Book News, In Brief

It's called nepotism, y'all: President Obama's half-sister has a book deal. The details have yet to be hammered out, but who cares -- she's Obama's half-sister!
(See also: Bill Clinton's Brother's Acting Career, George Bush Jr.'s Presidency)


In an effort to lessen their $217.8 million debt, Borders will close the majority of its remaining Waldenbooks stores. Too bad they couldn't charge an hourly fee to the bums sprawled out in the aisles sipping cold cups of crappy coffee. They'd make billions.
(See also: Barnes & Noble Execs Get Salaries Frozen)


The next time someone tells you that the future of bookselling is niche bookstores, tell them to shut the f**k up. In the last week alone, San Francisco's Babylon Falling and LA's Cook's Library have both announced that they're going out of business -- and these stores were as niche as niche could be.
(See also: The 1,670,000+ search results for the phrase "bookstore closing")


Whether it's Pam Anderson as the unlikely bookstore employee in Stacks, or Sandra Bullock as the even less likely 'high powered book editor' in this June's The Proposal, Hollywood has never shied away from using the book industry as a backdrop for its lame stories and ludicrous casting. The Guardian UK asks, 'Um...why?'
(See also: The LATimes' What Does Publishing Mean To Hollywood?)