Book News, In Brief

A second(?!) sequel to Gone With The Wind is set to go on sale this week, this time from Rhett's perspective. Frankly, folks, no one gives a damn.

Here's a new definition of irony for Wikipedia: Britney Spears' mom, Lynne Spears, is planning to write a book on parenting. The punchlines write themselves in situations such as these.

Cuz today's kids can't get enough of yesterday's old people, HarperCollins is set to release eight Agatha Christie novels...as comic books! Does this mean that some video game company is out there frantically working on a Murder, She Wrote rpg? I sure hope so.

Via GuardianUK: "In Iran, the trend of opening coffee shops inside bookstores has fallen foul of the authorities amid a general clampdown on social and intellectual freedoms...(The government justifies) the closures by declaring that the coffee shops constituted an illegal 'mixing of trades'. However, critics suspect the move is aimed at restricting the gathering of intellectuals and educated young people."
While that's truly appalling, the glass-is-half-full/veil-is-half-off optimist in me can't help but look at the bright side -- customers will no longer have to buy books stained by sticky buns. (We Americans have given up greater freedoms for less, no?)