York Times. This article contrasts pocket-sized gadgets with laptop-sized gadgets, then asks whether there's room for a third size, like the Kindle. Having recently played around with an Asus Eee PC I can honestly say it's probably closer to the right e-book form factor than the Kindle.Even though Asus didn't intend for this to be the case, core laptop functionality might just be more important than E-Ink displays. Yes, that's sacrilegious, I know, particularly since E-Ink is what Amazon and Sony have built their readers around. But the more I read a Mobipocket book on my…

The Silicon Alley Insider is speculating that Amazon is currently selling about 48,000 Kindles per month. For the record, even though I'm in the publishing industry I have no insider knowledge about the device's sales rate. That said, 48K/month sounds extremely high to me.Why? I'm pretty sure I'm tracking all the Kindle-related blogs and message boards and I'm just not seeing any significant up-tick in postings, traffic or buzz. Despite the fact that the Kindle has been back in stock and shipping for at least a couple of weeks now I'm seeing roughly the same number of weekly posts/comments on…

Although the Kindle has been getting all the buzz, an argument can be made that cloud computing is a much bigger initiative for Amazon. What is "cloud computing" and why should you care? This excellent Wired article by Spencer Reiss tells you everything you need to know.The bottom line: More and more applications and data will live in "the cloud" and Amazon is well-positioned to be a major player.

Here's a great idea posted on the Kindle forum earlier today. The suggestion is to reward (and encourage more) early adopters of the Kindle by giving them a credit towards any next-generation Kindle purchase. It's like the loyalty programs offered by some of the (mostly domestic) auto manufacturers: "You own a 2005 Red Barchetta (great Rush tune, btw) and want to trade it in on a 2008 one? Great. In addition to all the other rebates we're offering, you also qualify for the Barchetta loyalty discount of $1,000."Kindle 1.0 will have to be supported long after Kindle 2.0 arrives. In fact, could…

The Motley Fool offered up some comments on Amazon's first quarter results (see story here). Here's the Kindle-related piece that stands out most to me:The lack of Kindle data is perhaps the most troubling, because this is where Amazon is riding on the hardware side, too. Owners and potential buyers are flying blind here. Is this a dud? Is this a hit? Is an updated Kindle on the way to clear up the original model's shortcomings? Is a price cut looming? It may be in Amazon's best interest to keep mum on those last two points until it's ready to take action, but I can't be the only one waiting…

German designers have designed a gadget to go along with the famous Billy bookcases by IKEA. Since a couple of weeks, I too have these cases. They are not only cheep, but you can buy loads of accessories for them. The best part is, you do not have to be afraid that any additions will not be sold anymore next year. The Pimp my Billy is a fun thing. I was immediately interested in it. It looks interesting, fun and the color is just right for my library. Until I saw the price. One can buy a whole room full of Billy’s for the price of this gadget. Click here to learn more. PS. I will be out of…

Each year on the 4th of May we, the Dutch, take a couple of minutes to remember the people who died in WWII. And the wars after that. The next day, the 5th we celebrate the ending of the war. I also do a little ‘remembrance’ on Kimbooktu,but in a bookish way. I bring you a post related to the Second World War and books. Last year I wrote an article on Anne Frank, to be seen here. This year’s topic is the destruction of books during WWII. Click ‘more’ to read the article. A literary Holocaust “The story of the six million is also the story of the one hundred million… the…

If you are looking for an original gift (for a book lover) a personalized book might be an idea. There are several websites which provide this service. Usually you can choose a book of your liking. You can then choose one or more names that you want to have featured in this book. Below you will find a small selection of websites that provides this type of book. If you have any books or experience with personal books to add, please do so in the comments. A2Z Personalized Children’s Books You can choose out of 150 books for children. There are also some titles available for adults. All the…

Thank you so much for your patience during our move. The new house is wonderful! Even more so, because I now have an entire room for my books. Click ‘more’ to see some before and after shots. The library is not finished yet, but I wanted to give you an idea. Since most of the jobs around the house are done now, I will be posting again on the regular basis you are used to. If you see anything that might fit my site, e-mail your suggestion to this address. The library I was shocked at the emptiness of my library. After unpacking over forty cases, I thought I had missed a couple. In…

How cute! This will look so good on the new table in my new library. It will be a useless accessory, since I almost never lend out my books. I always get them back damaged. Paperbacks usually have a ‘broken back’ when they are returned to me. I hate that. Therefor I have decided not to let other people handle my books anymore. But this gadget is very nice, I have to say. Click here to find out more.

Happy Mother’s Day to you, if it applies, and to your mother, because it’s fun to say “Your mother” and mean it in a nice way. My Mother’s Day started off with my going back to bed with a migraine (fucker) and then getting back up once I was firmly in the embrace of painkillers to enjoy having my children and husband make me breakfast and give me gifts. One of my gifts, from Freebird: The Mommy Book, by Todd Parr: “Some mommies work at home. Some mommies work in big b